Welch's Grape Juice Wine

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That is strange the grape juice alone is 1.062 and I didn't add any water to dilute it.

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That should be correct and that is what beersmith is showing me it should be. That's why I'm confused as to why your gravity went up to 1.100 after only 7 ounces of dextrose. Are you sure you only added 7 ounces ?
 
Yes I think it was that the wine was fermenting and the bubbles raised the hydrometer up? When I measured it last night before pitching the yeast it was 1.088-1.090. Then this morning while fermenting I measured it again at 1.110. And yes I am pretty sure it was only 7 ounces of table sugar. I measure out 20 ounces and then weighted what I had left at 13 ounces. I messed with beers smith and got the same answer as well as a online website that suggested 8 ounces of sugar to get 13% ABV if I start with .75 gallons of must at 1.062. So I will just let it do it's thing and wait and see.
 
All right so everything seems good but I ended up with only .75 gallons of wine in a 1 gallon carboy. So I have a half gallon carboy I can siphon it into and just do something with the rest. Or could I add equal amounts of grape juice and water to top off or will that dilute the wine or make it rocket fuel. Thanks.
 
All right so everything seems good but I ended up with only .75 gallons of wine in a 1 gallon carboy. So I have a half gallon carboy I can siphon it into and just do something with the rest. Or could I add equal amounts of grape juice and water to top off or will that dilute the wine or make it rocket fuel. Thanks.

You could top up with more juice, since it sounds like it was a high OG anyway.
 
Will that make it to High a ABV since I used champagne yeast won't it just keep fermenting and making more alcohol.
 
I see that makes perfect sense thanks so much. This is my first wine ever and I am pretty excited. Thanks again.
 
I hate to ask this, but I have not seen this question answered (if it was I apologize),,,, Can you use Juice Cocktail? Or does the recipe need to use 100% juice?
 
DON'T use the cocktail; it has all kinds of preservatives in it, which will inhibit fermentation. If you can't find the 100 percent juice, then use the one that has ascorbic acid added to it. The thing you need to look for and avoid are the juices/cocktails that list sorbates or sulfites.
 
Welch's Frozen Grape Juice Wine
2 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's 100% frozen grape concentrate
1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar
2 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
water to make 1 gallon
wine yeast

Edit- note! You may want to skip the acid blend, at least at first, as some results say this wine is too "tart".

Bring 1 quart water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Add additional water to make one gallon and pour into secondary. Add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover with napkin fastened with rubber band and set aside 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and recover with napkin. When active fermentation slows down (about 5 days), fit airlock. When clear, rack, top up and refit airlock. After additional 30 days, stabilize, sweeten if desired and rack into bottles.

Ok I have a questen. Can you just pich the yeast right away and not wait 12 hours befor puting the yeast in.

Thanks Roger
 
Ok I have a questen. Can you just pich the yeast right away and not wait 12 hours befor puting the yeast in.

Thanks Roger

No. You don't want pectic enzyme and yeast going in at the same time. They don't "play well together". So if you leave out the pectic enzyme, and any sulfites, you could add the yeast right away. But I would suggest following the recipe at least the first time.
 
I have 6 gallons of white grape/peach in process. I racked to the secondary, added 6 Campden tablets, degassed it and discovered that I didn't have any potassium sorbate on hand. That was a week ago. Is it OK to re-rack onto potassium sorbate at this stage or should I just leave it alone, bottle it and drink it/give it away as is? I will be back-sweetening, so I am wary of kicking off a new fermentation.
 
I have 6 gallons of white grape/peach in process. I racked to the secondary, added 6 Campden tablets, degassed it and discovered that I didn't have any potassium sorbate on hand. That was a week ago. Is it OK to re-rack onto potassium sorbate at this stage or should I just leave it alone, bottle it and drink it/give it away as is? I will be back-sweetening, so I am wary of kicking off a new fermentation.

You don't want to add the sorbate anyway until the wine is totally clear, and no longer throwing any lees at all after at least 60 days. If you're at the point, you can add the sorbate anytime and then sweeten a few days later.
 
Just mixed up three gallons of this stuff. One gallon original concord and two gallons of white grape juice. Going to pitch Montrachet in the morning.

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Has anyone else tried this and what are your results?
 
Just made a similar batch. It was my first wine and I made it because I was bored. My recipe was.

