4 replies to this topic

[dmtaylor]

So, I've got a huge brick wall out back covered with ivy and grapes. This plant has been here probably for many decades, I don't know how long -- I moved here 9 years ago. Over the years, I have eaten the grapes on many occasions, wondering if I should try my hand at harvesting and brewing something with them. Well this seems like it might be the year.These are tiny deep purple grapes, ranging in size from 1/4 to 3/8 inch, about 2 or 3 seeds inside each one. They aren't very sweet at all, mostly just spicy, very very spicy, and sort of tart and astringent. I have absolutely no idea what "variety" they might be, or if they are suitable for brewing or what -- I mean, this is really just an ivy wall, and the grapes are sort of an unintended by-product of ivy, right? But there are thousands of these grapes produced each year, so I can't help but want to collect some and ferment them, just for the heck of it to see what they might do for me.So I'm figuring, fermented all on their own, they'd likely taste like crap, and I'd only be able to collect maybe a gallon of grapes from the whole wall. And anyway, I'm really not much of a wine guy, but I do find it fascinating to use local ingredients, especially if they come straight out of my own backyard. But I do love mead. So...... I figured I'd just squish them up, sulfite them, toss them into my upcoming mead, and make a grape mead -- NOT a pyment per se, because there won't be near enough grape character, but just enough to give the mead a little something unique. Tannin and color, if nothing else.My first question is an important one -- how in the heck am I supposed to know when to harvest these babies? I have a feeling they are not yet ripe, as they have just turned from green to purple in the past 10 to 14 days. But how can I tell when to harvest? Wait for the weather to get colder? Wait for all the leaves to fall? The usually bright green leaves are currently a bright red, and a few have begun to fall. Is this any sort of indicator? Also I am in eastern Wisconsin if that helps at all.My second question is how much, by percent or by weight, do you think I should use in a slightly grape-flavored mead? My original plan was to have a 3-gallon batch of mead, but if you think I need to make a smaller batch to get more character out of the grapes, I could do with a 1-gallon size experimental batch or whatever. From one perspective, I'm thinking I'd like to get around 5% of my fermentables from these grapes, with the other 95% from the honey, just to give it a little something. Would that be enough? Too much? And I've also heard others say you need at least 3 or 4 pounds of grapes per gallon to get good grapey character in a mead. I have no idea how many pounds I'll be able to collect. Wild guess might be 5 pounds, but that's a pretty wild swag as I've not harvested them yet and never have before.What do you think? Any experience or crazy but constructive ideas would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling I will need to harvest the grapes very soon -- wild guess is within the next 14 days, but again, that's a real wild guess. Or am I already too late? I don't know. Whaddaya think?

[zymot]

Wine? Crush the grapes add yeast, hope for the best. Maybe do some of that wine fixer stuff they do with wine that I do not know about. You can take a shot with that.How about a pyment? Get some honey in there. If you ferment it out. Down the road if it is not what you are looking for, try back sweetening with more honey. Honey is good stuff, everybody likes wine.That is what I would do. Give myself a Plan B to work with.Plus you get the cool factor of, "Would you like a glass of my home made pyment?" "A pie-mint? What is that?" Then you can throw down the esoteric obscure mead stuff.If you pour wine, you compete against a world of wineries. You think you can out do 2 Buck Chuck?Just my 2 cents.

[dmtaylor]

Well... I "brewed" the wild grape mead about 6 weeks ago, and just bottled a couple days ago. I used just 1 pound grapes per gallon, and I'm thinking it wasn't quite as much as I might have liked, but still enough to provide a hint of character. Does not taste very grapey or winey, so I am not going to call this a pyment, but rather a "still semi-dry mead infused with some wild grapes". It started at 1.082 (without the grapes), and finished pretty dry at 0.995, for just above 11.5% ABV, but still has a wonderful residual sweetness from the honey. I racked onto the grapes a few days into the primary fermentation, then sulfited and used gelatin in tertiary to settle all the yeast, and confirmed final gravity stable for several weeks before I finally bottled, so this will definitely be a still mead. Did not sweeten at bottling time. Semi-dry honey flavor, earthy and a little spicy, also a hint of sulfur that should hopefully fade with age. It is crystal clear and has a beautiful deep pink to bright red color. So, it's still young and needs to mellow a bit, but should be a joy in a good 6 months to a year. Looking forward to it very much.

[armagh]

At least now you have something on which to base further experimentation. Maybe next harvest do a sparkler or use a different varietal honey. Sounds like a good time.

[positiveContact]

interesting stuff