# fresh pressed juice



## JackieG (Sep 22, 2011)

i have benn making wines from the kits, however i want to make wine from the fresh pressed juice you get from the winery. can anyone help? not sure what to put in the juice. what im asking is there recipes i can follow? i want to make chardonay and merlot.


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## djrockinsteve (Sep 22, 2011)

Jackie welcome to WMT. I make wine from juice all the time and it is very easy.

Your juice will most likely be sulfited already. When you get your buckets home, allow them to warm up to about 60-65 degrees. Usually takes a few hours. Once it has reached that area add pectic enzyme. Either dry or in liquid form. I prefer the liquid. It's only 2-3 bucks. Add 3-4 drops for each gallon. Stir and allow 12-24 hours before you do anything else.

Next add yeast nutrient (1 teaspoon per gallon) then add your yeast. There are several kinds of yeast and numerous brands. I prefer lalvin. Some wineries will innoculate your juice at the time of purchase. Ask. Depending upon what kind of wine you get will determine what yeast. Red, white, fruit, high acid etc. Let us know what you get and we can help you.

From there stir freq. until dry. Rack, stabilize and clear. Then age.


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## robie (Sep 22, 2011)

Your best bet is to go to the tutorial section and read up on making wine from fresh/frozen grapes/juices.

Then if you still have questions, we can help you home in.

Here is a nice document on making red wines:
http://www.morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wredw.pdf 

The same site has a doc for making white wines.


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## JackieG (Sep 22, 2011)

I was told to add sugar. Should I for merlot and chardoney?


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## FreshWineMaker (Sep 22, 2011)

*Yes, No, Maybe*

Jackie, It is good to add sugar to the Brix level that you desire that corresponds to the correct potential alcohol level. If you want an average 12% alcohol wine you need to sweeten to 21.5 Brix. (percent sugar by weight). This will give you the desired alcohol. I use corn sugar, this is really easy to dissolve, if you want to use granulated or regular sugar. Put it in the food processor for a few seconds to get it into small granules. this will make it easier to dissolve. And make sure to make a yeast starter culture while you are doing any additions or modifications to your juice. By the time your done with those you can pitch your yeast, put a fermentation lock on and sit back and watch a fermentation happen!!! Have Fun. And most of all, Relax, fermentation is easy!


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## JackieG (Oct 1, 2011)

Thanks for all your help!!


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 1, 2011)

Did you get your juice already and if so what is the gravity? You may not have to add any sugar.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. Making wine from juice is easy once you understand what has to be done. It's fun too.


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## DasK (Oct 1, 2011)

Do most wineries sell juice? I've never thought to do this.


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## Runningwolf (Oct 1, 2011)

JackieG said:


> i have benn making wines from the kits, however i want to make wine from the fresh pressed juice you get from the winery. can anyone help? not sure what to put in the juice. what im asking is there recipes i can follow? i want to make chardonay and merlot.





DasK said:


> Do most wineries sell juice? I've never thought to do this.



Dask only the bigger wineries with large presses. You would have to check around. A large percentage of the smaller wineries buy their wine or juice from larger wineries. Note, I said a lot of them, not all of them.

Jackie, Some places like Walkers in NY will already have the juice balanced and at adjusted at 21 brix for you when you buy it. I check all the numbers after we press juice where I work and we will give you a sheet letting you know how much water to add to adjust for acid and how much sugar to add to get near 21 brix.

Living near cleaveland you have the option of wineries in Geneva, Ohio or coming to North East, PA and getting Juice. We get a lot of folks traveling 3-4 hours to come and get it.

If you can make kit wines, making wine from juice is a breeze!!!!!!


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## JackieG (Oct 1, 2011)

How do I check gravity?


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## JackieG (Oct 1, 2011)

I did pick up some juice rosetta. I'm making this wine as a wedding gift! Do I add sugar? The winery told me 8 lbs. I will use corn sugar.


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 2, 2011)

You need a hydrometer to check gravity. Only this will allow you to acurately hit your mark for the correct amount of sugar.


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## JackieG (Oct 3, 2011)

Ok I have hydrometer I got my first batch of juice. It's rosette. My reading is 1.060 I would like this to turn out semi sweet. Thanks again for all your help!


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## vin_man (Oct 3, 2011)

A hydrometer.


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## JackieG (Oct 4, 2011)

Not really I live by Geneva on the lake Ohio and they r the only winery in this area that sale the juice. Is alot cheaper.


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## JackieG (Oct 4, 2011)

Some how I erased my threads. Lol my juice is 1.060 rosette what do I do?


