I soaked muscadine and forgotten about them. Would 2yrs be too long to have them sitting. Its just muscadine vodka and a cinnamon stick in a small jar.
A few things I find alarming, as a winemaker: 1) You talk about oxygen like it's bad no matter what, when in reality your yeast WANT oxygen, especially in the first days, as they are an aerobic organism. Some wine and ale yeasts are so oxygen hungry that aeration is necessary for the first couple days of fermentation. You only want to limit oxygen as fermentation slows and stops, because once the yeast stop working the oxygen will feed bad things like mold and bacteria, such as the bacteria that turns wine into vinegar. 2) You said yeast nutrients are optional, didn't explain what they are and why they're necessary, and you just chucked a ton of it in there without measuring it. What you put in was clearly generic DAP yeast nutrient, which almost always contains urea. Yeast only utilize a small amount of urea during the colony growth phase, and whatever remains will leave a urine taste in your wine. Yes. Urine. Also DAP is an inorganic fast acting nutrient, that in too high a quantity can cause your yeast to have a spike in activity then stall out--another reason why measuring it is important. 3) You didn't mention the use of an airlock, or at least having a hole in the lid. The CO2 needs to escape, so a hole should be drilled in the lid where you can either place an airlock (water filled device that allows CO2 out but no outside air or bugs in) or just cover the hole with a sanitizer soaked paper towel and something to hold it in place. Maybe you're keeping the lid on loose, but in any case all you said was you'd put a lid on it.
On the vines can you trim the feeder/sucker vines back during the growing season that are not producing so it diverts more energy to the production of fruit?
Thanks for posting this series!
Could you share your recipe.? Ratio of sugar/grapes/water?
I pinch my yeast in warm sugar water 10-15 minutes before adding to the mix. I get rapid fermentation within 12 hours.
I soaked muscadine and forgotten about them.
Would 2yrs be too long to have them sitting.
Its just muscadine vodka and a cinnamon stick in a small jar.
A few things I find alarming, as a winemaker:
1) You talk about oxygen like it's bad no matter what, when in reality your yeast WANT oxygen, especially in the first days, as they are an aerobic organism. Some wine and ale yeasts are so oxygen hungry that aeration is necessary for the first couple days of fermentation. You only want to limit oxygen as fermentation slows and stops, because once the yeast stop working the oxygen will feed bad things like mold and bacteria, such as the bacteria that turns wine into vinegar.
2) You said yeast nutrients are optional, didn't explain what they are and why they're necessary, and you just chucked a ton of it in there without measuring it. What you put in was clearly generic DAP yeast nutrient, which almost always contains urea. Yeast only utilize a small amount of urea during the colony growth phase, and whatever remains will leave a urine taste in your wine. Yes. Urine. Also DAP is an inorganic fast acting nutrient, that in too high a quantity can cause your yeast to have a spike in activity then stall out--another reason why measuring it is important.
3) You didn't mention the use of an airlock, or at least having a hole in the lid. The CO2 needs to escape, so a hole should be drilled in the lid where you can either place an airlock (water filled device that allows CO2 out but no outside air or bugs in) or just cover the hole with a sanitizer soaked paper towel and something to hold it in place. Maybe you're keeping the lid on loose, but in any case all you said was you'd put a lid on it.
On the vines can you trim the feeder/sucker vines back during the growing season that are not producing so it diverts more energy to the production of fruit?
Wheres part 2
You are adding way too much water.
Any is probably even unnecessary.
Recipe?
Camden tablets