Juice Concentrate Wine

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.

Grape concentrate question

Hi Wade
Would it make sense here to add a ripe banana during the primary fermentation? Also, if I only have 2 cans of juice, but have black raisons on hand, can I substitute raison juice for the concentrate and just add sugar to get to the target SG? We have to make do with what we have in a third world country
Thanks!

If you are using red concentrate then the black raisins are fine. If using a white grape concentrate then I would not use thew black raisins and use golden instead. Banana would give it a little more flavor. I wouldnt go above 1.085 with an SG on this wine.

how necessary is the pectic enzyme if I'm using purple grape juice?

not sure I have that ingredient on hand..

I dont really know but always use it to prevent any pectin haze as that can stillalways happen.

I have learned awhile back from an old timer in wine making, that a few chemicals were not always available. So for clearing, banana was used most frequently because of its abundance here. The banana was added in the preparation stage while desolving the sugar on the stove. The banana almost disappeared totally....I tried it and it does work for clearing. One (1) medium to small size ....must be totally ripened per gal.

I have never used pectic enzyme and it always clears. When using freash grape juice you will need it

if i make this wine with pineapple concentates would i need to substitute one of the cans for white grape juice

Wade E said:

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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You might want to to help improve the body that will be missing.

i am fixing to start a one gal batch of pine apple im adding 1 can of white grape concentrate would it be ok to use all 3 cans of the pineapple for a total of 4 cans instead of 3 and half . and i see that it dosent call for tannin, is this correct?
and ill be using notigham ale yeast because thats all i have

I dont have any clue what hat yeast will do in this application but Im willing to bet that Bakers yeast (Flishman's) might do a better job. I sometimes use 4 cans myself so go with that< I dont recommend going too much more then 4 cans(maybe 5) per gallon or anything less then 3 though. Watch the acid on 4 or 5 cans!

This will be my first time trying to make wine not using a kit.I ordered what I need from George yesterday.This is ok for white grape concentrate, Right?

Teamsterjohn said:

This will be my first time trying to make wine not using a kit.I ordered what I need from George yesterday.This is ok for white grape concentrate, Right?

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Following the previous suggested recipe I don't see a problem using "white grape concentrate" as the base for your wine. Adding 1-2 (very ripe) bananas to the heated water to break them down will aid in clearing and also add body and a bit of flavor to the base as well. It's more of a choice. Anytime you add fruit solids or a blended fruit juice as a base, then pectin additive should be administered prior to pitching the yeast.
Normally I have all the ingredients in the bucket the night before allowing the fruit to break down and all that is a different procedure....But for canned/bottle juices just monitor the initial base and don't get carried away with going way overboard on the sweetness...the yeast will struggle to get a happy start....you can always add sugar slowly after it's running good as long as the yeasts are happy and working. It really depends where you want to go on your finished wine...pretty much like a kit wine.... if the juice is not 100% juice and has been watered down for drinking out of the bottle, then hold back on the water addition..vicesa versa on "concentrated " juice....

As for blending juices like previous mentioned. Basically I would take 2 cans of the white grape juice, add 1 can of the suggested pineapple...do a taste test and see where you're at both flavor wise, body, sugar etc....then you can add more of either until you're satisfied with it and check the sugar level before you pitch the yeast. Pineapple juice usually is a cloudy acidy/sweet jucie so adding pection/ couple ripe bananas will tone down that some as well....hope this helps some!

It did help, Thanks, John

I have a blueberry/pom that was made and is reaching dry ferment. My Q is now if I want to back sweeten with 3 more cans of this concentrate, do i add the kmeta before i add it and wait to add the juice or sugar for 24 hours to see if it re-ferments? and when would be an appropriate time to add sparkloid to clear?

rhythmsteve said:

I have a blueberry/pom that was made and is reaching dry ferment. My Q is now if I want to back sweeten with 3 more cans of this concentrate, do i add the kmeta before i add it and wait to add the juice or sugar for 24 hours to see if it re-ferments? and when would be an appropriate time to add sparkloid to clear?

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Add the kmeta AND sorbate prior to adding the concentrate and/or sugar. Wait at least 24 hours but most people wait several days before adding sugar.

I would stabilize wait at least a day, then add the concentrates and take a reading. There may be enough sugar in the concentrate that you might not need additional sugar.

Add the sparkloid after backsweetening, personnally I would not add sparkloid unless it was having a difficult time clearing. My preference is to see if it will clear on it's own.

I fully agree with Julie. You cannot pull back what is added to once it is......
Artist say, "never rush the brush!" Cooks/chefts do a "taste test yes?"
Grandma has her recipe down....just a mouthful of water? Well the point is not to "over sweeten" do your testing first. Natural sugars in juice "are hidden" and you gotta let them spring out and bloom. Do your testing until you are satisfied with the pallete. This is your private creation and should be taken as if you're are creating a dinner. "Take the time to smell the flowers along the way"....hope this helps some?

You know as I know, I want to add abit of information about available juices for fermentaion from retail stores. I was in Costco the other day and noticed that the current Pineapple juice (Dole Cannery) in Honolulu had a huge pallete of canned juice on sale. I took the libery of picking up a couple of cans (3pack). Well being a native of Hawaii I know that the crop juice changes with the current harvest season as do grapes and other fruits in other parts of the world. Sometimes we have a "sweet season" and a condonable "semi-sweet" season pending on climatic conditions, etc.
Stressing the point that one must take the time to test your supply prior to pitching the yeast and getting totally overly excited about producing a good wine. Your "base" is like your "foundation" of a house. It is only as good as you have prepared it...yes? So take the time, which is then on your side to make sure that your investment is (wine products) in the direction for your results. It is really simple if you "don't rush the brush!" I have been ready to
"throw the wine out"n a few gallons of 2-4 years stock, being reluctant to do so, finding a month later that the wine was the best you ever made...I guess that wine making is a patience building thing...followed with directions of accuracy it trully is rewarding....if you,"take the time to smell the flowers along the way." Be patient, and mostly keep your notes!

Good notes are a MUST!! Trying to tweak or recreate something without them is impossible!

Debbie

I bottled a batch of this the other day for my wife, turned out great. It cleared very nicely, I'm quite pleased.

I used 6 cans of Dole's orange-mango-peach, 6 of pineapple-orange-strawberry, and 6 of pineapple-orange-banana. Tastes a lot like fruit punch, with *10.3*% ABV. Delicious.

*edit* I checked my (meticulous) notes -- it's 10.3%, not 11.0%