As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast. This is the
first year for any grapes and I've never bothered with sulfite because
with fruit, I just made a boiling hot saturated sugar solution that
pasteurized the must and never bothered with sulfite because the fruit
always required more sugar and water. Maybe I've been lucky but in about
30 years I've not lost a bottle. This week I've crushed the first
grapes from my vines and I added 1 Campden tablet for the 1 gallon of
must that I got from the Chancellor that survived the 2007 frost. I
pitched the yeast about 20 hrs after the SO2 and nothing. I've waited
another day and pitched another package of Lalvin 71B after aerating the
must between two pails several times, still nothing.

The Tablet label said 1 tablet per gallon for 30 ppm so2. I'm obviously
naive about so2. Any help would be appreciated.

I have also been watching the TA of the berries but I have recently
heard that in the east, the main thing to watch is the pH and the rest
can be adjusted later. That certainly has merit and I would appreciate
any comments.

Dick

On Aug 14, 8:04*pm, Dick Heckman > wrote:
> As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
> * intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast.

What do you mean by "the East"? Quebec? New York? Dresden? Tokyo?
The eastern shore of Lake Okanagan?

On Aug 15, 1:37*pm, Madalch > wrote:
> On Aug 14, 8:04*pm, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>
> > As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
> > * intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast.
>
> What do you mean by "the East"? *Quebec? *New York? *Dresden? *Tokyo?
> The eastern shore of Lake Okanagan?

I have posted twice on this, test.

On Aug 15, 1:37*pm, Madalch > wrote:
> On Aug 14, 8:04*pm, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>
> > As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
> > * intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast.
>
> What do you mean by "the East"? *Quebec? *New York? *Dresden? *Tokyo?
> The eastern shore of Lake Okanagan?

Ok, it went through this time. 71B will have no issues with 30 PPM
SO2, it's something else if it hasn't started yet. Did it start?

Joe

Sorry that I didn't get back and say the it finally kicked off and
everything seems to be OK. I thought I had but it was to another
Alabama winemaker

Joe, Your 3 bucket press worked fine in it's initial outing. I have a
Harbor Freight bearing press in my shop that it just fits into. I put
the bathroom scale on a plank on top and pressed until the reading held
steady for a little while. This was just a small shot from 2 vines of
Traminette so we'll see how fast the turn around will be with more but
it sure won't be too long.

Dick



Joe Sallustio wrote:
> On Aug 15, 1:37 pm, Madalch > wrote:
>> On Aug 14, 8:04 pm, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>>
>>> As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
>>> intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast.
>> What do you mean by "the East"? Quebec? New York? Dresden? Tokyo?
>> The eastern shore of Lake Okanagan?
>
> Ok, it went through this time. 71B will have no issues with 30 PPM
> SO2, it's something else if it hasn't started yet. Did it start?
>
> Joe

On Aug 19, 10:41*am, Dick Heckman > wrote:
> Sorry that I didn't get back and say the it finally kicked off and
> everything seems to be OK. *I thought I had but it was to another
> Alabama winemaker
>
> Joe, Your 3 bucket press worked fine in it's initial outing. *I have a
> Harbor Freight bearing press in my shop that it just fits into. *I put
> the bathroom scale on a plank on top and pressed until the reading held
> steady for a little while. *This was just a small shot from 2 vines of
> Traminette so we'll see how fast the turn around will be with more but
> it sure won't be too long.
>
> Dick
>
>
>
> Joe Sallustio wrote:
> > On Aug 15, 1:37 pm, Madalch > wrote:
> >> On Aug 14, 8:04 pm, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>
> >>> As a long time fruit wine maker I'm just now beginning to understand the
> >>> * intricacies or making wine from grapes in the southeast.
> >> What do you mean by "the East"? *Quebec? *New York? *Dresden? *Tokyo?
> >> The eastern shore of Lake Okanagan?
>
> > Ok, it went through this time. *71B will have no issues with 30 PPM
> > SO2, it's something else if it hasn't started yet. *Did it start?
>
> > Joe- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Actually, that was Lum's idea. I just modified it because I broke a
basket press and had a couple hundred pounds of grapes to process.
Necessity is the mother of invention, farmers aren't the only people
who know how to adapt and overcome.

Joe