My 2nd , recent batch of wine I started with ... 4 96 oz bottles of pure welches white grape juice, water to get 5 gallons. I added sugar untill I got a starting SG of 1100. I added appropriate yeast nutrient. fermentation went good. according to math and from drinking a little one thing I did learn is the staring 1100 SG did obtain a high alcohol content as it don't take a lot of this wine to get you buzzing. However, It is very strong! Its got a real bitter taste, its almost like a hard alcohol as far as bitterness. I've experimented with back sweetening a bit glass by glass with adding sugar and then I tried adding welches raspberry pure juice concentrate but it still tastes like sh!t, this tames it out a little bit but its still a little bitter and not like a real wine. At this point I got a whole carboy full of the original stuff yet and bitter or not I will drink it up but I im very disappointed and am confused what mistakes i may have made. I not sure what to try to tame down this wine now. Should I thin it with some water perhaps ? or do I try to back sweeten with something else ? Maybe someone has a idea for me. The only other thing I can add right now is I took a ph test and it is about a 4.
opinions on my batch of wine?
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A couple of thoughts I have:
1) when using grape juice in bottles, it's usually regular strength, not concentrated, so I wouldn't normally add any water, just straight juice and a little sugar if needed.
2) If your readings are right, I'm guessing that your alcohol is around 14-15%. It's a little on the high side, but not overly high for a grape wine. Now if your juice is watered down, you'll be light on juice flavor which will make the alcohol flavor stand out more.
3) In my experience, it's hard to cure a high alcohol taste with sugar. It just turns into cough syrup.
4) If you've added some pure juice concentrate and you didn't stabilize with sorbate and sulfite, your batch could ferment the new sugar out again which will drive your alcohol content even higher.
5) You could try to make another wine that is lower in alcohol and higher in pleasant flavors and try to blend the two.
6) You might want to try making wine using an ingredient kit. There are several wine kit makers out there and they really do a nice job of turning out a pleasant wine. It cost more than something cobbled together at the grocery store, but it often taste much better in my opinion.
Cheers,
1) when using grape juice in bottles, it's usually regular strength, not concentrated, so I wouldn't normally add any water, just straight juice and a little sugar if needed.
2) If your readings are right, I'm guessing that your alcohol is around 14-15%. It's a little on the high side, but not overly high for a grape wine. Now if your juice is watered down, you'll be light on juice flavor which will make the alcohol flavor stand out more.
3) In my experience, it's hard to cure a high alcohol taste with sugar. It just turns into cough syrup.
4) If you've added some pure juice concentrate and you didn't stabilize with sorbate and sulfite, your batch could ferment the new sugar out again which will drive your alcohol content even higher.
5) You could try to make another wine that is lower in alcohol and higher in pleasant flavors and try to blend the two.
6) You might want to try making wine using an ingredient kit. There are several wine kit makers out there and they really do a nice job of turning out a pleasant wine. It cost more than something cobbled together at the grocery store, but it often taste much better in my opinion.
Cheers,
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