Welch's Grape Juice Wine

So I racked it into secondary and tasted the hydrometer test and love this wine. I cheated and when racking I did a half gallon into a carlo bottle and conditioning it for a few weeks/month maybe to drink while the rest will age as the recipe calls for. Going to make another batch in a week or two when I start up my next apfelwein batch and some honey mead (basically my next BJs run)

In one gal batch what do you use for a primary and it said to top up do you use water?

FireCaptain said:

In one gal batch what do you use for a primary and it said to top up do you use water?

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I use a Carlo Rossi wine jug for primary. I top up with water, when fermentation slows.

whew i finally made it through all 200+ posts on here. started my 6 gallon batch last month only used 5 pounds or so of sugar in the batch which is a bit low i know, starting SG 1.08 just racked to the secondary after about 30 days SG was 0.99 took a sample and it was very tart. planning to let it sit for an additional 30 days then backsweeten to a medium-sweet wine. i did notice when transferring that the bottom of the primary was white and yeasty, is this the lees that everyone is talking about? We also F-d up and added 2 packets of yeast thinking that 1 packet was only good for 5 gallons. oh if i'd only found this site earlier.

LoneTreeFarms said:

whew i finally made it through all 200+ posts on here. started my 6 gallon batch last month only used 5 pounds or so of sugar in the batch which is a bit low i know, starting SG 1.08 just racked to the secondary after about 30 days SG was 0.99 took a sample and it was very tart. planning to let it sit for an additional 30 days then backsweeten to a medium-sweet wine. i did notice when transferring that the bottom of the primary was white and yeasty, is this the lees that everyone is talking about? We also F-d up and added 2 packets of yeast thinking that 1 packet was only good for 5 gallons. oh if i'd only found this site earlier.

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An extra package of yeast is fine- it's not going to have any effect. That stuff on the bottom with yeast, and possibly some colored material, is the "lees". Lees will form in secondary, too, but not as much.

YooperBrew said:

Then, crush a campden tablet into 1/4 cup boiling water and stir it to dissolve, then add it to the wine. H2S will ruin the wine if not taken care of.

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Won't a campden tab kill the present yeast?

YooperBrew said:

An extra package of yeast is fine- it's not going to have any effect. That stuff on the bottom with yeast, and possibly some colored material, is the "lees". Lees will form in secondary, too, but not as much.

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FWIW, I use 1/8 tspn yeast to begin a starter to pitch one gallon. I don't always use a starter, but it is the best way to do it. The rest of the dry yeast has to be stored under vacuum and refrigerated or it will die. If you don't have a way to vacuum your yeast, just pitch it all at once.

Using this method I can use one package of yeast to start 15(ish) one gallon batches from one package of yeast.

Otherwise, for a one to five gallon batch, one package is fine; more won't hurt or help. If you plan to ferment more than five gallons with no starter, I would advise you to use more than one package.

I like to begin a starter with the must, but that's just me. You can use sugar-water and a little nutrient and it will work just fine.

You can pitch ten packages to one gallon of must and it won't hurt. It's just wasteful, not harmful. It will turn out the same either way.

Yooper,

Do you stir the must every day during Primary fermentation?

I've tried it without stirring it every day but it seems to stall if I don't. It seems like the nutrient settles to the bottom as if it were lees. When it is in secondary it doesn't seem to care if I stir it or not.

I wonder if you have the same experience?

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

Satori said:

Yooper,

Do you stir the must every day during Primary fermentation?

I've tried it without stirring it every day but it seems to stall if I don't. It seems like the nutrient settles to the bottom as if it were lees. When it is in secondary it doesn't seem to care if I stir it or not.

I wonder if you have the same experience?

