Ahh that's right . I remembered them using ours to graft , couldn't remember the finer details. Thanks for the refresh.
homemade wine?
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Last: 12 days ago by Ragoo
My dad grew a patch of mustang grapes on a terrace in his garden. Use a piece of cattle panel for a trellis.
I have no idea if being on the terrace was crucial other than to ensure good drainage. Planted in black soil. East Bell County. No maintenance other than training the vines.
I remember a night in 2000 when my dad, a couple of college my buddies and I finished off a bottle of 1980 mustang grape wine. It was the end of a long night of 42 and drinking. We were out of booze when my dad said, "I'll be right back."
My buddies and I were waiting for him to bring out a bottle of Jack. Nope. 20 year old homemade wine. The bottom inch of the wine was sediment, so my dad filtered it into a tea pitcher. It was so good. Very port like.
The vine came from my great uncle's place in Troy. We harvested his place for years when my dad decide it would be much easier if the grapes were in the backyard, and didn't require an extension latter.
I have no idea if being on the terrace was crucial other than to ensure good drainage. Planted in black soil. East Bell County. No maintenance other than training the vines.
I remember a night in 2000 when my dad, a couple of college my buddies and I finished off a bottle of 1980 mustang grape wine. It was the end of a long night of 42 and drinking. We were out of booze when my dad said, "I'll be right back."
My buddies and I were waiting for him to bring out a bottle of Jack. Nope. 20 year old homemade wine. The bottom inch of the wine was sediment, so my dad filtered it into a tea pitcher. It was so good. Very port like.
The vine came from my great uncle's place in Troy. We harvested his place for years when my dad decide it would be much easier if the grapes were in the backyard, and didn't require an extension latter.
Anyone care to post a step by step on how they make fruit wine? I've tried multiple times and have only had a decent result one time. Of course I didn't write down how I did it though. I always have a metric ton of PP tunas and shame to waste them by not turning to wine. I have tried several web step by step but never seem to get a decent wine.
Honey Mead is a pretty easy, quick and yummy alternative.
My dad always told me east bell county.
dtrAg08
Reel Aggies said:
Anyone care to post a step by step on how they make fruit wine? I've tried multiple times and have only had a decent result one time. Of course I didn't write down how I did it though. I always have a metric ton of PP tunas and shame to waste them by not turning to wine. I have tried several web step by step but never seem to get a decent wine.
Worked with some guys that made cactus tuna wine, still have an unopened bottle. The only comments I remember about the quality of that wine was that after drinking 2 glasses one of them said he couldn't feel his legs. My bottle will remain decorative.
Man you brought a good memory back for me.
My dad and his three brothers bought places at Lake LBJ when it was still called Lake Granite Shoals.
There was a secluded cove up towards where the Llano River and Colorado River came together that had a steep wall that was covered by mustang grapes.
My dad and mom would take his 14' DuraCraft and spread a tarp over it and go up under those vines to get the grapes. They would then make wine and give it to the whole family. Dad also made Peach wine.
I was just a kid so they would just let me have small samples. I never learned how to do it from them and they are both passed now.
Thanks for the memory.
My dad and his three brothers bought places at Lake LBJ when it was still called Lake Granite Shoals.
There was a secluded cove up towards where the Llano River and Colorado River came together that had a steep wall that was covered by mustang grapes.
My dad and mom would take his 14' DuraCraft and spread a tarp over it and go up under those vines to get the grapes. They would then make wine and give it to the whole family. Dad also made Peach wine.
I was just a kid so they would just let me have small samples. I never learned how to do it from them and they are both passed now.
Thanks for the memory.
As a homebrewer of 20 years, if you're interested in making wine/mead/beer a great place to start is your local homebrew club. Most of those that have been doing this awhile have fermented just about everything.
People love to share what they have, mostly because we just make too much. 1st tip is, don't take advice from anyone who's hooch you haven't tried.
You don't need much in the way of fancy equipment, but in TX fermenting temp is a really big deal. Doesn't matter how good the recipe and ingredients are if you can't control ferm temp. You can create long chain alcohols that will give you a wicked hangover.
The absolute easiest to start with is dry cider, and you can pick this up at the grocery store.
You need a food grade bucket, or carboy (Better Bottle), and then a way to package it, bottles or kegs.
Look at craigslist/marketplace or talk to local homebrewers who may have used equipment to sell.
