Dry Concord Wine

[Pick]

When I used to live in northeastern Ohio, lots of folks had Concord wine grapes. My father and uncles used to make several barrels of a dry Concord wine. The recipe was simple, crush grapes in the skin, let set for a few hours, then press. The juice was added to oak whiskey barrels or food grade plastic barrels. No sugar or yeast was added. Fermentation started, and drinking started, 6 to 8 weeks after, even as the wine continued to ferment!

In an attempt to duplicate this, down in Florida, I have purchased some Welches grape juice, with no added sugar or additives, and pitched some Premier Cuvee yeast in a one gallon glass jug. Fermentation started overnight, and looks good. We shall see what happens. My goal is just to have a simple dry Concord wine.


I am a little concerned as the juice doesn't seem to have the "oomph" that I remember. Seems a little thin on the flavor side.

 

[Genacide]

You're right about the oomph. I have my own concords and nothing compares to the taste when I press my own compared to concentrate or non concentrate from the store.

 

[johns455]

Yeah, I accidently ended up with 2 vines of concord (got screwed online purchase) and make a pretty nice young drinking wine every year out of the grapes, and I'm not sure why but store bought juice looses something that the fresh crushed juice has in taste.

 

[buMbLeB]

So this is very timely, though I shouldn't be surprised - it's that time of year. I've just plucked a peck (give or take?) of concord grapes from my Dad's front yard, along with a demipeck of sweet sweet seedless greens, and I really want to make at least the concords into wine. I also want to do this without using sulfites, as Dad believes he is allergic to them. Additionally, the grapes are well coated with a dusting of yeast, and I'm considering attempting a wild ferment. Finally, while I've made a fair bit of apple cider (from pasteurized concentrate) and other brews that I've boiled, I've never done a proper grape wine. So:

1. can I make them into wine without using sulfites?
2. can I use the wild yeast already on the grapes?
3. if I can't do (2), how can I sterilize the must without (1)?? If I boil the must (as I have done for apricot and plum wine, with decent results) will I get grape jelly?
4. what do you think I should do?

All advice welcome, I'll be doing this batch up sometime in the next 24-48hrs. Hurry quick!

 

[z-bob]

if I can't do (2), how can I sterilize the must without (1)?? If I boil the must (as I have done for apricot and plum wine, with decent results) will I get grape jelly?

Use a "killer" yeast, like most champagne varieties, and it won't matter. They will sterilize the must for you. I generally use sulfites too, but you don't have to.

I've made wine using old jars of discolored jelly before. It even dropped nice and clear, and all the brown dropped out.

 

[johns455]

You can ferment them with the wild yeast, I don't think you will get as high an alcohol content, but it will work.
I have had good results pasteurizing my must instead of boiling, put the must in a big pot, the put that pot into a bigger one with water in it, heat must up to 170 and keep it there for 10 minutes. I'm not positive you get better results this way than with boiling but I have seemed to. It is a lot of work so I have only done it twice then I discovered campden tablets.

 

[buMbLeB]

Use a "killer" yeast, like most champagne varieties, and it won't matter. They will sterilize the must for you. I generally use sulfites too, but you don't have to.

That's good to know, I've got a stash of EC-1118 in the fridge. I had wondered if it might outcompete any wild bugs it was up against, and that sounds like what you're confirming. Thanks!

You can ferment them with the wild yeast, I don't think you will get as high an alcohol content, but it will work.
I have had good results pasteurizing my must instead of boiling, put the must in a big pot, the put that pot into a bigger one with water in it, heat must up to 170 and keep it there for 10 minutes.

This is doable, but I assume that pasteurizing the must will kill the wild yeast, so I would only do this if intending to add yeast afterwards? If I'm understanding that right, then I intend to pasteurize per your instructions, and then cool and pitch ec-1118 as above.

 

[johns455]

[/QUOTE] This is doable, but I assume that pasteurizing the must will kill the wild yeast, so I would only do this if intending to add yeast afterwards? If I'm understanding that right, then I intend to pasteurize per your instructions, and then cool and pitch ec-1118 as above.[/QUOTE]

Yes, it will kill the wild yeast and any other molds, which is what I would be most worried about.