Welch's Wine - First try

I've used this yeast before on a 5 gallon batch of Apfelwein. Thought I might try my hand at a darker variety of wine.

Yeast: Lalvin EC-1118 Batch Size (Gallons): 1 Original Gravity: 1.138 Final Gravity: (not done yet) Boiling Time (Minutes): 0.0

128 oz Welch’s 100% Grape Juice
2lbs Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Diammonium Phosphate
Lalvin EC-1118 Wine Yeast

Bring 64oz juice to boil and dissolve in the sugar and diammonium phosphate. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Remove from heat, add remaining juice. Monitor temperature, at 104 degrees Fahrenheit sprinkle yeast across the top of the liquid. Wait 15 minutes. Stir well and transfer to 1 gallon carboy leave a couple inches from “full” to provide room for fermentation and rubber stopper with air lock.
Fill air lock with vodka and fit with stopper in neck of carboy.
Let stand for a while.

 

#1 you'll need to add some pectic enzyme to this, as you boiled a portion of the juice - like as not your brew will never clear due to a pectic haze. (assuming you care if it's cloudy or not.)

#2 Highly reccomend you rig a blow off tube for this - EC-1118 has a habit of being pretty vigorous depending on the initial sugar content of the brew -judging by your headspace, the yeast you've selected, and the ass ton of fermentables you put in there... I'm thinking that airlock is gonna be clogged in about 72 hours.


#3 2# of sugar is what I put in a 5 gallon batch for a "medium/strong") alchohol kick - so you are likely going to get rocket fuel -this one will probably need a little "time out" before it comes into it's own.

 

thanks, I'm new to this, but how will I be able to tell if it's cloudy or not?

Maybe, It's got a steady pace right now (started last night). and this yeast ferments quit slowly in my house (Never gets above 70). The apfelwein never devoped much, just a thin layer of bubbles, will the grape juice change this much?

Knock it up a notch! My 5 gallon got 3lbs brown 3lbs granulated, and a cup of honey!

I like to max out the sugar, put in more than the yeast can ferment.

I've been looking into small wine barrels for aging (2 - 5 gallon size) but by god they are expensive. Whats recommended for aging this?

 

I think the EC-1118 is going to blow the top off your airlock, you might want to use a blowoff tube on this, or place the carbouy in a bucket & hope it doesn't squirt out the top of your airlock. with an OG of 1.138, your ABV @ an FG of 1.000 is 18.75%... EC-1118 has an alcohol tolerance of 18% you might be able to reach 19% or MAYBE 20% by using stepped nutrient additions. As is, this is going to be some sweet tasting rocket fuel. Might take a while for this to age, and might be best served in a shot glass. I hope this turns out well for you. Regards, GF.

 

Wow out of pure curiosity and a desire to make something strong, I may need to try this out. I keep wanting to make Apfelwein but the wife says no "prison juice".

 

No Apfelwein because it's prison juice, but you're considering concord rocket fuel? That's as Pruno as it gets!



People like to mess with concord wine, but it just reminds me of this stuff



To each his own.

 

Welch's Concord wine should remind you of Manischewitz ... uh... Concord Grape wine.



I used

http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=5941&st=0&p=69805&#entry69805

for my first batch of Welch's wine.

 

If you've ever had four glasses of the stuff at Passover seder as a teenager you'd know why that's NOT a good thing.

But like I said, to each his own.

 

LOL. No I was going to make Apfelwein and just ignore her mockery of it. For some reason the Grape juice just sounds good. Well, it did until you reminded me of the Manischewitz.

 

4 glasses? Even 4 of the little shot cups from a Bar Mitzvah will tell you it's a bad thing. Thanks for reminding me how bad it really can be.

 

I had a wine from a proper Finger Lakes winery that used 100% (or close) Concord grapes. Interestingly, virtually all of the grapes grown around Lake Erie are Concords; one of the founders of the temperance movement was from the area, and was a huge advocate of grape juice instead of wine. One of the wineries we like made a wine using Concords. Very sweet (which may have been wholly intentionally on their part, they do target a specific level of residual sugar), very little tannin character, very kool-aid flavored. You didn't need to be a wine expert to know which grape they used!

Wish I could remember which winery it was...

 

I always thouht concord grape flavor was fake until I lived in a rent house with a vine of them. They tasted like welches grape juice, not what I expected having grown up in Texas tasting our wild muscat grapes.

BTW mannawhateveritz is really gross...

 

you can age it in individual bottles, or after a few rackings bulk age in a 1 gallon carboy... - I'm glad someone (gratis fermentation) with more of a brew science backround than I have ran the numbers on this ( i fly by the seat of my pants) I'm not surprised it's going to run the edge of what EC-1118 can do. Basically what you will end up with is a fortified desert like wine I think. not particularly a bad thing mind you - but definitely not something to drink in large quantities unless you like pink elephants.