Should be able to get going with $200-500 in start up costs. If doing wine a floor corker will be needed. As well as a press for removing wine from skins.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-carboy-6-gal.html
If not adding skins. This is great for ciders/beer/Mead.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/fermonster-carboy-6-gal.html
Larger opening.
For wine you need to degass the must, and also acid balance it when complete.
Mead is a little more tricky due to the nutrient cycle you have to add.
Beer is by far the most complicated for equipment requirements as well as fermentation and packaging to avoid oxidization.
People love to share what they have, mostly because we just make too much. 1st tip is, don't take advice from anyone who's hooch you haven't tried.
You don't need much in the way of fancy equipment, but in TX fermenting temp is a really big deal. Doesn't matter how good the recipe and ingredients are if you can't control ferm temp. You can create long chain alcohols that will give you a wicked hangover.
The absolute easiest to start with is dry cider, and you can pick this up at the grocery store.
You need a food grade bucket, or carboy (Better Bottle), and then a way to package it, bottles or kegs.
Look at craigslist/marketplace or talk to local homebrewers who may have used equipment to sell.
Should be able to get going with $200-500 in start up costs. If doing wine a floor corker will be needed. As well as a press for removing wine from skins.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-carboy-6-gal.html
If not adding skins. This is great for ciders/beer/Mead.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/fermonster-carboy-6-gal.html
Larger opening.
For wine you need to degass the must, and also acid balance it when complete.
Mead is a little more tricky due to the nutrient cycle you have to add.
Beer is by far the most complicated for equipment requirements as well as fermentation and packaging to avoid oxidization.
aTm '99
I think I'm going to go for it.. THIS year.
Looks like Messina Hof and someone called En Gedi are the two closest vineyards/ wineries near my property. Hopefully one of the two can give me some cuttings of their Lenoir/ Black Spanish vines.
Looks like Messina Hof and someone called En Gedi are the two closest vineyards/ wineries near my property. Hopefully one of the two can give me some cuttings of their Lenoir/ Black Spanish vines.
Didn't end up getting anything planted this year… but I did identify some mustang grape vines already growing naturally on my property yesterday. Using barbed wire fence as its own trellis system. Will be watching this summer to see it bears any fruit.
I've had my land for about 8 months now. I didn't see any fruit this summer on any of the Mustang vines I've found on the property.. saw a lot of mustang grapes on neighboring properties in July, but only where the vines were up high in the trees.. maybe mine is male and didn't produce fruit, or maybe all the fruit on lower vines is consumed by the wildlife before I ever see it, or both.
I have also identified a big cluster of mature persimmon trees, but looks like only a few have fruit (assume the others are male?). Maybe I'll take a stab at making some persimmon wine some day
..but in my mostly wooded <100 acre property, I do have this one big open 8-10 acre hillside pasture that gets a lot of sunlight, with a working water spigot at the top of the hill and the pond down at the bottom of the hill . ..and since places like Mesina Hof have been successful in this same region, I'm going to go ahead and send a soil test to the A&M Agrilife extension this fall and attempt to get started with some black spanish vines next spring.
I only want to start a few long rows of vines to see if i can one day produce enough wine per year to get me drunk all year and to have when guests come out. Anyone have advice on protecting the crop area in the most cost effective manner? chatGPT advises me to install deer fence at least 8' tall, hot wire on the bottom for deer, coons, and other mammals, hardware cloth or mesh fencing around the vines for rabbits, bird netting the vines when fruit is present, rodent bait stations and gopher traps around the area, etc, etc., etc. ...that all sounds like a lot .. and expensive.. could it be sufficient if I just put up a cattle panel perimeter with a solar powered hot wire near the bottom, and maybe install an owl box or a hawk perch nearby to help with rabbits, mice, smaller birds, etc.? I know the deer can still hop over cattle panel, but maybe they won't discover the vines if it's inconvenient? ...i have no feeders out elsewhere on the property for deer yet, because I don't want to attract the sounders of hogs that are always passing through destroying everything on the lower part of the property.
I have also identified a big cluster of mature persimmon trees, but looks like only a few have fruit (assume the others are male?). Maybe I'll take a stab at making some persimmon wine some day
..but in my mostly wooded <100 acre property, I do have this one big open 8-10 acre hillside pasture that gets a lot of sunlight, with a working water spigot at the top of the hill and the pond down at the bottom of the hill . ..and since places like Mesina Hof have been successful in this same region, I'm going to go ahead and send a soil test to the A&M Agrilife extension this fall and attempt to get started with some black spanish vines next spring.
