Day after Black Friday fermentation

[toddrod]

Decide to try a white grape / cherry wine today using Welch's juice. It certainly has a good flavore to start with.

 

[CampFireWine]

It should do quite well. They finish with just a hint of bitterness from the cherry but not overpowering if left a little sweet. There should also be enough flavor to kick the ABV as high as you want.

 

[toddrod]

Yeap, that is what I used.

 

[bob1852]

I've made it several times with the White Grape - Raspberry concentrate. Stabilized and backsweetened with 6 oz. juice and 6 oz. honey. It tastes really good when aged at least six month. 12 is even better.

 

[toddrod]

What size batch did you add that too? I only made a 9qt batch as a test.

 

[CampFireWine]

It tastes really good when aged at least six month. 12 is even better.

Do you know why you had to age it so long to be able to drink it?

 

[bob1852]

Do you know why you had to age it so long to be able to drink it?

Oh you can certainly drink it sooner, I just felt at 6+ months it was so much better...

Here's the recipe:

• 2 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's White Grape and Raspberry frozen concentrate
• 1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar
• 2 tsp acid blend
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• water to make 1 gallon
• Lavlin D-47 wine yeast

Bring 1 quart water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Add additional water to make one gallon and pour into secondary. Add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover with napkin fastened with rubber band and set aside 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and recover with napkin. When active fermentation slows down (about 5 days), fit airlock. When clear, rack, top up and refit airlock. Wait 30 days and rack, top up and refit airlock. After additional 30 days, stabilize, sweeten if desired and rack into bottles. [Jack Keller recipe]

 

[CampFireWine]

The good thing about using bottle juice is it already has asorbic acid in it, it's clear, and already aged a few months. So there is no need to add acid blend, pectic enzyme, or water. That means you don't have to boil it. Active fermentation should also be in an open pail as to allow unpleasant gases to escape. Letting the ferment run dry also introduces unpleasant taste that takes a long time to settle out. I guess when it all adds up with the recipe on Jack's site, it would take months to get it all back out.

Here is kinda how I look at it. The juice taste good to start. Fermentation produces alcohol and CO2. If it is properly degased, then pretty much any other off flavors that are left is from an uncontrolled production of byproducts which probably could have been avoided or at least reduced in the beginning.

Aging should be used for building a complexity of flavors and aromas but it seems like it is abused and only used for detoxification.