wine from juice

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Donna

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Sep 29, 2008
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Location
Richmond, RI
I usually make my wines from box kits. I am fairly new at this (about a year). I recently purchased a 6 gallon bucket of wine juice. The place I bought it from said it was pure grape juice and all I needed to do let it ferment for about 3-4 months and it would be all set to drink/bottle. Has anyone done this...I am so used to opening packets and adding, degassing, etc that this seems too easy.
 
Hi Donna
Welcome to HBT!
We have some wine experts that will be along soon I'm sure.
Unfortunately, lots of bad information is given out buy local home brew stores and I think you got some. It just doesn't sound right. I have not made any kits but why would fermenting a bucket of juice be any different in method?
 
Hi Donna.
I'll chime in here (I don't do that much :rolleyes: ) and say Welcome to HBT!
As for your wine issue....Hang Loose. Yooper or Summersolstice (or LOTS of others) will be along soon.
 
Hi Donna - which variety did you get? It this sterile must? Was it frozen or kept stable in some other way (in other words, how was it kept from spontaneous fermentation?) Can you give us a little more information and perhaps some of us can help you get started.
 
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. When I called the place I got the juice from I was told he gets it from multiple suppliers. The container was not previously opened, I had to pull tabs to open it to place it in my own bucket with my own ?bung? ( i hope that is right) I am not sure if it was frozen or just kept refridgerated. It has been fermenting because my ?bung? has been bubbling. I usually use kits from RJ Spagnols (vino del vida) so this is really new to me. I did sterilize my bucket before transfer. Should I add anything to it to keep it sterile? It seems strange that I have to degass the kits, add stabilizers for clearing etc and I don't have to for this juice. I am going to get a hold of the wine person I got this from and ask more questions but before I looked like an ass by not believing him I wanted to more info from some "experts" thanks for any help you can be. Donna
 
Ok, we know it was in a sealed pail. Was the pail cold when you received it? The reason I'm asking these questions is because I'm trying to determine how the wine was kept fresh and free from fermentation before you pitched the yeast (You did pitch yeast, right? Some pails have the yeast already added to the juice).

Wine kits are "sterile must". In other words, the juice has been sterilized so the kits will keep without refrigeration. All wild yeast have also been killed in the sterilization process. You then add the yeast to begin fermentation. Some juices sold in pails are also sterile must and are basically wine kits in a pail.

If it isn't sterile must then it has to be kept either frozen or at a low temperature to keep it from both spoiling and fermenting since fruit will begin fermentation on its own without the addition of added yeast.

I asked which variety you purchased because that will have an impact on how the wine is made. Big red wines may need the addition of a malolactic bacteria as soon as the primary fermentation is complete. Kits are designed so that MLF additions aren't necessary. Most whites don't require MLF either.

Pure juices also need to be tested for acid levels. Kits have this taken care of by the manufacturer.

I think you're beginning to see that making wine from pure juice is considerably more difficult than making a Vino del Vida kit. You can begin by asking the person who supplied you with the juice some of the questions I've raised. They should be able to tell you what you need to do to be successful.
 
Donna, welcome to the board, I'm just the opposite, I've never made wine from a kit although I have one in the box waiting to be opened now to see what the difference is. There are alot of different ways to go with fresh juice, some companies adjust the acid etc before shipping. If not kept cold enough it may have started fermenting with the natural yeast (which happens to be the way the store owner I get mine recommends) I've done it both ways as far as the yeast goes. You can adjust the acid, add tannins etc it's all up to you. I've never used MLF bacteria like Solstice recommends and I still get a good wine but he has struck my curiosity for my following batches (unfortunately I have 36 gallons going now without it and my wine bunker is full). I believe Regina adjusts their products and Lodi Gold does not but dont hold me to that, go to their sites. I definately would bulk age way more then 4 months before bottling, I rack and age for a year, this way I'm always working on next years wine while drinking this years. Good luck and keep us posted, Ken
 
Thanks folks. I will contact my supplier and ask the questions that solstice raised. thanks for your help.
 
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