Concord

[dfwwino]

I bottled two, one-gallon jugs of Concord made from Welch's frozen grape concentrate. I sweetened one gallon with 3 oz. of wine conditioner. I made the other gallon dry with oak. I made Concord wine because my father-in-law does not like dry reds and actually likes Mogen David.

I was stunned how much my sweet Concord tastes like Mogen David. The dry Concord also is very nice. I will be giving the father-in-law the five sweet bottles and keeping the five bottles of dry Concord to see how it ages. Edited by: dfwwino

 

[Waldo]

What was your recipe df? How much of the concentrate did you use per gallon?

 

[dfwwino]

Waldo,


I apologize for the long delay in posting a recipe. I had a virus on my computer and could not access my 2006 winemaking journal. The problem is now resolved, so here's my journal entry for this wine:



2006 Concord Bordeaux<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><O></O>
<O></O>
On Wednesday, September 6, 2006, prepared must by adding the following:<O></O>
<O></O>
3 - 11.5 oz cans Welchs 100% Frozen Concord Grape Concentrate
10 oz. granulated sugar <O></O>
2 tsp acid blend to adjust TA from .30 to .60<O></O>
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient <O></O>
¼ tsp. tannin<O></O>
<O></O>
<O></O>
Starting Gravity: 1.091.<O></O>
<O></O>
On Thursday, September 7, 2006, (12 hours later) added one packet of Redstar Pasteur Red dehydrated yeast. <O></O>
<O></O>
On Thursday, September 7, 2006 6pm--fermentation active.<O></O>
<O></O>
On Friday, September 8, 2006 at 6 pm, fermentation so active caused spill over in 1.3 gallon container. Then I made a big mistake and put cap on and shook. When cap opened, wine squirted everywhere.


On Sunday, September 17, 2006, racked to one gallon jug with 10 grams of oak chips and one campden tablet dissolved.


On July 21, 2007, racked into bottling bucket and bottled.




<O></O><BR style="PAGE-BREAK-BEFORE: always; mso-special-character: line-break" clear=all>Edited by: dfwwino

 

[dfwwino]

Here's my previous post about the wine explosion when using the travel fermenter:


http://www.finevinewines.com//Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1794&amp;PN=1

 

[grapeman]

So for someone to reproduce your wine they would have to use a 1.3 gallon container, let it spill over and then shake and squirt. Sounds like a messy batch of wine to make, but hey if it tastes good..........................

 

[dfwwino]

LOL.


Yes, I suppose I should revise that part of the recipe. Use a two gallon fermenter and don't shake. I copied the recipe straight from my winemaking journal, where I like to write down the good, the bad and the ugly of each step. That way I ensure I have no more exploding wine or repeated errors.

 

[nasv]

that's awesome dfw!

I also have a 1-gallon batch of welch's frozen conford I started almost a month ago - I have most in the gallon carboy and some extra for topping-off in a bottle. I'm heavily oaking the contents of the bottle and will add the oaked wine to the primary batch when topping off!

Out of curiosity, did your wine turn out very acidic? In tasting so far, the acid is strong but not overbearing (TA around 0.8%); I imagine it's because I added only 2 cans of water for every 1 can of frozen concentrate.

Also, did you find it easy to clear?

How long did you age it? (never mind, answered this question by looking at dates)

Anyway, congrats on bottling your batch!

-Nico


Edited by: nasv

 

[dfwwino]

Nico,


I first poured the three thawed juice concentrates into my fermenter. I then added water sufficient to reach one gallon. I then tested the TA before adding any acid blend. I had read someplace that the TA of Welch's varies from batch to batch. My TA with no acid blend was .3. Therefore, I added two tsp. of acid blend to raise the TA to .6 (which I determined by testing again). .6 is a good TA for fruit wines.


The key to avoiding too high an acid in wine is not to follow recipes but to adjust acidity based on your own testing of the particular must. Otherwise, you might overshoot your desired acidity level and end up with an unbalanced wine. This tastes like welch's grape juice with a bit of oak flavor. It is very smooth and very easy to drink too much, as if you're drinking a regular glass of welch's without the excessive sweetness. Edited by: dfwwino

 

[Waldo]

Thanks dfw..I may try a batch of this for my Mother In Law.

 

[nasv]

Nico,


I first poured the three thawed juice concentrates into my fermenter. I then added water sufficient to reach one gallon. I then tested the TA before adding any acid blend. I had read someplace that the TA of Welch's varies from batch to batch. My TA with no acid blend was .3. Therefore, I added two tsp. of acid blend to raise the TA to .6 (which I determined by testing again). .6 is a good TA for fruit wines.


The key to avoiding too high an acid in wine is not to follow recipes but to adjust acidity based on your own testing of the particular must. Otherwise, you might overshoot your desired acidity level and end up with an unbalanced wine. This tastes like welch's grape juice with a bit of oak flavor. It is very smooth and very easy to drink too much, as if you're drinking a regular glass of welch's without the excessive sweetness.

Yeah, I was aware that Welch's will vary from batch to batch. My 0.8% was with NO added acid blend, just the acidity from the concentrate! Good thing I checked.

I agree with you about not following the recipe too directly; for this batch, my wife and I kind of thought backward - we thought what we wanted to achieve first and then tried to make decisions about ingredients/recipe to help reach our goal wine. We'll see how it comes out!

-Nico

 

[dfwwino]

Nico,


I suppose if I got an acidity at that level, I would use it for regular juice and try three more cans of welch's, hoping of a better acidity level. If it remains too acidic, you can always blend it with a lower acid wine. That's the beauty of one gallon batches.

 

[nasv]

It was high in acidity, but not overly so - on my tasting so far, it gave the wine a really tight backbone and reminded me of some of the Tuscan style wines (which I like!) that make sure you feel the acidity up front.

We'll see how it turns out!

-Nico