Adjustments for Red Wine from Juice

[Grey_Lion]

I just ordered some Chilean red juice- Malbec and Rapel Casa Rosa. All the winemaking instructions I have for red wine is from grapes. What adjustments will I need to make (apart from the obvious no punching down or pressing)?

 

[Johnd]

Have you made any wine kits? If so, the process will be much the same as the wine kit, with a few exceptions. You should check with your supplier and find out a few things:

1. Do they make acid or sugar adjustments to the juice
2. Do they add sulfite to the juice before shipping
3. Do they add yeast to the juice before shipping

When your juice arrives, you may need to adjust the acidity (using tartaric if you wish to lower the pH (raise the acidity) or potassium bicarbonate if you wish to raise the pH (lower the acidity)).

You may need to adjust the sugar (measured in BRIX or SG) if it isn't to your liking.

Don't add any sulfite if you wish to conduct Malolactic Fermentation. Add your chosen yeast if none has been added. If you do decide to conduct MLF, consider adding your MLB just after alcoholic fermentation starts, your success rate will be much improved, make sure to use the appropriate nutrients for both your chosen yeast and MLB.

From this point on, your winemaking will be much like a kit, racking out of your fermentation vessel near 1.000, rack off of the gross lees and top up a few (2-3) days later. If you've elected to conduct MLF, you will not be sulfiting at the completion of AF, as you need to let MLF finish. You can confirm MLF completion with a chromotography test or malic acid strips. Once complete, sulfite your wine and allow it to sit until it's degassed and cleared, 8 - 12 months us normally plenty of time. You should keep your carboy properly topped up, sulfited, and racked off of substantial accumulation of lees.

 

[Grey_Lion]

Thank you so much. This is incredibly helpful!

Have you made any wine kits? If so, the process will be much the same as the wine kit, with a few exceptions. You should check with your supplier and find out a few things:

1. Do they make acid or sugar adjustments to the juice
2. Do they add sulfite to the juice before shipping
3. Do they add yeast to the juice before shipping

When your juice arrives, you may need to adjust the acidity (using tartaric if you wish to lower the pH (raise the acidity) or potassium bicarbonate if you wish to raise the pH (lower the acidity)).

You may need to adjust the sugar (measured in BRIX or SG) if it isn't to your liking.

Don't add any sulfite if you wish to conduct Malolactic Fermentation. Add your chosen yeast if none has been added. If you do decide to conduct MLF, consider adding your MLB just after alcoholic fermentation starts, your success rate will be much improved, make sure to use the appropriate nutrients for both your chosen yeast and MLB.

From this point on, your winemaking will be much like a kit, racking out of your fermentation vessel near 1.000, rack off of the gross lees and top up a few (2-3) days later. If you've elected to conduct MLF, you will not be sulfiting at the completion of AF, as you need to let MLF finish. You can confirm MLF completion with a chromotography test or malic acid strips. Once complete, sulfite your wine and allow it to sit until it's degassed and cleared, 8 - 12 months us normally plenty of time. You should keep your carboy properly topped up, sulfited, and racked off of substantial accumulation of lees.

 

[Johnd]

You're quite welcome. When you get the info or your juice, or have any questions in the interim, just jump back to this thread and ask away. There are lots of very seasoned and helpful people here who are always willing to lend some helpful advice.

If you haven't already, check out the online info from MoreWine, found here: MoreManuals! Winemaking Guides | MoreWine , they are very useful and informative. As you recognized earlier, you're just omitting the part of red grape winemaking that involves having the actual grapes / skins / stems involved in the process, much of the other information is applicable.