Noobie wine juice questions

[NJCorky]

Did some searching and couldn't quite find all of the answers I was looking for so I thought I'd just ask the questions....hopefully somebody can help out.

Never made wine before, just beer. Guy at a local butcher shop gets a refrigerated shipment of wine juice once a year. He says its freshly pressed stuff from Cali. Guy at work talked me in to ordering some so I'm saying what the hell and picking a syrah.

It comes in 5.3 gallon buckets so I figured I'd just start with one bucket and use my 6 gallon better bottle that I have. Guy here at work and the wine selling dude say I don't need yeast and that I can just go with the natural nasties that linger in the juice and emerge once it warms up. Another guy at work who's been making wine for years and he says to throw some yeast in there (Lalvin 118?). What's the right way?

Also, is the 6 gal BB the right size?
Do I just leave the stuff in there for 6 months or do I rack a couple of times?
Do I need to add anything else?
Do I have to degas?
Is this the same as getting a kit like I always see and have been wanting to get?
How long before bottling?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help!

Corky

 

[Yooper]

Welcome!

I usually don't make grape juice wines (not readily available here) but I do have a little experience with the process.

As far as yeast is concerned, I would recommend using Campden tablets (one crushed tablet per gallon, crushed and dissolved in 1/4 cup water) and add that to the juice. The next day, add the yeast. Yes, there is natural yeast in the grape juice, but there is also all kinds of other stuff like mold spores, lactic acid bacteria, etc floating around on/in the juice. That can ruin your wine. If you grow your own grapes, and press your own, you may be familiar with your particular strain of wild yeast, but in this case it would be a crapshoot.

Your BB is big enough, but you can also do the primary in a 7 gallon bucket. That might be easiest to start, since you need to stir it at the beginning, and it needs some oxygen. Once the SG gets down to the 1.020 area, it can be racked to your carboy and airlocked. It will need to be racked several times, whenever the lees are 1/4 inch think or at least every 30-45 days at first probably. You will probably want to add campden tablets (again one per gallon) at every other racking to help preserve the wine and prevent aeration. (so2 binds to the wine so that oxygen can't, and then it disapates over time, so it must be re-added).

You will want to purchase a hydrometer, to know where your SG starts and where it ends. I doubt that you'll need anything else, and won't need to add anything. I'm assuming that the acid adjustments have all been made when you purchase the juice.

It's not the same as a kit, exactly. The kits have juice "concentrate" so they don't taste quite the same. Your fresh juice wine will take longer than a kit, which are made to be drunk early. If you rack when needed, you can probably be ready to bulk age in 9 months or so. But you really can't follow a set timetable because each fermentation is different. After it bulk ages for about a year or so, you can be about ready to bottle.

Let us know if you have more questions, and again, welcome to HBT!

 

[NJCorky]

Thanks for the info Yooper! I'll get all the stuff you said and give it a shot.

I don't have a bucket and don't really plan on getting one (except the one it comes in but I'm sure that won't be a good one) but I do have a couple of 6.5 gallon glass carboys, a 5 gallon glass and the 6 gallon better bottle. I guess I can start off in the 6 gallon BB and then rack to one of the 6.5's right? Do I have to worry about the extra head space?

Sounds like it should be fun regardless! I just hate the fact that I have to wait a whole year!!!!!

 

[KENfromMI]

Corky, I use juice from California all the time and have done it both ways with and without yeast. The owner of the wine making store never uses yeast and most of his customers follow his way as well. Nice thing about using the natural yeast is you can make a 6 gallon bucket in a 6 gallon carboy as your primary and your first part of the aging without racking as it is slower to ferment. Pour about 5 gallons of the juice in and place your left over gallon in the fridge to keep it from fermenting, as the fermentation slows add the gallon bit by bit until the fermentation subsides enough where you have all 6 gallons in the carboy (top off when necesary with similar wine). Leave it for a month before your first rack. This is how they recommend at the shop if using the natural yeast. I started using yeast so i use an 8 gallon primary for a week or two, rack into a 5 gallon topped off, save the leftover with an airlock and use it to top with each additional racking and age for a year before bottling, sometimes using oak chips etc. Good luck, Ken

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the info Yooper! I'll get all the stuff you said and give it a shot.

I don't have a bucket and don't really plan on getting one (except the one it comes in but I'm sure that won't be a good one) but I do have a couple of 6.5 gallon glass carboys, a 5 gallon glass and the 6 gallon better bottle. I guess I can start off in the 6 gallon BB and then rack to one of the 6.5's right? Do I have to worry about the extra head space?

Sounds like it should be fun regardless! I just hate the fact that I have to wait a whole year!!!!!

Ken covered the size issue- you can start in the 6.5 gallon carboy if you have to. You don't have to worry about headspace in primary (that's why I use a bucket) but then rack to the smaller vessel and minimize headspace after that.