Too late to begin a wine batch?

[sbhank]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to get into wine making, but I've run into some problems. Most recipe kits I have encountered are either 1 or 6 gallons. 1 gallon isn't enough to merit the time and effort, but 6 gallons is more than if ever drink. I have a 3 gallon Carboy I use for brewing beer, so I'd like to use that to make a 3 gallon batch.

I could make the wine from fresh grapes, but I've already missed this years harvest. I know I can use juice, but I'm worried about the quality of the finished wine.

So my question is this:
Can you make high quality wine from grape juice? What type of grape juice would I use? If like to make a merlot if possible.

This can all be avoided if anyone knows where I can find a 3 gallon wine kit (not NB, they only have 3 gallon dessert/sparkling wines).


Thanks!




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[Yooper]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to get into wine making, but I've run into some problems. Most recipe kits I have encountered are either 1 or 6 gallons. 1 gallon isn't enough to merit the time and effort, but 6 gallons is more than if ever drink. I have a 3 gallon Carboy I use for brewing beer, so I'd like to use that to make a 3 gallon batch.

I could make the wine from fresh grapes, but I've already missed this years harvest. I know I can use juice, but I'm worried about the quality of the finished wine.

So my question is this:
Can you make high quality wine from grape juice? What type of grape juice would I use? If like to make a merlot if possible.

This can all be avoided if anyone knows where I can find a 3 gallon wine kit (not NB, they only have 3 gallon dessert/sparkling wines).


Thanks!




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I don't think you can find any grape wine juice right now- sometimes you can buy it frozen but it's not all that common. I did find a pail of grapes, frozen, at Midwest brewing supply a number of years ago, and the 5 gallon pail made 3 gallons of pinot noir when it was all over.

Wine kits tend to come in 6 gallon kits, except for the "special" ones like ice wines.

Williams brewing has some concentrated canned juice, but I've never tried it and I don't know how much it makes.

 

[ong]

Here are some 2.5 gallon kits: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/mobile/RED-WINE-CALIFORNIA-WINE-KITS-C165.aspx

 

[sbhank]

Thanks for the response! Have you or any body else ever had success with making wine from grape concentrate? I'm not very familiar with this process


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[Yooper]

Thanks for the response! Have you or any body else ever had success with making wine from grape concentrate? I'm not very familiar with this process


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No, not really. The grape concentrate that I'm familiar with isn't very good, although it's nice for boosting fermentables and flavor in another wine, like in a native grape wine or something that needs a bit more "ooomph". Otherwise, a wine made strictly out of the extract isn't very good.

I don't know about those Williams canned concentrates though- those I haven't ever tried.

 

[TexasWine]

1 gallon isn't enough to merit the time and effort, but 6 gallons is more than if ever drink.

Just a suggestion here, but I wouldn't dismiss doing a 6 gallon batch if I were you. A good wine will get better with a few years of age. 6 gallons will make 30 bottles. If you drink as little as 6 bottles a year, that means your last bottle would be 5 years old when you drink it. Sounds about perfect to me.

But I would bet you'd go through it much quicker than that. Parties, dinners at friend's houses, holiday festivities. I probably only consume 65-70% of the wine I make due to giving so much away.

 

[Pyg]

Thanks for the response! Have you or any body else ever had success with making wine from grape concentrate? I'm not very familiar with this process


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I know some people who rave about making wine from Welches Concord. I am not one of them!

I have made countless wines from any type of concentrate. I usually use 4 cans of concentrate per gallon.
However, in my opinion using juice and/or concentrate can leave the wine little body and will thereby not qualify as "high quality".

To resolve that I will add fruit at 1 to 2 lbs per gallon.
I have made some quick, early drinking wines by adding 3 to 6 lbs of berries (triple berry mix), 3 gallon of water (substitute some juice, lemon, lime).
this can make a fruity wine, that drinks early and cold.

 

[scumbuster]

I agree with TexasWine. When I started making wine I thought... OMG I will never drink 5 gallons. When you have it there readily available you will go through it faster than you might think. Myself I would be surprised if 5 gallons lasted much past 1 year unless you rarely drink wine. Especially if it turns out well. That's only a little more than 2 bottles a month

 

[Pyg]

I agree with TexasWine. When I started making wine I thought... OMG I will never drink 5 gallons. When you have it there readily available you will go through it faster than you might think. Myself I would be surprised if 5 gallons lasted much past 1 year unless you rarely drink wine. Especially if it turns out well. That's only a little more than 2 bottles a month

especially if you consider that you will lose 1/2 a gallon to sediment.
Therefore your 5 gallons will yield approx 25 bottles,
s0 now you are down to 4 & 3/4, which will be about 22.5 bottles ( you will drink the 1/2 why bottling)

considering you have to clear and bulk age for a minimum of 3 months (6 preferred), spending 6 months to get 20 bottles.

if you are making something good, like a SP or a tasty berry wine, it will go quick!

 

[sbhank]

Thanks for all your help. I ended up going with the 6 gallon kits. I started my beer brewing journey with northern brewer so I went back to them because I like their product. I bought a cheeper kit (California trinity). I figure I'll use it as a way to familiarize myself with the process before I make wine from fresh grapes next fall.


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[AlCophile]

sb:
Advantage of 1 gal: get jugs free at dump/rec. ctr.
Less head/air space.
You get results faster, waste less $, and have less crappy wine to drink if you make error.
Containers much less heavy.
Less mess when, not if, have overflow.
Greater control over variables.
Go to HBT Wine section and look up Yooper's Welch's recipe. I cut 3 qt. WGJ w/ 1 qt cran/rasp frozen mix to get 1 gal drinkable(not great) wine.
But, do in sequence: Grape juice, let it ferment, then some mixed juice, finally, 270 grams sugar in fourths.
I cheat, I do 1 gal juices in a 5 liter flask. I also use inert gas in headspace, but you can eliminate the headspace problem: think about it, it's easy.
I still need to address yeast and tartrate sediments.
Good luck.