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

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Yes, I stir all of my wines in primary, especially ones with fruit in it. The nutrient doesn't settle for me, though- it's dissolved pretty well. I just stir to break up the "cap" and to get some oxygen to the must. Once it gets to about 1.020-1.010, I rack to the secondary and no longer stir it.

ok I am new and have been reading your blog. here is what I have done. I took a Milk jug and cleaned it out very well and added 2-46oz Welches 100% concord grape juice. then I added 1.5 cups of sugar and 3 yes 3 packets of bakers yeast. It has been in storage for 5 days and with a cotton ball in the top>(which didnt keep it from foaming over) none the less the foam receded and is now bubbling. I had it scheduled to vapor lock in in a couple of days and let sit for a month then filter and bottle. I really don't think the wine will last long since it is less than a gallon. my question is this. Since I don't plan on aging it do I need any additional ingredients ie. sorbate etc. and what can I expect to get from from this batch. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Medwards7 said:

ok I am new and have been reading your blog. here is what I have done. I took a Milk jug and cleaned it out very well and added 2-46oz Welches 100% concord grape juice. then I added 1.5 cups of sugar and 3 yes 3 packets of bakers yeast. It has been in storage for 5 days and with a cotton ball in the top>(which didnt keep it from foaming over) none the less the foam receded and is now bubbling. I had it scheduled to vapor lock in in a couple of days and let sit for a month then filter and bottle. I really don't think the wine will last long since it is less than a gallon. my question is this. Since I don't plan on aging it do I need any additional ingredients ie. sorbate etc. and what can I expect to get from from this batch. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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No, if you're not planning on keeping it long, no need for sulfites. You only use sorbate if you're sweetening, to keep it from refermenting when you add sugar.

Can I use canning pectin in place of pectic enzyme? It's the same stuff, right? Also, is there something that I can use in place of the acid blend? I'm thinking a couple of drops of lime juice or something.

artyboy said:

Can I use canning pectin in place of pectic enzyme? It's the same stuff, right? Also, is there something that I can use in place of the acid blend? I'm thinking a couple of drops of lime juice or something.

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I think the canning pectin is the exact opposite of pectic enzyme! That is, the canning pectin is to help set the pectins, while the pectic enzyme (pectinase) breaks up the pectins. I think canning pectin is for making jams and jellies, in which you want a thick globby pectin mass.

If you don't have pectic enzyme, it's fine to leave it out. It only works to help clear the wine of any pectin haze. Instead of acid blend, you can use some lemon juice if you need it. I wouldn't just add it though, until you taste the final product. The wine is pretty tart as it is, and citric acid alone (from citrus fruit) might not be very good. Acid blend has malic, citric, and tartaric acid in it, so it's not just citric acid.

Wondering a general consensus on which yeast y'all like best for this recipe?
(I plan on a dry red table wine as a result of this recipe--probably no back sweetening and I don't mind aging up to 18 months.)

1) 71b-11122
2) D47
3) EC-1118
4) K1V-1116
5) Other-Please advise

I have or can get any of these pretty easily and I want to make a few small batches (3 gallons) to determine if it's for me. If it turns out decent+ then I'll probably make in batches of 10-15 gallons at a time to set aside for longer aging times.

I like EC-1118 myself for this. It bubbles up a lot as first but it seems to finish fast with no bad flavor to my taste.

Later: But I don't age my wines. I prefer them fresh, as soon as they clear.

its been about 16 hrs. and no fermentation yet. I used 5 1 gal. walmart 100% grape juice jugs. (this is grape juice already made from concentrate and juice). i used 1 lb sugar and 1 lb. corn sugar. and montrachet yeast packet. used this exact method for Apfelwien and is working great.

I've been using D47 and 71B for mine. I like stuff to the sweeter side. And, I've been making it in 2 gal. batches. It goes fast. Last batch, I added 1 lb. of chopped dates and left it for a week. If it had hung around, it would have been more towards port-like. There are so many ways you can go with this recipe. I just started a Blueberry Pomegranet 4/28/10. It is working away. I plan on starting another Apple Raspberry over the weekend. Is funny, I really hated grape juice as a kid, but this changes the grape into something loveable.

My OG ended up being 1.086. I'm going to try using bread yeast as a cheap experiment. I just made my starter this morning and now it's going strong. I'll probably pitch it tonight. What can I expect?

artyboy said:

My OG ended up being 1.086. I'm going to try using bread yeast as a cheap experiment. I just made my starter this morning and now it's going strong. I'll probably pitch it tonight. What can I expect?

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Bet the bread yeast fizzles out long before the sugar's all gone, not necessarily a bad thing if you want a sweet dessert type wine.

My first batch had an OG of around 1.110 and lavlin ec1118 took that to a sub 1.0 fg, pretty much ate up all the sugar. However I bottled it like I would beer to bottle carb it, and it did not carb ONE BIT, not even a weak "pfft" when you pop the cork (champagne bottles & corks of course).

