I know there are a lot of wine makers out there. I’m basically a newbie and figured I could find people that can answer questions that might come up.
Supreme Muscadine from juice only (no hulls). Primary fermentation complete and transferred to carboys today.
Cool, I like the color! I have planted a few muscadine vines as an experiment but I’m not sure how much they like the weather where I’m at. Planted them last fall then they died back to the ground over the winter, but grew back a little bit over the summer, so there’s hope.
Just curious, did you take any hydrometer readings? If so, what were your gravity readings before and after primary fermentation? Never tried muscadine wine, but most descriptions say it’s “sweet.” So is it sweet because it has so much residual sugar after fermentation or do they backsweeten it? Seems like most “recipes” I see tell you to add sugar to the juice.
Initially the Brix was at about 14 on the hydrometer. This was juice from a steam juicer so perhaps diluted a bit. I sweetened it up to ~22, or about 1.095. 6 days of primary fermentation and it’s down to 1.025. Most everyone back sweetens a bit especially on the reds. All the recipes say to take it down to below 1.00 and then back sweeten if desired. I think muscadine is pretty tart so hence is often sweetened. I didn’t try to adjust pH other than add water at the start
Ok, that makes sense. Looks like yours will probably keep fermenting a bit then. Will be interested to hear how it turns out!
It’s still bubbling pretty good…… I’m hoping for a light tasting Rosé. Will probably sweeten just a bit.
I planted 28 multiple different variety muscadine the past two years. A St. Theresa this year finally produced a ton of grapes. It had probably enough clusters with maybe 3-400 grapes. One more week and I was going to pick a little early to not get robbed. You probably know the rest of the story. They matured that week while I was gone and deer at all but one single grape. Seriously. Every single but one delicious grape. I’m going to have to do some electric fence. 
Sorry. I’m still depressed about losing my grapes and forgot to tell you best of luck with your wine! I’ve sold it and liquor for over 30 years but never made it. Personally I think that’s very cool. I’m retiring not to far down the road and if I can get rid of the deer, LOL, I would love to hear your success story and learn how to follow in your foot steps…
So sorry about your grapes!!! The raccoons get in mine occasionally but I’ve got this yappy little dog now that keeps me awake at night barking…… the upshot is the raccoons didn’t tear up my vines this year!!!
I hope it is a success story. Tried a couple of batches last year…. One was just awful from the start and one I let the airlock go dry and basically had some bad tasting vinegar. This time I’m trying to do it right. So far it’s going right by the book so I hope it turns out drinkable! Muscadine is a bit different and can be a bit sharp. I’m trying to tone it down a bit.
Second installment……
First rack after fermentation. SP = 0.990
Dry with a distinct muscadine flavor. I think it has promise……
Very nice. Well done.
Nice label too
Thanks. They make everything so easy online. So many videos and supplies. So we did something we had never done before today and it seems to have turned out well. Now the test……I hope we like it over and over and over….
