Simple sweat White Wine

[Ronald C Gregory]

This summer I started brewing mead and beer. Now my wife loves white wine so I started saving some grapes as the kids didn't eat them all and have about 3lbs frozen. I was looking to use white grape juice and the grapes for making a simple gallon of a sweat white wine for my wife.

besides sugar white other ingredients should i be looking for. I'm likely to use D47 yeast as I have experience with that in mead and a good some understanding of its temperature tolerances. just looking for a few tips before I start this for her.

Also I am going to age this until January of 2020 and give it to her with a custom label for her birthday. (nothing wrong with a homemade gift right)

Thank you in advance

Ron

 

[bernardsmith]

These are table grapes? I am not sure how much flavor you are going to get from those grapes or from "white grape juice" from your local supermarket. Not sure what your alternatives are if you are looking for a grape wine but if the issue is something more like a white wine then what about making a relatively low alcohol mead (about 12-13%) using a good varietal honey (say Tupelo or meadowfoam), and back sweetening this to a level of sweetness that your wife prefers. To make a good mead you need good honey (1 lb in 1 gallon = an SG of 1.035 = a potential of 4.5% So you might want about 3 lbs of the honey to ferment and another 4 -8 oz to sweeten. You will need nutrients (honey has none), tannins (honey has none) and perhaps some acidity (if the TA is too low - you want a final TA of about 6.5 g/L (.65%). Now you could use that grape juice to replace the water you would normally use (this mead is now a pyment) and you might then cut back the amount of honey to 2 or 2.25 lbs (I imagine the juice will add another 40 points of sugar)..

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

These are table grapes? I am not sure how much flavor you are going to get from those grapes or from "white grape juice" from your local supermarket. Not sure what your alternatives are if you are looking for a grape wine but if the issue is something more like a white wine then what about making a relatively low alcohol mead (about 12-13%) using a good varietal honey (say Tupelo or meadowfoam), and back sweetening this to a level of sweetness that your wife prefers. To make a good mead you need good honey (1 lb in 1 gallon = an SG of 1.035 = a potential of 4.5% So you might want about 3 lbs of the honey to ferment and another 4 -8 oz to sweeten. You will need nutrients (honey has none), tannins (honey has none) and perhaps some acidity (if the TA is too low - you want a final TA of about 6.5 g/L (.65%). Now you could use that grape juice to replace the water you would normally use (this mead is now a pyment) and you might then cut back the amount of honey to 2 or 2.25 lbs (I imagine the juice will add another 40 points of sugar)..

Yes they are table grapes (white ones) and I have the nutrient and Energizer for the yeast. I was thinking of using some honey instead of just sugar. I've had success with other frozen fruit giving a decent amount of flavor to mead so I didnt think it would be a terrible add to use with grape juice for a wine. Thanks for responding and giving me some ideas to think over

 

[bernardsmith]

Just to add another detail to the mix to think about. As a home brewer you likely dilute your fruit juices by adding water to make up the volume. No commercial wine maker will add a drop of water to their grape juice and indeed their fruit has enough sugar to ferment to about 12% without blinking. Which is to say their grapes have about 2.5 lbs (pounds) of sugar in every gallon of juice they extract. Those sugars are the source of the flavor. You are planning - of necessity - to add sugar to create a "wine" (absent such added sugar your wine will have the same alcohol content of a session beer - Not , of course, a problem but that may not be what you are looking for) - but this added sugar has no flavor to speak of it will simply up the alcohol content... All I am saying is that wine made from table grapes may not be everything that you are imagining today. It won't be a Reisling or a Pinot Grigio .

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hope you mean "sweet" and not "sweat"

If you want wine, I would suggest a wine kit with juice/concentrate from actual wine grapes. Likely better than table grapes.

 

[z-bob]

Niagara grape juice (common bottled white grape juice) makes a decent white wine if you add a little sugar to boost the gravity. I haven't seen anyone mention Campden tablets yet, but my wines improved tremendously when I started adding sulfites at the first racking. Before using sulfites, the wine would be okay at bottling time and immediately start slowly deteriorating. With sulfites, it's better after aging 6 months or so.

Keep in mind that white wines generally don't age well.

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

Hope you mean "sweet" and not "sweat"

If you want wine, I would suggest a wine kit with juice/concentrate from actual wine grapes. Likely better than table grapes.

yeah i did missed that on my phone could be "funny" i guess

 

[bernardsmith]

Keep in mind that white wines generally don't age well.

We are talking here about 1 gallon of wine. Five bottles at the most. Aging is not a real issue but adding campden (or more accurately, adding K-meta) is good practice to inhibit oxidation and other kinds of spoilage

 

[hamiltonkiler]

White raises give good body.

I would
Petic enzyme
White grapes
White raisins
White grape juice
10# white sugar or wine sugar
And water to top.
5gal batch
Sterilize it over night.
Add D47 and a nutrient pack.
Some tannin
And let it role on.
Maybe a couple table spoons of acid blend.

Cheers

 

[z-bob]

We are talking here about 1 gallon of wine. Five bottles at the most. Aging is not a real issue but adding campden (or more accurately, adding K-meta) is good practice to inhibit oxidation and other kinds of spoilage

One year in the bottles with no sulfites (Campden or K-meta; doesn't matter) is enough for even red wine to become stale. Don't ask me how I know