first attempt at Welch's white wine

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GeneDaniels1963

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I've been making ciders, but this week I decided to try a wine. My wife loves sweet whites, so I started a 96oz jug of Welch's. I added 2 cups sugar and used red star champagne yeast. Started with a BRIX of 25 (1.106 SG). In just 5 days it had dropped to BRIX 10 (SG 0.999). That put me at 13.4abv in 5 days!

I tried it and it was not good, but honestly it was not bad. I could drink it like it is, if I was really desperate.

Since the batch was going so well I decided to try for a little more abv, so I added 1/2 of Welch's concentrate. That comes in at 3.7 oz sugars, into 96oz original mass, so I figure that would be like starting at about 27 BRIX (1.115 SG).

Does that sound about right to the more experienced people on here?

Thanks for any advice or input.
 
wow, they list that yeast, the dry, good for 12%

sorry, premier: Premier Blanc Champagne Dry Wine Yeast is good for 17%

your maths are correct, or close enough to not matter...
 
Most of the wines I make I use lalvin ec1118. It works well for high abv. If the yeast you use stops working you can use this one to kick start fermentation.
 
And a word of caution be careful that fermentation has stopped. I have had a few bottles pop before. Try to use a yeast stopper like sodium metabisulphite. And it will also preserve the wine too.
 
And a word of caution be careful that fermentation has stopped. I have had a few bottles pop before. Try to use a yeast stopper like sodium metabisulphite. And it will also preserve the wine too.

Metabisulphite is NOT a 'yeast stopper'- it's an antioxidant and preservative but wine yeast is not affected much at all by sulfites so it's used as an antioxidant.

I think you might mean sorbate? That doesn't stop yeast either, but it does keep it from reproducing so in a finished and clear wine fermentation shouldn't start up again after using it.

Anyway, the next time you want to make a sweet wine, I have a few words of advice. Remember that sugar will ferment out so adding it before and during fermentation won't sweeten the wine; instead it will boost the alcohol so you may have rocket fuel when you're done. I'd rather start with a gravity of 1.085-1.090 or so for a fruit wine, ferment it out (it will go to .990 or so), then once fermentation is completely done, and the wine is totally clear and no longer dropping lees (sediment) after at least 60 days in a new carboy, then it can be stabilized.

To stabilize, rack the wine into a solution of 1/2 teaspoon potassium sorbate per gallon and 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, dissolved in a little water or some of the wine. Let that sit a few days, and then sweeten the wine to taste with anything you like- apple juice, sugar syrup, honey, etc- then let it sit a few days. Then it can be bottled.
 
Metabisulphite is NOT a 'yeast stopper'- it's an antioxidant and preservative but wine yeast is not affected much at all by sulfites so it's used as an antioxidant.

I think you might mean sorbate? That doesn't stop yeast either, but it does keep it from reproducing so in a finished and clear wine fermentation shouldn't start up again after using it.

Anyway, the next time you want to make a sweet wine, I have a few words of advice. Remember that sugar will ferment out so adding it before and during fermentation won't sweeten the wine; instead it will boost the alcohol so you may have rocket fuel when you're done. I'd rather start with a gravity of 1.085-1.090 or so for a fruit wine, ferment it out (it will go to .990 or so), then once fermentation is completely done, and the wine is totally clear and no longer dropping lees (sediment) after at least 60 days in a new carboy, then it can be stabilized.

To stabilize, rack the wine into a solution of 1/2 teaspoon potassium sorbate per gallon and 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, dissolved in a little water or some of the wine. Let that sit a few days, and then sweeten the wine to taste with anything you like- apple juice, sugar syrup, honey, etc- then let it sit a few days. Then it can be bottled.

It says on the bottle that it kills wild yeast. If that don't stop fermentation what can I use that will?
 
The label say it kills wild yeast. If that don't stop fermentation what can I use?
 
Wine yeast has been specifically tailored to not be killed by k-meta. That's why we can use them in wine making and still protect our wine with k-meta.

