Niagara harvest

Seeing that the birds were going to have their way, we decided to go ahead with the harvest.  The reading on the refractometer was only 12 for the whole combined juice, which is way lower than I would like to see but it was harvest or lose them.  Still, it was the best harvest we have had, in spite of losing all of one vine to the birds. 

The grapes were gorgeous--large, heavy clusters.  By taste, I would have thought they were much sweeter than the instrument indicated.  I think they will make a good wine.  The low incidence of diseased grapes really made a difference.  I just wish the bird netting, which wasn't cheap, worked better.  I need to research a way to make it work more effectively.

We use this juice steamer to extract the juice on our green grapes and when we make juice from the concords.  It is a great instrument.  It delivers a clear, pure juice and really does a great job getting as much juice as possible from the grapes.  Although it adds some moisture to the end product, it still makes a very rich-bodied juice.

It holds enough grapes to produce about 3 quarts or better, depending on the quality of the grapes.  From the Niagaras, I will take 8 quarts to make 3 gallons and we will still have a couple gallons to make a white grape juice.