Joe's Quick Grape Mead

Scale up the campden and sorbate. That is what I did for my 6 gallon batch.

Hello, I made this before and it was awesome. What do you think about adding a little yeast nutrient and a little priming sugar at the beginning to boost it a little? I know what you are thinking, if it was good, why mess with it. I just wanted to try something different. Also, Welches came out with a new brand of Juice that is Called Farmers Juice or something. It is real juice that has no preservatives or nothing, completely natural, I think this will be a plus. Also, they have a Blackberry now! I love Blackberry wine, so I will be using this one today. Please respond quickly so I can get the party started

skiluvr03 said:

Hello, I made this before and it was awesome. What do you think about adding a little yeast nutrient and a little priming sugar at the beginning to boost it a little? I know what you are thinking, if it was good, why mess with it. I just wanted to try something different. Also, Welches came out with a new brand of Juice that is Called Farmers Juice or something. It is real juice that has no preservatives or nothing, completely natural, I think this will be a plus. Also, they have a Blackberry now! I love Blackberry wine, so I will be using this one today. Please respond quickly so I can get the party started

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Go for it. Nothing wrong with adding either, but I would go with honey myself. Apfelwein uses sugar for the boost. Either one would work, but honey has more depth. It already finishes pretty strong, so I wouldn't think the sugar is needed unless you are replacing honey which would lead to a lack of depth. The stronger it is, the more time it takes to mellow out.

rideincircles said:

Go for it. Nothing wrong with adding either, but I would go with honey myself. Apfelwein uses sugar for the boost. Either one would work, but honey has more depth. It already finishes pretty strong, so I wouldn't think the sugar is needed unless you are replacing honey which would lead to a lack of depth. The stronger it is, the more time it takes to mellow out.

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I still put the required amount of top-of-the-line honey in it; not the store-bought stuff. I made 4 Gals and it ought to be good for the Christmas Season!!! Oh, the Farmers Juice I was talking about, I didn't use it cause it didn't have Absorbic Acid in it, or Vitamin C

I am thinking about trying this with a sweet mead yeast instead of the dryer yeasts. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Also curious if anyone has experience using White Grape Juice in a mead?

Shawn0522 said:

I am thinking about trying this with a sweet mead yeast instead of the dryer yeasts. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Also curious if anyone has experience using White Grape Juice in a mead?

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I could be wrong, but you could be looking at a longer ferment time and perhaps that is fine with you. I think the 113 is used for it's agressiveness

Shawn0522 said:

Also curious if anyone has experience using White Grape Juice in a mead?

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I did a gallon each of concord and white grape juice. It's still aging in the bottle - the white appears to have had more sugar in it so it's potent stuff!

The white grape juice had sulfites added (bottled Welch's) while the concord did not, but I just opened the bottle and aerated it by shaking for a day or so. The yeast got off to a shaky (stinky) start, farted around for a few days before really getting going, but then went just fine.

stella_tigre said:

I did a gallon each of concord and white grape juice. It's still aging in the bottle - the white appears to have had more sugar in it so it's potent stuff!

The white grape juice had sulfites added (bottled Welch's) while the concord did not, but I just opened the bottle and aerated it by shaking for a day or so. The yeast got off to a shaky (stinky) start, farted around for a few days before really getting going, but then went just fine.

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Please let me know how they both turn out! I am going to put this on hold and do the "Not so ancient Orange Mead" tomorrow.

well just put one in a 1 gallon fermenter and that thing took off like a rocket, after 3hours I had to put on a blow off tube

I am trying a blackberry mead following this "recipe". I am using Welch's unfiltered blackberry juice. It has gone through the primary fermenting, back sweetening, and is now aging. Going to let this sit for most of the year. I drank some of the leftover juice and found it didn't taste a whole lot different then the grape juice so I guess I'll see if in the end there is a noticeable difference in taste.

Shawn0522 said:

Please let me know how they both turn out! I am going to put this on hold and do the "Not so ancient Orange Mead" tomorrow.

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Just opened the concord grape. A little more than a year from pitching, just under a year from bottling. It's pretty sweet, still a bit "hot", drinkable. The white grape juice is going to wait to taste, as it was a bit hotter than the concord (white was over 15%, concord is about 14.5%.) I think it is a bit too grape-poppy for us, although our kids might drink it. (Yes they are all in their 20s and 30s!) Maybe with a shot of club soda it might be better, otherwise it's a sweet afternoon sipping, with a fire in the fireplace!

