General Concentrate Wine

[brazedowl]

You recommend stabilizing, what does that mean? Sorry but I'm a noob when it comes to wine being this is my first attempt. At the end of March it will be two months. Do I bottle at that point? How long does it have to sit in bottle before you recommend serving it? Do you have to add anything when you bottle it?

When the wine gets to the point you're ready for it to be done you add stabilizers to it to keep the yeast from continuing a slow fermentation if there is sugar left in the wine.

I go with a tablespoon of sorbate (for 5 gallons) and a crushed campden tablet (1 for each gallon). Just dissolve it in a bit of the wine and then rack on top of it a day before bottling. Some skip the campden, but I go with it. It helps prevent oxidation which happens when you rack and bottle.

This will keep the yeast from continuing to ferment after bottling and blowing your bottles up. I had to throw a cider party so we could use up 5 gallons of cider that I forgot to stabilize and the bottles were getting to the point of breaking. I make it sound like a cider party was such a trial. hahaha.

 

[jtaguy]

How much sorbate for a 1 gal batch?

 

[brazedowl]

err... a teaspoon? I do a tablespoon for 5 gallons and 3 teaspoons to a tablespoon... so yea, lets give it a teaspoon, or maybe 3/4 of a teaspoon?

My brain is failing me at proportions right now.

 

[homeinthewoods]

I was having some crazy ideas and wondered if adding a pack of jello (no potassium or recognizable yeast killers) to my primary fermentation would be detrimental to the outcome of my wine? Any thoughts?

 

[brazedowl]

I was having some crazy ideas and wondered if adding a pack of jello (no potassium or recognizable yeast killers) to my primary fermentation would be detrimental to the outcome of my wine? Any thoughts?

For why? If you're trying to add flavor you might as well go with koolade or something. If you're trying to clear the wine they sell unflavored gelatin for that purpose. I wouldn't add a jello packet unless you want it to come out tasting like boones farm. I mean we arn't making nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar: french wine here, but it's better than MD 20/20.

 

[newbrew77]

I backsweetened mine with another can of concentrate but it still has a bite. I kegged it and force carbed it but its still pretty harsh. Will it mellow with time?

 

[brazedowl]

I backsweetened mine with another can of concentrate but it still has a bite. I kegged it and force carbed it but its still pretty harsh. Will it mellow with time?

How long ago? What was your final gravity before adding the concentrate?

It does mellow out with time.

 

[newbrew77]

It was around 1.02 fg. Was about 14% abv prior to adding concentrate

 

[brazedowl]

Oh that's not bad. I don't know how well things bulk age in kegs when force carbed, but it should still mellow out.

 

[dawnpd]

So I bottled my grape concentrate it was about 1.130sg and about 15-20 % sooo my big question is will it get mellowed with time it's sooo sweet tastes like fruit cocktail syrup ! And I did the yeast thing to try and eat up some of the sugar .. So far the only thing I could use it for would be a punch or something..

 

[brazedowl]

Whoa whoa. You BOTTLED it at 1.130?? That should have been where you started. Are you sure you didn't bottle it at 1.013? Sweetness doesn't tend to mellow out.

 

[dawnpd]

That could have been it not sure it's been sitting for three months already before I bottled so was getting antsy to empty out carboy and start something new ! I know there's alc in it so that's all I cared about can just use as mixers or something

 

[mattsilf]

The wife and I just mixed a batch of white grape-rasberry using your recipe(thanks for this recipe btw). Nice and simple, just the way we like it!

 

[brazedowl]

The wife and I just mixed a batch of white grape-rasberry using your recipe(thanks for this recipe btw). Nice and simple, just the way we like it!

Best of luck! If anything quirky happens read some of the back posts. With so many people trying different things we came up with lots of solutions to individual problems.

 

[mattsilf]

Best of luck! If anything quirky happens read some of the back posts. With so many people trying different things we came up with lots of solutions to individual problems.

Thanks! Does this need to be de-gassed when it goes to secondary or before it gets bottled?

 

[brazedowl]

I never have. But I let it sit for quite a while after its reached it's FG.

 

[mattsilf]

Im really confused with the whole de-gassing thing. Some say you only need to do that for kits because they are rushed. If i make a wine out of juice like this and wait to bottle for 2-3 months, do i really need to do it?

 

[Meadrol]

I made that mistake with the first batch I made....I stuck my paddle in, hit the button and it fizzed all over the flloor. Trust me, with this one you don't want to do it. It fizzes kind of like 7-Up...don't, don't, don't lol.

 

[mattsilf]

I made that mistake with the first batch I made....I stuck my paddle in, hit the button and it fizzed all over the flloor. Trust me, with this one you don't want to do it. It fizzes kind of like 7-Up...don't, don't, don't lol.

So youre saying dont de-gas?

 

[brazedowl]

Well did you stabilize it? When I dissolve the sorbate and campden in some water or some of the wine and put it in the bottling vessel. I then rack onto it to ensure an even distribution of the stabilizers. Because those can release sulfur gasses I let it sit for a week or so before bottling. All the agitation of this process generally acts to degas the solution rather completely. And if there's a little bubbly left in it at that point there's no worries. Just pretend it was part of the plan and everyone will think you're fancy and have mad skills.

 

[Meadrol]

Yep that's what I'm saying.

 

[mattsilf]

Started my white grape-rasberry batch friday. I took my first ever hydrometer reading today. 1.080..
.should i wait to test until the activity slows or check every few days?

 

[jpm5171988]

What kind of sugar did you use? Just regular white grocery store "table sugar" (sucrose I think)?

 

[mattsilf]

Yes regular sugar

 

[jpm5171988]

Ok thanks for the info. I'm going to throw this together tonight. Using old orchards apple strawberry kiwi concentrate. I also found a couple of cans of strawberry pie filling I'm thinking about using. My only concern with the pie filling is the preservative used that causes the fruit to retain its color... Should it affect the yeast in any way (doesn't contain sulfites)? Also, I'm thinking about trying a different yeast. I want a slightly higher alcohol content, so I'm going to try either sweet mead yeast or champagne yeast from white labs.

 

[mattsilf]

I think with that much sugar it will be high in alcohol anyway. Ive read alot of recipies with pie filling used. Sounds good...i also used Old Orchard concentrate

 

[JonB5150]

Well I'm new to wine making and wanted to learn the craft, so i bought a wine brewing kit from northern brewer and made my first batch using this recipe. So far so good it has been two weeks and I still am getting bubbles about every 40 sec from the every 3 I was getting 3 days into the process. My starting gravity was 1.115 and my gravity today was 1.09. It taste good, not as sweet as I thought. It was projected to be a 15% alcohol! And I think It's close! My question is if I should ad a Campden tab to kill the fermentation and should I use bentonite to clarifie it When I rack it? And wisdom would be helpful, thanks.

 

[Meadrol]

Hi Jon, if you want to kill the fermentation you need to add potassium sorbate. I use both campden tabs and the sorbate (1 campden tab crushed up per gallon). If you are only doing a gallon you can put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours to stun all the yeasties, then rack it onto your campden and sorbate to prevent the fermentation from starting again. I haven't had to use anything to get this to clear; it does great on its own.

 

[JonB5150]

Thanks! guess i will let it clear by its self. I'm going to wait a few more days and see if the fermentation stops. It went from bubbling every 40sec to 48 sec today. I will probly rack this weekend and kill the the fermentation. I have 5.5 gallons brewing.

 

[mattsilf]

So the k sorbate will actually stop fermentation? Does it actually stop it or just stop it from starting again?