[wooty]

Im sure if I looked long enough I would prob find an answer to this question on here but I dont have much time to look.
My parents made grape jelly last week from their backyard grapes. When they crushed them to get the juice they had 2 gallons of grape juice left over. My qustion to you is...... What is a good recipe to make wine from this. As much detail as posible is apriciated. Ive been making strawberry, wineberry and elderberry with great success. It would be nice to have a good grape also.Thanks so Much.....

[Rocky]

Wooty, here is a recipe that I have used and it turned out very nice. This is for one gallon of juice, so you will have to scale that up to the amount of juice you have. Good luck.

WELCH'S GRAPE JUICE WINE
• 1 gallon Welch's grape juice (red or white)
• sugar to raise SG to 1.095
• 2 tsp acid blend
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 pkt Montrachet wine yeast
In a quart jar, activate yeast in ¼ cup of grape juice and ¼ cup of warm water with ¼ teaspoon of sugar and 2 pinches of yeast nutrient dissolved in it. Cover and set aside to develop a vigorous fermentation. Pour grape juice in primary and float a hydrometer in it to determine sugar content. Add sufficient sugar to raise specific gravity to 1.095 (see hydrometer table at http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp) and stir well to dissolve sugar and assist sulfites (sulfur dioxide) in dissipating. Add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover primary and set aside 12 hours. Every 2 hours add ¼ cup of grape juice to the jar of yeast starter. After 12 hours, add activated wine yeast and recover primary. When active fermentation slows down (about 5-7 days), transfer to secondary and fit airlock. When clear, rack, top up and refit airlock. After additional 30 days, stabilize, sweeten if desired and set aside 10-14 days to ensure re-fermentation does not ensue. Carefully rack into bottles and age at least 3 months. [Author's own recipe]

[wooty]

Thanks Rocky.

Questions?????

1) I have Lalvin yeast-EC-1118 and 71B-1122. what is the better of the two for this recipe?
2) Should I let my juice get to room temp before I start anything? Rite now its in the fridge
3)should I add a little water to it so that I have extra liquid to top off my 1 gal jugs when I rack it?

[Rocky]

1. Either of the yeasts should work well but I would lean toward the 71B-1122 and save the EC-1118. It is the "turbo" yeast and is good if you ever have a stuck fermentation and need to restart it.

2. Definitely bring the juice to something at or over 72 degrees F before mixing everything, particularly the yeast. It will not work at temperatures under 60 degree F.

3. I would get a bottle of Welch's 100% Concord Grape or the frozen concentrate and re-constitute it if you are that close to 1 gallon. That way you would have plenty for topping off. If you just add water, add a little sugar with it so that you don't dilute the wine.

[wooty]

Thanks again. I only wish I had more time to make wine. Its very addicting.

[DasK]

If you need to bring the sugar levels up, I would recommend floating a hydrometer in the must and add a matching form of Welch's concentrated juice.

If you find that you've made it too sugary, you can easily add a little water to dilute it at that stage.

I've used this technique a couple of times with a strawberry wine and an apple wine. I added Welch's concord to the strawberry and Welch's niagra to the apple.

Be aware that a concord wine might be a little "foxy". I.e., have an overly sweet smell to it.

Oh and I would go 71B as it is should bring out the flavor of the fruit and should mature faster.

[Rocky]

Wooty, I agree with everything that DasK says here.

I did not go into detail on what I did with my Concord. I oaked it with a cup of medium toast American oak for two weeks after fermentation was complete. Then, I made an f-pack with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries and had that in the wine for another two weeks. I was trying to soften the Concord taste, what DasK refers to as "foxy." Came out really nice. Not something that one would have with a fine meal, but great for afternoon sipping.