13 cans of frozen apple juice
1 cup of honey
1/2 cup of blackstrap
1/3 cup of sugar
I boiled everything but the juice with a little water then added it to the juice in my ale pail and topped off to 5g and pitched Lalvin EC-1118. I let ferment for 2 weeks then primed with honey and bottled. It's been in the bottles for about a month now.
 
I tried one about two weeks ago it has good carbonation but not much flavor. I don't remember what the gravity readings were but I think I came with 5%abv when I did know. Any suggestions for adding some flavor.
 
racking day today @ 31 days and the expected happened. The wine is quite clear and the SG is 1.010 and OG was 1.118 making an ABV of 14.148%:drunk: The yeast choked out right @ Lalvin specs. ok I know my fault (too much sugar) I must learn how to follow instructions. But anyway, I tasted it and it is very sweet. Now is there anything I can do to fix this? or should I consider it a dessert wine?



I know this post was forever ago but I did the recipe tonight except with cranberry grape (welches) and intentionally upped my OG to roughly 1.118-1.12. I used the exact same yeast and am hoping my yeast chokes out around 1.010 or 1.015, Looking to have a nice sweet wine that packs a punch...good for drinking and getting :drunk:


I will update in roughly 30 days to see what my final SG is and let ya know how it taste, I plan on bottling and leaving for 1-2 months before consuming after that.
 
Have a question about this recipe. I did up a batch of this about 4 moths ago, and it is still in my secondary. Just curious if this ever actually gets "clear" as in you can see through it, or if it just finishes like other deep reds and is more opaque than clear?
 
Have a question about this recipe. I did up a batch of this about 4 moths ago, and it is still in my secondary. Just curious if this ever actually gets "clear" as in you can see through it, or if it just finishes like other deep reds and is more opaque than clear?

It's clear, but since it's dark you have to hold it up to the light to look through a glass.
 
I am new to the site and am attempting to make this wine. I have a question about the yeast, do i use the whole packet? using Lavin EC-118. Thanks agian and have enjoyed reading through the site!

Toby
Columbus, NE
 
A couple of reasons- first of all, it's very foamy and ferments hard. If you used an airlock, it'd be plugged up right away. Secondly, for most wines, the yeast and fermentation NEED oxygen. I stir all of my wines in primary, until they reach about 1.010-1.020 and then put them in secondary and airlock.

Make sure you don't fill to the top during primary- it'll make a mess and grape juice stains hardwood flooring. (ask me how I know!). After it slows down, you can top up and airlock it.

Yooper,

Ok so today was day five and bubbling has slowed down. took read and got a reading of 1.002. I racked into secondary and have placed an airlock on it. Starting SG was 1.096

My question is how long to i wait til i stablize and do i need to add any clearing agents to it?

thanks
 
Yooper,

Ok so today was day five and bubbling has slowed down. took read and got a reading of 1.002. I racked into secondary and have placed an airlock on it. Starting SG was 1.096

My question is how long to i wait til i stablize and do i need to add any clearing agents to it?

thanks

It should clear just fine on its own. It should finish up shortly, and when it stops dropping lees completely after at least 60 days, it'd be fine to stabilize and bottle.
 
thanks for quick responce!!

so do i need to keep checking SG to see if reading stays the same? And that is approximately 60 days, then stabilize. Now for storage during this stage, do i want it in cooler temps or same as I have had it in for primary. 64-66 has been my tempature range, but i can move to basement to get it closer to upper 50's

thanks again
 
thanks for quick responce!!

so do i need to keep checking SG to see if reading stays the same? And that is approximately 60 days, then stabilize. Now for storage during this stage, do i want it in cooler temps or same as I have had it in for primary. 64-66 has been my tempature range, but i can move to basement to get it closer to upper 50's

thanks again

Once it stops, it won't get any lower. So you don't have to keep checking. Let it finish up, and then it will start to clear. Keep it in the mid 60s for at least a month or so, then you can rack it off of the sediment and move it to a cooler place if you really want to. I would keep it where it is, then after it's racked, if no new lees form after 60 days, it's ready to stabilize (if sweetening) and then bottle.
 
I have a couple of 1 gallon glass bottles to use for the fermentation. Can you add water to bring to one gallon after primary fermentation has settled down in order to keep it from bubbling out of the bottle or do you need the gallon volume to start?
 
Scratch that, they are 3L bottles. Can i still use yooper's recipe but make 3L instead of the full gallon? Will it just be stronger?
 
Read all 56 pages of this and then decided it's time to sign up. I started Yooper's (thanks Yooper!) recipe on Tuesday (times 5) so...

