Concord Grape Juice turned Brown

I pressed about 10lb of fresh concord grapes yesterday evening. I was picking and washing them as I was presing them. The juice was coming out clear with a little purple tint. After a little while I noticed my bucket of juice turned brownish in about a half hour.Why? Is this normal? How can I stop this?
I was planning to use 4/5lb of fresh grapes per gallon top make wine. It taste sweet, but color is bad. Will it clear?

Well, my concord grapes are greenish inside, and the skins are purple- could that be true of yours and why it's a brownish color? The other thing that is a possibility is that oxygen turned it brown, just like a cut potato would turn brown in air.

I wouldn't worry about it a bit- I'd go ahead and proceed. I'd add one campden tablet per gallon (crushed and dissolved in some hot water) and make the wine.

My concord grape wine looked ugly, a greenish brown mess in the primary, but is now a lovely blush wine.

Hey Yoop -

I have concords in my yard, and would like to make use of them. (One can only make so much jelly, syrup, etc.)

I have read that it's necessary to add acid blend and tannin to make decent concord wine (and possibly sugar, too?) but nowhere have I seen any quantities listed.

What do you add to yours?

Thanks!

eljefebrewing said:

Hey Yoop -

I have concords in my yard, and would like to make use of them. (One can only make so much jelly, syrup, etc.)

I have read that it's necessary to add acid blend and tannin to make decent concord wine (and possibly sugar, too?) but nowhere have I seen any quantities listed.

What do you add to yours?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Well, I've found that acid blend is unnecessary, as the grapes are very acidic. I did a recipe that added some water (to dilute the acidity) and added sugar and grape concentrate (from a winemaking store) did the trick. I did add some tannin, in about 1/8 tsp increments I believe.

The basic recipe looks like this:

6 pounds grapes
1/2 pint grape concentrate (from winemaking shop)
Sugar (1.5 pounds per gallon, or to get you to an OG of 1.090-1.110)
water to 1 gallon
1 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet
wine yeast (any is fine- I like champagne yeast)
tannin as needed

Crush grapes. Put in mesh bag and put in sanitized primary. Add the crushed and dissolved campden tablet, stirring well. Add 1/2 pint grape concentrate. Dissolve sugar in 1/2 gallon boiling water and pour over grapes. Top up to 1 gallon in primary (the grapes take up some room, so you may go over a gallon a little bit). Check the OG and adjust to 1.090-1.100. I'd suggest checking the SG before adding sugar, just in case you have sweeter grapes than I do. Then you can add more or less sugar to get you to the desired OG. Stir well, and cover. Twelve hours later, add pectin enzyme. Twelve hours later, add yeast. Ferment in primary about 5-7 days or until fermentation slows a bit and you are at 1.010-1.020. Transfer to secondary, squeezing the grapes and allowing it to drain into the fermenter.

Rack whenever lees are 1/4" thick after 45-60 days. Top up with each racking. Taste for flavor. If tannin is needed, add 1/8 teaspoon and check again in a few days.

Bottle when clear and no new lees form. If you want this sweetened, either use "wine conditioner", or 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon mixed in some hot water with 1/2 teaspoon of sorbate per gallon. Rack into this mixture. Wait three days, and then sweeten as desired. Wait at least three days before bottling to ensure no further fermentation.

Oxidative browning in must will go away when the yeast starts to consume the oxygen. Pectic enzyme will be needed, and enough sugar to reach the target alcohol level. EC-1118 is good yeast and widely available and works well without need of nutients. Concord type (Labrusca) grapes aren't the best choice for wwinemaking as they will produce sme methyl alcohol during ferment, and a god awful flavour that cannot be removed by any means known to man