Suthrncomfrt1884

Recipes 

I am a complete moron when it comes to wine. I don't drink it except on special occassions since I prefer beer.

After tasting my recent batch of Apfelwein, my uncle informed me that there is a field of wild concord grapes right across the street from his house. He said he uses them all the time to make jelly and juice. He also said I should come out and pick a bunch to make a batch of wine.

Now...knowing absolutely nothing about wine, can anyone point me in the right direction? How many do I need? What's the process? Any good recipes someone can give me? Does is need to be boiled like beer? Should I mix the concords with other grape or fruit varieties? Etc, etc, etc.

I'm just at a stand still right now and would love to know how I go about getting a batch together. A good step by step recipe would be excellent. Preferably a very good recipe.

Thanks in advance for the help.

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He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven.

Another HERMS rig...

Suthrncomfrt1884

Recipes 

Anyone? There's gotta be someone out there with a recipe for concorde grapes...

__________________
He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven.

Another HERMS rig...

summersolstice

Recipes 

Look on Jack Keller's website. I'm sure there'll be several Concord recipes there.

Yooper

Recipes 

I've made concord grape wine. It's ok. It's not great, but it's decent. The grapes are acidic, and not with enough natural sugar to make good wine. So, I add sugar and water (to help cut some of the acidity). I used to lower the acid with calcium carbonate and malo-latic acid fermentation (MLF) but found that the finished wine was better without those adjustments.

As summersoltice said, Jack Keller has a recipe for everything! His concord grape info is great:

winemaking: Requested Recipe (Concord Grape Wines)

I've used the first recipe with good results!

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Suthrncomfrt1884

Recipes 

Thanks! I did a little reading this morning about the musky smell that concord grapes give off. Also the lower sugar percentage. The grapes won't be ready for at least another month, so I'll be researching until then.

__________________
He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven.

Another HERMS rig...