Recently started fermenting fruit juices and need some tips to improve the taste

[Seryod]

I used 1 cup of sugar for 1L of juice with 5 grams bread yeast( I know bread yeast isn't optimal for this but for me to make this cost effective i have to use bread yeast otherwise its better to go and buy alcohol myself)
Would making my own fruit juices would help with the taste and how should i make it?
How long should it ferment?
What should i do after and before fermantation?

Note: i used cheap fruit juices i guess i could have bought better but i think i need some help before i make new batches

 

[bucketnative]

Some fruit juices just don't taste good fermented. What juices are you using?

I would start in the Cider forum, and read the Cider for Beginners Thread, a lot of it will pertain to other juices: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/cider-for-beginners.508303/

 

[Seryod]

Some fruit juices just don't taste good fermented. What juices are you using?

I would start in the Cider forum, and read the Cider for Beginners Thread, a lot of it will pertain to other juices: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/cider-for-beginners.508303/

I tried cherry apple and grape

 

[bmd2k1]

I used 1 cup of sugar for 1L of juice with 5 grams bread yeast( I know bread yeast isn't optimal for this but for me to make this cost effective i have to use bread yeast otherwise its better to go and buy alcohol myself)
Would making my own fruit juices would help with the taste and how should i make it?
How long should it ferment?
What should i do after and before fermantation?

Note: i used cheap fruit juices i guess i could have bought better but i think i need some help before i make new batches

Try using D47 dry wine yeast - costs less than 90cents a pak on Amazon.

I'd suggest adding FAJC or one of the other frozen juice concentrates depending on ur desired flavor profile...rather than white sugar....it boosts the SG & Flavor!

As posted by another...check out the pinned thread Cider for Beginners.

I've posted my protocol for semi/sweet ciders in a few other threads on HBT.

Cheers & Good Luck [emoji111]

 

[Seryod]

Try using D47 dry wine yeast - costs less than 90cents a pak on Amazon.

I'd suggest adding FAJC or one of the other frozen juice concentrates depending on ur desired flavor profile...rather than white sugar....it boosts the SG & Flavor!

As posted by another...check out the pinned thread Cider for Beginners.

I've posted my protocol for semi/sweet ciders in a few other threads on HBT.

Cheers & Good Luck [emoji111]

I dont know what FAJC stands for but would brown sugar would be better rather than white the fruit juices i used are like %30 fruit so i think thats the problem

 

[bucketnative]

FAJC = frozen apple juice concentrate

What don't you like about the juices you have fermented, so far?

 

[Seryod]

FAJC = frozen apple juice concentrate

What don't you like about the juices you have fermented, so far?

The smell is a bit strong kinda like yoghurt and feels a bit too acidic
and the fruit taste isnt even there

 

[bucketnative]

Well, when you ferment out all of the sugars in the juice, the acids will be more apparent. Cherry juice can be especially acidic. Read through the Cider for Beginners thread, and I think you will find tips to improve your cider/wines.

Start with higher quality juice, for one... garbage in = garbage out.

 

[bracconiere]

if you want to save money move to 10 gallon batches, i've fermented in these before, and just pitcherd it out and threw it in the fridge to get cold

1L batches would make even the '1 gallon' brewers mock you......lol

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilit...umplcTNO69FTlOgZSmgq6t5546J-WIC0aAmaQEALw_wcB

i'd use straight great value 96oz containers 13 of them is 10 gallons, or ~9 twelve packs worth, i'd say 1 cup of sugar in 1L would be the alcohol you don't like try 4lb sack into 10 for an 8%, cinnamon is a good spice for it also....

it'd cost about 24 bucks for 9 twelvers of 8% cider this way, and the $10 for the one time storage tote.....

and yeah as someone else said wineyeast would be the way to go, but just so that it settles to the bottom, (called flocculation)

 

[Seryod]

Thanks for the information since i dont live in the states its gona take me a while to measure precisely that but i think you are saying like half a cup per liter ( i dont make them in a 1 liter container its easier for me to put it that way so i can measure it to my containers)

I am thinking about making with apple juice that i will make on my own should i keep the peels or not when blitzing?
%80 juice %20 water should be good or not?

