Hello from Georgetown, KY

deboard · Nov 30, 2009

Greetings all:

I am both new to this forum and to winemaking, but it's fun so far and this forum looks like it will be very helpful. So far I have thoroughly messed up a batch of white concord from frozen concentrate (so much so that I am thinking of chucking it to reclaim the carboy). I tried a small batch of carrot from juice (juiced many pounds of carrots for that one). It's not bad but in the end it's carrot wine. I just recently racked a 5 gallon batch from a suncal beaujolais kit into the secondary, and in my primary I just started a 3 gallon batch of blueberry.

I hope to plant some cynthiana(norton) grapes in my backyard next year, so we'll see if that goes well, though I won't expect enough grapes for a batch of wine for a while.

So I just want to say hi to everyone on the forum! You may know my brother who goes by koda_ky. I have him to thank for this winemaking hobby.

Bruce

Wade E · Nov 30, 2009

Welcome, what have you done to make you tyhink you need to dump that wine?

deboard · Nov 30, 2009

I think I made a few big newbie mistakes, I did not have my hydrometer yet, so I don't know the starting SG, but in hindsight I think I did not have enough sugar. Plus I think it got an infection along the way, it has a very off taste, slightly flowery but not in a good way. When I racked it, I had a bit left over that I put in a wine bottle. I tried sweetening it with a simple syrup, but I think that actually made it worse. I still have a one gallon carboy sealed up with a water stopper in the basement that I am going to give a month or so before I check it again.

If it doesn't turn out, at least I learned a lot from it, and it wasn't an expensive mistake. I haven't quite given up on it yet, but if I need that carboy.....

Wade E · Nov 30, 2009

Could you post the recipe you used? I dont make these anymore but when i did I would use less then 3 frozen concentrates per gallon. Did you add sulfites and sorbate to the wine you sweetened? Sorbate alone can give off a geranium smell due to malo lactic fermentetion from not being sulfited.

deboard · Nov 30, 2009

I followed this recipe:

* 2 cans frozen grape concentrate (white concord)
* 1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar
* 2 tsp acid blend
* 1 tsp pectic enzyme
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* 1 gallon water
* wine yeast

I used cote de blanc yeast.

This ended up with slightly over 1 gallon of liquid, and I foolishly listened to someone at work that told me to go ahead and fill it to 2 gallons with water. So that was mistake #1 I think.

deboard · Nov 30, 2009

Oh, sorry, at this point I have not added any sorbate or any other preservatives other than initially adding a campden tablet to the must.

Wade E · Nov 30, 2009

It tastes like crap cause there is no flavor in there, its basically whats called a sugar wash there. Thats what distillers use to make neutral alc to throw in their still. 2 cans of concentrate is thin per gallon of must and just so you know, you dont add 1 gallon of water, you add the cans of concentrate, sugar(dissolved in a small amount of boiling water) and then add water to 1 gallon. The fact that you filled it to 2 gallons made it really thin. and flavorless.