@ DlyansDad, APFELWEIN IS NOT A "PRISION JUICE" IT IS A STRONG, TASTY, CULTURED, BEVERAGE. JUST CAUSE IT'S EASY TO MAKE DOESN'T MEAN IT'S LOWBROW. (rant over)

 

Okiedokies

I'm a rum guy on the weekends, I'll take my chances

 

I take it she doesn't like cider? Either that or you made the serious mistake of telling what the alcohol content was??

I say, make it. She will probably like it more than you do!

 

You made a 1 gallon batch of wine using EC-1118 and you S.G. was quite high, so you will likely end up with a high alcohol content when finished. You may need to let this age for sometime to reduce the "Rocket Fuel" effect of the high ABV.

You could also cut this by adding back some additional juice and lower your levels to a more suitable and enjoyable ABV. If you have another 1 gallon container available, you might consider doing this before fermentation is complete on your first batch. Clearing you wine should not be a problem. Just allow it time to clear naturally over time. You could use Super-K or something similar, but for a 1 gallon batch, it might be overkill.

Ensure that you add sorbate to keep the wine from fermenting after you bottle or you may end up with bottle bombs.

Making wine is not difficult, I am sure you final product will be nice and enjoyable. As for Manischewitz, it not please everyone, but it is a Kosher Wine and does have it's place.

Enjoy.

Salute!

 

what makes a wine kosher?

could I find a rabbi that'll bless Apfelwein so Jews can drink something actually decent at passover, bar mitsvah, etc?
or is it a lost cause?

 

Yeah, in California I had only had the regular Thompson Seedless and some wine grapes up until I was maybe 17. First time I ever had a Concord it freaked me out. Tastes like a jolly rancher.

There's a lot more to it, technically:

http://www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000033155.htm

"no animal products may be used. Gelatin or egg whites are sometimes used by non-kosher wine makers, to clarify the wine, while kosher wine makers use... bentonite"

Isinglass is considered non-kosher as well, as I believe the sturgeon fish itself is tref.

It's also not supposed to be produced by non-jews.

As far as an apfelwien goes, i think that the thing to make it truly kosher would be that the fruit/orchards be picked/cared for in the prescribed manner and that fruit/juice only be handled by observant Jews and all processes be overseen by a qualified rabbi, not so much blessed.

All of that said, most (not all) American non-orthox Jews seem to me to use kosher wines on holidays as a tradition more than a genuine concern for sticking to the kosher laws. I guess drinking good ol' Manni on passover is to remind us of the bitterness our ancestors went through in Egypt, and the headache to remind us of the 40 years spent in the desert!



I apologize to the OP for hijacking the thread, but I guess you got your questions answered by some of the more responsible board members.

 

We have "responsible" board members? Wow. Things you learn...

 

I caved.

It entered the airlock stem and I just couldn't risk it. I now have a blow off tube.

 

I'm interested to see how this turns out. If it's good I might make a batch of my own...

 

toldja so

 

Barely anything, just a few bubbles pushing their way down the tube.

 

So about when should I replace the tube with the airlock?

 

Fermentation is no longer foaming, I've switched back to the airlock.

 

I do know that my Uncle in Vernon BC is inundated with Italians in the fall all wanting to pick his concord grapes for wine.

Not sure what it is about concord grapes that they aren't used by professional vinters.

 

Consumers avoid change :shrug:

People buy what they know. I know nothing so I buy what I want.

 

You know how those wine snobs are, if it hasn't been done for 400 years then they think it's pedestrian and lowbrow. I made some wine out of Niagara grapes (the white version of concord) and it's friggin awesome! Oh crap! I still have the skins in the blackberry wine bucket! Oh my.... I'd better take care of that soon, eh?

 

What's the verdict on the Welch's wine? It has to be done by now.

 

It may be done fermenting but it probably won't be very drinkable for about a year.

check out this thread though: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/welchs-grape-juice-wine-21093/

 

I live 2 doors down from a couple form Italy and they have to be 90 if they are a day.. The guy worked in Italy as a winemaker, he uses 3 concord vines that have to be 50 plus years old..We share wines and his are concord sweet.. I'll have to ask what he's using for yeast, could be bread yeast for all I know..

 

I think the acid blend is necessary. I used acid blend in mine, and will may add more depending upon how it tastes after backsweetening.

 

Mine turned cloudy is it ok

 

Did you take gravity readings to make sure it’s done? How long has it been sitting to clear?

 

A little more than ten years, I think.

 

Oh wow, possible pectin haze? But I’d expect even that to settle over the years. If it tastes fine, drink it. clarity is over rated, as long as it’s not effecting the taste.