 

[bracconiere]

i thought you sounded out of the country...

what i get with a avg applejuice is 1.047 SG, adding 8oz of sugar to a liter would give you 21% ABV (acording to my quick BeerSmith entry) which means you probably might be could tasting autolyzed yeast.....?? @RPh_Guy

and being that it takes a week or two to ferment, one drink a batch seems....uhhh, ridiculous....are you in a 'bad place'? if not where at, can you get the type of totes i posted? does your juice only come in 1 liter sizes, (really bad place?) lol

 

[RPh_Guy]

adding 8oz of sugar to a liter would give you 21% ABV (acording to my quick BeerSmith entry) which means you probably might be could tasting autolyzed yeast.....?? @RPh_Guy

High gravity doesn't cause autolysis. Is that what you're asking?

 

[bracconiere]

High gravity doesn't cause autolysis. Is that what you're asking?

was thinking of the high alcohol level and using bakers yeast.....

 

[RPh_Guy]

was thinking of the high alcohol level and using bakers yeast.....

Nah, still won't cause immediate autolysis even with bread yeast.
The alcohol level will only reach what the yeast can handle, around 10-14% ABV.

 

[bracconiere]

Nah, still won't cause immediate autolysis even with bread yeast.
The alcohol level will only reach what the yeast can handle, around 10-14% ABV.

i thought the reason that yeast had an alcohol limit is because they kill themselves....?

 

[RPh_Guy]

i thought the reason that yeast had an alcohol limit is because they kill themselves....?

No, they don't die.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Seryod, and welcome. Wherever you live I would recommend that you use the fruits that are local to your region and which are loved by you. In fact if you can find frozen versions of these fruits that is just about perfect. Let the fruits thaw and you can either add sugar or simply make wines that are lower in alcohol - think about these more like beers or ciders than table wines (about 5- 7% alcohol by volume vs 10-13%).

In my opinion you want to use as little added water as possible and perhaps make the juice from about 3 kilo of fruit to make 4 L of must. If the only yeast you can obtain easily is bread yeast that will work but bread yeast is great for bread and only OK for wine.

The thing about fermenting is that you give all the sugar in the fruit to the yeast and when you do the wine can sort of hide the fruit flavors. One solution is to add some more sugar to this wine (backsweeten) and that added sweetness highlights the fruity flavors.

The problem is that the yeast will still be active. They just don't have any sugar to eat until you give them some more and when you do they will eat up all that added sugar and you will be right back where you started with a bleh tasting wine. The solution in places where you can get wine making chemicals is to stabilize the wine with two chemcials - one called Potassium Meta Bi-sulfite and the second called Potassium Sorbate. When both are added the remaining yeast cannot ferment any sugars. If you cannot get those chemicals then what you might do is simply add sugar to the wine after you pour a glass , much like people do when they pour a cup of coffee or tea.
Good luck.

 

[bmd2k1]

Here's a nice chart of many yeast strains available:

https://winemakermag.com/resource/yeast-strains-chart

 

[Blacksmith1]

You have to use 100% juice. 30% won't leave enough flavor after fermentation. If you can get a frozen concentrate, even better. Li,e someone above said, "garbage in, garbage out "

 

[Seamonkey84]

If you look down this board a bit, you’ll see a thread called Welch’s wine, take a look at that as a base.
Check this out too

 

[Seryod]

So after testing a few more batches i finally made a good tasting batch
I didnt think using a little more expensive bread yeast would help but the difference was just too much to pass out
I also increased the time i fermented it
The result was a sweet and fruity cherry wine which i enjoyed greatly
I still didnt try with homemade fruit juice yet but i will soon thanks a lot for everybody