How strong will the wine taste

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thunder2000

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I was doing the SG check when I read it on the wrong side. I added sugar to the welches concentrate making some concord grape wine. Then I looked again. The SG was over the amount called for by about(well lets just say it read 1.120. I waited 24 hour for the camden to do its thing. Then put the yeast to the mix. After five days the sg was still 1.050 and had slowed down alot so I racked it. It is still bubbling in the lock but not real active. So what do you think?
 
Two questions....which yeast? what is the temperature?

So far you've got about 9.3% alcohol. Fermentation SHOULD continue.

I don't make the Welches Wines, so I don't know if yeast nutrient (or the like) is required.

Steve
 
Temp is 75, and the yeast although I am not sure what kind. Was what the local wine supply shop told me to use.
 
Here is a chart of the potential alcohol of a wine by the starting SG if you ferment to dry. This is not an exact but only a potential. Other factors such as the yeast type used will effect the end alcohol levels. If you were to reach the potential alcohol from your starting SG you will see it is like 16.47% which will be a fairly "hot" wine. 12%-14% seems to be the desierable end alcohol content for most wines. If it does come out too hot for you, don't toss it as you could blend it with other batches in the future. If you would of caught this in the beginning, you could of cut it down with water to lower the SG to the desired level. Usually around 1.090

Smurfe :)

Brix S.G. Potential Alcohol
0 1.000 0.00%
1 1.004 0.53%
2 1.008 1.06%
3 1.012 1.59%
4 1.016 2.12%
5 1.019 2.65%
6 1.023 3.18%
7 1.027 3.71%
8 1.031 4.24%
9 1.035 4.77%
10 1.039 5.30%
11 1.043 5.83%
12 1.047 6.36%
13 1.050 6.89%
14 1.054 7.42%
15 1.058 7.95%
16 1.062 8.48%
17 1.066 9.01%
18 1.070 9.54%
19 1.074 10.07%
20 1.078 10.60%
21 1.081 11.13%
22 1.085 11.66%
23 1.089 12.19%
24 1.093 12.72%
25 1.097 13.25%
26 1.101 13.78%
27 1.105 14.31%
28 1.109 14.84%
29 1.112 15.37%
30 1.116 15.90%
31 1.120 16.43%
32 1.124 16.96%
33 1.128 17.49%
34 1.132 18.02%
35 1.136 18.55%
36 1.140 19.08%
37 1.143 19.61%
 
Hey Thunder,

I am of course not familiar with welches (we old world winemakers use only real fruit ;) )
and I am not familiar with the price of these concentrates.

But what about buying another can of welches and split the batch up in 2, and do the recalculations, or add some similar juice to it to lower the SG.
You can do this while it is still fermenting.

Luc
 
Should I wait until its almost done or add now. The juice is around a $1.50 a can so that is somewhat managable. It is still going good right now.
 
I would do it now, because it will nicely blend in and will dilute the alcohol a bit which will give your yeast an opportunity to get on with the fermentation.

If you would do it later there is the possibility that fermentation will stop before all sugar is used and you will end up with a sweet wine which you will have to dilute or use as blending wine.

Measure the SG from the new juice.
Look at the start SG you had in the must (1120 you said) and look at the amount must
you have so you can calculate how much to blend in.

Be carefull with the blending and it will turn out fine.
Make notes of everything you do though.

Luc
 
Luc, couldn't he just cut the juice he is fermenting now with some water to lower the SG? The Welches is going to have an SG of over 1.100 before being diluted with some water if I remember correct. It is pretty sweet right out of the can. Much the same as the concentrate in the kits if you have ever tasted them right out of the box.

In fact, I have always thought that every varietal of juice I have ever used tastes exactly like Welches juice right out of the box. I do see your point about adding some new sugar though to stimulate the fermentation. I just don't see how it will lower the SG any. Could you elaborate on this so I might understand what I am missing here?

Smurfe :)
 
Smurfe,

You are right of course, but as I have no experience with concentrates (I have never seen one over here in shops) I have no idea about the SG of concentrates.

So you are right of course that the must has to be diluted. But as you use water you will also loose taste and flavor and acid etc etc etc. Therefore I would indeed take a can of welches dilute it again to the amount prescribed on the recipe for the concentrate and then measure the SG.

You then have the SG for the juice, You know the SG for the must, so you can do the calculations on diluting the must with the new juice.

I think I was not detailed enough on what I was trying to say.

I was not trying to bring huge amounts of sugar extra in the must because sugar levels are already to high. But as I do not want to dilute with water, I would like to dilute with juice and that will also bring some extra sugar into the must, so therefore I told thunder to be carefull.

Luc
 
Last edited:
Ok sounds like something to try. I will let you know how it comes out. Again thanks for the info.
 

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