Red Ginger Wine Help

[AMonkey]

I have a friend who is getting married, she is a ginger, and the man she met is also a ginger. They are playing it up as a wedding theme, the whole two gingers and gingers united. Someone mentioned i should make a ginger wine for them as sort of a joke/nice wedding gift. I found a recipe that seems decent, but my question is if there is a way to have it come out with a red color. I am new to wine and don't have the experience to know how to change the color. Everything I thought of would be more pink I think. This is the recipe I found, and I would also take suggestions if anything seems off:

7 1/2 pints white grape juice
1/2 lb chopped golden raisins
2oz ginger root
2lbs sugar
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pack champagne yeast

sweeten to 1.008 before bottling

Would changing some of the white grape juice to regular give it a red color? I know I may not get a vibrant red, just thought it would add something to have it sort of red. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[jgmillr1]

The short answer is: yes, exchanging red juice for some or all of the white would give you the color you are looking for.

The longer answer involves considering which grape juice to add that would compliment the ginger flavor. I'm not sure the flavor profile of any red grape would pair all that well with the ginger, so you may want to do some experimentation with store wine and ginger first to give you an idea. White wines are lighter and crisper in flavor that may taste better in this case with the ginger. Maybe use the white wine recipe and add red food coloring?! If you do want to move forward with the red juice, consider using a kit wine or a red juice wine recipe so that the acid/tannin is balanced appropriately.

 

[JimRausch]

I added red food coloring at bottling time to an Irish Red beer that wasn't as red as I wanted. The yeast ate all the coloring and the dregs were pretty ugly. None of the additional coloring came through. Limited experience, I know, but once bitten, twice shy.

 

[JimRausch]

Perhaps adding cranberry juice or pomegranate juice? Or even prickly pear juice. My cranberry wine from last fall is a beautiful red color. Prickly pear mead is more dark pinkish, but I only used 22oz PP juice in a 1G batch.

 

[CatawbaCat]

Easy peasy- red food coloring before bottling.

I add it to some of my wines when they aren’t quite the color I had in mind!

 

[AMonkey]

Thanks! Yea I didn't thing that the red grape juice might not go well with the ginger.

Even adding cranberries, or any other berry will change the flavor. Some I would assume would go well with ginger, others not. I may just make this as the recipe calls since it is my first time making it and see how it turns out. Food coloring at bottling may be the way to go.