About 5 days into my first batch of this. Used EC-1118.

Really looking forward to seeing how this will turn out.

I must say, I've gone cross eyed on this stuff, not bad, but the concord grape comes out way more than I expected...

aw hell, I'm drunk =] I would call it a win.

Chaos_Being said:

I'll admit, I did not take an OG. I guess I must have felt it wasn't necessary , since the sugar content of the concentrate should have been a known variable. Maybe Welches grew super grapes last year...who knows at this point

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Sorry to bring this up after so long, but the thing to keep in mind is that Welch's is a 100% natural product. There will be variations from batch to batch so, don't count on a consistent SG; you won't get it.

I just finished bottling my first batch. The labeled ones are going to be aged for a few months. I can't let all 4 bottles sit around for that long without at least trying it, though.

Sorry for this, but I just have to because I'm very excited (and a little tipsy)!

Okay, I've only been making my own wine for about six months now, but this is amazing to me.

About three weeks ago I started a very simple 1 gal. frozen gape juice concentrate wine. I used 2 cans of Concord grape concentrate, 3.5 cups sugar, 1 tsp. yeast nutrient. That's it.

I crushed up a Campden tab, added the juice and topped it off with tap-water (Tucson actually has pretty good tap water). I wait 12 to 20 hours before I pitch it as a general rule. This time I used a "medium" speed yeast, Red Star Premier Cuvee. I like EC-1118 usually because it's a fast ferment, but I wanted to try something different this time.

After 48 hours it was foaming up so much I decided to fit the air-lock early to avoid the mess. Fermentation settled down within a couple days but I just left the air lock on anyway (well, a clean one, but I kept it locked). After a few days there was very little activity.

I was like, “what?” Why did it stop already?

Convinced I was faced with a stuck fermentation, I made a starter with my trusty EC-1118 and pitched it at the two week mark.

Nothing.

So... today I decided to rack it. While I was at it I took a sample, expecting a cloyingly sweet mess. I tasted the sample and it was DONE! This thing fermented 3.5 CUPS of sugar in just 10 days! 6 days of primary and 4 days of secondary. I never saw another bubble after that! I've heard this was possible, but I've never experienced it until now.

The results? Well, I'm not big on aging. I'm never going to try to make a fine vintage. I don't have the patience to age my wines; I only make fresh wines. Also, I have a very heavy head-cold so I can hardly taste or smell right now. Yet, to me this seems like a semi-sweet Merlot. Immature, to be sure, and slightly “hot.” Not as much body either, but still very drinkable (I'm on my second glass).

Oh, I should also warn you that I'm by no means a wine aficionado. To me, semi-sweet means you can feel the dryness, but it's not so dry that it makes my mouth pucker up. Maybe that's what everyone else means, and maybe it isn't. I wouldn't know. Deep down, I'm a beer drinker who got interested in making wine at home.

This was my experience. Your mileage my vary.

Yooper! i brewed, musted, made? 2 1 gallon batches of this on the 15th of May one with just the niagra and the other with concord. I followed your instructions except for the acid blend i was going to add it when its done i let it sit in primary without an airlock for 10 days and than air locked it. I let it sit in primary for a month total racked it to secondary and took a sample and gravity reading 1.020 on both of them still really sweet. took another reading today and both haven't moved. Should i pitch some -1118 with energizer and hope it takes it down to dry?

jppostKW said:

Yooper! i brewed, musted, made? 2 1 gallon batches of this on the 15th of May one with just the niagra and the other with concord. I followed your instructions except for the acid blend i was going to add it when its done i let it sit in primary without an airlock for 10 days and than air locked it. I let it sit in primary for a month total racked it to secondary and took a sample and gravity reading 1.020 on both of them still really sweet. took another reading today and both haven't moved. Should i pitch some -1118 with energizer and hope it takes it down to dry?

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Both are 1.020, each with a whole package of yeast? That's weird. I'd go ahead and add a package of EC1118, along with a pinch of nutrient.

YooperBrew said:

Both are 1.020, each with a whole package of yeast? That's weird. I'd go ahead and add a package of EC1118, along with a pinch of nutrient.

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split a package of montrachet between the two originally which even still is plenty of yeast. I just re-hydrated and pitched a pack of ec1118 yeast between the 2 with some yeast energizer keeping my fingers crossed as i clean up the volcano.........

