General Concentrate Wine

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brazedowl

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So I got started in winemaking with regular frozen concentrates from Walmart. I have made MANY different wines as variations of this basic recipe below. They turn out sweet and high octane and very enjoyable. I get particularly high praise from those who "don't like wine". It's also super easy for noobs.

~~Ingredients~~
10# Sugar
10 Containers Frozen Concentrate (your choice)
1 tbls nutrient
1 tbls energizer
1pkt Montrachet yeast
Water to 5.5 gal

~~Prep~~
1) dissolve sugar, nutrient, energizer, in 1-2 gallons of warm water. I kept it on the stove on the lowest setting until it was all dissolved. Stir regularly or the sugar will stick to the bottom.

2) Choose any ten concentrates. Cranberry, apple, grape, daquri, lemonade... mix and match however you like! Let them completely thaw out to room temp. That way you're not trying to add hot water to compensate for the 10 blocks of ice you just put in the bucket/carboy.

3) Add concentrate to bucket. Rinse out each container and add rinsing to primary.

4) Once contents of the pot on the stove are dissolved pour over the bags and stir.

5) If using a brew bucket add water until at 5.5-6 gallons. If using a carboy add water until up to the neck. Add airlock and wait.

A week or two later...

6) Once airlock bubbling has slowed to a near stop, rack off lees into a secondary. If you're really new and only have this one fermenting container. You can just leave it in there until it's clear and then bottle. I haven't had any spoiled wines that way either.

7) Add Airlock. let sit until clear.

Month or two later....

8) Bottle. I'm partial to beer bottles for this type of brew. Crown caps and cheaper and beer bottles are more plentiful. Also it makes for nice single serving bottles. :)

9) Enjoy

~~Add your twist~~
A) Mix and match your concentrates

B) Start experimenting with the effects of acid blends, different types of sugar, tannin, yeasts.

C) Consider spices (Cinnamon sticks, allspice, cloves, etc) for holiday brews.

D) Swap out some concentrate for pie fillings (Cherry, Blueberry, Blackberry, etc). Some flavors aren't available cheaply in a local store as concentrate. Save the fruit after the primary and use in pies still. ;)

~~Moral of the story~~
Cheap ($20-$25). Easy SWEET. Enjoyed by all.
 
I made a "fruit punch" like this using concentrates last year. Used cans of Dole mango-pineapple-orange-banana-strawberry-etc. Turned out great. Tastes exactly like you'd think a fruity-punch kinda wine would. :)
 
sounds GREAT! I might start a batch of it soon so it's ready for spring/summer.

Do you have specifics of which ones you used? :)
 
Hrrrm, I used a total of 15 cans for a 5.5 gal batch (I always start with an extra half gallon or so for racking). I might had the exact ones in my logbook at home, but it was 5 cans each of 3 different kinds. It was whatever the 3 tropical sounding Dole varieties are... like orange-mango-pineapple, orange-strawberry-banana, and pineapple-orange-banana, or something like that.
 
I would like to try this but have some questions.
What is #10 sugar?
In step #4 it says to pour over bags, what bags?
And I'm guessing you add the yeast after step #5? Do you sprinkle on top or stir it in? Thanks.
 
haha

a) that'd be 10 pounds

b) oops for proofreading. I was thinking bags because I normally put fresh fruit in bags in the primary. But being that this is a concentrate recipe it should just read to pour into primary. (I'll edit it as such)
 
THANK you, brother brazedowl. I have had this idea rolling around in my head since the first time I looked at skeeterpee.. I'm grateful you walked the path before me :rockin:

So that comes to 2lb sugar and 2 cans concentrate per gallon, eh? Just figured I'd put that down for anyone who wants to scale it.
 
No attention is paid to acidity with this recipe. You don't really need to worry unless you use like lemonade concentrate or something with extreme acidity.
 
Anybody tried this with cranberry? I just put together a 1 gallon test batch today. I used 2 cans cranberry, 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, and Lalvin D47.
 