Lepetitnormand said:

well just put one in a 1 gallon fermenter and that thing took off like a rocket, after 3hours I had to put on a blow off tube

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well a few month later I just bottled my 1 gallon. It was in secondary 1 mont after brew day and stay in secondary for two month.

At this point it is a tad hot still but much less than when I racked it in secondary. I Will give it a few more month before opening the next bottle.

I made a couple more batches of this recently using Ec-1118, but for some reason, it did not ferment like it should all the way. My first batch stopped at 1.013, and the second at 1.024. No clue why they didn't ferment all the way, but I backsweetened the first batch to 1.026 with the added sorbate, and I may just add sorbate/sulfite to the other one to stop it where its at since it is at the target sweetness.

Either way, I still keep this on tap at home most of the time. Just need to brew my next batch since the 2 recent ones are for this weekend. I usually try to give it a few months, but am rushing this one. Still surprised it didn't ferment further. I did add nutrients and oxygen, but I may just pitch 2 yeast packs whenever making 5 gallons next time.

Did you gently shake your fermenter the first few days? It will really kick up the fermentation again.

rideincircles said:

I made a couple more batches of this recently using Ec-1118, but for some reason, it did not ferment like it should all the way. My first batch stopped at 1.013, and the second at 1.024. No clue why they didn't ferment all the way, but I backsweetened the first batch to 1.026 with the added sorbate, and I may just add sorbate/sulfite to the other one to stop it where its at since it is at the target sweetness.

Either way, I still keep this on tap at home most of the time. Just need to brew my next batch since the 2 recent ones are for this weekend. I usually try to give it a few months, but am rushing this one. Still surprised it didn't ferment further. I did add nutrients and oxygen, but I may just pitch 2 yeast packs whenever making 5 gallons next time.

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How is this when bottled dry?

Which tastes better? The original recipe using just Welch's Concord grape, or the same recipe using Welch's Blueberry Pomegranate Concord Grape instead?

That's too subjective. Some one who doesn't like grape will pick the other, if they don't like blueberry they'll pick the plain grape.

Blacksmith1 said:

That's too subjective. Some one who doesn't like grape will pick the other, if they don't like blueberry they'll pick the plain grape.

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Maybe so. I'm guessing though that the mix version taste better, if only because Welch's pure concorde grape juice tastes very concord grape (nearly Popsicle grape), if you know what I mean.

Yes I do, it's the main reason I have not tried doing grape.

AZ_IPA said:

I just made a 3g batch of this but used the white grape and cherry juice instead. After primary, racked to a 3/4 liter of black cherry juice. Looking forward to it.

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Sounds delishous. How did it turn out?

I just finished reading all 9 pages of posts on this thread. There's a definite pattern. When someone says, "I plan to do XYZ," or "I'm about to do XYZ", or "I just started XYZ," it seems as though about 80% or more of the time they never say how it turned out. And that kinda renders their post rather pointless I think.

Unfortunately, many of the posts are of this type!

Guys, report back! Otherwise, don't post.

Hi guys

Just got into home brewing (absolute mine field of info) really want to have a go at this but clover honey in the UK isn't too common and when it is its either set honey or mega expensive. Has anyone substituted the honey with any other types if so what and did it impact overall brew time?

Cheers

Ste

You should be able to use any honey. The flavors are a little different but not enough to ruin the brew.

I followed the recipe in the OP, and the result was, at least for me, more of a starting point. The wine the recipe produced had an almost astringent taste to it. Backsweetening with a lot more additional honey helped considerably. I think supplementing with oak tannins will help add some character to it.

NeverDie said:

I followed the recipe in the OP, and the result was, at least for me, more of a starting point. The wine the recipe produced had an almost astringent taste to it. Backsweetening with a lot more additional honey helped considerably. I think supplementing with oak tannins will help add some character to it.

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I added 1/2 tsp of wine tannins and 1 ounce of glycerin. That fixed it and made it drinkable, although presently it tastes more like a wine than a mead. That would be a failure by my reckoning, because I can buy good wine for less than the cost of the ingredients (not to mention time) that I put into this. Therefore, I want it to taste first and foremost like a mead. Maybe if I add more honey, the mead aspect will outdominate the wine aspect? Or, do I have to blend it with enough pure traditional mead to make the mead flavor dominate that way? I'm guessing the latter.

Any input appreciated.

Reporting back: As a separate test batch, I made a Joe's Quick Grape Mead, but substituting Welch's White Peach juice in place of Welch's Concord grape. I had low expectations for it, because, despite its name, it's actually a mix of different juices, but the fermented flavor turned out far superior as compared to the Concord grape version. Truly a surprise to me, when backsweetened with honey, this white peach mead tastes like apricot.


