Hi,
I've made a few batches of Welch's Concord grape juice wine based on Yooper's recipe, and while I certainly didn't expect to get anything world-class, I was both pleased by the results and interested in how I could improve them. I'm intrigued by the idea of tweaking the recipe to make a $1 bottle of wine that will fool your friends into thinking that it's (low-end) commercial. I want to pull out every cheap trick that people use to disguise bad wine, while keeping the costs as LOW as possible. But I'm still pretty new at this, so I'd welcome any suggestions!
Here goes:
2 cans Welch's 100% concord grape juice concentrate
Sugar and water to 1 gallon, with a final OG of 1.090
Measure TA using test kit, adjust as needed to 0.7% or so
1 tsp Yeast nutrient
8 oz chopped raisins (redundant?)
1 banana?
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 oz oak chips (Medium Heavy toast American oak sound best?)
Leave overnight before adding yeast to allow pectic enzyme to act. Add yeast. After a week, add airlock.
Taste every few weeks, once it's slightly too oaky, rack into new jug. Stabillize, degas.
After a few weeks, taste, backsweeten slightly to balance acidity and bring out fruit flavors, taste, add glycerine (Probably in the ballpark of 1/2 oz?) to increase mouthfeel, taste, add tannin(?), taste, bottle. Age a couple of months at least.
Thoughts? Is oaking and adding tannin a bad idea for this wine? I felt that my versions so far have lacked in complexity, with my best attempt being when I added acid blend and then backsweetened slightly afterwards.
Any other "dirty tricks" to save money or build complexity in this wine?
I've made a few batches of Welch's Concord grape juice wine based on Yooper's recipe, and while I certainly didn't expect to get anything world-class, I was both pleased by the results and interested in how I could improve them. I'm intrigued by the idea of tweaking the recipe to make a $1 bottle of wine that will fool your friends into thinking that it's (low-end) commercial. I want to pull out every cheap trick that people use to disguise bad wine, while keeping the costs as LOW as possible. But I'm still pretty new at this, so I'd welcome any suggestions!
Here goes:
2 cans Welch's 100% concord grape juice concentrate
Sugar and water to 1 gallon, with a final OG of 1.090
Measure TA using test kit, adjust as needed to 0.7% or so
1 tsp Yeast nutrient
8 oz chopped raisins (redundant?)
1 banana?
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 oz oak chips (Medium Heavy toast American oak sound best?)
Leave overnight before adding yeast to allow pectic enzyme to act. Add yeast. After a week, add airlock.
Taste every few weeks, once it's slightly too oaky, rack into new jug. Stabillize, degas.
After a few weeks, taste, backsweeten slightly to balance acidity and bring out fruit flavors, taste, add glycerine (Probably in the ballpark of 1/2 oz?) to increase mouthfeel, taste, add tannin(?), taste, bottle. Age a couple of months at least.
Thoughts? Is oaking and adding tannin a bad idea for this wine? I felt that my versions so far have lacked in complexity, with my best attempt being when I added acid blend and then backsweetened slightly afterwards.
Any other "dirty tricks" to save money or build complexity in this wine?