I am currently fermenting a 5 to 6-gallon batch of wine from fresh raspberries, and still have the pulp in a straining bag in the plastic fermenter. SG about 1.045. Can I make a second wine from this pulp? Please explain how, and the ingredients/amounts.
Sam K.
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Hello Sam,
What you are referring to is a process called making seconds. This is where you take the spent pulp from a fermentation and use it to make a second wine. It is a practice that is mostly related to making wine from grapes, not raspberries or any other kind of fruits. There is a reason for this…
When you make wine using actual wine grapes, you are using around 80 pounds of grapes for every 5 gallons of wine. When making wine from raspberries and most all other fruits, you are using somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 pounds for every 5 gallons of wine. There is a lot less pulp involved in the later case. This smaller amount is typically not enough pulp to go around for a second batch of wine, whereas with grapes you’ll have quite a bit of pulp. The picture above shows a winery dispensing the grape pulp after fermentation.
Yes, you could use the spent raspberry pulp to make a second wine, smaller batch – say, one or two gallons. Only you can make a decision as to whether or not it is worth your time and effort.
How To Make Second Wines
All you need to do to make a second wine is to:
- Take the pulp and add water until you reach the desired batch size – usually the same size as the original batch.
- Use a wine hydrometer to determine how much sugar to add to the wine must to achieve the desired alcohol level.
- Add acid blend to the wine must based on acid test readings taken with an acid testing kit. The directions that come with the acid testing kit will help you to determine how much acidity your wine should have.
- Add a dose of yeast energizer to the must. Follow the amount that is recommended on the jar it came in.
- Add the wine yeast – preferably a Champagne-type wine yeast. Go through all the fermentation stages just like you did with the first run and you’ll have your second run wine. If you need directions on how to make the wine, you can use the 7 Easy Steps To Making Wine that is listed on our website.
And that’s how to make a second wine. It should be noted that the wine will be harsh directly after the fermentation, but will improve remarkable after a month or two of aging.
Best Wishes,
Ed Kraus
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.
do you leave the pulp in the mesh bag when making a second wine or just dump the pulp in the fermentor & add the other ingredients?
Richard, you can do it either way with equal results. It is more of a matter of convenience to you, whether or not you use a Fermentation Bag to keep the pulp together.
hi i made a second wine from the left over pulp. i controled the sugar with the hygrometer and used about 14 KG of sugar per demi-john. it fermented in a barrel in the quantity to make 2 demi-johns. it fermented great with a very nice aroma. i just pressed them and placed in the demi-johns. there is no fermentation activity, it taste ok with a destinct alcohol taste and it reads .999. my question is should it not still be fermenting? i was thinking to add some yeast but it really has no sugar left. what do i do? Thanks. Mark
Mark, the fact that is not fermenting currently is of no concern. Fermentations go at different speeds. Yours just happened to go fairly fast. The fact that your hydrometer reads .999 indicates that the fermentation was successful and you have nothing to worry about.
Hi
I’ve read that using the mush for the second wine would only make half the amount of the original. I’ve followed a recipe to make one gallon of raspberry wine and with the mush have just followed the same recipe/ingredients again, bulking out with approx 900g of rasberries, blackcurrants, blackberries and strawberries to make a gallon. Does that sound ok?
John, as long as you are happy with the finished product, it is fine to do so. I would recommend taking a look at the article posted below on creating your own wine recipe. I would recommend testing the acid to be sure that it is within the appropriate range.
Creating Your Own Wine Recipe
http://www.eckraus.com/home-wine-making-creating-recipe
I use about half as much water to start the seconds a I pressed off from the firsts.
Mix up the water, sugar, acid blend and take all your readings before you pour it back on top of the pressings.
For red grapes that have fermented, no new yeast is needed. It has “lots” of yeast and will likely ferment our quickly. White grapes not fermented on the skins will need yeast added.
You may get some marginal results, but I’ve had some wonderful seconds.
I make many different fruit wines. If doing seconds such as raspberry I do add a little more fruit with the pulp. It seems to at least give it more color. I also make a lot of jellies from my fruit at different times of the season. After I juice the berries out, I freeze the pulp and use it for wine making later. I have been making a red and black raspberry mixed that I call my RnB Razz for years. Out of 60+ straight and combinations of fruit wines I’ve made over the years, the RnB is near the top of my favs list.
a few years back I made blueberry and they were quite expensive at the time, I didn’t want to waste the pulp which had a sg of 1.020 so I put in another primary fermenter with 3 packages of frozen grape juice and 3 pounds fresh figs (for body) raised the sugar content to 1.085 and that batch was better than the first.
Thank you for sharing these valuable insights.
I have a query of my own. I have a lot of Pomelo pulp leftover which already has sugar mixed in it. What can be better ways to use this leftover?
Mukul, we are sorry, we do not have any information on what you can do with your leftover pulp besides making a second batch of wine.
I’m having a problem with a batch of dewberry wine. I have my ingredients mixed inside of a 1 gallon glass jug. There are 2 jugs going right now. One has a slight bubble line at the neck. The other is bubbling so much it is trying to push pulp up and out of the bottle. I have a thin piece of cloth covering both tops. Any tips?
I would suggest getting a third jug and spreading the fermentation over the 3. During this time it is not necessary to have the fermentation vessels topped-up. Once you are ready to remove the pulp, then go back to 2 jugs and make sure to keep them topped up while clearing.