How to make wine from concentrate??????

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My aunt used to make wine from Welchs grape concentrate in a large water bottle and a plastic airlock. I would like to make some but, how do you do it!! Jim

-- Jim Raymond (jimr@terraworld.net), December 03, 2001

Answers

My husband makes our wine from kits that include grape concentrates with all the additives that are needed. They cost about $40 a kit but make 30 bottles (6 gallons) of a decent wine. We figure that it costs us about .80 a bottle....compair that to $5 to $7 for an okay wine. All the instructions are included with the wine kit. I would go with a kit instead of making it from Welchs grape concentrate. To buy all the additives it would most likely be just as expensive.

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), December 03, 2001.

I have used store bought concentrate to produce some excellent faux "vintages"while perfecting my processes before my fruits began bearing here. I mix 5 cans of Welches with 3 gal of boiled and cooled water. Mix in 4 lbs granulated sugar, 1 tsp tannin, 5 drops pectic enzyme, 1 yeast nutrient tablet, 1 lactose tablet for yeast energizer and five grams of Pasteur Red active dry wine yeast. Work under a water lock in a carboy until the must is dry (s.g. no higher than.001) and working has practically stopped (28 to 36 days). Rack it off the lees for bulk aging or drinking. Bottling should be done after at least 6 months of bulk aging. I prefer bulk aging for at least 18 months before bottling. The wine can be sweetened to taste prior to bulk aging in case it restarts. A handful of white oak chips boiled in water and added to the bulk age carboy (boiled water also added) when cool will simulate cask aging. To stop all working of the wine when the desired sweetness is achieved add one campden tablet to sulphite the wine during bulk aging to allow proper outgassing prior to drinking or bottling.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 03, 2001.

Forgot to add to the above post. All the additives can be purchased from the mail order company E.C Kraus Wine Suppley for about $10 for enough to work about 200 gallons. The company advertises in Countryside . They also sell equipment and recipe books and often give a free one with your first $15 order. Other than the requirement for the free recipe book offer when they run it, there is no minimum order.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 03, 2001.

whooeee Jay you really put all that in ur wine? I just use 6 cans welches frozen conctrate 5 lbs. sugar and a little pinch of yeast. Bob se,ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@kans.com), December 03, 2001.

It MAY be coincidence but I have seen bottles of grape juice being sold far eastern bazaars alongside little packets of powdered yeast.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), December 04, 2001.


I didn't use an airlock for the wine: I stretched a balloon over the mouth of the jug and just released the pressure whenever the balloon started to blow up, which was about 2 x a day.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), December 04, 2001.

How about apple "cider" from Mott's 100% apple juice (not concentrate) Here is my personal recipe that turns out great (in mine and my family's mind anyway!!) 30.00 CDN dollars make 6 dozen bottles of cider - nice and cheap!!!

5 gals (about 12 1.78 litre bottles) of Mott's 100% apple juice (not concentrate) 6-7 cups of regular sugar for about 1060 SPG 1 package of Lalvin Champagne Yeast EC-1118 or equivalent 2 tsp of pectin enzyme (optional - it only clears the cider) 250 gram package of Lactose boiled in water to ensure suspension (use just prior to bottling) 1.5 cups of regular sugar (again boiled in water) for carbonation prior to bottling

Add sugar to apple juice in a wine carboy. My juice is only at room temp - about 20 degrees. Shake well to introduce oxygen. Prepare yeast to manufacture's instruction. Add to apple juice. Add pectin enzyme. Attach air lock to carboy and wait for the bubbly action - usually within a day or so depending on how warm. Initial fermentation may get quite agitated so a blow-off tube maybe be better than the air-lock. A blow off tube is simply a rubber hose placed in the rubber carboy bung rather than air-lock chamber. The other end of the hose goes into a bottle (wine/juice) half filled with water. All the gunk from the initial fermentation simply flows into the bottle rather than gumming up the air-lock.

After about a week or so you will notice that the blow-off tube will be bubbling a lot less. Now you need to siphon out the cider so that it is not sitting on the scummy stuff (lees) that has fallen to the bottom. Siphon off into a very clean container (another carboy if you have one)

Because the fermentation has now slowed down, place airlock on the carboy. You will now notice that the cider is beginning to get clearer (pectin enzyme is doing its job) Let sit for another few weeks until the bubbling stops altogether. Siphoning again will remove even more sediment. If you want a sweeter cider, you may have to use some of the processes used in wine making to stop the fermentation process before all the sugar is eaten up. This will involve the use of the hydrometer and some kind of yeast killer. Please note that it may be very hard to get a sweet cider that is carbonated as the carbonation is made by the fermenting of the last bits of sugar while aging in the bottle. This is why I add Lactose to my cider before bottling. Lactose is a non-fermentable sugar so it takes a little bit of the bite off the cider without causing over-carbonation , i.e., exploding bottles. I add 1.5 cups of sugar (regular) to my cider prior to bottling. I use beer bottles because they are readily available, easy to cap and when you open one you are only committed to finishing one small bottle as opposed to a rather large wine bottle. Where my cider is slightly carbonated it would quickly go flat if left in the fridge after opening. If you carbonate and want to use wine bottles remember that wine bottles are not meant to hold carbonated beverages unless the corks are somehow fastened as in champagne bottles. You may end up with popping corks at the most inopportune times, i,e. while they are stored in the closet.

I hope that this is of some benefit. The above steps are the end result of my experimentation over the past 18 months or so (about 15 batches). I have made some refinements with regards to yeast selection, sugar amounts, pectin yaddaa yaddaa. This is the beauty of this drink. Unlike wine or beer, its really hard to screw up. Even if you do, the most you are out is a few gallons of apple juice

Sean

-- Sean (Seand@mail.gov.nf.ca), December 04, 2001.


A retired GI showed me how to use two balloons with a couple pieces. of tape so that you don't have to release the pressure. Put a small piece of tape on both balloons. Put a pinhole through the tape of balloon "A". Put a slightly smaller pinhole through the tape in balloon "B" (Balloon "B" is more effective if its a little larger than "A").Mount "A" on the jug mouth, then mount "B" on the jug mouth so that "A" will inflate inside "B". The smaller balloon will inflate and pressure release more than the pressure will release on the outer balloon achieving a two stage progression pressure release. The tape acts as a wall reinforcement and prevents the latex from bursting.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.

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