Welches Concord Juice Wine

[jbullard1]

With all the talk about Welches recipes lately here is my entry
I started this in November around the 7th as my "redneck" wine
At the time I did not have a Hydrometer, wine yeasts or any nutrients and chemicals
2 cans Welches Concord Concentrate in aluminum cans (unfrozen)
1 can Welches White Concentrate
1 1/2 pounds white sugar
1 packet bread yeast
Water to make 1 gallon and 1 quart

On Dec 10th I racked, topped off with the quart and tasted. It was still very sweet. airlock bubbles had almost stopped, and here is where I had a "Bright Idea"
Add some champagne yeast, a little more sugar and ferment it dry

There has been a steady bubble every 10 seconds in the airlock for 30 days now
I just racked & checked the SG and it is 1.004 @ 69* temp then
I stole a couple of ounces for a sample
I doubt this will ever make it into the bottle, If my wife and her sister find it they will confiscate it and it will just disappear

Should I hold off on the campden because I am still getting a bubble every 15 seconds or so??

 

[Luc]

Most nasties can not survive in an environment where alcohol is present. So from that point of vieuw your wine will be partly safe.

There are however some that DO survive in an alcohol rich environment like the acetobacter that makes vinegar from alcohol.....

So keep the airlock tight. Do not let any air get into the carboy (like with sampling) and I guess you will be safe for about 99%.

Our cultivated yeast however has a sulphite resistancy.
So adding sulphite would not harm it.
It could however stun the fermentation for a while.

It is up to you to decide what to do.

Stating my personal point of view, what I would do in this particular case, without knowing all the details (I have covered it all now ) I would let it go. Rack when finished and at that time add some sulphite.

Luc

 

[jcasaccio]

Do the Welch wines come out sweet, or can you make them dry as well? I have never read how these come out.

Thanks!

 

[Wade E]

They will come out dry if you start with a decent sg and go with the correct yeast strain accordingly. Yeast strains have different abv tolernces and uses. If you start with a very high sg and use a weak yeast strain like bread yeast then you will most likely end up with a sweet wine as that yeast strain will usually die off around 11-12% abv. If you use a wine yeast such as EC-1118 then you will most likely finish off dry as that strain has an abv tolerance of around 18% abv.