I need some help getting to next step.

I have a three gallon batch of Apple juice concentrate wine with rehydrated grapes, and orange peel. I'm six weeks in, everything but the floating grapes are cleared. Started with nothing but the basic ingredients so I'm not sure what to add at this point or where to rack to. Thanks!

Here is a cranberry wine recipe, you are almost done.

Procedure:
1. Wash the cranberries in lukewarm water and place in the primary fermenter. Add the remainder of the ingredients EXCEPT the wine yeast to the primary fermenter. Stir well to dissolve.
2. Allow to cool to 70 - 75° F. Add the wine yeast. Cover with lid or plastic sheet and tie down.
3. Allow to ferment 5 - 7 days. Stir daily to break up the pulp cap. Strain out the pulp and squeeze to extract all the juice. Discard pulp. Syphon into sterilized secondary fermenter and attach fermentation lock.
4. After 3 weeks, syphon into another sterilized jug and attach fermentation lock. Always fill the jug as full as possible (within an inch or so from the rubber stopper). Syphon again in about 1 month.
5. When wine is clear and stable, it may be bottled. The addition of 1/2 tsp. potassium sorbate stabilizer is recommended. If a sweeter wine is desired, add simple syrup to taste (2 parts fructose or sugar to 1 part boiling water).6. Bottle and cork and lay on its side to age at least 4-6 months.

Maybe I should have been more specific. I'm through the whole fermenting and clearing process, I just needed to know about the sorbate and stabilizing process. Ive read that I have to de-gas the wine (not sure how that is done either).

(and why age on it's side?)

you degas the wine to release any CO2 that is in it. basically you stir the crap out of it until bubbles stop coming out, BUT you gotta do this without splashing it...potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulphite should be added before bottling if you are gonna back sweeten it at all. Just follow label directions. You store it on its side in bottles to keep the cork from drying out.

OHIOSTEVE said:

you degas the wine to release any CO2 that is in it. basically you stir the crap out of it until bubbles stop coming out, BUT you gotta do this without splashing it...potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulphite should be added before bottling if you are gonna back sweeten it at all. Just follow label directions. You store it on its side in bottles to keep the cork from drying out.

Click to expand...

Yes, but....................

Time works better to degas wine than any mechanical means. What that means is racking the wine when needed, and let it sit under airlock until completely clear. When NO more lees fall after at least 60 days, then you can consider bottling.

If you've still got grapes and stuff in there, it's time to rack the wine, top up to within an inch of the bung and let it sit for 60 days. Rack if there are lees 1/4" thick or more. Wait 60 days. Rack if there are lees at that time. Do that until you're not dropping lees at all after at least 60 days. Make sure you keep it topped up at all times, adding a similar wine or water to it to make sure it doesn't oxidize. Also, one crushed campden tablet per gallon dissolved in 1/4 cup water should be used at every other racking to help prevent oxidation.

scottmd06 said:

Maybe I should have been more specific. I'm through the whole fermenting and clearing process, I just needed to know about the sorbate and stabilizing process. Ive read that I have to de-gas the wine (not sure how that is done either).

(and why age on it's side?)

Click to expand...

I hate to be argumentative, but if you've still got grapes and stuff in there, you're about a year from the "whole fermenting and clearing process"!

the 'grapes' were raisins i entered into the fermenter at the beginning of the process that rehydrated in the apple juice cocktail. so after 6 weeks from the start i have a home made plastic fermenting bucket of apple juice cocktail with a cup worth of floating 'grapes/raisins' with no more visual signs of krausen. i originally wanted this to be similar to ANCIENT ORANGE, but added 1/2oz orange peel and the raisins just before pitching the yeast. the orange peel cleared out and i thought maybe i should rack to a secondary at this point?

scottmd06 said:

the 'grapes' were raisins i entered into the fermenter at the beginning of the process that rehydrated in the apple juice cocktail. so after 6 weeks from the start i have a home made plastic fermenting bucket of apple juice cocktail with a cup worth of floating 'grapes/raisins' with no more visual signs of krausen. i originally wanted this to be similar to ANCIENT ORANGE, but added 1/2oz orange peel and the raisins just before pitching the yeast. the orange peel cleared out and i thought maybe i should rack to a secondary at this point?

Click to expand...

Yes, you should rack at this point. Leave it in the secondary for 60 to 90 days, then rack, and repeat until stuff stops falling out.

do i need to rack from the plastic bucket its in, into a glass carboy and leaving no room at the top and attach a stopper and airlock?

scottmd06 said:

do i need to rack from the plastic bucket its in, into a glass carboy and leaving no room at the top and attach a stopper and airlock?

Click to expand...

Yes. That's the definition of a "secondary" in winemaking.

alrighty. thanks yoop!

Its been about 9 weeks now and everything has cleared and all of the floating raisins and such have sunk in the bucket.. Do I HAVE to move to secondary, or could I fill some bottles and drink this now as a table wine? It wasn't meant to be anything special...

As Yooper described above is how you get something good. If you want to rush it, that's up to you. I had some "Make wine on premises" Shiraz this weekend that goes juice to bottle in 2 months and by sucking it in my mouth I could feel the gasses escaping from it and they are offensive. At the LEAST I'd recommend you rack to a carboy for a month and do SOMETHING to help degass it if you're not willing to wait another 4 months+

She's in the glass jugs finally! Ended up with about 10 liters of this stuff, leaving the grapes, orange peels, and yeast cake behind. Here's a pic for you guys.

Im going to rack this again now, what should I add as far as additives to ensure no future fermentation, anything to aid the clearing and degassing, such and such. I dont know if Im going to back sweeten yet, I really enjoy the flavor this created.

Wow, that's dark for apple.

Stabilizing has been described already in this thread. A fining agent would help with the clearing though, I would not rush it. Degassing is a way to rush wine to bottle. It will degas on it's own over time. Wine is not a good place for impatience.

It was a cranberry and apple juice cocktail (from concentrate) that I racked onto a full cup of baked raisins and an ounce of fresh orange peels. The raisins soaked up the juice and rose to the top of the fermenter for about 6 weeks and then fell back to the bottom.

This wine spent four months in primary (i know, too long) so I racked it a month ago into glass jugs and there was hardly any fall out from "lees" - it's already so clear! So I went ahead and racked 4L of this wine into an empty jug to start drinking. Theres another 4L that I will continue to rack but I think this wine degassed and cleared pretty well for the four months it was in primary =/ just might have oxidized a little (not sure if thats a visible thing or something that would be affecting the taste).

I'm not a wine drinker so I can't critique this wine very well but it has a smooth, lower abv% and a prominent raisin flavor. I'm hoping to pick out more of the citrus notes as I drink this and share it with my friends.