Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Well, I could crush a grape

Oh, hang on, I just did.  Well, seven and a half kilos of them actually.  They're now in a plastic bin fermenting quietly away for a week or so, still with all the skins and pulp in there.  This is the "must" apparently.  Must get used to using the proper names!

It turns out there's been a run on wine yeast, with a lot of wine being made after a good summer.  I couldn't get Burgundy yeast so am having to use high-alcohol port yeast.  High-alcohol?  Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

9 comments:

Sue Garrett said...

We tried making wine from grapes once.

We left the stuff in a little room off our bedroom and in the middle of the night were awakened by a loud bang. There was grape pulp and skins plastered to the ceiling!

Gordon Mason said...

Yes, we've had that problem with beer. Two or three years ago we had the same problem with fermenting chilli oil - which exploded in the kitchen while Kate was holding it. Fortunately no injury but it went EVERYWHERE

Lee said...

Exciting times! Here's wishing you an explosion-free fermentation. Out of interest, how did you crush them?

Nutty Gnome said...

Seriously envious of the grape crop Woody - and you've done loads done ont' allottment of late. S'looking good.

Gordon Mason said...

Hi Lee. I threatened to crush them in the time-honoured way, by standing on them, but was given to understand that if I did that I'd be drinking it on my own. Problem? No, I didn't see it either, but nevertheless I backed off from that plan. I gave them a preliminary crushing with a heavy glass water jug (flat bottom, non-stick, ideal) but then just got in and literally crushed them with my hands. It was surprisingly hard work and took quite a while but it was very effective (and quite sloppy work too!).

Gordon Mason said...

Thanks Nutty. Could always do more of course but oi does moi best. And I only show you pictures of the tidy bits!!

Tanya. said...

Hope it all turns out well. My grapes are small and I haven't decided what to do with them yet. I'm not a lover of mine...and ideas??

Sue Garrett said...

Are you OK? - not heard any news from you for a while.

Gordon Mason said...

Hi Sue

Thanks for your kind enquiry; I'm sorry to have been absent for so long. I'm not sure why, really, except that the plot has subsided into the quiet season and so did the blogging. I'm still active and only this afternoon was doing the first draft of my "Review of the Year". I'll put that up later this week. A bit early for New Year resolutions but ya gotta strike when the mood takes ya!!