[klickitat jim]

A friend has guaranteed me 3 5 gallon buckets of Muscat Blanc grapes this fall. So, anyone have a simple easy to follow wine steps that a brewer could follow? Special ingredients needed? How critical is fermentation temp, and for how long if it is?

[ranchovillabrew]

Crush grapes. Add yeast. Wait. Drink

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[HoosierBrew]

My understanding was always that white wines ferment colder, with red wines fermenting @ room temp. I don't know target temps though.

[mihalybaci]

You'll probably need campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite, I think) to add to the grape must before adding the yeast in order to kill off any wild yeasts/bacteria. Not sure why that's preferred over low temperature pasteurization, maybe to preserve volatile aromatics.

[AmandaK]

When I got started in wine, I read through MoreWine's manual section. http://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals

With Muscat Blanc, this will be of interest to you: http://www.morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wwhiw.pdf

[klickitat jim]

Good stuff Amanda thanks. And everyone else for chiming it. I've got lots of time to study up.

How much krausen(?) is there? Can I do 5 gallons in a 6 gallon bucket or would it crawl out?

[euge]

If all the skins etc is in there then yes.

[AmandaK]

In a white wine, you would separate the skins from the juice and only ferment the juice. If you were closer, I would lend you my crusher/strainer! 

The 'krausen' isn't very exciting in most cases. Obviously, that depends on the yeast. I do primaries in the obligatory 7.9 gallon bucket and only get about 3/4" of krausen in it. Surface activity in the secondary is almost nil.

[wedwards]

Do you have a press? If not, this will not end well, as you need to be able to get the juice out of the grapes whether you do it before fermentation (white wine) or after fermentation (red wine). There is a book called how to make wine - it has a wooden press on the cover, and it explains all the technical stuff in easy to understand language. I would get a copy and read a few times, as it turned my wine from just drinkable into something awesome

[klickitat jim]

All good info. I'll dig into it more.

[kylekohlmorgen]

Muscat makes a great addition to lambic 

[HoosierBrew]

I'd love to use some Muscat in a saison. I've tried a homebrewed saison with some Muscat once, and it was fantastic. A little more of the tartness I already like in saison. I'd like to try ~ 30% Muscat juice ,finished (and dry hopped) with Nelson to enhance the grape thing even more. It's on my to do list.

[erockrph]

I'd love to use some Muscat in a saison. I've tried a homebrewed saison with some Muscat once, and it was fantastic. A little more of the tartness I already like in saison. I'd like to try ~ 30% Muscat juice ,finished (and dry hopped) with Nelson to enhance the grape thing even more. It's on my to do list.

I've actually been kicking around a similar idea myself for a while - using white wine must in a Saison with a fair amount of Nelson. I was planning on buying a wine kit, using part in a Saison, part in a Pyment and the rest on its own to compare/contrast. Thinking either Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztaminer or Riesling.

[HoosierBrew]

I'd love to use some Muscat in a saison. I've tried a homebrewed saison with some Muscat once, and it was fantastic. A little more of the tartness I already like in saison. I'd like to try ~ 30% Muscat juice ,finished (and dry hopped) with Nelson to enhance the grape thing even more. It's on my to do list.

I've actually been kicking around a similar idea myself for a while - using white wine must in a Saison with a fair amount of Nelson. I was planning on buying a wine kit, using part in a Saison, part in a Pyment and the rest on its own to compare/contrast. Thinking either Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztaminer or Riesling.

Sounds great.  And I've heard that the DFH Red and White is actually pretty good too. It's a big Wit brewed with pinot noir juice IIRC.  I think I need to do that saison soon.

[Jeff M]

Red Wines and white wines are pretty different animals.  White wine is pretty straightforward compared to Red wine.

Things you will need
Wine acidity test kit
Potassium Metabisulfate(preservative, Usually protects against oxidization and inhibits yeast for short period)
Sodium Metabisulfate(sterilizing agent when transferring and racking.  )
Potassium Sorbate(Aggressive preservative that inhibits yeast for long term)
Wine Degasser

Lalvin makes a few different types of yeast for white wines, do your research and pick one.  Also decide on if you want to backsweeten or not depending on how dry the yeast will get your wine.  Muscat tends to be backsweetened and some yeast strains supposedly help with that, but i dont buy it considering fructose tends to be 100% fermentable.

Good luck!
Jeff