How do they make 13.5% abv wine ?

[Jokester]

I have never seen grape juice over 12% carbs on the shelf. Actually its one of the sweetest or highest sugar liquids, even coke and pepsi is slightly lower.
That would not result in 13.5% abv like my franzia cabernet sauvignon. More like 8% if it is fermented dry and has not been back sweetened.
How do they get it to 13.5% ?

 

[El Whedo]

Commercial wines use grapes that ferment to that level, though you'll never see wine grape juice in a market. They taste fairly nasty... wine grapes are nada like table grapes.

Home made wine that strength is made from grape juice and sugar.

 

[Jokester]

Oh, wine grapes have 20% sugar ? Are they longer type more than round ? I believe I found them in India, they had red grapes that were so sickly sweet I couldn't even eat 1. The green ones are also sickly sweet but less so - that may explain why chardonnays usually are around 10% ?
Now my brother ferments grape juice with concentrate water blend cos he said in Canada that was cheaper than bottles shipped from California - like well duh. He says he gets them fermented dry and gets over 12% routinely. I wasn't sure the commercial vineyards do that.

 

[Coffee49]

In wine making experimenting is the fun part, grab 5 gallons of any red, split it into 5 one gallon containers and go, maybe over brix two gallons and double the yeast pitch, use a different yeast for each gallon and document. End results will be for a future 5 gallon batch.

 

[Jokester]

I dont really want to start wine making. This was just a biology question. I have made wine the past. I am making mead, maybe if I get bored with it, which may be hard to happen, cos I am yet to drink the perfect first batch I made. I drank the 2nd batch that refused to clear in spite of fermenting below 1.00. I have a 3rd batch fermenting now, and if it refuses to clear, maybe time to experiment with that.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I dont really want to start wine making. This was just a biology question. I have made wine the past. I am making mead, maybe if I get bored with it, which may be hard to happen, cos I am yet to drink the perfect first batch I made. I drank the 2nd batch that refused to clear in spite of fermenting below 1.00. I have a 3rd batch fermenting now, and if it refuses to clear, maybe time to experiment with that.

Bentonite can help with the clearing.

 

[marc1]

Oh, wine grapes have 20% sugar ? Are they longer type more than round ? I believe I found them in India, they had red grapes that were so sickly sweet I couldn't even eat 1. The green ones are also sickly sweet but less so - that may explain why chardonnays usually are around 10% ?
Now my brother ferments grape juice with concentrate water blend cos he said in Canada that was cheaper than bottles shipped from California - like well duh. He says he gets them fermented dry and gets over 12% routinely. I wasn't sure the commercial vineyards do that.

Wine grapes generally have a Brix over 20, see here for different varieties:

https://www.smartwinemaking.com/post/optimal-sugar-and-acid-levels-for-popular-wine-grape-varieties

 

[Jokester]

Wine grapes generally have a Brix over 20, see here for different varieties:

https://www.smartwinemaking.com/post/optimal-sugar-and-acid-levels-for-popular-wine-grape-varieties

Thanks for that link. I was searching for that info and not finding it -

This is cab sauv grape
Cabernet Sauvignon
Harvest pH 3.3-3.4, 24-26.5° Brix, .6-.7 TA
Final pH 3.6-3.7

and the common juice bottles are usually concord right - and

Concord:
Harvest pH 2.9-3.3, 14-19° Brix, .8-1 TA
Final pH 3.2-3.45

That explains the difference.

 

[Jokester]

And I'll have to find what the grapes I ate in India were. They were long, and 1/2 to 3/4 the of my little finger and about as wide as it. The black grapes were so sweet I literally choked on them. I tell ya, my sugar tolerance has gone to crap after a few yrs of a keto diet. I used to drink pepsi over coke cos it was sweeter. Sierra mist over 7up etc etc. I used to put 33gm sugar in a 12oz cup of tea and a lot more than that in coffee.

The Green ones was a bit less sweet and I ate a lot of it, just cos those are not available in the US or so I thought. I was interlacing it with a round seeded black grape that was sour sort of chewing on both at the same time. However I drank sugar cane juice and it was instant love. Then I find out its only about 7% sugar - so I go, huh, that explains it.

 

[bwible]

And I'll have to find what the grapes I ate in India were. They were long, and 1/2 to 3/4 the of my little finger and about as wide as it. The black grapes were so sweet I literally choked on them. I tell ya, my sugar tolerance has gone to crap after a few yrs of a keto diet. I used to drink pepsi over coke cos it was sweeter. Sierra mist over 7up etc etc. I used to put 33gm sugar in a 12oz cup of tea and a lot more than that in coffee.

The Green ones was a bit less sweet and I ate a lot of it, just cos those are not available in the US or so I thought. I was interlacing it with a round seeded black grape that was sour sort of chewing on both at the same time. However I drank sugar cane juice and it was instant love. Then I find out its only about 7% sugar - so I go, huh, that explains it.

Everybody is trying to cut processed sugar these days. Less sugar in tea and coffee, and we drink hardly any soda. We used to buy Pepsi too. But then we realized nobody orders rum and Pepsi.