I only want to start a few long rows of vines to see if i can one day produce enough wine per year to get me drunk all year and to have when guests come out. Anyone have advice on protecting the crop area in the most cost effective manner? chatGPT advises me to install deer fence at least 8' tall, hot wire on the bottom for deer, coons, and other mammals, hardware cloth or mesh fencing around the vines for rabbits, bird netting the vines when fruit is present, rodent bait stations and gopher traps around the area, etc, etc., etc. ...that all sounds like a lot .. and expensive.. could it be sufficient if I just put up a cattle panel perimeter with a solar powered hot wire near the bottom, and maybe install an owl box or a hawk perch nearby to help with rabbits, mice, smaller birds, etc.? I know the deer can still hop over cattle panel, but maybe they won't discover the vines if it's inconvenient? ...i have no feeders out elsewhere on the property for deer yet, because I don't want to attract the sounders of hogs that are always passing through destroying everything on the lower part of the property.
Which of the 12 different options should I get for a soil test? Just a routine analysis good enough?
It's all Bermuda now- getting the analysis to see if any lime or other treatment might be necessary to consider with the intention of planting a few rows of grape vines.
It's all Bermuda now- getting the analysis to see if any lime or other treatment might be necessary to consider with the intention of planting a few rows of grape vines.
#1 if you're of the "close is good enough" for your lime recommendation.
#7 if you want a better recommendation as texture will make a big difference on lime reactivity and nutrient availability.
#7 if you want a better recommendation as texture will make a big difference on lime reactivity and nutrient availability.
Thank you!
Anyone know how long it usually takes to get emailed soil analysis back? A&M agrilife extension received my sample about two weeks ago.
been almost three weeks on the soil test and no analysis yet.. is that normal or should I try to call them soon?
been watching a lot of youtube videos and asking AI bots a lot of questions. Got the soil analysis and now know what amendments I need to make before planting a few rows of vines. Before starting any discing, amendments, or other soil prep, I'm going to start the perimeter fence for my vineyard in the next few weeks.
Right now, I'm thinking woven wire fencing for hog and most varmint exclusion and a solar-powered hot wire about 6" off the ground just inside the perimeter fence for smaller varmints and rodents that might burrow under the woven wire. Instead of 8' tall woven wire to exclude deer from eating my vines and grapes, which seems expensive and hard to find, i was thinking I'd just put normal/available 47" woven wire, but for every other t-post along the fence runs on all four sides, I'll use a really tall 8 or 9' t-post so that i can tie some thick hi-viz marine rope around the perimeter at about 7.5 - 8' high so deer don't even think about negotiating how they might be able jump over both the fence and the rope. Will hang a 12' gate so i can get a tractor or UTV into the vineyard plot when/if/as needed.
does this plan for vineyard perimeter /exclusion fence make sense? anyone have other / better suggestions?
I'm about to embark on a crazy and stupid journey trying to teach myself some things; digging post holes, setting secure and plumb wood posts, building and tensioning H-braces, using a fence stretcher and come-along to tighten and secure woven wire fence... I'm scared for my safety, my back and my bum shoulder, and my bank account, but excited for a labor of love on my land.
Right now, I'm thinking woven wire fencing for hog and most varmint exclusion and a solar-powered hot wire about 6" off the ground just inside the perimeter fence for smaller varmints and rodents that might burrow under the woven wire. Instead of 8' tall woven wire to exclude deer from eating my vines and grapes, which seems expensive and hard to find, i was thinking I'd just put normal/available 47" woven wire, but for every other t-post along the fence runs on all four sides, I'll use a really tall 8 or 9' t-post so that i can tie some thick hi-viz marine rope around the perimeter at about 7.5 - 8' high so deer don't even think about negotiating how they might be able jump over both the fence and the rope. Will hang a 12' gate so i can get a tractor or UTV into the vineyard plot when/if/as needed.
does this plan for vineyard perimeter /exclusion fence make sense? anyone have other / better suggestions?
I'm about to embark on a crazy and stupid journey trying to teach myself some things; digging post holes, setting secure and plumb wood posts, building and tensioning H-braces, using a fence stretcher and come-along to tighten and secure woven wire fence... I'm scared for my safety, my back and my bum shoulder, and my bank account, but excited for a labor of love on my land.
Don't forget to pee on them.
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