Wine from juice starter recipes wanted

[puttster]

I brought home two 48 oz bottles of Welch's Concord and I'll get two more to go with my four empty 1/2 gallon iced tea jugs. That will give me 15 oz each jug of head space for the fermentation. Instead of airlocks I was thinking of just cracking the tops they came with.
From my readings here if sounds like I should add 5 oz of sugar (2/3 cup) per jug to give me potentially a maximum 12% abv.
For yeast I have 3 kinds of Red Star brand: Active Dry, Quick-rise and Platinum (with dough enhancers). They are about a year past their "best if used by" date, so I'll be testing them before use. Not sure how much to add, maybe 1/4 packet per jug.
For nutrients I have cranberries and grapes but of course the grocery store is just down the street, so I don't want to limit myself to any of the above items, including the juice.

My mission here is to get significantly different recipes for these four batches so when they are ready I can taste them all and decide which way to go for my next and more serious batch. Right now I buy the cheapest Merlot or Cab in the store, so anything that comes close to that - or improves on it - is my target.

If there is a clearinghouse of recipes here, please point me, otherwise, lay some on me!

 

[RPh_Guy]

We have recipes:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/forums/wine-recipes.79/

My thoughts:
All wine is made from juice.

Concord wine is nothing like merlot or cab. The grapes are vastly different in terms of flavor and tannins.

Bread yeast is not good, especially past expiration. Find somewhere to buy wine yeast, and get one that fits the temperature range you can manage.

Use real yeast nutrient, like Fermaid O. Cranberries or grapes won't cut it.

Airlocks and stoppers are definitely worth the investment. You'll also need other basic equipment like a racking cane or auto siphon. You need some sort of bottles and a way to close them. A hydrometer and thermometer definitely help.
Use good sanitizing and cleaning solutions.

IMO, your first mission should be seeing if you can produce a drinkable wine. Try a single one gallon batch. You can vary the sweetness, acidity, tannins, and yeast character, but at the end of the day they'll all taste like concord wine.

Hope this helps

 

[puttster]

Good stuff. I'm not sure I've ever drunk a concord wine. Maybe I need to branch out on the juice selection. I saw some cranberry-blackberry and of course some apples.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I have a cran raspberry and a plum pomegranate black cherry going along with an apfelwine (applejuice + sugar) all from 1/2 gallon jugs from the supermarket. pretty much any juice that doesn't have preservatives can be used. My advice, if you don't like the juice, don't use it to make your wine.
A great cook once said "If you won't drink it, don't cook with it!"

 

[puttster]

That link to wine recipes is awesome. No sense in making four different Concords, there are lots more ideas for juice to wine than I thought possible,

 

[RPh_Guy]

You also have the option of making a more traditional wine like merlot. It just depends what kind of wine you want.

Here's an ingredient kit for a 6 gallon batch, that should yield 25 bottles or so:
https://morewinemaking.com/products/winexpert-vintners-reserve-merlot-wine-recipe-kit.html

We can help pick out the needed equipment. If you have a local wine making supply store, they could definitely help too.

Cheers

 

[NeverDie]

If you like Mogan David Concord wine, which you can probably buy fairly cheaply at your local grocery store or Walmart, that's roughly what you can expect from fermenting concord grape juice. You might save a little money doing it yourself, but not much. Actually, adjusting for risk, brewing it yourself is probably more expensive.

I think you're better off making something that can't be easily purchased. I'm finding that even my noob attempts at making mead are turning out a lot better (and a lot cheaper) than the mead that's readily available for purchase. in comparison, the commercial mead tastes watered down, and probably is.

 

[puttster]

I bought Blueberry, Pomegranate, Cranberry, white and Concord juice and they've been in the tub fermenting for 20 hours (pic). It is pretty cool in there, I'll occasionally run an inch or two of hot water to give the yeast a treat.

Altogether was 7.5 quarts of juice, two pounds of sugar and about one quart of water (to bring the OGs down from 1.11 to 1.09. Added juice from two lemons, 10 smushed up boiled raisins and 2.5 pkgs of Fleishman's grocery store yeast.
Now, just wait...

 

[NeverDie]

I started out doing a similar thing. I haven't tried blueberry, but of the others I predict you'll like the pomegranate the best. I had high hopes for black cherry, but the pleasant taste didn't seem to transfer through the fermentation.

 

[puttster]

It's been 48 hours and the balloons are still up. I'm getting thirsty!

 

[puttster]

It's been exactly a week since started fermentation (Fleishman's) at OG 1.08, temp about 70f. The balloons in the smaller bottles are down, so I opened the Concord grape and tested it. Hydrometer read 1.000, I think a lot of that reduction was due to extra effort shaking and repouring for oxygenation when I pitched the yeast. Taste was definitely Concord grape wine. I used a thief to get the sample out and the sample was surprisingly clear.

Am I done? Just start chugging as the balloons collapse? If I want to bottle a pint or two to give to a friend is there anything special I should do?


Feb 8 edit: ran the Welch's through a coffee filter and tried drinking a glassful. Couldn't make past a couple of sips. Nasty stuff, has a metallic taste element, like copper. I'll wait a week or two, maybe the other juices will be better. So far, a failed experiment!

 

[NeverDie]

Wow that was fast. Congratulations!

 

[puttster]

It's been a month fermenting with balloons (pic, above). I feel like I should rack but I don't have containers the size I need to eliminate headspace. Is it necessary?

 

[NeverDie]

Check the SG. If still high, I would say it's not necessary. Others may have different opinions. Some people ferment high OG fruit juice without ever doing a secondary, and they seem perfectly happy with the outcome. On the other hand, if you want to tuck it away and ferment it for months to improve it, it's not a bad idea.

Very odd that your fermented grape juice tasted metallic. I did a similar thing exactly once, but it tasted like Concord wine. No metallic tastes. Unless you're into that, though, I would say it's just for absolute beginners as more of a learning exercise than anything else.

 

[mcgearybrewing]

Are you making prison hooch?????

 

[Blacksmith1]

Basically. The goal.is to learn to make something tastier out of it. So far one of mine made with a cran/rassberry show great promise.