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## ibglowin (Oct 4, 2011)

Is that the starting SG or has it been fermenting for a day or so?


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## JackieG (Oct 4, 2011)

Starting I have not added anything just brought juice home gave it two days to warm up to temp


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## JackieG (Oct 4, 2011)

Mike I look at your web site! Wow! Your really good at this. Thanks so much for your help!


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## ibglowin (Oct 4, 2011)

Sounds like it does need some extra help with some simple sugar to bring it up to ~1.085 or so. You will want to ferment to dry and then backsweeten with an F-Pack of sorts so make sure to hold back some juice to make the F-Pack with.


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## JackieG (Oct 5, 2011)

Mike Im not sure what it means to ferment to dry. I think it means don't add sugar during first stage of fermentation. I have corn sugar do I add that and an fpack and if I add sugar how much? Never made wine from fresh juice only have kits.


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## JackieG (Oct 5, 2011)

Ok just read some post on Ferment to dry. So Tuesday I added pectic enzyme and this morning I added yeast nutrient and yeast. So over the next week or so I will cont. To check gravity. I'm I on the right track?


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## ffemt128 (Oct 5, 2011)

Basically you have your starting SG. You will want to add a simple syrup (sugar disolved in warm water/wine) to bring SG to 1.085. Ferment to dry means allow sg to go to 1.000 or lower. I usually do this in the primary. Once you achieve 1.010 you can transfer to a carboy to allow to ferment to dry. When you have the same SG 3 days in a row, fermentation is likely complete. At this point you can stabilize with Kmeta and Sorbate. Wait a week then you can backsweeten with a simple syrup, an fpac, or both. You primary fermentation will likely take 7-10 days depending on temp. After transferring to carboy you will want to rack about every 30 days or so.


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## ibglowin (Oct 5, 2011)

Good advice from Doug! Keep us posted on how things are progressing.


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## JackieG (Oct 5, 2011)

Doug how do I know how much sugar to use? If I understand you correct I don't add sugar until fermenting is over?


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## Rocky (Oct 5, 2011)

Hi Jackie, 

What Doug is saying, with the SG you now have, you need to raise it to 1.085 now. You may be confusing "raising the SG" with "back sweetening" which is taking a dry (i.e. no sweetness) wine to semi-sweet or sweet. This latter process is done after fermentation is complete and after the wine has been stabilized with Potassium Sorbate. 

Simple syrup (it's really simple) is made from two parts sugar and one part water. Put the water in an enameled or stainless steel pot, add the sugar and stir, apply the heat to dissolve the sugar, but do not boil it. Allow the syrup to cool and add it directly to the wine and stir it in well. Now, as to how much to add, there is a way to calculate the amount but a more direct way is to add about a half cup, stir and take a hydrometer reading. See how much the SG has increased and that will be the approximate increase per half cup.

BTW, I just made some last night and four cups of sugar and two cups of water yields right at 1 quart of syrup. You can store the unused syrup in the refrigerator for about a month.


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## ffemt128 (Oct 5, 2011)

Jackie,

Alot of us use this tool to determine various additions. It works well. Keep in mind when you enter your starting and target SG's you would enter them as 1085 not 1.085

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mpesgens/thwp/winecalc.html


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## JackieG (Oct 5, 2011)

Ohh I see. But I already started the primary fermentation. Can I still ad the simple syrup? Does that help with fernmantation? Is that why it's added?


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## ibglowin (Oct 5, 2011)

Your adding the sugar now to bring up the alcohol content. The grapes were not very high in sugar to begin with. Make the additions now and take your readings after stirring it up well.


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## ffemt128 (Oct 5, 2011)

Take a reading specific gravity reading now. Assuming fermentation has started I would not shoot for a target SG of over 1.070-1.075. Make a simple syrup using the recommended amount by WINECALC. Add that to your existing juice slowly and stir gently but completely and re-check sg several times until you get to your target. 

The reasoning for saying to stay at 1.070-1.075 is I would rather have a lower alcohol wine than rocket fuel.


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## Rocky (Oct 5, 2011)

JackieG said:


> Ohh I see. But I already started the primary fermentation. Can I still ad the simple syrup? Does that help with fernmantation? Is that why it's added?



In this case, I would use the calculated amount. Do the calculation as though you are just starting out and the SG is what you read originally, 1.060 I think. You can still add the simple syrup. It does not "help" with fermentation, it adds more sugar to be converted to alcohol. With the original SG that you had (1.060) you Alcohol by Volume (ABV) would end up around 8%. Increasing the SG to 1.085 would give you an ABV of about 11-11.5%.


