12% Concord grape pyment

[bushpilot]

I racked this out of primary today (day 9), and it is showing some real potential!

Day 1
3 cans Old Orchard brand grape concentrate (concord grape)
9 cans of water per the juice label
20 oz additional water
Honey to bring it to SG 1.090 (sorry, didn't measure)
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp potassium bicarbonate
1/2 tsp wine tannin (from grape skins)
This resulted in about 1.5-1.6 gallons of must in the primary

Day 2 morning
1 pkg 71B yeast, rehydrated with GoFerm

Day 2 evening
1 tsp DAP
1/2 tsp LD Carlson yeast energizer

Day 3 evening
1/2 tsp bentonite dry

Degassed 1-2 times daily for 4-5 days.

Day 9 (today)
SG 1.000 (about 11.8% ABV)
Taste is remarkably good for how young it is.

I racked it into secondary, with 1 campden tablet and 10 medium toast American oak cubes. I expect to rack again in 2-4 weeks, and sweeten with honey as desired at that time (stabilized first, of course). Based on what I tasted today, I doubt I wil sweeten much, if at all. It has a little residual sweetness, surprising considering the SG.

cross-posted at Welch's Grape Juice Wine

 

[bushpilot]

Here we are, about 3 months later, and I opened the first bottle. Not bad, really!

I think next time, I will mx the grape juice a little heavier (less water) and add more tannin, hoping to get a little more of a red wine vibe.

 

[Dan O]

Just now seeing this. Maybe I should try a batch.

 

[pdhirsch]

I did something similar a few years ago. I used honey and grape juice from the grocery store (one gallon of store-brand grape juice plus 1 pound of honey), 71B yeast, and added nutrient at 24 and 48 hours. OG was 1.086 and final gravity 0.997 (so ABV almost 12%), and the ambient temperature in the basement where it fermented was 65 degrees. I bottled into 12-ounce beer bottles 19 days after pitching, and didn't really start drinking it until it was about 6 months old.

I prefer mead or cyser so I haven't made pyment again, but it definitely tasted better than I expected, especially considering the bargain-basement ingredients that I used. My notes say that I should have added tannin, which I did not do.

 

[bushpilot]

I'm with you, cyser is the best!

But I keep experimenting, hoping to find something equally good. I have a raspberry cyser in the bottle, looking forward to trying that one in about a month.

 

[Dan O]

I'm with you, cyser is the best!

But I keep experimenting, hoping to find something equally good. I have a raspberry cyser in the bottle, looking forward to trying that one in about a month.

Raspberry cyser sounds tasty. I just put 2 gallons of cranberry cyser to bulk age for @ least 6 months. Next time I make a cyser, I will reserve 1 gallon for the raspberries.