GeorgiaTiger said:
So it is better to use the bucket than the carboy to ferment? Also, to make say 5 gallons of wine, and if I wanted to use Welch's grape concentrate for juice...how much juice would I need to start?
Wide mouth food grade bucket is perfect for primary fermenter because this gives you easy access for stirring it, working with fruit, etc. Definitely a first purchase..buy a six gallon bucket with a drilled lid for a five gallon batch since you always need at least a one gallon head space when working with all juice, more headspace if working with actual fruit. Other first purchase items: one airlock (just in case you need to put wine under airlock in the bucket before you have your carboy at hand..typically 5-8 days after pitching yeast, or when SG has reached a certain point), triple scale hydrometer and a test jar, Campden tabs or potassium metabisulphite for sanitizing, Brewer's Wash Powder for cleaning (avoid chlorine products) or like product, YEAST-buy two of whichever you are using, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, super long handled plastic or stainless steel spoon, ph test strips until you decide to buy a pH meter, acid blend or malic acid + citric acid + tartaric acid, tannin powder. And perhaps a copy of The Joy of Home Winemaking by Terry Garey that you can read during week 1. Oh, sugar.
Second week: carboy and drilled bung, an airlock if you did not buy one earlier, racking cane and tubing. Drilled bungs/airlocks to fit any wine bottles you will be using for excess fermenting wine that will be used for topping up. Further down the road you will need: bottles, corks, potassium sorbate if you plan on backsweetening the finished wine(used with the campden/k-meta you bought in week 1), corking device (I have a floor corker). Acid test kit if you want to balance the acidity-- starting with an all conentrate wine as you are you really can hold off on the acid test kit until later.
Making a wine from frozen Welch's 100% fruit juice, I would use three cans reconsituted into one gallon. So you will need 15 cans for five gallons. But actually use 16 cans and reconstitute that last can to the volume of 500 ml; that way you can stash any excess fermenting wine upon transfer to carboy in a recycled wine bottle and use the excess for topping up since you will lose some wine upon racking. Here is a link to a recipe which uses two cans per gallon..
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques65.asp --- also the Jack Keller website is a great resource for a beginning winemaker.
Enjoy...Sara
