Hello.!.!

[jeffv145]

Hello, I am excited to be here. I woke up the other day and decided that I want to start making wine.!.! I have an uncle and one friend who make wine. I would like to start with something simple, like Welches juice and yeast, but eventually start making new and more personal wines. Hit me up if you have beginners tips.

 

[xune]

Welcome to the forum, glad to have ya here!

Best beginner tip out there, just do it!
It's super easy, and you can make some awesome wines for really cheap!

 

[jeffv145]

Welcome to the forum, glad to have ya here!

Best beginner tip out there, just do it!
It's super easy, and you can make some awesome wines for really cheap!

Thanks for the tip, I guess I'm almost ready to start! Right now I have two unopened 64 OZ bottles of juice (from concentrate) (cran raz and grape). I also have three packets of red star active dry yeast. I don't want to get in over my head right away, is there any way to make a basic wine with these ingredients?

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the forum!

Are you certain you've got all the equipment you need? Could you get your friend or Uncle to help you through the first batch?

 

[jeffv145]

Welcome to the forum!

Are you certain you've got all the equipment you need? Could you get your friend or Uncle to help you through the first batch?

I need a funnel and balloon, maybe some bottles and corks. My uncle lives across state and my friend lives in Japan. Ideally, I would like to surprise my uncle with my own batch of something in a few weeks.!.! Does this article seem legit? https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-make-homemade-wine-using-welchs-grape-juice/

 

[xune]

I've made wine from juice a number of times now, this is how I do it when making it in the jug.


I'd take a 1 gallon jug of juice, 1 cup of sugar more if you want more alcohol in it; I wouldn't use more than 2 cups, that would put it at roughly 12-13% depending on the juice, and 1 packet of yeast.

Pour off about 2-3 cups of the juice from the bottle (have yourself a glass, it's going to foam up, you need to make room for that.), add in the sugar. Close it up, shake for 2 minutes. Open it up, throw in the yeast. Add your preferred airlock method (the balloon). Wait.

 

[jeffv145]

Okay, I bought my supplies and am almost ready to start. From what I understand, there is a lot of sugar in the juice already, are you sure that I should add more? I guess I would prefer to make the wine in their 64 OZ bottles without moving them over to wine bottles until the wine is done, if that's possible. I also have balloons. The guy at the store said that the yeast packet will make several batches, I'm curious what you guys think my best approach should be. I've gotten a little mixed information, but things are coming together. Any and all advice is welcome and encouraged. See attached photo

 

[heatherd]

Okay, I bought my supplies and am almost ready to start. From what I understand, there is a lot of sugar in the juice already, are you sure that I should add more? I guess I would prefer to make the wine in their 64 OZ bottles without moving them over to wine bottles until the wine is done, if that's possible. I also have balloons. The guy at the store said that the yeast packet will make several batches, I'm curious what you guys think my best approach should be. I've gotten a little mixed information, but things are coming together. Any and all advice is welcome and encouraged. See attached photo

Wine fermentation takes space and is messy. I would suggest that you use a larger container to do primary fermentation, to a specific gravity on a hydrometer of 1.010. You definitely need a hydrometer.

Then you could pour the wine back into your 64 OZ bottles with balloons, leaving sediment behind, and ferment until you get a gravity reading of 0.990 for three days in a row.

At that point you add 1 crushed Camden tablet per gallon. If you plan to sweeten the wine, you'll add potassium sorbate. Stir these into the wine.

Wine generates gas during fermentation, which you'll have to remove by stirring.

When the wine is clear, rack or pour into that larger fermentation container, leaving any sediment behind. Then you can bottle.

If your wine doesn't clear as quickly as you'd like, you can add superkleer.

For future batches, I'd get a white fermenter, carboy, autosiphon, bottle filler, and a big spoon. That way you'll have what you need to do things more easily and not have to pour everything.

 

[jeffv145]

Wine fermentation takes space and is messy. I would suggest that you use a larger container to do primary fermentation, to a specific gravity on a hydrometer of 1.010. You definitely need a hydrometer.

Then you could pour the wine back into your 64 OZ bottles with balloons, leaving sediment behind, and ferment until you get a gravity reading of 0.990 for three days in a row.

At that point you add 1 crushed Camden tablet per gallon. If you plan to sweeten the wine, you'll add potassium sorbate. Stir these into the wine.

Wine generates gas during fermentation, which you'll have to remove by stirring.

When the wine is clear, rack or pour into that larger fermentation container, leaving any sediment behind. Then you can bottle.

If your wine doesn't clear as quickly as you'd like, you can add superkleer.

For future batches, I'd get a white fermenter, carboy, autosiphon, bottle filler, and a big spoon. That way you'll have what you need to do things more easily and not have to pour everything.

