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maenad

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I live in a country where it's illegal to sell wine kits, but it's legal to sell the concentrated juice. My language skills aren't really up to asking the website owner the following questions - plus I don't know if he really knows. The juice is "Queen's Cellar Grape Juice Concentrate Merlot" and the box says "8 kg / 23 litres.

Note that the wine needs to be made for a wedding that will take place in 31 days... 29 days from delivery. (Yes, I know that's a risk, but I already warned the groom and he wants to go for it and hope.)

Two questions -

1. Is there any way to ensure that it's at least a bit drinkable within 4 weeks, possibly at the expense of later terrific quality? I don't want it to be awful but in this country we usually drink plonk anyhow so our standards aren't too high. :)

2. He's insisting on something that goes against my instincts - but he might be right. He says that it would be more sensible to not bottle the wine, and to just rack it into a 20-litre water bottle with a pump dispenser to take it to the venue. Then just put it into jugs for the table. (They have lovely water jugs at the venue.) Is this really OK?

Thank you!
 
1. At the 4 weeks' mark, most likely, the wine must will still be fermenting. It will most likely still be cloudy, yeasty, and bubbly. As a lot of the sugar probably won't have time to ferment into alcohol, it will most likely taste sweet, and have a low percent of alcohol to it. It will probably be pretty awful, depending on your tastes.

2. Do not cork the wine must into bottles. It won't be done fermenting yet, and any bottles you cork up will eventually burst from later fermentation. I guess you could put it into a giant jug and dispense it at the party, but it will not be great. Any leftovers will probably be oxidized, and best to pour down the drain.

Is there any reason you don't want to buy wine for the wedding? It would be a whole lot safer, better, and easier.
 
I don't know much about wine making or doing so on a very short schedule. Although 4 weeks sounds plausible to just ferment it, you probably need to cold crash it for a week to reduce the amount of suspended yeast. The wine will still be somewhat cloudy (yeasty), not looking very appetizing, and likely taste rough as it has had no time to condition.

From what I know about wine, Merlot makes heavy red wines, high in tannins. A much lighter grape variety may be more suitable for such an event. Any choice in grapes from the vendor?

How big is that wedding? 23 liters is ~150 glasses (150ml).
 
OK, thanks everyone. Yes, bought wine is a back-up but someone assured him that there are one-week kits so four weeks is plenty. But I'll try the cold-crashing - does that just mean putting it into the coldest place I can find?

I'll treat it carefully in that case, and assume that it won't be drinkable. If it is - great. If not - that's my winter wine done. I appreciate the fast replies!
 
OK, thanks everyone. Yes, bought wine is a back-up but someone assured him that there are one-week kits so four weeks is plenty. But I'll try the cold-crashing - does that just mean putting it into the coldest place I can find?
After reading @ShadesManna's comments, yeah, that makes me wonder why to even start something that's bound to fail due to lack of time. Serving a rushed homebrew wine at a party over something that can be had that's much more palatable, is a no-brainer for most. You may get a lot of dumpers, and a tarnished reputation. ;)

The coldest place to cold crash is at -5°C - 0°C for a week, just above freezing it. Even at 10°C higher, it takes 2x as long. You could use a fining agent (gelatin?) to speed it up.

Some may say it's impossible, but I've brewed 3-day IPAs that were really wonderful, while taking advantage of hazy being part of that particular style (NorthEast IPA, "NEIPA"). But those were not the first beers I ever brewed either... And I had done some prep work ahead of time (making very vital yeast starters).

How about making something different and much better?
 
I agree but weddings are different here... and planning the wedding a month before it happens is considered unusually far in advance! Still, at least he wants wine - the last wedding I went to had a choice of fanta or water.
 
The coldest place to cold crash is at -5°C - 0°C for a week, just above freezing it. Even at 10°C higher, it takes 2x as long. You could use a fining agent (gelatin?) to speed it up.

At that temp, you'd most likely freeze it. Unless it's fermented out, and has enough alcohol to prevent freezing.
 
It's not a bad idea to let it begin to freeze then thaw in cold section of fridge. It won't be amazing wine but it will be sweet, hippy fest like wine that will get you buzzed. Do this a few days before the wedding and siphon it off the yeast cake the day of. Stir it vigorously to remove the co2 and open it up before serving.
I assume you also should not get caught so beware red vomit after lol
 
Honestly if you do it that way you can make sangria out of it with fresh cut fruit most guests wont know the difference that way.
 
At that temp, you'd most likely freeze it. Unless it's fermented out, and has enough alcohol to prevent freezing.
I was thinking there would be at least 6-8% alcohol after 3 weeks and 1.040-some sugars left. It won't freeze at 0°C but may get sludgy at -5C. He definitely needs to keep it liquid for most precipitation.
 
I regularly make a corn wine for distilling where I leave it outside during winter in a plastic carboy. When it thaws its crystal clear.
 
Wine easily ferments out in 5-7 days, so no worries about it being done- assuming you're not using bread yeast.

As was mentioned, once it's completely done, you can put it some place cold and rack (siphon) off of the sediment and then you'll be all set.
 
I live in a country where it's illegal to sell wine kits, but it's legal to sell the concentrated juice. My language skills aren't really up to asking the website owner the following questions - plus I don't know if he really knows. The juice is "Queen's Cellar Grape Juice Concentrate Merlot" and the box says "8 kg / 23 litres.

Note that the wine needs to be made for a wedding that will take place in 31 days... 29 days from delivery. (Yes, I know that's a risk, but I already warned the groom and he wants to go for it and hope.)

Two questions -

1. Is there any way to ensure that it's at least a bit drinkable within 4 weeks, possibly at the expense of later terrific quality? I don't want it to be awful but in this country we usually drink plonk anyhow so our standards aren't too high. :)

2. He's insisting on something that goes against my instincts - but he might be right. He says that it would be more sensible to not bottle the wine, and to just rack it into a 20-litre water bottle with a pump dispenser to take it to the venue. Then just put it into jugs for the table. (They have lovely water jugs at the venue.) Is this really OK?

Thank you!
Your wine is unlikely to be even finished fermenting, let alone aged to enough to be tasty. But a BOMM mead would be.
And mead is traditional for a wedding
 
a couple of Camden tablets may help stop the last ferment and drop the yeast out of suspension, at this stage the sulphite taste should not be overwhelming against a slightly sweet wine.
 
a couple of Camden tablets may help stop the last ferment and drop the yeast out of suspension, at this stage the sulphite taste should not be overwhelming against a slightly sweet wine.

NO! campden doesn't not halt or even slow fermentation. That's why winemakers use it at 50 ppm, often much more.

What's with every one saying it's not going to be done? I don't get it. I've been making wine for nearly 30 years, and it's always done with primary fermentation by day 5-7, and usually clearing quite well by day 10. What is everybody else doing that I"m not?
 
I think that Yooper is not wrong but I also think it depends a great deal on a number of factors which include the starting gravity of the wine you are making. You say it's a concentrate that you have. OK but what will be the starting gravity? Something like 1.080 - 1.090? Then I imagine that active fermentation could be done in 5 to 10 days. But what yeast are you planning to use? Some yeasts are racing cars and they rip through sugars as if there is no tomorrow - those yeasts don't necessarily highlight all the flavors in the fruit. Quite the opposite: they blow off flavors. But other yeasts are more leisurely - more like a golf cart than a Ferrari . These may take longer to finish but they tend to capture and hold the aromas and flavors. What yeast are you planning to pitch?
 
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