First wine -Welch’s

[Tulsahomebrewer]

Hello...after brewing beer for few years, I want to make my first wine. Trying to keep it easy by using Welch’s grape juice.

I have 3 quarts of grape juice, will add 3 cups of turbinado sugar in hot water, and a quart of frozen red grapes to get some tannins instead of using store bought chemicals. Finally, Lalvin K1-V1116.

Can I add of this into 1-gallon wide mouth glass fermenter and let it ferment for a month in primary only? 1 day outside in room temperature (75F) and remaining days in my wine fridge (I use it to ferment lagers) at 65F?

Or do I really have to rack it to secondary after a week or so in primary?

Thank you for your help!

 

[z-bob]

3 cups of sugar sounds like a lot, but not extreme. Where did you come up with that amount? Also I don't think red table grapes have any tannins unless they are seeded grapes (you might want to crush some of the seeds)

I have 4 gallons of wine made with bottled grape juice, sugar, and K1-V1116 that's I started a couple of months ago that's about ready to bottle. I didn't add any tannin. I did add Campden tablets last time I racked it.

You rack it whenever there's a significant amount of sediment. I usually rack mine about 3 times.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Leave your temps as stable as possible. If you start it at 75, leave it for 7 days at that temp, then rack. At 65 it will probably take longer. But yes you should rack it.

 

[Tulsahomebrewer]

3 cups of sugar sounds like a lot, but not extreme. Where did you come up with that amount? Also I don't think red table grapes have any tannins unless they are seeded grapes (you might want to crush some of the seeds)

I have 4 gallons of wine made with bottled grape juice, sugar, and K1-V1116 that's I started a couple of months ago that's about ready to bottle. I didn't add any tannin. I did add Campden tablets last time I racked it.

You rack it whenever there's a significant amount of sediment. I usually rack mine about 3 times.

Thanks, I added just 2.5 cups now. Read lot of posts saying they added 2 cups and still had to back sweeten. I did add seeded grapes, but didn’t crush seeds.

 

[Tulsahomebrewer]

 

[Blacksmith1]

K1-V will go 16-18% ABV easily. They wind up backsweetening because yeast eats all available sugar or drowns in the alcohol. How strong do you want this?

 

[z-bob]

If you back-off on the alcohol (sugar) just a bit, the wine will taste good a lot sooner. Say, shoot for 11.5% ABV instead of 15%. There's nothing wrong with drinking 8 ounce glasses (or 10) instead of 6 oz.

I have no idea how much sugar you need (I should know, but I forgot), but there are chaptalization (sugar) calculators online that make it easy with an initial hydrometer or refractometer reading from your juice.

 

[Tulsahomebrewer]

K1-V will go 16-18% ABV easily. They wind up backsweetening because yeast eats all available sugar or drowns in the alcohol. How strong do you want this?

Between 10-15%

 

[Tulsahomebrewer]

If you back-off on the alcohol (sugar) just a bit, the wine will taste good a lot sooner. Say, shoot for 11.5% ABV instead of 15%. There's nothing wrong with drinking 8 ounce glasses (or 10) instead of 6 oz.

I have no idea how much sugar you need (I should know, but I forgot), but there are chaptalization (sugar) calculators online that make it easy with an initial hydrometer or refractometer reading from your juice.

Can I drop campden tab once wine reaches 11% to kill off all yeast?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks, I added just 2.5 cups now. Read lot of posts saying they added 2 cups and still had to back sweeten. I did add seeded grapes, but didn’t crush seeds.

Yes, you'll have to sweeten the wine once it's done, as sugar is 100% fermentable and will ferment out until you reach the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. So make your must to an OG of 1.080-1.090 or so, and you won't have boozy rocket fuel. Ferment cooler than 75 if you can- that will also help avoid booziness.

Once the wine is finished, you can stabilize with sorbate and sweeten to taste. Adding grapes without sulfites is not a good idea- you will pick up wild yeast from the grapes.

Can I drop campden tab once wine reaches 11% to kill off all yeast?

No. First, it's because campden is used in two ways- first to kill off wild yeast and bacteria at the start, before fermentation begins and then as an antioxidant/preservative later in the wine. Wine yeast is tolerant of sulfites- that's why winemakers use them.

To stabilize the wine, you will have to wait until fermentation is finished, then rack, and once the wine is totally clear and no longer dropping any lees at all, you can rack onto sorbate mixed with campden. (Campden doesn't kill yeast, but sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites). Sorbate doesn't kill yeast either, but it keeps it from reproducing. So in an active fermentation, it won't do anything except perhaps cause some bad flavors from stressing the yeast. Once the fermentation is done, and most of the yeast had dropped out and the wine is removed from that yeast, then you can add those chemicals and sweeten to taste.

 

[Seamonkey84]

No... and yes. From everything I’ve read, there’s no safe (chemical) way to stop an active fermentation. But, you can put your yeast into dormancy by sticking the whole thing in a fridge and getting it close to freezing. Then once everything is chilled and settled, you add your Sorbate and Sulfites, mix it in well, and wait at least a day before letting it warm back up.

 

[Tulsahomebrewer]

Thanks to both members!! OG was at 1.090. Unfortunately, it is too late as I dumped about 20 frozen whole grapes (hand crushed before adding them). I didn’t think about wild yeast at all, really silly of me as I keep this in mind when I brew flavored beer!! [emoji20]

I can move it to my wine fridge at 65F. Would that temp help with lower ABV?

 

[Seamonkey84]

No, that would just slow down the fermentation. But some yeasts do better at that temp and reduces off flavors that would need aging. If you want less abv, add more water or juice without adding more sugar. But 1.090 is only going to bring you to 11.5%abv, which is average for wine, I wouldn’t mess with it. Rack it off the fruit pieces between 7-10 days. Then again once things are cleared.

Oh, top off with more juice after you rack it the first time. You don’t want to have too much head space after, and it’ll continue fermenting until it’s dry.

 

[z-bob]

Don't worry about the wild yeast. K1V will kill them. Just use better sanitation next time so you don't develop bad habits.