what am i doing wrong?

[tnterryt]

first off I don't have any fancy test equipment cept a hydrometer. I have several gallons of mostly Welch's juice wine with recipes taken from this site and others. aged from 4 months to a year tastes pretty good I guess but every bit of it has a slight to moderate bitterness . if I pour some in a glass the bitterness goes away after a couple hours and is down right good stuff after that . I am degassing with a all-in one vacuum pump so I don't think its that any ideas as to what would cause this to happen?

 

[Deezil]

Did you add any form of tannins or oak?

I havent made any Welches wine, so I'm not familiar with any bitterness that might be found amongst the process...

It could just be young still.. Even at a year old, early wines are barely 'of age'.

 

[jamesngalveston]

is all this bottled, sitting in carboys, are what..you did not say.
and as deezil said, did you add tannins, and if so..how much.

 

[tnterryt]

ok here's the recipe I followed x 5 to make five gallons
•3 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's 100% frozen grape concentrate
••2 tsp acid blend
•1 tsp pectic enzyme
•1 tsp yeast nutrient
•water to make 1 gallon
•wine yeast
sugar to 1.090

no oak bulk aging in full carboys its not fizzy tasting just a little bitterness or off flavor until I pour a glass and let it sit out in the open

im not very good at describing things maybe this will help

thanks

 

[dralarms]

Well you don't need acid blend using welches juice concentrates. You need to get access to a PH meter to test PH or an acid tester to check acid level. I think the bitterness you are experiencing is the extra acid blend.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Well, lots of people will disagree with me, but you are making wine from the worst possible wine grape grown. All I ever use Welches wine for is topping off other batches where the flavor just mixes with the other wine.

I'd bet that if you made wine with a wine grape or wine kit or wine concentrate or wine must (see the pattern?), you'd be happy!

 

[Pumpkinman]

I agree, the acid blend may be overkill for this wine.

 

[jamesngalveston]

you did not need pectin enzyme, there is nothing to break down in the concentrate. could have used 1/3 the acid blend if any.
is that a jack kellars recipe...almost every recipe he has contains same exact amounts of chemicals...copy/paste, copy/paste...

 

[salcoco]

are you refrigerating the wine before drinking. sometime red wine can be to cold and taste bitter. once warmed to about 65 deg bitter taste goes away.
to much acid causes sour taste not bitter. if not bottled I would back sweeten to your taste add sorbate and then bottle.

 

[saramc]

Is this a dry wine or backsweetened at all?

I also agree the two tsp of acid blend per gallon is likely what is causing the bittering you describe. I encourage you to checkout www.homewinery.com as they have an awesome assortment of wine concentrates, grape and fruits. They also offer an 'additive pack' and it has the necessary nutrients/acids, etc for each type you buy. If you want to make one gallon you buy just a pint, but you must place order over phone; their 64oz containers make five gallon batches.
Very reasonable prices, great concentrates.

To clarify, concentrates still have pectin in them. But pectin would not have an impact on the taste, it would be a visual issue.

 

[tnterryt]

thanks for you help jm still figuring out this stuff I do have a five gallon of red grape wine no water added that I bought the grapes from walmart its about 6 months ageing I about read to get a little sip of it to see how its doing. that's a jack Keller recipe for the welchs except he says use two cans instead of three it is better after back sweetening but much much better to let it air out as I have been calling it and I have been looking at the home winery site and I am going to order at least a black berry and a elderberry again thank you for your help

 

[tnterryt]

ok hate to bring this back to the top but saramc recommended homewinery so I took the advice (thank you) so I have elderberry and blackberry concentrate that makes five gallon batches it came with lalvin 71b-1122 yeast a little sack of pectic enzyme ,little sack of blackberry acid and a sack of elderberry acid so how do I need to do this lol and also how long will the juice be ok if I keep in the frige?

 

[dralarms]

6 months in the fridge, 3 years in the freezer.

You can dilute it ( I make the juice and added water equal 4.5 gallons), add sugar to 1.085 to 1.095, you can add the pectic then. You can also add your acid at this time but their directions say add it after fermentation, I've done it both ways and its the same.

 

[tnterryt]

thank you I wasn't familiar with the way they where talking about adding sugar six pounds for dry thru 10 pounds for sweet I don't understand their thinking on that

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

adding 10 pounds of sugar will exceed the tolerance of the yeast and end up sweet.

 

[dralarms]

adding 10 pounds of sugar will exceed the tolerance of the yeast and end up sweet.

Correct, their "instructions" are supposed to be idiot proof. If you take their juice dilute it to the proper bris and proceed from there with normal wine making procedures then you will be fine.

 

[DoctorCAD]

I have called and talked to the people at homewinery concentrate place and they were very helpful. If you have questions, don't be afraid to call them.

P.S. all of my wines from there came out "sweet"-ish. Not what I was looking for. If I do it again, I will short the sugar a bit.