Need help with my first 5...

[israelj]

1. Welch's white grape juice 3 of the concentrates.
2. 1 half gallon dragonfruit juice
3. 3.5lbs of white sugar
4. 2lbs of light brown sugar
5. Super food for yeast
6. and here's the real fun part-I asked the guy at the brewing place I purchased the yeast from which one I should use... He recommended that I use the same yeast he was using-only he didn't tell me it was his first shot at making wine, and he was making apple cider/wine-he was using champagne yeast.

7. .998
8. Day one fermentation at 73 degrees, then at 63 degrees.

It fermented like crazy (because, as I was told afterwards that was part of what it does) for the first 8 days. Then it stopped. What I was left with, after having had a great aroma, was the strong smell of alcohol and a yeasty smell.

Here's the hard part (for me anyway). I drank a little of this, and it's very co2 right now-AND it makes instant gas all the way down and through to my stomach like nothing i've run into before.

Do I keep it or start over and chalk up to "oh well"?

 

[thadass]

I made a batch of Apfelwein using the Champagne yeast and it was pretty wretched immediately post-fermentation.

Regarding the gas in the wine, if you're planning on bottling this "still" or flat, you should look into racking the wine into a secondary container and the process of wine degassing. There are a number of videos on youtube about this. I bottled my apfelwein as a carbonated beverage so I did not degass.

Regarding the gas in you, it's probably from the C02 in the liquid as well as the yeast still in suspension! Those critters will make gas in you as well.

Right now I think the best move is just to wait. My apfelwein waited for several months before I bottled it. The Champagne yeast is served well by a bit of aging (6-9mo is fantastic), so be patient!

 

[DoctorCAD]

Time is your friend.

Wait a few months.

 

[israelj]

Thank you for the responses. I tossed it. It was so bad, and I could imagine mini bombs going off in my garage because i have the wine cork setup but not the champagne setup. I've seen Yoopers post on welch's, and arpolis and will try one of those. Anything that makes me have gas all the way through-no kidding, that quickly has some issues. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/welchs-grape-juice-wine-21093/

forgot to mention that the first bag of yeast did not take-nothing happened, so i proofed and added the second. trial by fire-it's ok, I'll do better next time out.

 

[thadass]

That's too bad. You shouldn't even have been worrying about bottling yet. Might have been a pretty decent batch if you had just let it be! Now we'll never know! You said this tasting was around the 8 day mark, but Yooper's lovely recipe says at least 30 days. How long after the initial day have you now tossed it?