Concord Grapes

[hilltopwino]

A friend called and told me the concord grapes are ready to be picked. The problem is, I barely have enough time to pick them and clean them and I don't have enough empty carboys to start it yet.


So, not wanting to pass up free grapes( last year my wife and I picked 140 lbs) can they be frozen whole until I have free carboys or would I be better off processing them into juice and canning or freezing until I have more time?


Freezer space is at a premium right now with the pineapple for my next wine taking up a lot of room.


I do have a number of 5 gallon plastic water jugs (carboys from a water cooler). Would it be OK to use them as a secondary until the glass is free?


The only other option is that I buy more glass carboys (I know, you can never have too many, but my wife will probably disagree!)


So, what to do....

 

[Runningwolf]

Rick several folks have reported using the water coolers as a primary or secondary without any issues. It is not recommeded but in a pinch I would do it. You do not want to do any long term aging with them at all though.

 

[Wade E]

Id use the plastic for short term like a few weeks max IMO. Ive never used them and have heard both sides of the spectrum so Id veer on the safe side myself.

 

[Scott]

How do the Concord Grapes turn out for wine? My Grandma always had a bottle of Mogan David Concord sitting around, would like to make something like that. Some plantings arefor sale around here and thinking about taking the plung into growing vines.

 

[grapeman]

You can make Concord into a wine and often it is finished semi-sweet. I have one lady that only likes sweet fizzy wine that tastes like grape juice (concord). I took a slightly off dry Concord wine and "primed" it a bit like a beer. I told her to leave it on the countertop where warm for a few days and then refrigerate it. That make it slightly fizzy but still sweetish. She loved it and came back for more.


It all depends on your tastes and likes. Try some before you decide to take on a bunch of work.

 

[Scott]

Thanks for the reply Appleman, will try to find whatcha think 10-15lbs ofgrapes to make a gallon to give it a try?? Fromsearching other threads some are 6-8 lbs/gal with theaddition ofgrape juice too? My 2 Uncle's (Grandma's son's fromprior post) like the sweet concord wine.




As always thanks for the help

 

[Rocky]

Just for the fun of it, I put on some Concord wine yesterday from Welch's 100% Grape Juice. I bought 6 gallons of it at Sam's Club. It had a natural SG of 1.070 to I stoked it up with 9 1/2 cups of sugar to 1.097. I found a recipe on the net. It is fermenting this morning and I plan to stop the fermentation with K-sorbate at around 1.005. Just playing the mad scientist here.

 

[grapeman]

Hi Rocky. I see a couple rookie mistakes and misconceptions here. First, I am assuming you did not dissolve the sugar before adding it and then did not stir adequately or else got the wrong initial SG reading. By adding 5 pounds of sugar from the 9.5 cups, it would have raised the SG to over 1.105. I would add enough water at this point to bring down to about 1.090. That will give you a bit extra to top up with at racking. Don't worry about dilution- Concord has plenty of flavor to take a couple quarts or so.


Second misconception is that you can reliably stop a fermentation by adding K-Sorbate. All that does is prevent yeast multiplication, not hinder fermentation. Let it ferment to dry, then add k-meta and k-sorbate, let set a week or so, sweeten to taste, let settle a week or so to make sure it doesn't restart, make sure it is clear and then you could bottle. This is much condensed. When you get to that point, check back with us.


If you make this again, bring it up to about 1.085 and no higher unless you like rocket fuel.

 

[Rocky]

Hi Appleman,


Thanks for your input. I may have gotten some bad information on the internet, but I was using a weight of 7 oz. for one cup of sugar. I calculated that I would need 9.5 cups which would weigh 4 lbs, 2.5 oz. I did completely dissolve the sugar in the grape juice (in a stainless steel pot) before putting into my primary (there were no granules left when I poured it into the primary) and I immediately took an SG reading and got 1.097 that I mentioned above. It is fermenting and I just took a reading and it was at 1.092. The wine temperature is 71 degrees F and my hydrometer is calibrated for 68 degrees F. Should I still add water and if so, how much?


I did misunderstand about K-sorbate. I will take it to dry (SG < 0.998) and then sweeten it after adding the sorbate.


Thanks a million for your input. I really appreciate it.

 

[grapeman]

Using Jack Keller's sugar figures, it calculates out to 1.105. You may have gotten an innacurate measurement either in the juice or after addition. I would add a couple quarts to tame it down just a bit as Concord can handle it. You really should be alright, but it may be a bit high in Alcohol and take longer to smooth out.

 

[Rocky]

A-man,


That Concord is chugging away. I measured the SG today at 1.060. It is getting dryer and has a great taste. When would you move it to a secondary? I was thinking when it went to or below 1.010. What do you think? I was going to fine with Kieselsol and Chitosan. Any problems with that? Thanks.

 

[grapeman]

Since you had a high initial SG, you will want to rack at that reading or maybe even 1.015. If you go any lower and then rack, it will probably stall and then you have an unstable wine waiting to happen. Since you are a home winemaker, those fining agents will work well for you. We can't use Chitosan because it isn't approved by the TTB.

 

[Rocky]

Wilco Appleman and thanks for your help.


TTB sounds like some kind of government agency. What is it?


Also, in the professional realm, do you ever sweeten wines and if so, what sugar do you use? Sucrose? Fructose?

 

[grapeman]

It is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau which regulates alcohol production in the US. My individual ingredients I choose not to disclose here as these things are constantly monitored. You wouldn't believe the people and organizations that know what you are doing. Most things I don't care about, but not my trade secret ingredients.

 

[Rocky]

I surely understand that. I did not mean to pry.

 

[grapeman]

You weren't prying and I don't like holding anything back, but it has now become necessary after geting the licenses. By the way my wines are not all dry.

 

[Randoneur]

Rocky, learn to do bench trials. You can test anything you want to change and it is the best way to tell how much sugar to add or not to add.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks, Mark.







I have been doing some bench work on other wines and then scaling up the porportions for a larger batch. I was able to find some really nice lab stuff on eBay (beakers, flasks, graduated cylinder, etc.) and I have a fairly well stocked lab. My wife is a Pharmacist and she is really into the experimentation too.

The big thing that I was trying to find out is does anyone use Fructose instead of Sucrose to sweeten. I have mostly used the latter but occasionally I have used "Splenda" if I am going to use the wine in a day or two. (One of the people on this site warned against Splenda for the long term.) I only tooktwo semesters ofChemistrybut my wifetook everything up to and including P-chem. She is trying to explain the difference between monosaccharides and disaccharides to me, but it is way beyond my capability. I use the "Edisonian" method of experimentation, "Try it, see if it works; if not, try something else."

We are having a lot of fun wit this.

 

[Rocky]

I racked this wine today. The SG was about 1.014 this morning. I have it in a 6 gallon BB with an air lock.I have a little more of the "dregs" in another container, trying to get some settling so I can top off the 6 gallon BB. A little surprised by the color. It has lost the deep dark color and is now a medium kind of maroon color. The taste is good, though.

 

[Rocky]

My Concord wine is dry now and I kind of like the taste! I am definitely not going to sweeten all of it. I will keep some dry and some "off dry" with a light application of sweetener. Has anyone ever kept the Concord wine totally dry and if so, what was the result? Thanks.