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Will a little mould ruin the wine?

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:27 pm
by benner
I obtained a load of grapes today, most bunches were sound but some had mould. Ranging from a few grapes to a clump of mouldy mess. Obviously i'm picking out the worst of it but i think some will have gone in unnoticed. I intend to add campden tablets before pitching wine yeast, is this likely to save it?

Cheers
Benner

Re: Will a little mould ruin the wine?

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:36 pm
by MKG
It's not ideal, but I imagine a lot of wines have mould-bitten grapes in there somewhere. Some moulds are actually beneficial - botrytis, for instance. Picking out the worst affected grapes is about as much as you can do (and is what would happen in a commercial environment), and the Campden tablets should effectively kill off the rest. And, once you get a decent colony of yeast in there, any remaining mould spores don't stand a chance. I would imagine that as long as the non-mouldy grapes outnumber the mouldy grapes by a fair amount, your wine will be fine - alcohol is a great disinfectant.

Mike

Re: Will a little mould ruin the wine?

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:05 am
by benner
Thanks Mike.