Welch's Grape Juice Wine

[jrss13]

How long do you typically leave this in secondary before its drinkable? I''m guessing since my OG was super high (1.140)... this will need to settle for quite a while in secondary. Any idea how long? Also, when I eventually bottle it... will it need to age in the bottle for a while, or is the aging in secondary sufficient?

 

[Yooper]

How long do you typically leave this in secondary before its drinkable? I''m guessing since my OG was super high (1.140)... this will need to settle for quite a while in secondary. Any idea how long? Also, when I eventually bottle it... will it need to age in the bottle for a while, or is the aging in secondary sufficient?

It's pretty quick, for wine. I can't remember how long exactly I've aged it, but certainly I was drinking some of it within 6 months. It might be a little "hot" in your case, but probably not too bad.

 

[jrss13]

Thanks yooper. Is it better to bulk age in carboy... or individually in bottles?

 

[Grimster]

It's pretty quick, for wine. I can't remember how long exactly I've aged it, but certainly I was drinking some of it within 6 months. It might be a little "hot" in your case, but probably not too bad.

So I mixed 10 gallons on 01/14 at 1.105 OG and it's been at less than 1.0 for about 2 weeks now. Should I put in a secondary fermenter now and add some raisins or should I consider bottling now? Or wait a while longer? I guess what would the great and knowledgeable Yooper do with my wine at this point? It's in my kitchen now in 5 gallon buckets with airlocks, which stays right around 68-70F pretty constantly.

 

[Yooper]

So I mixed 10 gallons on 01/14 at 1.105 OG and it's been at less than 1.0 for about 2 weeks now. Should I put in a secondary fermenter now and add some raisins or should I consider bottling now? Or wait a while longer? I guess what would the great and knowledgeable Yooper do with my wine at this point? It's in my kitchen now in 5 gallon buckets with airlocks, which stays right around 68-70F pretty constantly.

You can do whatever you'd like! But what I would do is just age it in the secondary for about 30 days to make sure it's not throwing any more lees, and then bottle it. Raisins will add body, but they will also boost the fermentables, taking even more time and adding to the ABV. That's fine if you're a patient person, and will be good as well.

 

[Grimster]

You can do whatever you'd like! But what I would do is just age it in the secondary for about 30 days to make sure it's not throwing any more lees, and then bottle it. Raisins will add body, but they will also boost the fermentables, taking even more time and adding to the ABV. That's fine if you're a patient person, and will be good as well.

Should I chop them up or throw them in whole? Seems like putting them in whole would be much like not stomping a grape making it hard or impossible for the yeasties to get at the innards of the grape.

 

[Yooper]

Should I chop them up or throw them in whole? Seems like putting them in whole would be much like not stomping a grape making it hard or impossible for the yeasties to get at the innards of the grape.

Chop them up. But, keep in mind that they are VERY sticky and if you try to use your blender you will just make a big mash of goo that will clog your blender. (Ask me how I know that to be a fact! ) Chop them by hand, and it's easier if you partially freeze them first!

 

[Grimster]

Chop them up. But, keep in mind that they are VERY sticky and if you try to use your blender you will just make a big mash of goo that will clog your blender. (Ask me how I know that to be a fact! ) Chop them by hand, and it's easier if you partially freeze them first!

Will do, gonna grab 3 3 gallon carboys and throw some grapes in one, some bananas in the other and leave the 3rd one as is.

For the clearing/aging/secondary will it be ok to put them in the cooler basement or is the warmer upstairs (fairly constant 70F) a better idea?

 

[Yooper]

Will do, gonna grab 3 3 gallon carboys and throw some grapes in one, some bananas in the other and leave the 3rd one as is.

For the clearing/aging/secondary will it be ok to put them in the cooler basement or is the warmer upstairs (fairly constant 70F) a better idea?

Once it's finished fermenting, the basement is better. The cooler temperatures encouraging clearing.

 

[Chaos_Being]

I just checked my 5 gallon batch at the 1 month mark, and it hasn't fermented as far as I expected so far (maybe I was erroneously expecting it to be done fermenting faster?) It's at 1.028. I multiplied the recipe by 5, although I used 5 pounds, 12 ounces of sugar (instead of the 6.25 that exact math would have given me.) 71B-1122 yeast at around 62 degrees for two weeks, after which I moved it to a closet upstairs that didn't end up being as warm as I expected, around 64 degrees. It's still cloudy and bubbling a little bit, so I guess as usual with homebrewing, patience is a virtue. I could probably stick a little space heater next to it if necessary...

Since it's still so sweet, the hydro sample tasted like alcoholic grape jelly

 

[Yooper]

I'm really surprised that it's going so slow. I guess it's just the cool temperature that's delaying it.

