What to do with Grape Skins from Winemaking

Things used in this video:

What can you do with grape skins or pomace from red wine? In this video, we are reusing the grape skins from a red wine fermentation to make a better kit wine. This method can really improve the quality of the kits. The skins that we are using were from petite sirah and old vine zinfandel. The wine kits that we used were RJS Grand Cru Merlot, and RJS Grand Cru Malbec.

Cheers,

Rick Haibach

[mikegrimshaw]

Thanks for your videos, great job on explaining wine making concepts. My wife and I belong to a couple wine making groups, As far as your question on what we call seconds, yes we have made seconds for years taking the skins and adding water to hydrate skins, sugar to bring up the brix, TA to balance the PH for the water you added. In some cases where the seconds have come out really good, people that usually like lighter wines like the seconds better than the first. You do as you explained have to play with the ratios. I started off with if I have 5 gallons of skins I would add 5 gallons of water, add sugar to bring up brix to about 22-23, then balance PH by adding Acid (TA) until PH was around 3.2 - BETTER not as much have later found instead of 1:1 water to skins maybe 3-4 gallons of water to 5 gallons of skins. There was also one time where I also threw in the gross lees and it made a very good wine as well....Other folks in both wine clubs do this all the time, it is basically next to free
I also agree with your video, taking the skins and putting them in a cheap wine kit (Merlot) juice. From the wine kit use the juice and pitch the rest (yeast, finning stuff, maybe use the oak), as you said there is enough yeast in the skins. Then do your normal wine making as far as nutrient adds at caps and 1/3 brix

[oldsagerat]

A friend gave me a bottle of Romanian rocci.
Distilled from leftover grape skins.
Wonderful stuff !

[dannymiller]

What you are describing is "piquette". Peasant farmers used to make a second run wine with water acid and skins. I have made some this year. It is on the light side. Don't raise your brix too high, it is better at about 8-9% abv. Some wineries close to where I live are doing pet-nat style wines with piquette.

[TheRscorp]

I made about 9 gallons of Cab this year and took some of the pressed skins to make a mead. I used concentrated cherry and grape juices, mixed in honey and water to a little over 3 gallons of liquid and then dumped in a large amount of the Cabernet skins and fermented it that way, punching down 3 times a day. I did not use a wine press on the skins this time, but did manage to press them a bit and it turned out great. Skin contact time was about 11 days. Because I used grape, cherry, and grape skins I threw in some malolactic bacteria to see if it would go through that and soften up the acidity. Great way to re-use skins.

[michaelc]

Thank you for making this video, I always appreciate your videos and I find them very informative. I love the fact that you are always experimenting, I often experiment and have learned a lot as a result. You asked if anyone has ever made a "2nd run" from sugar water, I have done both sugar water and bucket juice. The bucket juice 2nd run definitely has more body and complexity, but the 2nd run from sugar water is very drinkable and the color is much darker than a rose. The rule of thumb is to make half the volume of your first run (e.g.1/2 the amount of wine you just pressed). If I know I am going to be doing a second run/false wine, I do a very light press and also leave a couple of gallons behind for the 2nd fermentation. I never go the full 50%, usually, I will go 1/3rd the yield, which IMHO is the reason for the darker color and better taste.

Basic recipe: Add 2.5 lb of sugar (you may want to boil the sugar in the water you added and cool down to room temperature before adding to skins), 3 tsp. acid blend, 1 tsp. yeast nutrient, and 1/8 tsp. wine tannin per gallon of water you added.
As you stated in your video, you don't need to add yeast, because the skins have lots of yeast leftover from the first fermentation.

[farshidsaffari]

First, THANKS for your interesting and informative videos and the time you spend to spare your knowledge with the community ! Im dealing with 1500 to 2000 lb of grape each year so Im getting a lots of skins each year so what I'm doing is to make some grappa, some compost for the vines as well, but the thing I do differently is to keep some frozen for the next year and if my product is not reach in color and tannin (mostly when I have to harvest earlier then usual) I use the frozen skin from last year to the must to bring the tempture down and add a little bit of color and tannin during cold soak. I don't recommend this to everyone, but under control I got a goos result. Ive never done "piquette" before but your video just made me to try this year. Thank you

[Winebinny]

Thanks for the video. I'm working as a winemaker in Aus. I love your home winemaking video ;)

[ARenalds]

I've heard about this before and have been curious to try it. So I froze my California Malbec skins from the fall harvest and will be adding them to South American Malbec juice buckets in the Spring. We'll see!

