As far back as I can remember, September has always represented a time of change in the seasons that I look forward to every year because of the many fresh seasonal fruits that are available in the area. I have some peach trees that actually don’t get ripe until late August and early September, but typically this is the apple and wild grape season.
We have two varieties of wild grapes in this area (N.E. Georgia). Muscadines are a dark purple to black looking fruit when fully ripe while scuppinons turn a golden bronze color. Both have thick hulls that make them a little difficult to crush unless they are fully ripe, so gathering only the fruits that are fully ripe is essential to making excellent homemade wines and jellies. These may be found in great abundance along the forest floor during late September, but you will find them scattered on the ground up to 4 or 5 weeks earlier. Many of the vines have reached enormous size and climb to the tree tops to take advantage of the available sunlight, but this also makes it impossible to pick directly from the vine, so the only way to harvest them is to have lots of patience and wait for them to fall to the ground. Many times the larger birds will alert me as to when the grapes are coming into season because they love to eat them from the tree tops, but this frantic attack also sends many of the near ripe fruits to the ground to harvest. The birds get some, but their help is very important in getting the fruits from the trees.
The equipment you use when making your homemade wine is very important. I have used earthen crocks and a cheese cloth in the past to release the gases and keep out the insects, but ever since visiting my local Home Brew Supply Store, I decided to invest in a more reliable system that produces all the alcoholic beverages I wish, (beer or wine) for under $100 . For those of you that don’t wish to invest that much in your experimental project, they also have venting vats made from food grade plastic, air locks and syphoning hoses available, and you can purchase everything you will need for around $20 . If you find this to be an enjoyable hobby, in the future you may decide to purchase bottles, corks, and a bottle corker to preserve and age your beverages. As I mentioned before, everything you could possibly need will be available at your local Home Brew Supply Store.
Although many recipes are available, the one I am about to describe has always worked well for me no matter how much or how little I wish to make at once. You will need:
Muscadines
Sugar
Yeast
Water
After gathering all the ingredients and obtaining the equipment described above, start by crushing the wild muscadines in a 6 gallon food grade vat, but don’t use over 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of fresh fruit. After the fruit has been thuroughly bruised, check to see how much you have in the vat and double its amount by adding water. For example, if you have 2.5 gallons of crushed fruit, add water to the 5 gallon mark. After you have established you are making a 5 gallon batch, stir in 5 pounds of granulated sugar. Use a 20 ounce glass of warm water and about a half cup of sugar to disolve your yeast in,(1 to 3 packs depending on the amount of wine you are making) and stir this into your mixture as well. Once you have all the ingredients in the vat, close with lid tightly and insert air lock NOTE : Make sure the water is warm and not hot when you are preparing your yeast. Hot water will kill your yeast and you will need to add more in the future if this happens.
Once you have everything prepared, place the vat in an out of the way place that will keep a constant temperature between 58 and 78 degrees, and preferably one that will allow you to syphon the liquid off without having to move the vat again and risk stirring and clouding up your new wine with the settled yeast. These temperatures will allow your beverage to ferment without killing the yeast prematurely. The air lock should start to bubble releasing the gases within the first 4 hours to let you know the mixture is fermenting. After 24 hours, if the airlock has not started releasing gases, this signifies your yeast is either too old, or you have used water that was too hot to disolve it in. Either way, it is best to remedy this at an early stage by adding fresh yeast to make sure the wine will ferment in a timely fassion.
I suppose many of you are wondering how long this will need to set before you have a drinkable beverage. There are many variations to take into consideration, so the set time is a little unpredictable. Room temperature and sugar content are the two most important factors when determining when your wine will be ready. If you will notice your air lock, you will see it releases the fermentation gases on regular intervals between 3 to 6 seconds at the start of your process, and as time goes by, the releases become less frequent. I use the air lock to determine when the wine has reached the alcohol content I desire. Once the gasses are being released from the air lock at intervals between 35 and 45 seconds, my wine is ready to syphon off into storage containers.
Wine that is prematurely stored has a tendency to explode because the fermentation process is incomplete and the yeast is still active causing too much pressure to build in the bottles. One way that might help if you are unsure about your wine is to place the wine in a refridgerater after bottleing to help kill any yeast that may still be active. After all danger of exploding bottles has passed, the bottles may be stored in an area that will have a constant cool temperature and out of the sunlight.58 degrees is the recommended temperature for storage, but the crawl space under your home may be one idea, or just keep it in the fridge. It all depends on how long you want your beverage to age really. The wine is ready to drink now, but aging the wine for several months or even years will bring out flavors in your beverage that you never knew existed !
It is also important to remember, wine that has set too long before bottling will turn to vinegar. If you store your wine in a place that is too warm or subject to periods of sunlight each day getting on your bottled wine, you may experience your wine turning to vinegar as well. After placing so much time and effort in your project, to protect it, take the time and effort in storage as well. My wine is so popular with family and friends, I rarely see any make it past the holiday season so storage is not really a problem for me. The bottom shelf in the refrigerator works just fine… I hope many of you will find this to be an enjoyable hobby, and for years to come, you will look forward to the fruits of the fall just as much as I do.
