First wine, got a few questions.

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

buckheadhobo

Junior
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
So, I got a bottle of nice organic grape juice from the grocery store, and I want to make it into wine.
I'm a huge beer nerd, and have brewed numerous beers, but I am looking to do my first wine.
I would like to ferment it in a 750ml vodka bottle with an airlock on top. (very small batch)
I have a small bag of yeast nutrient, but no clue as to how it is used.
So, this is my current gameplan: add sugar to the juice until it reaches the proper SG (which I am not sure of yet) and then pour it into the (sanitized) bottle, add the yeast, and Y amount of nutrient (which I am not sure of either) and then plop on the airlock and wait for it to start bubbling.
May I ask your expert opinion on just how bad of an idea this is? :D
Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to my first journey in vinting! :D
 
Welcome Buck, Yeast nutrient is used at the ratio of 1 tsp per gallon. Its not a bad idea just more work then Id be willing to do for a small bottle but to each their own. A proper sg would be 1.090. What kind of grape juice is this? Concord, Niagara?
 
I agree cause you have to wait so long for it to get done then it turns out awsome then it's not enough.:b
 
Welcome as well. I have to lean toward the others and say it is too small a batch. Sure, it can be done but it is gonna be tough to measure the SG with that small amount unless you have a refractometer. By the time you rack it off the lees which is gonna be tough with that small amount because you won't be able to fill the bottle to ferment in. You are going to have around a half bottle of wine. Not worth the effort even for experimental purposes. try to get a gallon of the juice. If you can't, follow the steps you stated but try to ferment it in another container and then rack to the bottle and top up to finish.
 
Now that I come to think of it, my siphon wouldn't fit in the bottle anyway.
I guess I'll just have to wait until I can make a larger batch. I've got an empty 6 gallon carboy just sitting around waiting for something to ferment in it anyway. :D
The juice is concord, but I guess I'll just drink it as is. I don't think I've drank grape juice in a long time anyway, it should be enjoyable.

I do want to do the same with Goji juice though. Buying 5 gallons worth of Goji berry juice would put me out of house and home. (Approx a pt is 10 bux)
 
One thing I have found with shop bought organic juices is that the acidity levels are very high, I personally have combatted this by adding a fair amount of water, its a nice quick process if you can get it right but if you mess it up it can turn quite expensive, Ive made many many juice based wines over the past few years (hence my name winecheater :D) some have been great (cant fault apple juice, makes awesome wine ) and some have been disastorous (spanish purple grape!!!!!!!!!!)
grape juices intended for drinking differ from grape strains intended for winemaking and that can cause your wine to basically taste like bitter grape juice, it will be alcoholic but it wont taste good,
i would go for a kit if your just staring to make wine,
theres some very reasonable ones out there, or put in some time to make a country wine, they take a lot longer than kits but you could have one going alongside the kits and bide your time just means you have to go get some fruit which isnt that much of an effort, once youve started you'll be hooked!
its really quite hard to fail if you follow a recipe and make sure your equipment is clean
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top