Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Got given about 25 litres of freshly pressed grape juice today to play with. It has been pressed for about a day and some wild yeasties have started their thing. My question is... will the wild yeast be a problem with the ec1118 yeast i pitch? If so should i boil it for a bit to rectify the problem if there is one?

Campden tabs can be used to wipe out wild yeast and other nasties,from a wine making book I have called First Steps in winemaking by C.J.J. Berry ,wich has been useful a few times and a good read ,boiling may change the flavour for the worst.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Thanks hillzabilly!
Only prob is i don't have any camden tablets so i might just have to wack her all in and hope it's not a problem.
Cheers. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Snoop https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/campden-tablets it is potassium metabisulphite and can be used ta remove chlorine and prevent oxidation.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If you can't get any Camden tablets in time over pitching the yeast should be enough to out compete the wild yeasts and keep any effect they may have to a minimum.

You could try fermenting a portion of the grape juice with the wild yeast to see how it turns out.

wynnum1 wrote:You could try fermenting a portion of the grape juice with the wild yeast to see how it turns out.

I ended up just hydrating some yeast and in it went... this morning it was bubbling away very nicely.
The thought crossed my mind of letting the wild yeasties keep doing there thing because they were going along pretty well, but thought better of it. Next time perhaps.

From my understanding of wild yeasts v ec1118 is that the ec is a stronger strain and consumes the wild yeasts so no need for campden tablets :handgestures-thumbupleft: in my opinion using comparisons between wine making and fruit spirits is as similar as beer to whiskey.

Dan did not specify whether he is making wine or going to try brandy,ifn its for brandy your return from a 25lt batch will be small,they all require a good ferment and in my opinion they require the same approach ,brandy is made from wine is it not ,and beer is all about grain mashing less hops with similar methods of production to wash for whiskey,as I found in Hobart one distillery got their wash made by a local beer mob,anyhooo my 2c.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

In a distillers forum I’d assume he be making spirits, but u know where assuming gets u :scared-eek:

Thanks for your thoughts blokes.. yes I'm going to run it through the bubbler.
Not expecting too much, but i have a family friend keen for me to see what i can turn it into... see how i go.

For some good info on wine yeast(the vintners wine yeast range) and selection for fruit washs http://hosting.brewcraftusa.com/assets/VH_yeast.pdf yeast type for red wine to brandy could give a very different flavour profile than ec1118 wich is for white wine or champagne .Never underestimate the right yeast choice to go with your product :think: .cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Thanks hillzabilly... I'll have a squiz at some stage. Hardest part is getting my hands on some of the different yeast available without the postage making them cost a fortune. Joys of living in the country.. :think:

Fortified wine would also be another option.

The vineyards up in Swan Hill throw into their 2.5 tonne bins a 1 kg brown paper bag of Sodium Metabisulphate. As the grapes go into the bin the some of the grapes break up and the liquid activates the SMBS. The gas coming off kills the wild yeasts and when the bins get back to the sorting yard they put in EC1118 to start the proper ferment even before they get to the winery.
So for your 25 litres of grape juice you'd need 10g of Sodium Metabisulphate.

dans.brew wrote:Thanks hillzabilly... I'll have a squiz at some stage. Hardest part is getting my hands on some of the different yeast available without the postage making them cost a fortune. Joys of living in the country.. :think:

Yeast seem to be cheaper from out of Australia but not sure how well would survive in the post only need short time in a hot mail van on a hot day to damage.

YarraRanges wrote:The vineyards up in Swan Hill throw into their 2.5 tonne bins a 1 kg brown paper bag of Sodium Metabisulphate. As the grapes go into the bin the some of the grapes break up and the liquid activates the SMBS. The gas coming off kills the wild yeasts and when the bins get back to the sorting yard they put in EC1118 to start the proper ferment even before they get to the winery.
So for your 25 litres of grape juice you'd need 10g of Sodium Metabisulphate.

Thanks for the info YarraRanges.
It's a clever way of getting things under control while grapes are transported.

Bit late here, if making wine you'd be definitely hitting it with SO2 after crush for 24hrs.
Depends on condition of grapes but you're looking at 50-100ppm. Too high level and yeast will be inhibited.

50ppm for 25L you'll only need 2.2grams of sodium or potassium metabisulphate (5 tablets from memory).

BTW, you're treating juice not total volume. So reds work off 70% approx. ie 100 litres of must is 70 litres of wine.

Local Cider and Wine makers love fermenting with wild yeast... "wild" wines are big sellers, and local cider guy reckons the best cider he has ever made fermented dry to 6-7% with wild yeast by pure accident. However, Im unsure how that affects distilling...

How did this turn out dan?