Wine Cond/Grape Concentrate

[Anne]

I'm a newbie that's been reading the posts for some days now, but decided to jump in with my own questions.


For starters, am I correct that the wine conditioner is added after you've stabilized your wine (killed the yeast) to add some sweetness? Do you use the grape concentrates in the same way, or are they supposed to be added at the beginning of the winemaking process?


Also, I have some wine that can be bottled soon. Some of my friends like their wines sweet, others dry. Is it possible to stabilize, then bottle part of the batch, sweeten the rest and then bottle it immediately? I'm unclear after reading the posts as to whether it's important to wait a few days or not if you add sugar back into the wine.


Thanks,
Anne

 

[PolishWineP]

If you are sure that your wine is truly stable then you should be able to sweeten and bottle. (Do keep in mind that we bulk age for quite a while.) It's a good way to please both the sweet and dry friends. Or, you could just get some new friends who like their wine the same way you do.

 

[Wade E]

Some wines require the grape concentrate in the beginning to add body
to the wine. My cranberry recipe called fo 1 - 12 oz> frozen white
concentrate to be added per 5 gallon batch. the conditioner is for back
sweetening which you can also use honey, sugar, juice or even any
concentrate. Be aware that some of the juices or concentrates may leave
a pectin haze though.

 

[Waldo]

Can you add pectin with them to compensate for this or will it only work prior and during fermentation?

 

[Wade E]

Good question Waldo. I'm not sure. I hope someone with more experience
chimes in on this one. All I know is when I back sweetened the Pear
wine with pear juice that I filtered about 9 times to get all the pulp
out and it was very clear when I was done, I added it to my and it
clouded right up and took 2 weeks to clear.

 

[Joseph1]

Pectic enzyme can be added post fermentation and many winemakers have done so to treat a pectin haze. The enzyme’s ability to treat the haze is not assured as it is affected by the level of alcohol.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Regarding the Grape Concentrate...
I add WinExpert Red and white Concentrate to most of my fruit wines....It is 68 Brix, it adds body, flavor and sweetness to the must....usually I use 2 500 ml bottles to a 5 gallon batch.If I use a larger carboy...6 1/2 gallon I add an extra half bottle.

I use the recipes from 'Winemaking' by Anderson & Anderson, as well as recipes from the 'Wine Makers Recipe Handbook' [the little purple booklet]...they call for Wine Grape Concentrate in most of their fruit wine recipes....I did it to start with and we liked the wines...so continue to use it.

I have used some of the Welch's Frozen grape concentrate in some wines too...followed some recipes from this Site...they were good too....but like the WinExpert product better....it really boosts the S.G.
Just my opinion...:&gt

 

[Wade E]

How about after fermentation like mine, can you still add pectic enzyme
with a juice such as the pear juice I added which clouded it all up or
is it better to just let time do its thing?

 

[scotty]

I wonder if treating the concentrare with pectic enzyme before we add it to the wine would work in the case where we have the possibility of creating a pectic haze???

 

[Waldo]

I see an experiment coming................................Which concentrate offers up the best situationfor this experiment?

 

[scotty]

Waldo you know im a newbie. So im a bit confused on this.


Im too lazy to research at this moment but---I seem to recall that bottled concentrares are heavily sulfated.
Is that true and if it is would that effect how well the pectic enzyme is able to work????Edited by: scotty

 

[NorthernWinos]

From what I have read .....maybe the frozen Welch's white grape juice concentrate has sulfite.....
Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[scotty]

Im thinking of the wine conditioner at this point but i didn't know that any of the frozen concentrares had sulfates.
Ill start reading the labels a bit closer and hope they are not lying ; but i still wonder if the sulfates in anything will effect the desired results from using pectic enzyme at any point in the wine making process.

 

[Anne]

Thank you all for the input.

 

[paubin]

Just to add my two cents, pectin enzyme won't work well if at all in wine due to the alcohol level. Most all fruits contain varying amounts of pectin, so using the juice to back sweeten introduces pectin into a nice clear wine, clouding it. Honey also clouds wine in my experiance. This is why I use sugar syrup to back sweeten exclusively. It avoids all these problems.


Pete