Blended the grapes

[Sputman99]

Hi - I’m new to the forums And a Noob at wine making. I have loads of Concord grapes and wanted to make some wine. Now what I have done is did a quick blend of the grapes, did a heat in a saucepan, ran it though a sieve and ended up with a thick grape syrup which i have frozen. I know I should have mashed / pressed the grapes but is the rich syrup ok for wine if perhaps i dilute it. Any help appreciated. Ive added some pics so you can see the process - as you can see its a very rich juice - not clear at all.

 

[Sputman99]

 

[crushday]

I think your best course of action is to freeze the syrup and do some research on how to make wine. You need to acquire equipment and some basic knowledge before asking anymore questions, IMHO.

 

[Sputman99]

Thanks for answering - I’m pretty confident that making it following on-line tutorials - its just that i didnt crush them - i blended them and heated and strained them before i decided to make wine - i have frozen it all which is great advice. I have all the instructions but this part - i cant seem to find a answer to crushing / blending. It just looks like other wine making tutorials the juice seems more translucent. I suppose i can make Jam if ive made a bad mistake .

 

[VinesnBines]

Your juice is perfect for jelly. I have added about a pint of Concord juice that was ready for jelly to a fermentation and all was good. You may find it hard to clear since heating brings out more pectin. Otherwise you can give winemaking a go. I think it will be fine in the long run.

 

[Sputman99]

Your juice is perfect for jelly. I have added about a pint of Concord juice that was ready for jelly to a fermentation and all was good. You may find it hard to clear since heating brings out more pectin. Otherwise you can give winemaking a go. I think it will be fine in the long run.

Thanks for the information - i thought i had done something a little odd activating the pectin. Jam and jelly it is for my frozen batch. I have more on the vine to press so i shall experiment with that - most appreciated help.

 

[salcoco]

you should be able to make wine form the syrup. measure the specific gravity to see if water or sugar needs to be added along with acid addition. definitely add pectic enzyme

 

[Sputman99]

you should be able to make wine form the syrup. measure the specific gravity to see if water or sugar needs to be added along with acid addition. definitely add pectic enzyme

Brill - I’ll have a go - most useful. I’ll go buy a kit and start. Half jam, half wine - sounds good. Such a helpful forum

 

[winemaker81]

@salcoco is spot on -- you need pectic enzyme. Pectin is what makes jelly gel. It's absolutely necessary in jelly; conversely it's a bad thing in wine. Cooking the grapes probably activated the pectin -- pectic enzyme will break down the pectin so your wine will clear.

What is the specific gravity (SG) of the syrup? If it's above 1.100, you'll probably want to dilute it. Following are selected SG vs. potential alcohol:

1.080 10.2%
1.090 11.5%
1.100 13.0%

Wines below 10% ABV (alcohol by volume) don't preserve as well, and strong wines are, well, strong. I personally like wines between 11%-12%, although I have a few that are stronger (grapes had a lot of sugar).

If the SG is below 1.080, you may want to add sugar to bump up the SG.

 

[Sputman99]

Thanks winemaker81 that’s excellent advice. Was going to order a starter kit this morning but England is in lockdown on Thursday 5 so all the decent on line shops are suspended- i guess it’ll have to be Amazon UK eek