Frozen Concetrate Recipes

so, I'm thinking of trying a 3gal batch of wine from frozen concetrates.

I've been searching and compiling recipies from around the web. My main concern is that I do *NOT* want to make something that tastes like grape juice with everclear added. I'd like to make something similiar to Olivery Soft Red
http://www.oliverwinery.com/

or Stone Hill.
http://www.stonehillwinery.com/winesgrapes/concord.aspx

(maybe I'm asking too much)

These are basic $5-9/bottle of concord wine.

Below is a list of recipes I've collected.

Some questions:

a)Some recipes call for more juice, some for less juice, and more sugar. Will the ones with more juice taste more grapey?

b)Since I'm still a noob at all this, what does Tannin do?

c)I've hear people talk about adding bannans to the welches recipe. Why?

d)Some people have complained about the wine being too tart, and to cut down on the amount of initial acid. Will this hurt anything?

e)Some people have talked about adding oak chips. Is this recommended? Some people have said you could replace oaking with tanin. Can this be done? Is it good? Bad?

f)Someone mentioned using bentonite in the primary. How much should you use, and, does it help?

g)The Stone Hill wine lists: TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Alcohol - 12%; Residual Sugar - 8%.
Does that mean they back sweetened to 8%? What would be the SG of a 8% residual sugar wine?

h)Of the recipes below, which ones do you like, and why? Anything you see below that you would not do, or stay away from?


Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks a bunch!


Below are the recipes.


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http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3515
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1 Gallon Batch

3 1/2 cans of frozen concentrate
7 pints of water
3/4 tsp. acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp of pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp of sorbate
1/8 tsp of k-meta or 1 campden tablet
1 sachet of Red Star Cotes Des Black yeast or equivalent

Take 7 pints of warm water and mix in acid blend, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and frozen concentrate. When temp is within 68-75* F range either hydrate yeast according to instructions on sachet or just sprinkle on top of must and either cover with cloth or use airlock with bung. Sg should be around 1.085 at this point. When sg reaches 1.020 or near rack to glass with little head space. When sg is stable somewhere below 1.000 then it is time to add k-meta and sorbate and degas. At this point you can sweeten wine using simple syrup and let it clear by itself or use fining agent such as SuperKleer KC. Rack off sediment after about 2 weeks if using fining agent and bulk age or bottle. If using time to clear your wine then add additional 1/8th tsp of k-meta every 3 months to protect wine from oxidation and bottle when no more sediment drops and wine is clear.


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http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques65.asp
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1 Gallon Batch Welch's Frozen Grape Juice Wine

2 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's 100% frozen grape concentrate
1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar
2 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
water to make 1 gallon
wine yeast
Bring 1 quart water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Add additional water to make one gallon and pour into secondary. Add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover with napkin fastened with rubber band and set aside 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and recover with napkin. When active fermentation slows down (about 5 days), fit airlock. When clear, rack, top up and refit airlock. After additional 30 days, stabilize, sweeten if desired and rack into bottles. [Author's adaptation of a friend's recipe]



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http://brewersroundtable.com/welchs-grape-juice-wine-recipe-works-great-t493.html
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7 11.5 ounce jars of welch's grape juice
7.5 pounds of white granulated sugar
.5 pounds of sugar in the raw
(could have been closer to 9 pounds of sugar)
10 tsp yeast nutrient
5 tsp pectic enzyme
1 packet champagne yeast


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http://winerecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/Store%20Bought%20Juice%20Wines
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Made December 22, 2002

Makes 1 Gallon

Silver Medal Winner 2003 Keystone Country Festival

2 11.5 ounces Welch's Grape Raspberry Juice (frozen)
3 Cups Sugar
2 Teaspoons Acid Blend
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient
1 Campden Tablet
1 Gallon Water
1/8 Teaspoon Grape Tannin
½ Pack Cotes De Blanc & Narbonne Dry Yeast


Original Gravity 1.100

Racked January 12, 2003, Gravity was 1.020, 4 ounces of sugar, 1 campden tablet and potassium sorbate added.