 

[Chaos_Being]

Huh I guess it wasn't just me thinking that then...I checked the temperature range for that yeast, and it's listed as 59-86, so I've definitely been at the low end. I'll try to find a warmer spot where my cat won't get into it

 

[Chaos_Being]

I put a small space heater in the closet with the wine, and got it up to 72 degrees now. I gave the wine a gentle swirl for a few minutes as well just in case the yeast needed some rousing.

 

[Rowdy]

about to do my first 30 day racking on this (one gallon batch) is there anything i need to add or just rack it?

 

[mmb]

Never updated on the batch, but my 5.5G of Welch's Raspberry/White Grape made a very good medium dry table wine. I back sweetened with one additional can of concentrate added to the bottling bucket and let age for 6 months in bottle before breaking into it.

As stands, this batch is 18 months old and I'm down to 3 bottles left. I've even had people ask to buy bottles. I've had people say I should sell my beer, but no one has ever asked to buy it before.

 

[Grimster]

I put 5 full gallons of my "nearly" 10 gallon batch into a carboy for secondary and aging in the basement today, and bottled the rest like beer, priming it for carbonation and bottling it into champagne and some clear beer bottles I've collected lately (Newcastle), I used a slight bit more bottling sugar than with beer but not much.

Put my new BB carboy in the basement to secondary for a month or so then I'll bottle it into wine bottles:

1.105 SG .999 FG about 14%, it's pretty tasty young, had a glass of the "leftovers" tonight (I didn't have any more cleaned 12oz bottles ready so I just "took care" of that 12 ounces the hard way

 

[Chaos_Being]

Huh, my batch is still acting really weird. After measuring a gravity of 1.028 after a month, I warmed it up to the mid-70's for a week, and noticed that fermentation appeared to take off again. I just took another gravity reading, and it's only down to 1.025. For the past day or so, there hasn't been any bubbling in the wine, and there hasn't been any positive pressure on the airlock, so I was expecting more attenuation than that. It tastes a little less sweet, and the alcohol burn is more noticable, but...yeah. I was planning on backsweetening this some, but I don't think I wanted it quite this sweet. It's dessert sweet.

I'm rather stumped at this point, I've never had a fruit fermentation not go to dryness all on its own. I'm trying to decide if I should pitch a different yeast (I used 71B-1122,) or just rack it at this point, top off, and let it do its thing...and if it's sweeter than I expected, so be it.

I shouldn't be at the yeast's alcohol tolerance yet, heck I used less sugar than the original recipe. (Note: I multiplied this to make 5 gallons, so I used 10 cans of concentrate, and 5 lbs of sugar vs. the 6.25 lbs the actual recipe multipled would give. I did add another 12oz of sugar a few days into the ferment, so I was fairly close to how it "should have been." I did airlock it rather early in the ferment (about 4-5 days,) as I'm so used to airlocking and the napkin kind of freaked me out. Maybe stressed yeast? I've fermented wine yeast fully airlocked before with no problem though...)

 

[Yooper]

Hmmm. Did you take an OG?

At this point, you could try some EC-1118. That should get it going. You'll probably have to do a little starter with it, though, since you've probably got quite a bit of alcohol by now and you don't want to stun the yeast right off.

I'd rehydrate fresh yeast, and mix it with a little sugar water to get it going. You could even make up some grape juice, and add some to this starter. (Drink the rest, after the starter is done!) Then add a little bit of the wine, diluted with about 1/2 juice. Keep doing that, until it's going well. Then pour the whole starter into the wine. That should get it going, unless you have already exceeded the alcohol tolerance of the yeast.

 

[Chaos_Being]

I'll admit, I did not take an OG. I guess I must have felt it wasn't necessary , since the sugar content of the concentrate should have been a known variable. Maybe Welches grew super grapes last year...who knows at this point

I'll do as you suggested- I was already thinking about pitching champagne yeast at this point. I roused the yeast last night one last time, and by the looks of things this morning they are definitely done- I can already see a layer of clearing, and there is actually slightly negative pressure in the airlock.

I must have somehow exceeded the tolerance of the yeast. I used the same yeast in my raspberry melomel with 15lbs of and 6 lbs of raspberry puree, and it fermented that down to off-dry.