Thanks for the post. I started my first batch shortly before your post. I used an automatic bubbler in the 64 oz bottle, with 2.5 cups of sugar. The bubbles are almost 30 seconds apart, although they were five seconds apart a few days ago. It's been one week.!.! Going to filter it soon.

 

[Julie]

Hi Jeffy145,

Welcome to WineMakingTalk. Get a hydrometer. It will be your best investment you make, actually get two.

 

[jeffv145]

Hi Jeffy145,

Welcome to WineMakingTalk. Get a hydrometer. It will be your best investment you make, actually get two.

Thanks for the advice, I'm hearing that a lot so I guess it's time to go out and grab one

 

[Julie]

Thanks for the advice, I'm hearing that a lot so I guess it's time to go out and grab one

get two or three, for some reason when you only have one, it will get broken within the week but when you have more than one you keep that first one forever!!!!!!

 

[jeffv145]

get two or three, for some reason when you only have one, it will get broken within the week but when you have more than one you keep that first one forever!!!!!!

I suppose a little superstition is healthy? Yeah I need to make a trip out to the local hobby store for more supplies soon, I'm starting five more 64 OZ batches soon. What does the hydrometer measures alcohol content right? Do you use it for anything else? How do you clean them? I have a lot to learn spoze

 

[jeffv145]

I finished up my first trial batch last night. I used a simple online recipe. The wine tastes very good, but VERY sweet. It tastes delicious chilled and with ice, but I am eager to try new things. I took extremely thorough caution keeping everything clean. I stripped and washed some beer bottles with dish soap, rinsed them, then boiled them in water. I filtered the wine through a somewhat fine metallic filter that I found at my favorite store (https://www.ax-man.com/). I sealed the bottles with reusable silicone beer bottle caps (also from Ax Man) because I don't have a corker or corks and I lost the lid to the bottle. So far it has been an overwhelmingly positive experience, I am starting several new flavors today. I plan on getting a hydrometer and cork supplies soon. Let me know what you think!!!!!!

 

[jeffv145]

UPDATE:

I have been letting the bottles sit for almost 20 hours now, releasing the caps occasionally to check for sounds/escaping gas and whatnot, (I don't want them to explode) and I didn't hear much of anything HOWEVER: The green bottle cap just launched off and landed on the floor, which I heard from another room. Will a hydrometer confirm when fermentation has stopped? Do you think my bottles are still producing alcohol? I'm glad that I used the caps before taking my chances corking without experience. I followed my recipe exactly as it says, but don't remember reading anything about bottling.

 

[heatherd]

UPDATE:

I have been letting the bottles sit for almost 20 hours now, releasing the caps occasionally to check for sounds/escaping gas and whatnot, (I don't want them to explode) and I didn't hear much of anything HOWEVER: The green bottle cap just launched off and landed on the floor, which I heard from another room. Will a hydrometer confirm when fermentation has stopped? Do you think my bottles are still producing alcohol? I'm glad that I used the caps before taking my chances corking without experience. I followed my recipe exactly as it says, but don't remember reading anything about bottling.

@jeffv145 You'll need a hydrometer to tell if your wine is done fermenting. You also need potassium metabisulfite (Camden tablets) to stabilize the wine. Those are two possible reasons your cap is popping off. Another is gas.

My suggestion would be to put balloons on until you can determine which is the culprit.

 

[jeffv145]

@jeffv145 You'll need a hydrometer to tell if your wine is done fermenting. You also need potassium metabisulfite (Camden tablets) to stabilize the wine. Those are two possible reasons your cap is popping off. Another is gas.

My suggestion would be to put balloons on until you can determine which is the culprit.

Thanks for the quick reply..!! The green cap actually popped off again since my last post. For some reason the other two bottles seem to be fine. I have camden tablets already, but didn't use them in my batch because I didn't know how they worked. Do they prevent gasses and fermentation?

 

[heatherd]

Thanks for the quick reply..!! The green cap actually popped off again since my last post. For some reason the other two bottles seem to be fine. I have camden tablets already, but didn't use them in my batch because I didn't know how they worked. Do they prevent gasses and fermentation?

They are used to do many things, like kill wild yeast, sanitize, and stabilize wine. You'll need to crush them up and put in your wine.

Gas is something you can release by stirring with a spoon.

Fermentation takes space for foaming. Next batch I would suggest using a larger container. Like something that is 2/3 juice and 1/3 air space. Once you stabilize with Camden tablets and degas by stirring you can transfer to something the same size as your wine without problems.

 

[jeffv145]

They are used to do many things, like kill wild yeast, sanitize, and stabilize wine. You'll need to crush them up and put in your wine.

Gas is something you can release by stirring with a spoon.

Fermentation takes space for foaming. Next batch I would suggest using a larger container. Like something that is 2/3 juice and 1/3 air space. Once you stabilize with Camden tablets and degas by stirring you can transfer to something the same size as your wine without problems.

I poured three cups out of the 64 oz bottle before starting the process, but I didn't stir it..