Sugar Vs Juice

[Microphobik]

I live in farm country and there is no shortage of fruit, vegetables, honey, grain, etc, around here that I can probably trade for quite easily, not to mention my own fruit trees and garden that are starting to produce more than I can ever eat.

I've been looking at all kinds of fruit and vegetable wine recipes so I can start turning all this stuff into wine and I see how just about everything calls for sugar, water, and only a relatively small amount of the fruit or vegetable. I get that sugar needs to be added to raise the gravity, but just not clear on the water. Is this purely because it helps save money and lower the requirements, or is it that pure juice (instead of water) be somehow over powering?

For example... Lets say I wanted to make tomato wine. Most recipes call for a bunch of tomatoes, sugar, and a good amount of water. Wouldn't it be better if I just used all tomato juice and no added water? Or is there a reason that virtually every fruit/veg wine recipe I see (with the exception of apples and pears), calls for water and only partial fruit juice?

Even something like Zuchini could be juiced with a juicer and a pure juice brew could be made. Just wondering if the flavor would be too strong or if there was some other reason no one seems to do this.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Microphobik]

Sorry, just realized that my subject line was a tad mislabeled. I should have said Water vs Juice. My apologies.

 

[WVMJ]

Mostly it depends on the acid levels in the fruit. If you make a 100% black currant juice wine it will dissolve your teeth. If you make 100% apple juice wine it would be perfect. I like to put in as much juice as I can, even extra if I can get it in there. Its also a big matter of taste. We like to use a lot of elderberry juice when we make mead, others think the elderberry is to strong for their whimpy taste and can barely stand to use 3 lb/gallon If you think the recipe is light on fruit there is nothing stopping you from adding as much as you want, its your wine. If you got plenty of honey make mead with your fruit to, and use lots of fruit and lots of honey! WVMJ

 

[Microphobik]

Ah, okay, that makes perfect sense. Is there a simple way of testing the acid level or is it just the kind of thing where the juice would make you wince a bit if there was too much. Not clear what happens to the acid profile once its fermented and the sugars are gone.

As a general rule are the average recipes out there (jack Kellers for example) pretty spot on in terms of water and sugar amounts or do they tend to run conservative? I tend to always add more than whatever a recipe suggests (with food) because I like stronger flavors, but I wasn't sure if that rule translates with wine and I don't want to over do it. But I also want to make sure I create a top quality product.

Take something like Zuchini wine... I see all recipes calling for water. But I can't imagine Zuchini juice would be overl acidic. Could be wrong though. Are there other concerns or is it pretty much just acid and saving on costs?

Thanks again for the tips.

 

[WVMJ]

You already answered your own question, use the recipes as a guide and change them to make wine the way you want. You can buy a simple acid test kit at a homebrew store to determine the acid levels. You can also get a beginners book that explains a lot of these basics to get you started. WVMJ

 

[Microphobik]

Sure, just trying to get as close to a good product as I can, given that it takes so long to really know what you have. I'm trying to understand whether or not the acid level is more or less apparent when you taste the fresh juice, or is it the kind of thing where the juice can taste fine, but after being fermented the acid jumps out in an unexpected way.

Thanks again.

 

[Yooper]

Sure, just trying to get as close to a good product as I can, given that it takes so long to really know what you have. I'm trying to understand whether or not the acid level is more or less apparent when you taste the fresh juice, or is it the kind of thing where the juice can taste fine, but after being fermented the acid jumps out in an unexpected way.

Thanks again.

No, it's pretty apparent when you taste the must. You have to "picture" the wine, though, once the sugar is fermented out. It gets even more tart if you have an acidic must. In some wines, the fruit can be so acidic that you want to use calcium carbonate to drop the acidity before you even think about fermenting it (raspberry, grapes like catawba or concord, rhubarb, etc).

If the wine is finished and needs some acid for "bite", you can always add acid blend or a specific acid to taste. But it's far harder to take it out.

 

[Microphobik]

Gotcha, thanks. Really appreciate the tips.