Using Welches White Grape Juice and Corn Sugar to increase ABV?

[Jordy Tokes]

I have a batch of island mist green apple and my OG is 1.050, and I would like it to be between 1.070 and 1.080. Can I add this grape juice from bottle and add corn sugar to kit provided wine pouch to bring up sp grav? The juice has potassium metabisulphite in it. Any concerns? Should I wait 24 hours before pitching the yeast? The directions say I have to add the provided fpack later? Won’t this drop the alcohol content?

 

[salcoco]

the fpack is to used later too sweeten the wine. you can actually add that to the wine kit now and measure the sg. then just add sugar no need to add additional juice as it will alter the flavor of the wine kit. adjust to an sg of 1090 which will give a abv of 12% the sweet spot for wine . if still wanting to sweeten the wine it can be done once wine is clear and aged about a couple of months.

 

[Boatboy24]

The fpack will only impact the alcohol content inasmuch as it dilutes the existing wine (assuming it is added after fermentation). Depending on how sweet you like your wine, you can add part of it up front to bump the ABV a bit, then use corn sugar, as @salcoco mentioned. Another option is frozen Welch's White Grape concentrate. That'll have a much bigger impact with less dilution (and I think there isn't any sorbate or sulfite).

LabelPeelers actually sells white grape concentrate and corn sugar, and many will purchase those along with the mist kits to bump the ABV.

 

[Jordy Tokes]

So I added 2 1.36L bottles of welches white grape juice with 1 cup of dextrose mixed in. Added the wine pack and topped up to 23L. I have an OG of 1.094

so I guess I will follow directions now and add fruit pack later. Will the fruit pack drop my abv?

 

[cmason1957]

Adding the entire wine pack may not have been the best choice. That's where the green apple taste comes from in the end, it may all get fermented out adding the entire thing at the start. It might be fine. I generally increase the sg to about 1.070 with grape juice and sugar alone and then add to taste the flavoring pack.

 

[Boatboy24]

Can you clarify the "wine pack" vs "fruit pack"?

 

[Jordy Tokes]

Adding the entire wine pack may not have been the best choice. That's where the green apple taste comes from in the end, it may all get fermented out adding the entire thing at the start. It might be fine. I generally increase the sg to about 1.070 with grape juice and sugar alone and then add to taste the flavoring pack.

No I have left the fruit pack out till latse

 

[cmason1957]

Can you clarify the "wine pack" vs "fruit pack"?

No I have left the fruit pack out till latse

Very good, by wine pack, you mean the main juice and fruit pack, what most of us call the flavoring pack.

 

[Jordy Tokes]

Very good, by wine pack, you mean the main juice and fruit pack, what most of us call the flavoring pack.

Yes I think your recipe is going to turn out great! I’m looking at 11-12% and I started it today at 11:00am and I see bubbles in the air lock!

 

[Jordy Tokes]

Very good, by wine pack, you mean the main juice and fruit pack, what most of us call the flavoring pack.

Thank you so much for your help

 

[Jordy Tokes]

Yes I think your recipe is going to turn out great! I’m looking at 11-12% and I started it today at 11:00am and I see bubbles in the air lock!

Yes I mixed welches and dextrose with main pack. I’m going to follow directions on wine now. Take out some to make room for f pack. Is there anything else I should know?

 

[Jordy Tokes]

Very good, by wine pack, you mean the main juice and fruit pack, what most of us call the flavoring pack.

I have Been brewing my own beer for years I’ve stuck to one recipe that works for me. My father-in-law convinced me to try doing some wine for the first time. So this is my first batch and I wanted to up the alcohol by volume and I really appreciate your help hopefully this turns out good

 

[cmason1957]

Yes I mixed welches and dextrose with main pack. I’m going to follow directions on wine now. Take out some to make room for f pack. Is there anything else I should know?

For me rather than taking some out to make room for the f-pack, I always pour the f-pack into an empty carboy and rack the mostly clear wine into it. It always seems that I never take enough out.

 

[WINEBAYOU]

I believe that cmason1957 has got it right. Adding the fruit pack during fermentation will cause you to loose the flavor it would impart to the finished base wine. Also, I've been told that the sugar in the fruit pack is of a different type than what you want during fermentation.

What had happened was... I made the mistake early on of adding the fruit packs (4 kits in a tank of tropical fruit chardonnay) right after adding the potassium sorbate, which may have been old and ineffective. Secondary fermentation kicked in and it wasn't pretty. It ended up with a really funky smell and I had to dump the whole thing. I called the kit manufacturer and they explained it all to me. I don't recall the scientific details but it made sense at the time.

I've done hundreds of sweet wine kits since then and I always make sure I mix thoroughly after adding the stabilizers and I wait a few hours or until the next day before adding the fruit pack(s). I still have not tried tweaking the alcohol content up but I think it's about time I did. From what I've read it seems that corn syrup is the way to go.

 

[cmason1957]

I still have not tried tweaking the alcohol content up but I think it's about time I did. From what I've read it seems that corn syrup is the way to go.

No need to spend the extra money on corn syrup, sugar is a great way to increase your starting sg and hence alcohol. Some people will make a simple syrup of 1 part water, 2 parts sugar, bring nearly to a boil, then cool before adding. I just add the sugar. I know in an Island Mist type kit 4 lbs of sugar raises the alcohol to about 10% and helps to balance it out pretty good.

 

[WINEBAYOU]

No need to spend the extra money on corn syrup, sugar is a great way to increase your starting sg and hence alcohol. Some people will make a simple syrup of 1 part water, 2 parts sugar, bring nearly to a boil, then cool before adding. I just add the sugar. I know in an Island Mist type kit 4 lbs of sugar raises the alcohol to about 10% and helps to balance it out pretty good.

Thanks. I'm gonna give that a try this weekend

 

[Ted Brumleve]

For the Island Mist kits, I heat up 1/2 gallon spring water for making the bentonite slurry. Add two pounds of sugar to that.

 

[Jordy Tokes]

For the Island Mist kits, I heat up 1/2 gallon spring water for making the bentonite slurry. Add two pounds of sugar to that.

That bentonite slurry doesn’t mix easy

 

[WINEBAYOU]

That bentonite slurry doesn’t mix easy

I heat the water in a stock pot and then sprinkle the bentonite in while steadily mixing.

 

[JohnT]