[jeremyjetson]

Just recently found your video and I’m enjoying them, thank you. I too have been reusing skins lately, back to back actually. Strained from one batch and put right into another batch of juice to start fermentation. The second time around I just didn’t leave in as long in fears that the skins “shelf life” would run out and the process would work against me. So far I’ve had good luck with it.

[lorenrenee]

I’ve used powdered spent skins in baking and it does add a complexity and depth I consider worthwhile.

[kbvca]

Another very interesting and informative video. Thanks. I am making my first batch of wine using fresh grapes and I added water and sugar and tartaric acid to the (hand pressed) skins. I was able to obtain about 3 gallons of this "second run" wine from the skins from about 72 lbs of grapes and the color and the flavor (albeit still very green) was really very drinkable. No expert - my wine making experience has hitherto focused on country wines and mead (winning competitions both state and national) so my perception of "very drinkable" may not be a connoisseur's perception. But certainly, since at least the middle ages second runs of ale and I believe, wine, made for the household and not guests or the market - were produced. But even if this wine is simply "adequate", it is for all intents and purposes "free" and up-cycling what would otherwise be viewed as "waste by-product" is something we need to focus more on.
I "up-cycle" the whey I obtain from my home cheese making and that whey when fermented with added sugar and lactase enzymes to break down the lactose sugars to an SG of 1.090 or a Brix of 21 or 22 can make a surprisingly delicious wine which when drunk semi sweet is more than a novelty wine.

[creekbird_homestead]

And jelly makers ;) Glad you made this. I just don’t wanna waste all this especially since I grew em

[vinoner]

Yes I herd in Napoli they add warm water and sugar to the skins and they call that seconda. Which mean second, in Italian. I imagine that's what they pass out to friends and family and drink the good stuff to themselves However I've always wanted to try it, maybe one day I will. Awesome video Thanks!!

[glleon]

Making a “second wine” is an old tradition. The resulting wine is pleasant to drink but a “lighter” wine. Watch your pH as noted, and make sure your pomace cake has no bad odors. Usually there is enough alcohol in the pomace to preserve it but you may want to refrigerate or freeze it if you don’t use it right away. You will get a better second wine if you do not press the first wine too dry.

You can also make a second wine with grape juice from the store and pomace. Just make sure that the juice does not have any preservatives other than citric acid.

You can also make Grappa without distilling by macerating the pomace in vodka and straining the solids out before bottling. But distilling the pomace by steaming it and condensing the vapors is the authentic method. Illegal under US Federal and 49 state laws unless you have a license!

[craigb]

I’ve made a “second run” from my pressed skins... it’s what you expected. It’s the extra time and equipment that adds up. We always buy extra grapes to have plenty to top up, some of this never makes into a barrel and you can add oak and tannins to boost it up...

[daved]

Great video. I've been taking my leftovers and making fruit leathers (roll-ups) with them. The easiest way is to just add water and puree until everything is smooth, pour into a dehydrator tray and dry out. With all the seeds and skins in there, it isn't the best, but still ok. The best result is when I removed the seeds (by hand) and also didn't use 100% of the skins - then the leathers had a much nicer taste. I want to find a way to more easily remove seeds, but haven't found it yet. Also want to save and dry the seeds and see if I can extract the seed oil at some point. I'm using muscadine grapes, so they have a lot more inside jelly-like pulp than most wine grapes, so not sure how this would work with normal wine grapes.

[michaelbereny]

Awesome video!
I think this was great. I wondered what to do with skins and now I know. Thank you

[OriginalHitta]

Make a Piquette. Basically like a wine seltzer. It’s turned out pretty nicely.

[richca]

Hi Rick - I saved my Cabernet Sauvignon skins from this year's pressing and added them to 2 kits (Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot) I combined into one fermentation vessel. I added 10 gallons of water to the combined kits resulting in a hydrometer reading of 1.108. I will let you know how it turns out.

[hamad]

Can grape skin be added while fermenting? I mean what if I forgot to add at the beginning? Can I add skin like second day ?