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Sirs

just an oldman
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ok got my hydrometer and started a batch of mainly concord grape wine last night. I got close to 6 gallons of must first reading was 1.070 adjusted to 1.072 (I'm guessing temp) at close to room temp (which is 80 even) ok stirred this evening and she is working hard no sugar added as of yet. I'm wanting to get a higher alcohol % any advice? Also I'm only useing it's own yeast not big into adding much of anything other than sugar syrup to my wines. Thanks for any input at all.
 
is that 6 gallons of must with the grapes or all juice? If w/ skins you will get less. You should add sugar in the begining so you know what the % will come out.
Concord you should start @ about 1.095
If you have 6 gal of must excluding the skins add 3# of sugar to get about 12%. If you have 5 gal after kins removed then use 1/3 cup less
 
to add to Tom's post you need to kill the wild yeast and add yeast. this will give you more control of your wine.
 
I agree with Julie as using wine yeast will almost always produce a better wine. In France they use the natural yeast but the thing is that their land has become prevalent to a yeast that is is premium due to dumping their pomace in their vineyards for hun dreds of years which contained these prmium yeats we use here today.
 
is that 6 gallons of must with the grapes or all juice? If w/ skins you will get less. You should add sugar in the begining so you know what the % will come out.
Concord you should start @ about 1.095
If you have 6 gal of must excluding the skins add 3# of sugar to get about 12%. If you have 5 gal after kins removed then use 1/3 cup less

ok what if I wanted say 18% and yes that's actually over 6 gallons with skins and all, when I do press the must I'll probly have close to 5 3/4 to 6 gallons as it is over 6
I press till I get all the juice LOL
and yes I like my wines really strong on alcohol.
 
As far as using a wine yeast I'd kinda prefer to stick to natural may be a bit wilder but I just like to let it do it's own thing just wanting to kinda learn whats going on with it. I know it may be easier to keep track of it using the wine yeast but guess I've always done stuff the hard way. LOL
 
Hey Sirs,if you want an alcohol level of 18%then you will need to add A LOT OF SUGAR and bring your brix level to like 31 or 32 brixs to get what your looking for i think you need to make a different type of wine with a still.:)wild yeast will not ferment this to dryness nor any other strain for that matter good luck.
 
Got to love the NC boys,, we do like to do things the hard way even if you tell us the easy way.

If you are trying to get to 18% you will need to step it for best results. Since you started with 1.070 that will only give you about 9%. To get up to the 18% you will need to add about 9 more lbs of sugar. Don't add it all at once though, let it ferment to about 1.020 or so and then add half the amount of the needed sugar (4.5 lbs), check your SG and then let that ferment to about 1.020 and do it again. IF IF IF your wild yeast make it past the first addition of sugar and gets at least close to finishing out the second addition of sugar you will be close to the 18% you are after. I am currently making an elderberry port and doing the same thing with the steps except I dont think I am going to get to the 18%, but I will be happy with the 16.8 that it is at right now.

Good Luck

PS: where exactly are you from in NC?
 
Got to love the NC boys,, we do like to do things the hard way even if you tell us the easy way.

If you are trying to get to 18% you will need to step it for best results. Since you started with 1.070 that will only give you about 9%. To get up to the 18% you will need to add about 9 more lbs of sugar. Don't add it all at once though, let it ferment to about 1.020 or so and then add half the amount of the needed sugar (4.5 lbs), check your SG and then let that ferment to about 1.020 and do it again. IF IF IF your wild yeast make it past the first addition of sugar and gets at least close to finishing out the second addition of sugar you will be close to the 18% you are after. I am currently making an elderberry port and doing the same thing with the steps except I dont think I am going to get to the 18%, but I will be happy with the 16.8 that it is at right now.

Good Luck

PS: where exactly are you from in NC?

hey thanks and in all honesty I'm actually an East Tenn. boy but got transplanted here bout 10 years ago. Rock to be honest I do prefer the lets say corn wine thats distilled, over the fruits but I love making the fruit wines just like them strong not like juice. Oh I've got about 6 gallons of elderberry going also just not had a chance to get readings on it. I'm in Winston-Salem well just outside of it anyway but still in same county. Thanks all of you for the input it is appreciated alot really..
 
I will be in touch with you via pm later. I will be out in Natural Bridge VA (about 3 hours north of ya) next weekend for my brother-in-laws wedding. Looking forward to being back in the mountains.
 

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