Sanitized with potassium metabisulfate

6 1/4 lbs of sugar (used organic sugar)
10 cans of Welch's concord concentrate (said 120% vit C)
2 tsp ascorbic acid (went less than prescribed out of caution)
2 tsp pectin enzyme (ran out)
5 tsp yeast nutrient
Spring water topped up to 5 gal.
Red Star Montrachet yeast (started in water for 10 hours before pitching, didn't take) tried activating again with new pack for 15 min. and it took almost immediately. Stirring twice a day.

Otherwise followed instructions as posted and it seems to be doing well, lots of activity.

OG before yeast: 1.101 @ 62F (then used a space heater to bring it up to 70F)
SG after 24hours: 1.07 @ 76F (6F Above thermostat reading - all on its own!)

This is my first attempt at making any fermented beverage.
 
Yooper! Awesome thread... thanks for all the tips and advice, I've learned a lot from this thread.

Here's the recipe and process I went with on my first batch of Welche's Wine

3 Gallons Welches 100% Grape Juice (Juice not concentrate cans... expensive rookie mistake -_-)
6 and 2/3 cups of table sugar
2 Yeast packets of Pasteur Red

Left in primary for 16 days then

degassed
added one crushed campden tablet
added one pack of isinglass for clarification, then racked to secondary

I plan to let it age for for a total of 90 days from brew day and then add one more crushed campden tablet and bottle.

When I taste tested on day 16 I loved it! It has quite a "bite" to it which I think is from the high abv%. I hope it mellows out with some aging.

I was wonder what tips everyone had to improve upon this recipe for future batches as I am looking to make this have an even more complex taste?? (oak chips, raisins, something else?) I'd love to hear what everyone has to say about it.

Should I let it age in bottles or in my better bottle?

ALSO!!! I tried my hand at making a little over a gallon of wine from apple juice on the same day. It tastes like wine with apple juice poured in :mug: not what I was going for. Who knows what some age might do to it though. Does anyone have any good apple based drink recipes as well?
 
1 month update - here are my notes:

After 48 hours from adding yeast SG was 1.04 @ 70F

After 72 hours SG was 1.02 @ 69F

@ 84 hours SG was 1.012 and I racked into secondary and airlocked (1/2 way through 4th day)

On day 18 I reracked and airlocked, SG was .998 @ 65F and I topped off with bottled spring water.

Today (Day 31) SG was .996 on the dot. I reracked and added 5 crushed campden tablets and 2/3tsp (maybe a little more) of potassium sorbate and again airlocked. It tasted pretty good, easily could drink as is, not much bite, not completely dry and somewhat but not overly tart. I plan to leave it a week or so and then back sweeten a sample to taste and try to match SG when I'm where I like.

Thanks for the wealth of information available here - sorry if I'm dredging up a tired thread.

andrew
 
1 month update - here are my notes:

After 48 hours from adding yeast SG was 1.04 @ 70F

After 72 hours SG was 1.02 @ 69F

@ 84 hours SG was 1.012 and I racked into secondary and airlocked (1/2 way through 4th day)

On day 18 I reracked and airlocked, SG was .998 @ 65F and I topped off with bottled spring water.

Today (Day 31) SG was .996 on the dot. I reracked and added 5 crushed campden tablets and 2/3tsp (maybe a little more) of potassium sorbate and again airlocked. It tasted pretty good, easily could drink as is, not much bite, not completely dry and somewhat but not overly tart. I plan to leave it a week or so and then back sweeten a sample to taste and try to match SG when I'm where I like.

Thanks for the wealth of information available here - sorry if I'm dredging up a tired thread.

andrew

I don't think 2/3 teaspoon of sorbate is enough for 5 gallons. I rarely use it, but I think the dose is more like 1/2 teaspoon or 2/3 teaspoon per gallon. If it's going to be sweetened, I'd definitely use more sorbate!
 
Made a gallon of this yesterday, well pitched the LALVIN 71B-1122
I let it sit over night for about 14 hours then pitched the yeast after rehydrating at
105 degrees. Today, some 28 hours later I have zero activity at 69 - 70 degrees F
I presume it will take off eventually, just a little on the cool side.
 
I made 5 gallons of this stuff and bottled a few weeks ago. It's fine... not terrible - about what I'd expect for under $1 a bottle. Does it get a little less alcohol tasting with a bit of age? Or is it pretty much done now?
 
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