Racked February 1, 2003, Topped off with water

Racked March 2003 added Hungarian Oak Chips
Bottle May 2003

Just working on a batch of concoe=rd today from Costco juice. For me I alway start with SG 1.085 or close. Let it ferment dry. No to much alcohal to make it taste like rocket fuel. I add a can of condenced welches to backsweeten and as a f-pac. BTW I dont lioke this tuff but the nieghbor bring me juice and say PLEASE make more. Locals call it "THE GRAPE"

I would do 3 cans to one gallon and not go any higher then 1.085 with the sg. get yourself an acid test kit cause recipes are not trust worthy as far as ascids go nor are they reliable for sugar amounts and I mean any recipe, even one of mine as the acids and sugars will vary or just someone likes more alc in a wine then someone else. You can wing the acid by taste by just starting low and then adding to taste when the wine is done.

Help racked too soon?

I just made some wine out of Welch's froze concentrate however someone told me I needed to rack it because it stunk a little like sulphur and was cloudy, however I noticed the bubbler was still bubbling pretty regularly. Like an idiot I listened and racked it, and well now it is no longer bubbling and the wine is only 5%. Is there ANY way I can fix this? Will adding more yeast restart the process so I can acheive a stronger brew? PLEASE HELP ASAP!

You will most likely have to make a starter yeast and slowly introduce little by little some of your wine so that the yeast gets acclimated to the abv thats current. Do you have another wine going that you could rack this wine onto as that yeast will do a much better job.

Stevie, I've made quite a few decent wines with frozen concentrates. I like the DOLE brand and the HAWAIIS OWN brand, they both offer some good flavor choices. No matter what you choose, you will want 100% juice for best results, not the "juice cocktail" variety. And be sure you read the labels, you don't want to see sulfites or sorbate listed as this could give you a hard time trying to get it to ferment.

Wade E said:

You will most likely have to make a starter yeast and slowly introduce little by little some of your wine so that the yeast gets acclimated to the abv thats current. Do you have another wine going that you could rack this wine onto as that yeast will do a much better job.

Click to expand...

No i dont not have another wine going, how slow do i need to add it? I've got the yeast energizer and the paclet of EC118

EC1118 is a nice strong yeast and should work well to "jump start" it.

Rehydrate the yeast in water, after about 20 mins or so, stir your yeast and add about 1/2 cup of your wine must. Allow it to grow at least an hour, than add another 1/2 cup, let it grow an hour or so, then add another 1/2 cup. You want to build this starter till you have about a quart of fermenting wine. Than add it to the rest of your wine must, it should take off pretty good.

Add that yeast to some juice like OJ or apple juice to the name of maybe 1 1/2 cups and a 1/4 tsp of the energizer. Once that gets going good add about 1/2 cup of your wine and wait about 4 hours and if its still going good add another 1/2 cup. Once thats going good add 1 cup of your wine, once thats going good add this all to your wine which should be at the temp of around 72-75 to make sure thi finishes good. Are you sure this really needs it, have you taken an sg reading since you racked your wine? Sometimes just racking over will calm everything down but sometimes you leave way too much viable yeast behind and fermentation pretty much halts due to that. If you are going to rack over usually its a good idea to stir everything up to make sure you take all the yeast with it but reading agin where you racked your wine is very early and Im betting you dont need to do this but just to be patient caus it should start back up again. What was the sg before you racked and what is it now? What is the temp also?

Actually Wades advice is better, I should have thought about those other details before I posted.

So, yeah..whatever Wade said! LOL

well bad news is i didnt get your messages till after i added yeast and energizer. the good news is what i did worked. i put yeast in warm water and waited 15 minutes then stirred it up. grabbed 1/2 gallon of the wine and added the yeast and energizer and stirred. then veerrryyy slowly added it to my 5 gals of wine while stirring/aerating. It took a few hours but now it is bubbling 1 bubble every 15-20 seconds... not too shabby thanks for the help, and thanks to my local homebrew store that has everything you could ever need and a whole lot more!