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## ffemt128 (Oct 5, 2011)

Rocky said:


> In this case, I would use the calculated amount. Do the calculation as though you are just starting out and the SG is what you read originally, 1.060 I think. You can still add the simple syrup. It does not "help" with fermentation, it adds more sugar to be converted to alcohol. With the original SG that you had (1.060) you Alcohol by Volume (ABV) would end up around 8%. Increasing the SG to 1.085 would give you an ABV of about 11-11.5%.



Good catch, I didn't see the original 1.060 sg posted. For 5 gallons of wine to go from 1.060 to 1.085 sg you would need 2.83 lbs of sugar which roughly translates to 5 1/2 cups of sugar.


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## JackieG (Oct 5, 2011)

I'm sorry confused again. What's winecal?


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## ibglowin (Oct 5, 2011)

Free wine calculation software for PC's

Winecalc


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## JackieG (Oct 6, 2011)

Guys thanks so much!! I've been making wine from kits which is easy. Just follow direction and it's all good. I'm so excited to be making wine from fresh juice. I have learned a lot from you guys!!


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## JackieG (Oct 6, 2011)

And mike thanks for that link for winecal. I like that


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## Rocky (Oct 6, 2011)

Jackie, I just want to be sure you know about L'uva Bella down in Lowellville, near Youngstown. You can get juice there in 23 liter (6 gallon) buckets in a wide range of varieties for $45-50. Looks like Lowellville is about an hour and a half from you.


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## ibglowin (Oct 6, 2011)

Keep us posted!


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## JackieG (Oct 6, 2011)

Rocky thanks I didn't know that. Is there a web site I could go to?


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## ibglowin (Oct 6, 2011)

Luva Bella



JackieG said:


> Rocky thanks I didn't know that. Is there a web site I could go to?


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 6, 2011)

Plus you are not that far from Walkers in NY. Careful though, Runningwolf was making daily trips there.
He was going so much I think he started fermenting and clearing juice in his car.


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## vin_man (Oct 7, 2011)

Jackie,

You have quite a few options as to where to get your juice. There is L'uva Bella (I got mine from there via Farris Produce in Massillon) but there is also Grape & Granary in Tallmadge (I am not sure where their juice comes from).


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## JackieG (Oct 7, 2011)

Thanks I wil get more juice this weekend. In the mean time I started more wine this morning. My sg starting is1.040 so if I calculate right I need 5lbs of sugar to get to 10% alcohol. Did I do it right


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 7, 2011)

That would be about 14 ounces by weight per gallon. Add less than what you are aiming for. Check gravity again then add the difference. 

Take some juice in a pan. Warm slightly on stove with your sugar. Stir frequently. Just as you see the juice about to turn clear again remove from the heat. Stir a d allow the remaining sugar to break down making it easier for the yeast to eat. 

Do not make the juice hot or simmer. It takes 7 minutes for the sugar to breakdown and convert. Add to your bucket. Stir and recheck the gravity. 

You can disolve up to two times the sugar in an amount of liquid. Ex. One cup of sugar can disolve in 1/2 cup of liquid. It is easier if you don't get that close.


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## vin_man (Oct 7, 2011)

Steve has you in the right direction. Don't just dump that sugar in!


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## JackieG (Oct 8, 2011)

Thanks guys


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## JackieG (Oct 10, 2011)

Starred on Sunday (yesterday) a new batch of wine from fresher pressed juice. I noticed this morning no bubbles. I don't thank it's fermenting. Should I add more yeast or wait?


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## JackieG (Oct 10, 2011)

Opps started


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 10, 2011)

Wait. It can take time to visually see signs of fermentation. Only a hydrometer can tell you for sure. 

Temperature, ph, acid, yeast all effect your must. It may be tonight or tomorrow until you see bubbles. 

Patience


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## JackieG (Oct 11, 2011)

Still nothing. The temp 68 the yeast I Judy bought and used with other wine-never had this happen.  what should I do


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## ibglowin (Oct 11, 2011)

Warm it up to 72.


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 11, 2011)

My thoughts too. If your hydrometer shows no change. Warm it up to mid 70's. If nothing rehydrate another pak of yeast. 

Presuming you added pectic enzyme and nutrients.


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## JackieG (Oct 12, 2011)

Yes I did add pectic & nutrients I will try to raise temp.


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## djrockinsteve (Oct 12, 2011)

Great. Sometimes just setting your buckets on a piece of wood or on a STURDY table can help. During one time this past winter it was so chilly that I wrapped a blanket around 2 buckets I needed to ferment and I added a 20 or 25 watt light bulb to add a little heat. They took off. It's not that cold now.


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