Just tasted my cranberry batch and racked to secondary today. It's good but it's quite tart. I'm thinking it may need to be blended 50/50 with something else but I'm going to give it a while to clear up more first. Definitely encouraging but that 50/50 grape/cranberry is sounding like it might be my next attempt here.
 
What is tbls of nutrient? also what temp does this have to sit at? I was looking for an easy wine to get started in wine making, this looks like the one. i like that you give options to make it our own. As a beer brewer and never having done a wine before, I'm going to try this recipe. Does this bubble through an air lock like a beer would? I usually use a blow off tube for beer since they can really bubble off and explode your top even. Thanks!
 
A) I'm lazy and just do 1tbl of nutrient and energizer and don't really think about it.

B) No need for a blow off tube. No krausen to consider.
 
Thanks for the answers! Missing one though, What temp does this have to ferment at?
 
I ferment everything at 75F. Some yeasts don't mind it higher or lower, but all the ones I use like it at 75.
 
Thanks for the response. I will give this a go soon and will report back.
 
argh. I'm getting a problem I've encountered before when dealing with straight grape, and sometimes with cran-grape when it's more than 60% grape.

The solution seems to be too concentrated and is stressing the crap out of the yeast. I think someone said something about osmotic pressure or something on another thread. Going to have to draw off a half gallon or so and dilute with water. That fixed it last time, and it ended up being one of my tastiest strongest batches ever.

Just thought I'd mention it so that if that happens to anyone they don't panic :)
 
Brazedowl,

If I wanted to scale this down to 1 gal, what do I do about the Tablets of nutient and energizer and then the yeast? Do you still use a full tablets and all the yeast? I thought I would try this on a smaller scale before the 5 gal plunge.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
A) Try a half tsp of energizer and nutrient
B) If you scale-down the sugar it should be like 2lbs. Try 1.5 just to make sure you don't stress out the yeast
C) Speaking of yeast. One packet of yeast is good for up to 6 gallons I think they say. So just put the whole thing in. Unless you're using bulk yeast, in which case just put the same in for one full batch. It wont hurt. You'll just give them more yeast cells to start with. Also, not everyone does this, but I do a starter by letting the yeast sit in some warm water with a tablespoon of sugar while I put everything else together. I find it helps to evenly distribute the yeast when I add it to the batch that way.
 
What is the starting gravity and the finished? Will it ferment dry. I have a five gallon batch stuck at 1030. It is a little over a month old and the test sample was sweet to me. Going to re pitch some 1118 today and try to get it going. Thanks Mike
 
Sometimes the OG is so high that the yeast doesn't get started or can peeter out. Did it start vigorously and then stop? I had to take out about 3L and topped back up with water. It went off like crazy. I siphoned the 3L off into a 4L carlo rosi bottle and topped it with water and it took off too. I'll recombine the two volumes when it comes time to bottle so as not to lose any. That would be my advice, 1.03 is pretty sweet for it to be done.
 
It took off for about two weeks then slowed to a stop. It isn't doing anything now looks clear and flat no bubbles. Mike
How big was your batch? I'm still leaning with pulling off half or 3/4 of a gallon, and cutting in with that much water. Do the same with what you pull off in a separate 1gal jug and then recombine at bottling. :tank:

The frozen concentrates are what size? 12 oz? 6 oz? Some come in both sizes.
12oz frozen. :fro:
 
In the original recipe, I would think you could reduce the amt of sugar according to taste? I prefer my wine drier, so I am thinking 1# or less per can? Any thoughts?
 
Oh yes. You can adjust it to your taste. If you want it to ferment drier you'll just need a lower starting gravity.
 
I used cranberry blend - old orchard concentrate. Should I be worried that there is no action in the airlock? It has been fermenting since Sunday. It is foaming up. First day I did not airlock it. I stirred it yesterday. Any thoughts?
 
Hmm... I'm at a loss. My straight-grape concentrate wine is plugging along pretty well at the moment. Cranberry can be a little acidic so maybe that's having an effect?
 
Should I just let it go or is there something I should do. This is my first wine that Is from a recipe. I am a definite newbie.
 
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