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fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:45 pm
by 8-ball
hi all i was wondering as im moving into my new house in a week or 2 there is a grape vine there with an abundance of grapes and wondering if i could ferment and distill them and what i would get out of them ? they are a black grape with a white flesh??

any help would be good

cheers 8-Ball

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:24 pm
by Sam.
Grappa? If you ferment the grapes and make a crude wine then distill then drink it straight off a pot still like the old timers do, then you have grappa. :puke-huge:

If you have heaps I guess you could run it through a reflux and make nuetrel.

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:48 pm
by SBB
If you turn them to wine then distill that wine and age on oak you should have Brandy If you keep the skins seeds stalks and other rubbish from this process and referment the resulting wash you will have grappa............thats my understanding anyway. Be warned though.....making good grappa aint as easy as most would have you believe. Do a search of some of the other forums if you want more detail.

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:58 pm
by 8-ball
there appears to be heaps there maybe about 10 20l buckets full and i aint eating that many grapes although i like grapes,

ill give it a go and report back with my findings its 2 weeks till we move in so ill pick and start a ferment then

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:05 am
by R-sole
Beautiful free sugar.

Grapes are the highest in sugar of all the fruits, and brandy is a really nice spirit. I also love grappa 8-)

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:26 pm
by 8-ball
is there any recipes that you know of :think: that i should take note of?

maybe jump on some home made wine forums ?
i thinks it needs special nutrients?? NFI really

i like Port - make some port - invite me over - profit (well at least have a laugh at my drunkenness)?

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:10 pm
by R-sole
Yes i'd be searching wine forums. But in the basic end, wine is crushed grapes and yeast.

If you're making it to drink you're going to want to pay attention to yeast and acid and all the rest of the things that winemakers do. if you're making it to distill, a bit of bulk wine yeast, some dap and a bit of time to ferment to dry is all you want.
Grapes have a lot of yeast nutrient in there already.

I'd reccomend stripping half and then adding it to a half charge of wash for a 1.5 times distillation. Good quantities, easy cuts and still good flavour.

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:43 pm
by maheel
5Star wrote:I'd reccomend stripping half and then adding it to a half charge of wash for a 1.5 times distillation. Good quantities, easy cuts and still good flavour.


thats really good thinking !!

also just pressed the edit button :angry-banghead: on the above post instead of quote, not sure if it now says "edited" but it wasn't :doh:

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:46 am
by 8-ball
8-ball wrote:is there any recipes that you know of :think: that i should take note of?

maybe jump on some home made wine forums ?
i thinks it needs special nutrients?? NFI really

i like Port - make some port - invite me over - profit (well at least have a laugh at my drunkenness)?


i didnt type this :laughing-rolling:

Re: fermenting grapes and distilling

PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:39 am
by R-sole
Yes, there's been some dicking round in this thread, hard to see what's gone on though. Still a good post though :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: