Welch Grape Juice

[rosa6329]

Well I am new to this wine making business. My girlfriend is purchasing me a wine kit along with a wine press. So while I wait for that to come, I was eager to start making mine. Therefore I purchased two welch's juice containers not the frozen one. I forgot to measure the sg before and after I added sugar. So what I have done so far was take out little less than two cups of juice in each container and added one cup of sugar to each. Then I split one yeast packet in half for each container. I know that during fermentation it will bubble and release gas. I am on the fourth day so far and its still bubbling. I went to measure the sg and I am at 1.072 on both containers. Is it too late to syphon the juice into a bigger container and add more water? Does it even need more water? What do you think? Is it suppose to smell bad? haha

 

[Deezil]

You can move them both to a bigger container but i wouldnt add water.

Smell 'bad', as in? rotten eggs or what?.. Bad is a very general term and the more general you are, the less help you're likely to find here. We're sticklers for the details, as that's where one's mistakes are usually found.

Chalk it up as an experiment, enjoy the ride & know theres more to do, better notes to take, when you approach a more serious batch.

 

[rosa6329]

You can move them both to a bigger container but i wouldnt add water.

Smell 'bad', as in? rotten eggs or what?.. Bad is a very general term and the more general you are, the less help you're likely to find here. We're sticklers for the details, as that's where one's mistakes are usually found.

Chalk it up as an experiment, enjoy the ride & know theres more to do, better notes to take, when you approach a more serious batch.

Sorry, the odor smells like rotten fruit/rotten eggs. Is that a normal sign?

 

[Deezil]

That is most likely a nutrient deficiency. If you have any yeast nutrient or energizer on hand, i would add per the directions.

It's like going to the restaurant, ordering a steak, baked potato, salad & beer... And when you get your plate, there's the bone & fat from a steak, the baked potato skin, an empty salad bowl & the waiter took a drink off your beer on the way to the table..

Need to provide the yeast with all the missing nutrients not readily found in the grape juice. It's resulting in H2O gases being made, because the yeast are stressed. Adding the nutrient / energizer (2 different things) will help from making any more gas. To remove the gas / smell already made, splashing racking is usually recommended, but if that doesnt work - you're looking at neutralizing it with the introducing of copper somehow. Try splash racking first (siphoning back and forth, roughly, to expel gas) and if that doesnt work, im sure someone with more copper-using experience will chime in.

 

[rosa6329]

That is most likely a nutrient deficiency. If you have any yeast nutrient or energizer on hand, i would add per the directions.

It's like going to the restaurant, ordering a steak, baked potato, salad & beer... And when you get your plate, there's the bone & fat from a steak, the baked potato skin, an empty salad bowl & the waiter took a drink off your beer on the way to the table..

Need to provide the yeast with all the missing nutrients not readily found in the grape juice. It's resulting in H2O gases being made, because the yeast are stressed. Adding the nutrient / energizer (2 different things) will help from making any more gas. To remove the gas / smell already made, splashing racking is usually recommended, but if that doesnt work - you're looking at neutralizing it with the introducing of copper somehow. Try splash racking first (siphoning back and forth, roughly, to expel gas) and if that doesnt work, im sure someone with more copper-using experience will chime in.

I will try the splash racking. While doing this, should I syphon everything including the sediments at the bottom then add it all back? After splash racking should I continue to let the gasses to escape or put a cap so no air can escape?

Thanks!

 

[Deezil]

Splash rack everything. Your yeast colony is somewhat in the sludge at the bottom, you dont wanna lose that yet.

You always want to let the gasses escape during primary fermentation. Adding an airlock now, effectively, makes a bomb.... The yeast & sediment is rising and falling in the must right now, and if it rises and clogs the airlock, then the pressure builds and.. Well.. Your girlfriend wont be so keen on your new hobby if she sees you scrubbing the ceiling

 

[rosa6329]

Splash rack everything. Your yeast colony is somewhat in the sludge at the bottom, you dont wanna lose that yet.

