concord concentrate recipes

[klamb]

We have got 32 oz. bottles of Concord Grape Concentrate (68 brix) and would like recipe suggestions. How do you adapt a recipe that calls for, say, concord grape juice, or, frozen grape concentrate. How would you know the concentration? Thanks for your help.


Kathy & Molly

 

[masta]

If you diluted one 32 oz bottle of 68 brix concentrate with 64 oz of water you should end up a concentration of 22.6 Brix or 1.093 SG/12.42 Potential ABV which is a great starting point for this type of wine.


So each bottle of concentrate would yield 96 oz of must at 22.6 Brix.


What size batch do you want to make?

 

[pkcook]

Klamb,


I used Concord concentrate from Brownwood Acres http://www.brownwoodacres.com/grape.htm to make 6 gallons (Jan 06)that I have bulk aging right now. I couldn't find a brix for their concentrate, but the reconstitution rate they show is 6 to 1 or a 1 qt bottle will make 1.5 gallons of juice. I looked back at my notes and I used 4 quarts concentrate to make 6 gallons and the sample I had was pretty good. Concordgrapes are not the optimum grape to make wine from as they are typically low in sugar.


I snipped this comment from Jack Keller's site:


The Concord, however -- even its hybrids -- rarely contain the high amount of natural sugar that pure Vinifera varieties contain. They also contain more pectin and acid, and their wines may exude a musky aroma disagreeable to some. For these reasons their juice is always reinforced with added sugar, almost always diluted with water to balance the acid, treated with pectic enzyme to ensure that it clears, and may be flavored slightly with certain aromatic herbs or spices to counter the natural muskiness.


The juice after I reconstituted was only 1.060 SG and I added sugar to 1.090 SG. Masta's ratio will give you the correct sugar content, but the wine might be very "musky" as Jack states above.


Does the company selling the concentrate provide a reconstitution ratio? If so, I would opt to go with a normal strength juice and add sugar, but the musky flavor is not a bad thing to me and I would probably enjoy the higher concentrate wine. Just my two cents.

 

[klamb]

Thanks for your help. The reconstitution rate is not our BIG problem though. We need to know what additives, and how much to add. We're making 6 gallon batches. What kind of yeast is recommended? Oak? If so, how much and when to add? Tannin? etc, etc. Not confident enough to try a batch without a clear recipe to follow.

 

[klamb]

P.S. I'm not quite sure what my picture is or how I got it, but I'm not a gynocologist! How do I change it?

 

[masta]

Click on the profile button bottom of your post and edit your avatar settings in your profile.

 

[peterCooper]

I think that is a dove!!!

 

[Waldo]

Kathy, I would highly recommend you get a good book on home wine making and read it thoroughly along with a good research on Jack Kellers homepage at http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.aspAs for a clear recipe to follow this would be a good start


http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request121.asp

 

[muscadine]

I've made a couple of batches of concord with Welch's. They've turned out to be a great tasting wine. I take Jack Kellar's recipe from his site and multiply everything by 6, for six gallons. I don't follow the sugar measurements, I just add sugar until I get the desired hydrometer reading, which I like this wine for my family's taste budsand my friend's taste buds, which is around 14% to 15%. I then add potassium sorbate, wait a few days, then add sugar back to get desired sweetness. Ican get a better recipe together of how I make it so that itmight be a little easier for you, but like Waldo said, there is no substitution for the knowledge that you'll get from this forum as well as Jack Kellar's excellent site. By the way, Jack mentionsto use 2 cans of the concentrate, but he states that you can use 3 cans instead of 2 cans for a more bodied wine. I like using 3 cans per gallon, for a six gallon batch I normally use 17 cans total. This is going to mean that you need to adjust the sugar because adding more concentrate is actually adding more sugar also.


I've tried the Welch's white grape/peach and the concorde, as well as the 100% apple concentrate from an off brand and all of these wines turned out to have a very pleasant taste to the pallet, LOL. I like the kick of the wine, but the sugar added at the end, before bottling,makes for a very nice sweet wine with a kick!


Please post any useful info you may run across as I'm still a beginner also, I really enjoy reading winemaker's stories!


Muscadine

 

[Sebastian]

Here's what i've got brewing now for 3 gal:
9 cans welches concentrate
QS'd to 3 gal with water
675 g of sugar (~1.5 lbs) dissolved in 2qts water
gives a sg of 1.086
2 tsp acid blend
3 tsp yeast nutrient
3 tsp pectic enzyme
yeast was cotes des blancs

primary fermented for 1 week, when sg hit 1.004 transferred to
secondary. let it sit two weeks, when sg hit 1.004 i added 3 crushed
campdens, 1.5 tsp pot sorbate, and superkleer - degassed, and topped
up.

two weeks later i racked of lees and topped up with a 1/2 bottle of a
previously made sweet kit (exotic berries white zin). that was a week ago
- i'm planning on sweetening it to 7-8% sugars (my wife likes 'em very
sweet) - this is my first go at this sort of thing, so i really don't' have any
other direction on what's worked well, did i like it, what to avoid etc at
this point..

 

[pkcook]

klamb,


here is the recipe I have bulk aging right now:
4 quarts Concord Concentrate
6 each Campden Tablets
3 tsp Pectic Enzyme
6 tsp Yeast Nutrient
Water to make 6 gallon
Sugar to 1.090 SG
1 oz Medium Toast Oak Chips
2 pkg Red Star Cote De Blanc Yeast

Added oak chips in primary fermentation. Can barely distinguish the oak after 5 months in the carboy. I will go with 2-4 oz on next batch.

I have made concord winefrom Welches, but the flavor of the Brownwood Acres concentrate is much better IMHO.