I just fermented my first batch of grape wine....
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 liters of packed red grape juice (without sugar and preservatives)
1 liter water
100 grams raisins
500 grams cane sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
1/2 cup of strong black tea
2 packets of bakers instant dry yeast
100 ml vodka (approx)
Procedure:
I boiled sugar in about 1 liter water, along with one packet of yeast to kill it, then added the raisins paste, blended with a little water. I let the syrup boil for about 10 minutes and cooled it down. Added it to a clean 6-liter water bottle, added juice and citric acid, and shook the must well. Finally I pitched a packet of bakers yeast. Finally I sealed the bottle and an airlock was attached with a mixture of clean bottled water and vodka.
The 100 ml vodka given in the ingredients, I had added to the must as a disinfectant. I have no idea if it was a reasonable thing to do or not. I could not any information on this anywhere, and it was my own idea that could not hurt in any case.
I must say I do not have access to special wine making yeasts and other stuff such as Campden tablets and special sanitizers.
The temperatures were in the recommended ranges. The primary fermentation went well. Now, after 2 weeks, with the fermentation halted completely a few days ago, I decided to rack it to the secondary. There was still some raisin pulp floating on the surface, so I filtered it through a sterilized sieve into another 6-liter bottle, and added another liter of the same grape juice to fill the bottle up to the mouth with very little free space left. I also took a quarter of glass of the wine to test (before adding the additional grape juice.)
Here is what I found: The wine has dried out, with almost no sweetness. The taste seems quite nice. The only problem is it seems a bit tart. There is no reason for it to have turned into vinegar so soon, considering that there was no way for Oxygen to have entered into the primary during the fermentation.
I would appreciate if you ladies and gentlemen can advise what might have caused the sour taste? Is there any remedy to make it less sour? How do I know if the tartness is not because of acetic acid?
Would appreciate any help.
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 liters of packed red grape juice (without sugar and preservatives)
1 liter water
100 grams raisins
500 grams cane sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
1/2 cup of strong black tea
2 packets of bakers instant dry yeast
100 ml vodka (approx)
Procedure:
I boiled sugar in about 1 liter water, along with one packet of yeast to kill it, then added the raisins paste, blended with a little water. I let the syrup boil for about 10 minutes and cooled it down. Added it to a clean 6-liter water bottle, added juice and citric acid, and shook the must well. Finally I pitched a packet of bakers yeast. Finally I sealed the bottle and an airlock was attached with a mixture of clean bottled water and vodka.
The 100 ml vodka given in the ingredients, I had added to the must as a disinfectant. I have no idea if it was a reasonable thing to do or not. I could not any information on this anywhere, and it was my own idea that could not hurt in any case.
I must say I do not have access to special wine making yeasts and other stuff such as Campden tablets and special sanitizers.
The temperatures were in the recommended ranges. The primary fermentation went well. Now, after 2 weeks, with the fermentation halted completely a few days ago, I decided to rack it to the secondary. There was still some raisin pulp floating on the surface, so I filtered it through a sterilized sieve into another 6-liter bottle, and added another liter of the same grape juice to fill the bottle up to the mouth with very little free space left. I also took a quarter of glass of the wine to test (before adding the additional grape juice.)
Here is what I found: The wine has dried out, with almost no sweetness. The taste seems quite nice. The only problem is it seems a bit tart. There is no reason for it to have turned into vinegar so soon, considering that there was no way for Oxygen to have entered into the primary during the fermentation.
I would appreciate if you ladies and gentlemen can advise what might have caused the sour taste? Is there any remedy to make it less sour? How do I know if the tartness is not because of acetic acid?
Would appreciate any help.