Confused

[dmblover]

Help

Hey there. New at this whole thing. So this is my question:

Ingredients-
1 can Welch's grape concentrate
2 cups cane sugar
1 sachet lalvin 118
Water to gallon
Airlocked


If started on Sunday will it be drinkable by Friday? Not great but with at least a tiny kick?
No hydrometer or time/opp for that.


Taking it to girls night and just guessing an abv? Going to siphon on day 4..(?)


Thank you!!!

 

[Scooter68]

It could have some alcohol but more likely may taste like spoiled grape juice to some folks. Just depends on how quickly fermentation begins and progresses. That's not much grape juice to have a flavor. Flavors are diminished substantially during the fermentation process. You might be as well of to purchase some grain alcohol and add it to get your desired 'kick.'

 

[ethanhaven25]

If it were me, I would add a couple more cans of concentrate! But I'm new to this as well ..... Lol!

 

[dmblover]

It could have some alcohol but more likely may taste like spoiled grape juice to some folks. Just depends on how quickly fermentation begins and progresses. That's not much grape juice to have a flavor. Flavors are diminished substantially during the fermentation process. You might be as well of to purchase some grain alcohol and add it to get your desired 'kick.'

Thank you. The recipe called for 2 cans of concentrate but I wasn't sure if I was also adding sugar, if I really needed two.

 

[Julie]

Two cans is no where near enough. You need to add two more cans. And you never ad d a set amount of sugar, add enough sugar to bring your sg to around 1.080

 

[ethanhaven25]

Well the muscadine wine turned out GREAT! 2 glasses and I'm feeling it pretty GOOD!!!!! Even the hubs said it was "the bomb!" And he hates wine!

 

[Scooter68]

Well the muscadine wine turned out GREAT! 2 glasses and I'm feeling it pretty GOOD!!!!! Even the hubs said it was "the bomb!" And he hates wine!

That's the thing about homemade wine, especially the fruit wines. They are a different character. Some try to duplicate store bought grape wines but practically speaking, unless you get a super deal on the fruit/juice you are not going to duplicated it but you can make your own unique wines.

 

[drainsurgeon]

Yes that was definitely confusing!!! Lol. I think I'll just stick to taste testing. [emoji57] I'll test with the hydrometer and just leave it at that! Haha!!! The more complicated I make the process, the more I will screw it up!

Amanda, I know that all this information can be a bit overwhelming at first but give it time and it will all start to make sense soon. Scooter is really giving you some good advice. I started a thread here (in the beginners forum) about 3 weeks ago titled "understanding pH", and it's on page 6 right now. I got a lot of good information about pH in that thread. I went and purchased 2 more chem's and have "balanced" 2 batches of wine with that information. One was too acidic (2.7) and I raised it with calcium carbonate. The other was too high (3.7) and I brought that one down with tartaric acid to 3.4. It's not that hard to do and really improves the mouth feel of the wine. I got my pH meter from Ebay for $20. Worth it IMHO. You're doing great and most important is to have fun!

 

[NorCal]

If you can make something that you enjoy drinking, that is success! Keep some good notes, so you can replicate it in the future, get some tools so you can understand what is making it taste the way it does; pH, abv, residual sugar. Way to go!

 

[hounddawg]

obsession no,,, addiction YOU BET
no know cure, thank god, lol.
Dawg

Well I made 3 more batches of 3 different flavores. This time I took all reading before hand and labeled everything. Used the proper yeasts, sanitizer, etc. I'm so excited!!! My Uncle gave me some pointers and is bringing me a cyphen hose tomorrow and a couple other things he said I'd need. I can see this becoming an obsession very quickly!!! [emoji15]

 

[BlueStimulator]

Keep posting and asking questions the memebers here have been very helpful to me.