Kerr Concentrates?

[M38A1]

I'm considering using a purchase from Kerr Concentrates on a batch of peach wine.

Has anyone used their products? If so, how did you do it?

I'm getting tripped up on the Brix part for this peach. It says a Brix of 68 is 1.34SG. But when I do an on-line ABV calculation taking that to 1.1 still yields some crazy high alcohol (31.7) so I'm missing something critical in my thinking. I'll readily admit I'm diving into a rabbit hole I know nothing about with this. Or do you dilute that base product considerably to get a starting SG? (but wouldn't that dilute the flavor)

Any suggestions? Or just use frozen/fresh peaches?

 

[cmason1957]

Anything that says concentrate on it, means water was removed during production of it. Yes, you do add water back to these. Probably 2 or 3X the amount of the concentrate.

 

[salcoco]

in a 33lbs bucket you are looking at a considerable amount of finished wine. assuming 8lbs per gallon =about 4 gallons of concentrate which could be about 20 gallons of wine at proper brix level maybe more. I would suggest the Vintner's Best Fruit Wine Bases which are only a gallon of concentrate which will yield a 5 gallon batch of wine. available on line from number of wine supply houses.

 

[M38A1]

in a 33lbs bucket you are looking at a considerable amount of finished wine. assuming 8lbs per gallon =about 4 gallons of concentrate which could be about 20 gallons of wine at proper brix level maybe more. I would suggest the Vintner's Best Fruit Wine Bases which are only a gallon of concentrate which will yield a 5 gallon batch of wine. available on line from number of wine supply houses.

Thx. I tried a Cranberry 96oz can and made a 3 gallon batch instead of the 5 you can do so I could hopefully get more flavor. I thought it fell flat without much flavor at all.... Maybe I'll try another variety, but I'd say I'm batting 0-1 on that product.

 

[salcoco]

the fruit wine bases I am suggesting are a one gallon of concneerae better thant the smaller can you used. should have better flavor.

 

[M38A1]

the fruit wine bases I am suggesting are a one gallon of concneerae better thant the smaller can you used. should have better flavor.

Thanks.... I'll give the peach a try and see how it goes.

 

[Scooter68]

Perhaps this doesn't matter to OP but the problem I have with Vintner's Best is that their wine bases are blends - not pure juice. Here's the back label from the peach wine base and note the ingredients as indicated are in order of amount contained
Corn Sugar,
Apple Juice
Pear Juice
Peach Juice

(I'd rather pay more and get 100% Peach Concentrate or wait and buy fresh peaches from an orchard - just my personal preference.)

 

[M38A1]

Thx for the input.... Do you have a recommendation on a preferred peach concentrate? Or how many pounds of peaches would you use in a 5gal mix?

 

[Scooter68]

6-7 lbs/gallon so 30-35 lbs for 5 gallons. I've been making my peach wine has been made with fresh fruit. I ran one batch through as Oster Juicer, the others I just mashed the daylights out of them. The one exception that was ho-hum flavored batch - for it I used 4lbs "Fresh peaches" bought in November (Imported), A can of peaches in heavy syrup, and a 2 lb bag of frozen peach slices for a 1 gallon batch. Just wasn't as good as using fresh peaches in season. I look for deals from orchards on 'over-ripe' fruit so I know the sugar content and sweetness is at the peak.

I've been using Vintner's Harvest wine bases but have not used their peach wine base. Their 96 oz can of Black Currant has given me a very solid flavor for 3 gallon batches, but; not having used their peach wine base I cannot give a personal recommendation. I think using 2 cans for 5 gallons would provide a solid body/flavor, while it may cost more to do so, it would be 100% peach.

That link you listed looks pretty good really. 56lb pail figure 1 lb for the pail so 55 lbs of concentrated peach juice !!! Yes, I agree probably at least 20-25 gallons worth of wine potential in a bucket. The price I just saw was $140.00 plus shipping... really not that bad a deal for a concentrate.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Perhaps this doesn't matter to OP but the problem I have with Vintner's Best is that their wine bases are blends - not pure juice. Here's the back label from the peach wine base and note the ingredients as indicated are in order of amount contained
Corn Sugar,
Apple Juice
Pear Juice
Peach Juice

(I'd rather pay more and get 100% Peach Concentrate or wait and buy fresh peaches from an orchard - just my personal preference.)
View attachment 53999

Scooter ya’ll are bad mouthing the food industry, we like corn syrup since it is about 28 cents per pound, juice concentrates are real money like 1.80 to 5.00 per pound.
If you could get it Virginia Dare sells neat concentrates (essentially F pack ingredient) with knock your sox off flavors, , but I would start testing a gallon in a1000 gallon tank.

 

[Scooter68]

Hopefully your post is in jest but....
1) Well if it truly is 'bad mouthing'.... so be it. When I buy a juice concentrate I want to get the juice not sugar - I can add that myself.
2) When I see something advertised as "Peach Wine Base" I want it to be 100% Peach - not Peach flavored Apple and Pear Juice. So I either buy a 100% "As Labeled" juice or I use the real fruit. Just as will the sugar I can always add another juice variety or sugar as I choose.

But If folks are happy with a blended wine base - Good for them. Not saying my wines are ideal or perfection but I do know exactly what I've put in them and how much. I just prefer products that are processed as little as possible.

The OP listed a link and their price looks pretty good but my question would be how much water is removed. If I had storage capacity for a 5 gallon pail it would be interesting to buy and experiment to find the best dilution for a great wine. Unfortunately freezing and storing 4-5 gallons of any concentrate would stretch my freezer space. Still.... something to consider depending on how the weather treats our local fruit orchards.

 

[M38A1]

The OP listed a link and their price looks pretty good but my question would be how much water is removed. If I had storage capacity for a 5 gallon pail it would be interesting to buy and experiment to find the best dilution for a great wine. Unfortunately freezing and storing 4-5 gallons of any concentrate would stretch my freezer space. Still.... something to consider depending on how the weather treats our local fruit orchards.

So if one were to get a pail and see where this goes - would you start simply by taking, say 1 gallon of concentrate and adding water until a desired starting SG of say, .80 and then add the other stuff like tannin, pectic enzyme and a yeast blend? Then just let that roll thru PF and see where it takes you as a baseline?

 

[Scooter68]

I'd probably start smaller than one gallon - just to be sure the flavor isn't diluted too much.

I know folks will say that there is the same amount of work to do 5 gallons as 1 gallon but... I'd still start with say a pint or quart and just as you stated dilute down BUT remember that peaches by themselves don't have enough sugar to obtain a decent ABV without additional sugar.
SOoooo I'd take a pint (16 oz) and add 4 oz - check flavor and SG
Plan on adding sugar.
Would help if the vendor could tell you what amount of water is removed from the original or what amount of water would be added back to reach "Normal" Peach juice level.

When I make a tart cherry wine from concentrate I use 4 x 16 oz bottles for 3 gallons of wine. Each bottle is supposed to make 1 gallon of cherry juice at "Normal" strength. I would suggest a similar practice to get a solid flavor with a peach concentrate. Focus on the flavor level then adjust the SG with sugar to get it to where your end wine will have the desired ABV.

In other words focus on having sufficient flavor THEN add sugar to get to the desired SG.

 

[sour_grapes]

adding water until a desired starting SG of say, .80

Huh?? Do you mean 1.080?

 

[M38A1]

Huh?? Do you mean 1.080?

Yeah, fat fingered that one.... lol