First gallon we did came out sooo good.we have 5 gallons going with 2.5 gallons of fresh grapes off the vine.cant wait

Hi after failing my first fruit wine (peach) i did a welchs grape concentrate concord and it came out ok..using this recipe (jack kellers) it was kind of acidic and tart tasting even thought i only used 4tsp acidblend instead of the 12tsp(everything ramped up for 6 gal except sugar and yeast)that was reccomened
could i just leave it out next time? i herd acid also aids in preservation so i dont want it to go bad by not adding it but i think its pretty acidic anyways
and 30 bottles goes quickly (gifts and visitors) so it is drank young around my house like i said its not bad but tart/acidic

Sure, you don't have to use it at all if you don't want to. It's just for taste, and it isn't pleasing to you, then there's no need to use it.

Yooper_Brew said:

Sure, you don't have to use it at all if you don't want to. It's just for taste, and it isn't pleasing to you, then there's no need to use it.

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thanks no acid blend then..

yea i really want to do one more and if nothing goes wrong then ill go back to fruit again
all those peachs going to waste last time killed me i though it was gonna turn out good still havent figured out what happened i still have it 6 gals in 1/2gal jugs has a smell/taste of yeast/lees it was racked promptly every 2 weeks until no more fell also used bentonite been in jugs for 2/3 months not one drop of sediment still smeel/taste of yeast oh well will pour it out soon..but a question have you ever tryed the white grape and raspberry and why do all the recipes for welchs frozen concentrate on jack kellers site have the *EXACT* same recipe for 4 diffrent flavors..dosent seem to actully be tested recipes just guesses...no? also i want to pick up a 3 gal better bottle(all i have is a 6gal glass) and do a vintners harvest blueberry anybody have expirence with that ?

Yoop,

I saw earlier that you liked the white Niagra. I noticed it has, potassium metabisulfate as preservative. Have you fermented the Niagra before?

Have you ever thought of subbing concentrate for sugar?

Do you think this is a migraine maker? Edwort states his AW causes terrible headaches. I was thinking the sugar makes a different type of acohol than pure juice. I can't substantiate this with any fact.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks.

Schlenkerla said:

Yoop,

I saw earlier that you liked the white Niagra. I noticed it has, potassium metabisulfate as preservative. Have you fermented the Niagra before?

Have you ever thought of subbing concentrate for sugar?

Do you think this is a migraine maker? Edwort states his AW causes terrible headaches. I was thinking the sugar makes a different type of acohol than pure juice. I can't substantiate this with any fact.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks.

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I think headaches come from overindulgence. I mean, this stuff is 12% ABV so three glasses is a lot of alcohol.

I have done the Niagara, but not lately. The sulfite should be fine. Maybe mix it all up, except for the yeast, and stir very well and then just add the yeast the next day to be sure that the sulfites dissipate.

Thanks Yoop!

I would most likely have to agree on the over indulgence. Three wine glasses should be equal to three beers, as would three shots. I once remember a schooling I got on wine glasses. The white wine glasses are larger than the red glasses. I believe that is directly proportional to the abv.

I suppose headaches can come from wines that had hot fermenting too. Maybe not having an agreement physically with sulfates if over done.

I wasn't sure if was typical for wines to use so much sugar. I was thinking that abv was mostly from juice concentrate.

sorry if this has been covered in the past but I just racked mine to a secondary. This batch is 5 gallons where the first was only 1. I wanted a bit more body this time so I racked it onto a couple handfuls of chopped white raisins. My questions is how long should I let it sit on the raisins? Then do I rack again and how long before bottling?

Thanks

have u noticed a difference in the frozen concentrate/regular juice which one is better

klcramer said:

sorry if this has been covered in the past but I just racked mine to a secondary. This batch is 5 gallons where the first was only 1. I wanted a bit more body this time so I racked it onto a couple handfuls of chopped white raisins. My questions is how long should I let it sit on the raisins? Then do I rack again and how long before bottling?

Thanks

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I think I've added raisins for a month or so, then racked off of them then. I bottle whenever no new lees drop, and the wine is clear.

How well does this age? How have some of the blends come out?

have u noticed a difference in the frozen concentrate or regular unfrozen welchs juice any diffrence in taste/acidity