I made it using Fresco yeast, which may have also helped. The Concord grape version I made using 71B yeast, which, admittedly, was a departure from the original recipe.

NeverDie said:

I added 1/2 tsp of wine tannins and 1 ounce of glycerin. That fixed it and made it drinkable, although presently it tastes more like a wine than a mead. That would be a failure by my reckoning, because I can buy good wine for less than the cost of the ingredients (not to mention time) that I put into this. Therefore, I want it to taste first and foremost like a mead. Maybe if I add more honey, the mead aspect will outdominate the wine aspect? Or, do I have to blend it with enough pure traditional mead to make the mead flavor dominate that way? I'm guessing the latter.

Any input appreciated.

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I also found that adding one drop of Costco pure Vanilla extract per 100ml of mead has an immediate sweetening effect and contributes a nuanced taste/aroma that helps disguise the overly dominating Concord grape scent/flavor.

I just now tried the version made with Welch's Red Grape and EC-1118. Fermented clear, but has a hot alcohol taste. This just seems to confirm for me that EC1118 makes for a lousy mead--at least if fermented at room temperature. Red Grape did, however, successfully avoid the overpowering Concorde grape flavor, so I'd say it's worth another try, but with a proper mead yeast next time.

I just now tried a version made with Welch's Sangria juice. Though still hindered by the hotness produced by using
EC1118, when backsweetened it nonetheless tastes pretty good. I suspect it will improve greatly with age. It inspires me to ferment another Welch's Sangria pyment, but using M05 yeast or one of the Kveiks.

Hi everyone!

I started brewing to this recipe 12 days ago. I couldn't find Buckwheat or Clover honey so I used 3lbs of my local supermarket Spanish Lavender honey. Everything else was as per the recipe. I tested the specific gravity 2 days ago and it was at exactly 1.000. Problem is that my OG was only 1.042. I'm wondering if my OG reading was wrong.

I'm new to this 'art', and didn't have a sample tube at the time, so I measured the OG in the carboy, where there was lots of foam from shaking up the honey and grape juice mixture (the yeast wasn't pitched at this point). Is it possible that the foam held the hydrometer lower in the must and gave a false reading? I was expecting to see an SG of between 1.105 and 1.12.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'd just like to know roughly what the ABV should be, as I'm sure that it shouldn't be 5.5%.

P.S. I'll probably rack to secondary this weekend, using some form of dark honey to back-sweeten, and report back on the results so far.

How many gallons? If you do the 1 gallon recipe from the original post, you should be over 1.10 for sure. Maybe you didn't mix well before taking the reading?

hezagenius said:

How many gallons? If you do the 1 gallon recipe from the original post, you should be over 1.10 for sure. Maybe you didn't mix well before taking the reading?

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It's a UK 1 gallon (4.5 litre) carboy. I think you may be right about the mixing - I remember there being separation in the carboy shortly after taking the reading. Dammit. Lesson learned!

Anyway, now that the yeast has done it's job, I can be sure that I have a mead that's around 13 - 15% ABV. Thanks for your reply and setting me right.

OK, update on my version of this, to those that are interested in trying this recipe.

11 days after pitching the yeast, I measured the specific gravity at 1.002. A week later it was the same reading, and clear. I racked to another carboy, on top of 1/2 tsp Pot Sorb, 1/2 crushed Campden tablet, 200g Rowse Light & Mild Honey and 200ml Welch's Purple Grape juice. (The amount of honey to back-sweeten was based on me taking a 200ml sample of the mead and sweetening until it suited my taste, then scaled the amount up to suit the remaining volume)

I then gave the mixture a light degassing and left it for 19 days to clear then racked to a tertiary as some sediment had formed again. The FG was recorded at 1.022.

Two days later I recorded the FG at 1.022 again and decided to bottle. The yield was 4 x 750ml bottles and 3 x 500ml bottles, plus a large glass for drinking! It was delicious. It was like drinking a lighter version of the grape juice, with very little alcohol taste. I had a bottle the next night and I can say that there is definitely alcohol in there!!

My fermentation temperature was 18 - 22 degrees C. Total time from pitching to bottling was 34 days.

I'll be making this again!

Whipped this together and hope it takes.. aprox(3kg) 6lb honey .. I pulled a cup for later.. rest into carboy with 4 x 1.36l candian welchs red.. added some distilled.. still has some headspace to use up .. half juice half distilled? 3 gal plastic carboy?