[atek]

Hi guys,
My name is Jack, sorry to start a new thread on my first post, I searched but didn't find anything about this. I'm a migrant from over at HomeBrewTalk.com, I've made several wines and meads and a couple beers but I really enjoy the wine and mead. All the talks over here about the candy wines really intrigue me and got me thinking. My wife LOVES RedVines, so I checked the ingredients list on the tub we have and sure enough, there are no preservatives listed. Now I imagine that a lot of the consistency is wax or a similar substance. I was thinking that when making the must, if I were to leave it overnight after dissolving the desired amount of redvines the waxy substance should float to the top and solidify at which point the majority of it could be removed. I am however at a loss for the amount of redvines and extra sugars that should be added. Anyone have any ideas there?

[Julie]

Hi Jack,

Welcome to winemakingtalk. I think I would try melting it first and I would have no idea on how much to use per gallon. When I make the candy cane I just added enough candy canes to give me an ag of 1.080.

[atek]

Thanks Julie,

I will try heating it in some water to dissolve and play with it to get the right gravity. Do you ferment with the OG of 1.080? I am used to meads more than anything and OG's of 1.1+. I assume most of these candy wines are 14% ABV or so correct? So I would be shooting for an OG of 1.107ish assuming it finishes at 1.

So... assuming I can feasibly get the OG up to 1.080 with redvines alone I should only need a cup of added sugar to get the OG up to 1.113 which should finish 14% ABV. I can also handle nutrients but I am unsure on how much tannin and acid blend I would possibly need. I was thinking of following the outlines from the skittles recipe and Julies suggestion with however many redvines I'll need for that 1.080 OG.