ill_fate
Member
(for five gallon batch)
5 gallons grape juice from concentrate
5 tsp. lemon juice
7 tsp. honey
3 packs wine yeast
3.75 cups sugar
The last thread had an interesting Welch's recipe, so I thought I'd post this one which worked great the last time I tried it, using less sugar than previously.
Begin by dumping nearly 5 gallons of grape juice from concentrate into your Primary. Just leave some room for the sugar. Dissolve 3.75 cups of sugar in warm water and add this. (The honey will replace the extra sugar usually used in these recipes.) Add the honey. Add the lemon juice. (I'm not positive, but I believe this acts like an acid, extracting sugar from the grape juice. Anyone know for sure?) Shake vigorously, allow to stand for a few hours. Sprinkle wine yeast on top of bucket. Cover. (My bucket lid has an airlock, though this isn't necessary.) Allow to sit for at least 20 days. Rack into secondary. Airlock. Allow to stand for 10 days, rack back into primary, wash secondary, and rerack into secondary. Fill Carboy to an in inch from the bottom of airlock with water. After 10 more days, bottle. Try it. Sweeten if desired. It doesn't really need to age. This is cheap wine!
The neat thing about this recipe is that everything can be purchased at the grocery store, besides the wine yeast and wine making supplies. If you don't have a wine supply store use dry highly active yeast. If you don't have a carboy simply make it one gallon at a time, fermenting the grape juice in the Welch's bottles you bought it in and use a balloon with a hole poked in the top of it as an airlock. When the balloon sinks, rerack and replace the balloon with the cap. Age it like this for 2 weeks. This is how I did it as a broke college student, however it will be cloudy. I got mine pretty clear with the wine equipment. It probably wouldn't hurt to use pectin or yeast activator. I'm drinking it now. Not amazing, not bad. Really cheap. (30 dollars for 5 gallons.) 11% abv. Cheers!
5 gallons grape juice from concentrate
5 tsp. lemon juice
7 tsp. honey
3 packs wine yeast
3.75 cups sugar
The last thread had an interesting Welch's recipe, so I thought I'd post this one which worked great the last time I tried it, using less sugar than previously.
Begin by dumping nearly 5 gallons of grape juice from concentrate into your Primary. Just leave some room for the sugar. Dissolve 3.75 cups of sugar in warm water and add this. (The honey will replace the extra sugar usually used in these recipes.) Add the honey. Add the lemon juice. (I'm not positive, but I believe this acts like an acid, extracting sugar from the grape juice. Anyone know for sure?) Shake vigorously, allow to stand for a few hours. Sprinkle wine yeast on top of bucket. Cover. (My bucket lid has an airlock, though this isn't necessary.) Allow to sit for at least 20 days. Rack into secondary. Airlock. Allow to stand for 10 days, rack back into primary, wash secondary, and rerack into secondary. Fill Carboy to an in inch from the bottom of airlock with water. After 10 more days, bottle. Try it. Sweeten if desired. It doesn't really need to age. This is cheap wine!
The neat thing about this recipe is that everything can be purchased at the grocery store, besides the wine yeast and wine making supplies. If you don't have a wine supply store use dry highly active yeast. If you don't have a carboy simply make it one gallon at a time, fermenting the grape juice in the Welch's bottles you bought it in and use a balloon with a hole poked in the top of it as an airlock. When the balloon sinks, rerack and replace the balloon with the cap. Age it like this for 2 weeks. This is how I did it as a broke college student, however it will be cloudy. I got mine pretty clear with the wine equipment. It probably wouldn't hurt to use pectin or yeast activator. I'm drinking it now. Not amazing, not bad. Really cheap. (30 dollars for 5 gallons.) 11% abv. Cheers!