Wild yeasts have not been, so they are "killed" and the wine yeast overwhelm them.

The only thing that stops a fermentation (with a proper wine yeast) is alcohol poisoning or sterile filtering or pasteurization or some other nasty chemical.

Alcohol poisoning is easy, just keep feeding the wine sugar until there is so much alcohol that the yeast die. Not a very good method.

Sterile filtering, not easy or cheap. Large commercial wineries do this.

Pasteurization can change the flavor of a wine and must be highly regulated to work correctly. Not easy for a home winemaker either.

Chemical kills, well, lets just say that anything that can kill yeast can probably kill other living things also. Not even worth the time...

Its hard to stop a fermentation...period.
 
My thoughts are to have the wine slightly sweet before it ferments out. I have used stabilizer and back sweetened it but I like it better when it's mid way through fermentation. Any thoughts on this?
 
My thoughts are to have the wine slightly sweet before it ferments out. I have used stabilizer and back sweetened it but I like it better when it's mid way through fermentation. Any thoughts on this?

Why is it better stopped midway through fermentation? If it's because you like the fruitiness, then back sweetening is the way to go.

What back sweetening means is to hold back some of the original must and before you add the yeast, you'd freeze it. Then ferment out the wine as usual. When it's done, and clear, stabilize. Then thaw and use the frozen must as the sweetener. That's the definition of back sweetening, and I'm not sure that is what you've done but I wanted to be clear about it.

Sweetening a wine post-fermentation with sugar or honey or something else is not back sweetening- it's "sweetening" the wine.

I think a lot of people use backsweetening to mean sweetening, and I wanted to talk about that for clarity and make sure I know when you meant. Adding sweeteners (other than the must) after fermentation is not technically back sweetening.

In theory, back sweetening properly should taste the same as fermenting partway and stopping the fermentation.

The thing is, stopping an active healthy fermentation is like stopping a freight train. It might work if you stick the wine someplace really cold (like just above freezing) and hold it there until the yeast drops out totally and rack off of the lees and then stabilize. BUT, just as likely, the chilling may stress the yeast and stressed yeast creates off flavors (like burnt rubber or sulfur) and can ruin the wine. The same happens with adding sorbate to an active fermentation, by stressing the yeast.

Another issue with adding sorbate mid-fermentation is if concurrent MLF (malolactic fermentation) occurs- it will produce geraniol which also ruins the wine.
 
What I ended up doing is technically sweetened the wine. I was taking sample tastes and it tasted good when it was at 6℅ then I sweetened till I had the same gravity reading at 6℅
 
Thanks for all the input. The wine is sitting at about 16% abv right now and seems to be stopped. I will be out of country for a few weeks, so I will rack it when I get home. Then I will let it set for a couple more months, then I will taste and sweeten if needed before I bottle.

I am probably going to start another batch asap, but this time add some home pressed raspberry juice. I have several pounds in the freezer and it seems to me it would make the perfect complement to the white.

Everyone on here is super helpful, thank you.
 
I tried it and it was not good, but honestly it was not bad. I could drink it like it is, if I was really desperate.
...
Does that sound about right to the more experienced people on here?

Thanks for any advice or input.

I'm doing the same thing right now, Welch's white grape juice. I'm going from frozen concentrate, however. I've done it from juice that's not from concentrate before and like you said it wasn't really good or bad. I'm using distillers yeast and plan to carbonate it after it ferments out all the sugar by adding more sugar when I bottle it into soda bottles. I think it needs to be sweet to be good, and carbonation helps too.
 
I racked this wine a week ago, and within a few days it became clear as a bell. I have it in a big plastic bottle right now. Can I leave it there for a month or two before bottling?
 
I racked this wine a week ago, and within a few days it became clear as a bell. I have it in a big plastic bottle right now. Can I leave it there for a month or two before bottling?

I bottled mine yesterday and primed it in an attempt to make champagne. It can sit in plastic for a month, I don't know if it'll improve much though.
 
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