 

[Chaos_Being]

I got some EC-1118 and made a starter with juice on Sunday, and it was fermenting within an hour...then I added some of my stuck wine to it yesterday, and pitched the whole thing before I went to bed. This morning, there is a ring of bubbles in the carboy and some nice fizzing going on

 

[Dalarast]

So I racked it into secondary and tasted the hydrometer test and love this wine. I cheated and when racking I did a half gallon into a carlo bottle and conditioning it for a few weeks/month maybe to drink while the rest will age as the recipe calls for. Going to make another batch in a week or two when I start up my next apfelwein batch and some honey mead (basically my next BJs run)

 

[FireCaptain]

In one gal batch what do you use for a primary and it said to top up do you use water?

 

[Yooper]

In one gal batch what do you use for a primary and it said to top up do you use water?

I use a Carlo Rossi wine jug for primary. I top up with water, when fermentation slows.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

whew i finally made it through all 200+ posts on here. started my 6 gallon batch last month only used 5 pounds or so of sugar in the batch which is a bit low i know, starting SG 1.08 just racked to the secondary after about 30 days SG was 0.99 took a sample and it was very tart. planning to let it sit for an additional 30 days then backsweeten to a medium-sweet wine. i did notice when transferring that the bottom of the primary was white and yeasty, is this the lees that everyone is talking about? We also F-d up and added 2 packets of yeast thinking that 1 packet was only good for 5 gallons. oh if i'd only found this site earlier.

 

[Yooper]

whew i finally made it through all 200+ posts on here. started my 6 gallon batch last month only used 5 pounds or so of sugar in the batch which is a bit low i know, starting SG 1.08 just racked to the secondary after about 30 days SG was 0.99 took a sample and it was very tart. planning to let it sit for an additional 30 days then backsweeten to a medium-sweet wine. i did notice when transferring that the bottom of the primary was white and yeasty, is this the lees that everyone is talking about? We also F-d up and added 2 packets of yeast thinking that 1 packet was only good for 5 gallons. oh if i'd only found this site earlier.

An extra package of yeast is fine- it's not going to have any effect. That stuff on the bottom with yeast, and possibly some colored material, is the "lees". Lees will form in secondary, too, but not as much.

 

[Satori]

Then, crush a campden tablet into 1/4 cup boiling water and stir it to dissolve, then add it to the wine. H2S will ruin the wine if not taken care of.

Won't a campden tab kill the present yeast?

 

[Satori]

An extra package of yeast is fine- it's not going to have any effect. That stuff on the bottom with yeast, and possibly some colored material, is the "lees". Lees will form in secondary, too, but not as much.

FWIW, I use 1/8 tspn yeast to begin a starter to pitch one gallon. I don't always use a starter, but it is the best way to do it. The rest of the dry yeast has to be stored under vacuum and refrigerated or it will die. If you don't have a way to vacuum your yeast, just pitch it all at once.

Using this method I can use one package of yeast to start 15(ish) one gallon batches from one package of yeast.

Otherwise, for a one to five gallon batch, one package is fine; more won't hurt or help. If you plan to ferment more than five gallons with no starter, I would advise you to use more than one package.

I like to begin a starter with the must, but that's just me. You can use sugar-water and a little nutrient and it will work just fine.

You can pitch ten packages to one gallon of must and it won't hurt. It's just wasteful, not harmful. It will turn out the same either way.

 

[Satori]

Yooper,

Do you stir the must every day during Primary fermentation?

I've tried it without stirring it every day but it seems to stall if I don't. It seems like the nutrient settles to the bottom as if it were lees. When it is in secondary it doesn't seem to care if I stir it or not.

I wonder if you have the same experience?

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

 

[Yooper]

Yooper,

Do you stir the must every day during Primary fermentation?

I've tried it without stirring it every day but it seems to stall if I don't. It seems like the nutrient settles to the bottom as if it were lees. When it is in secondary it doesn't seem to care if I stir it or not.

I wonder if you have the same experience?

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

Yes, I stir all of my wines in primary, especially ones with fruit in it. The nutrient doesn't settle for me, though- it's dissolved pretty well. I just stir to break up the "cap" and to get some oxygen to the must. Once it gets to about 1.020-1.010, I rack to the secondary and no longer stir it.

 

[Medwards7]

ok I am new and have been reading your blog. here is what I have done. I took a Milk jug and cleaned it out very well and added 2-46oz Welches 100% concord grape juice. then I added 1.5 cups of sugar and 3 yes 3 packets of bakers yeast. It has been in storage for 5 days and with a cotton ball in the top>(which didnt keep it from foaming over) none the less the foam receded and is now bubbling. I had it scheduled to vapor lock in in a couple of days and let sit for a month then filter and bottle. I really don't think the wine will last long since it is less than a gallon. my question is this. Since I don't plan on aging it do I need any additional ingredients ie. sorbate etc. and what can I expect to get from from this batch. Any thoughts would be appreciated.