I don't personally like the idea of having the primary ferment going on under an airlock. At this point in the game yeast likes oxegen. I would prefer to just cover it with a clean cloth or just live the lid ajar.

At this point while it ferments it is producing so2 which is heavier than air and will create a blanket protecting the must.

This subject has been debated amongst us winemakers for a while, but I prefer to leave it with some air available to it while it ferments.

Troy, yes the wine does produce very tiny amounts of S02 but it s not much at all, Im pretty sure what you meant to post is that its producing C02 which is what will protect your wine.

That is indeed what I meant, sorry. I take a break from the forum and forget how to type.
LOL.

how to sweeten?

I made a batch of wine from white grape frozen juice concentrate. I have done this before and usually it turns out real sweet but not this time, it tastes strong yet kinda watered down maybe IDK? Is there a way to sweeten my wine properly now that fermentation is done? Can I create a simple syrup with water and sugar or with the wine and sugar and add? Or is there a more appropriate way? Also what do you reccommend to clear it up if racking doesnt work? I have only racked it once, I will try 2 more times if it isnt clear I'll have to try something.

THANKS!

EHouseHead said:

I made a batch of wine from white grape frozen juice concentrate. I have done this before and usually it turns out real sweet but not this time, it tastes strong yet kinda watered down maybe IDK? Is there a way to sweeten my wine properly now that fermentation is done? Can I create a simple syrup with water and sugar or with the wine and sugar and add? Or is there a more appropriate way? Also what do you reccommend to clear it up if racking doesnt work? I have only racked it once, I will try 2 more times if it isnt clear I'll have to try something.

THANKS!

Click to expand...

Add kmeta and sorbate then you can backsweeten. You can add an additional can of white grape concentrate, this will sweeten and help with the watered down taste. How big is this batch? If it is bigger than a one gallon batch you might have to use more than one can of frozen conentrate. Concentrates usually clear pretty good on their own, I have never had to use anything for clearing.

Julie said:

Add kmeta and sorbate then you can backsweeten. You can add an additional can of white grape concentrate, this will sweeten and help with the watered down taste. How big is this batch? If it is bigger than a one gallon batch you might have to use more than one can of frozen conentrate. Concentrates usually clear pretty good on their own, I have never had to use anything for clearing.

Click to expand...

It's a small batch, only 5 gallons . I never thought of adding more concentrate, that sounds superb!. Is there a way I can tell how strong it is at this point with a hydrometer or was I supposed to take more than 1 reading during the process? About a month ago it was a 5% potential, now it is right at the top of the hydrometer, not sure what this means....

http://www.grapestompers.com/calculations.asp

Heres a pretty simple little calculator to see where you are at part way.

arcticsid said:

http://www.grapestompers.com/calculations.asp

Heres a pretty simple little calculator to see where you are at part way.

Click to expand...

I'm not at part way, it's all done, however I forgot to take a reading when I first started so I think I'm SOL.

steviepointer said:

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http://winerecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/Store%20Bought%20Juice%20Wines
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Made December 22, 2002

Makes 1 Gallon

Silver Medal Winner 2003 Keystone Country Festival

2 11.5 ounces Welch's Grape Raspberry Juice (frozen)
3 Cups Sugar
2 Teaspoons Acid Blend
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient
1 Campden Tablet
1 Gallon Water
1/8 Teaspoon Grape Tannin
½ Pack Cotes De Blanc & Narbonne Dry Yeast


Original Gravity 1.100

Racked January 12, 2003, Gravity was 1.020, 4 ounces of sugar, 1 campden tablet and potassium sorbate added.

Racked February 1, 2003, Topped off with water

Racked March 2003 added Hungarian Oak Chips
Bottle May 2003

Click to expand...

How much of the Hungarian Oak?