You always want to let the gasses escape during primary fermentation. Adding an airlock now, effectively, makes a bomb.... The yeast & sediment is rising and falling in the must right now, and if it rises and clogs the airlock, then the pressure builds and.. Well.. Your girlfriend wont be so keen on your new hobby if she sees you scrubbing the ceiling

Now is their any difference between splash racking versus shaking up the bottle to relieve the gas? I am no expert thats why I need your knowledge

 

[Deezil]

Because your batch is A) small, B) has a ways to ferment yet... you can get away with shaking it. When you get into larger batches or when the fermentation is almost done, you dont want to introduce oxygen into the must because it will oxidize/ruin the wine (theres no fix for oxidation) or its just too hard to pick it up and shake .

But at this point, oxygen is a good thing. So shake it to hell and back, until the smell changes.

 

[closetwine]

First off... I'm all about the Welche's Cheapo stuff for practice, but realize by not using concentrate, you're looking at a very thin wine.. I'd say this one is your learning curve... Get you ready for the Real stuff!

 

[Rocky]

Rosa, I made a wine from Welch's concord grape juice (like one buys at Sam's club) just for fun. I made 6 gallons and looking at my records, I added 9.5 cups of sugar to raise the SG to 1.098. It fermented out very well to dry in 16 days at which time I stabilized and back sweetened it. I did not like the strong concord taste, so I added 6 lbs of mixed frozen berries (blueberries, blackberries and red raspberries) to flavor it. As the f-pack would rise each day, I would squeeze it by hand and it would sink to the bottom. I left the f-pack in for about 2 weeks and then cleared and bulk aged the wine for 2 months. I bottled it and it is a nice, fun wine, i.e. one to drink in the afternoon with nothing. It is not a great wine to have with a meal, just a nice refreshing beverage.

 

[Sammyk]

Rocky are you saying that after it was done, you put it back in the primary with the berries for 2 weeks?

 

[rosa6329]

Rosa, I made a wine from Welch's concord grape juice (like one buys at Sam's club) just for fun. I made 6 gallons and looking at my records, I added 9.5 cups of sugar to raise the SG to 1.098. It fermented out very well to dry in 16 days at which time I stabilized and back sweetened it. I did not like the strong concord taste, so I added 6 lbs of mixed frozen berries (blueberries, blackberries and red raspberries) to flavor it. As the f-pack would rise each day, I would squeeze it by hand and it would sink to the bottom. I left the f-pack in for about 2 weeks and then cleared and bulk aged the wine for 2 months. I bottled it and it is a nice, fun wine, i.e. one to drink in the afternoon with nothing. It is not a great wine to have with a meal, just a nice refreshing beverage.

Now when you say 6 gallons of it, is that straight juice or juice mixed with water?

 

[Rocky]

Yes, Sammyk, I had it in a 5 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon carboy after sweetening. I added it all back to a fermenter, added the fruit in a bag and snapped down the lid tightly with an airlock installed.

Rosa, I did not add water other than the water used to dissolve the 9.5 cups of sugar in the simple syrup I made to raise the SG, which would have been about 4.25 cups.

 

[Sammyk]

Rocky, is it safe to assume you had stabilized the wine first so it would not re-ferment?

 

[Rocky]

Yes, Sammyk, I stabilized before sweetening.

As I said, the wine is more like an afternoon beverage (although it has a lot of "kick") and is just nice to sip in the afternoon instead of a beer. The fruit flavors are all there and it does go with some sweeter cheeses and crackers.

 

[Sammyk]

Ok, so what would be the difference in simmering the fruit and just adding the resulting juice, as opposed to put it in a bucket and then racking right away to carboys?

 

[Rocky]

I guess you could do that and I would imagine that the result would be a slightly thinner wine due to fewer TDS (total dissolved solids) from the fruit itself. I think it could work either way and I am pleased with the result I got.

 

[rosa6329]

Yes, Sammyk, I stabilized before sweetening.

As I said, the wine is more like an afternoon beverage (although it has a lot of "kick") and is just nice to sip in the afternoon instead of a beer. The fruit flavors are all there and it does go with some sweeter cheeses and crackers.

What did you add to stabilize the wine?

 

[Julie]

What did you add to stabilize the wine?

k-meta, also called Potassium metabisulfite and Sorbate.

 

[Geronimo]

Juice made for drinking is also lacking in acid usually. Most people that attempt the "Welch's experiment" blow it on many levels. Getting the right initial SG, acidity and adding some yeast nutrient are the main ones.