Concord for Wine

[tatd69]

I have a couples of questions about making wine from Concord grapes.
1. What brix should it be to pick?
2. How many pounds of grapes make a gallon of wine.
3. Should I press them like whites or have a musk?
4. Is there a good recipe for concord wine?
5. Any other advice.


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[grapeman]

Get them higher than the 14 brix they are now. Wait until the pH gets up to about 3.4. How many pounds it takes is an estimate but figure around 15 pounds per gallon. You can either press off right away or treat it like a red and get more color and flavor. There are many ways to make a Concord and they are all different.

 

[Turock]

I think 14 brix or just a bit higher is best. This grape loses its flavor when you let them get too ripe. In our experience 1 1/2 bushels makes 5 gallons of wine. That's about 80 lbs--close to what grapeman said. We ferment on the pulp and skins and do a warm ferment to get good color. Be sure to use pectic enzyme on this grape because the pulp is so big. We treat this grape like a fruit more than a grape. And add some tannin to them. Concord is low on tannin and an addition will aid in color stability. Add no water. We like a PH of 3.4 on this grape.

 

[Tom_S]

As for a recipe, try Montrachet yeast and shoot for 12% alcohol. Then once it's done fermenting backsweeten it and make it relatively sweet. It makes a very good wine after it's aged about a year.

 

[tatd69]

Thanks for all the valuable information!


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