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[Stacie rathbone]

So I am starting to make wine again I haven't made wine in a very long time and My supply store has shut down so now I'm going to be making it from frozen juice. My question is is it safe to use frozen juice and frozen fruit at the same time and also is it best to use the frozen fruit at the end so that the sweetness adds to the flavor. Does anybody have any good recipes for wine made from frozen juice. Ty

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

Without knowing a lot more about what you're making, it's hard to answer. What kind of fruit and juice? Folks make wine from everything you can imagine and some things you can't, so I don't even try to guess at things like this.

In general, if you're adding fruit to juice, add it at the beginning so fermentation will extract from the fruit. This will also let you determine the initial specific gravity (SG) so you know how much alcohol is likely to be produced, so you can adjust the SG if needed.

If you want residual sugar, the best recommendation for home winemakers is to ferment dry, stabilize, and backsweeten to taste.

Once we have more information, the group mind can give you specific advice.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

Welcome to WMT!

Without knowing a lot more about what you're making, it's hard to answer. What kind of fruit and juice? Folks make wine from everything you can imagine and some things you can't, so I don't even try to guess at things like this.

In general, if you're adding fruit to juice, add it at the beginning so fermentation will extract from the fruit. This will also let you determine the initial specific gravity (SG) so you know how much alcohol is likely to be produced, so you can adjust the SG if needed.

If you want residual sugar, the best recommendation for home winemakers is to ferment dry, stabilize, and backsweeten to taste.

Once we have more information, the group mind can give you specific advice.

Im

Welcome to WMT!

Without knowing a lot more about what you're making, it's hard to answer. What kind of fruit and juice? Folks make wine from everything you can imagine and some things you can't, so I don't even try to guess at things like this.

In general, if you're adding fruit to juice, add it at the beginning so fermentation will extract from the fruit. This will also let you determine the initial specific gravity (SG) so you know how much alcohol is likely to be produced, so you can adjust the SG if needed.

If you want residual sugar, the best recommendation for home winemakers is to ferment dry, stabilize, and backsweeten to taste.

Once we have more information, the group mind can give you specific advice.

I'm using frozen apple juice with frozen blackberries. I used to make wine but I bought the juice from my homered store.

 

[winemaker81]

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, you want one as without it you're guessing in regards to initial sugar, if the fermentation is done, etc.

I wrote a basic winemaking procedure, which covers the basic process. It's intended to answer most basic questions and tries to stay simple so folks are not swamped in details.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/basic-winemaking-process/
Regarding a recipe? I'd blend the juice and crushed fruit, add K-meta and nutrient, and let it set in a bucket (covered with a towel) overnight. Stir and check the SG, and bump up the sugar as it is certain to be low.

Does this make sense so far?

 

[winemaker81]

I wrote a post last year on chaptalizing a must, e.g., adding sugar:

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/chaptalizing-wine/

 

[Stacie rathbone]

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, you want one as without it you're guessing in regards to initial sugar, if the fermentation is done, etc.

I wrote a basic winemaking procedure, which covers the basic process. It's intended to answer most basic questions and tries to stay simple so folks are not swamped in details.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/basic-winemaking-process/
Regarding a recipe? I'd blend the juice and crushed fruit, add K-meta and nutrient, and let it set in a bucket (covered with a towel) overnight. Stir and check the SG, and bump up the sugar as it is certain to be low.

Does this make sense so far?

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, you want one as without it you're guessing in regards to initial sugar, if the fermentation is done, etc.

I wrote a basic winemaking procedure, which covers the basic process. It's intended to answer most basic questions and tries to stay simple so folks are not swamped in details.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/basic-winemaking-process/
Regarding a recipe? I'd blend the juice and crushed fruit, add K-meta and nutrient, and let it set in a bucket (covered with a towel) overnight. Stir and check the SG, and bump up the sugar as it is certain to be low.

Does this make sense so far?

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, you want one as without it you're guessing in regards to initial sugar, if the fermentation is done, etc.

I wrote a basic winemaking procedure, which covers the basic process. It's intended to answer most basic questions and tries to stay simple so folks are not swamped in details.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/basic-winemaking-process/
Regarding a recipe? I'd blend the juice and crushed fruit, add K-meta and nutrient, and let it set in a bucket (covered with a towel) overnight. Stir and check the SG, and bump up the sugar as it is certain to be low.

Does this make sense so far?

Yes I have a hydrometer. I made wine fir a long time but never from frozen or fresh. I am familiar with yest nutrient and energizer but have never used pectic enzyme or acid blend

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, you want one as without it you're guessing in regards to initial sugar, if the fermentation is done, etc.

I wrote a basic winemaking procedure, which covers the basic process. It's intended to answer most basic questions and tries to stay simple so folks are not swamped in details.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/basic-winemaking-process/
Regarding a recipe? I'd blend the juice and crushed fruit, add K-meta and nutrient, and let it set in a bucket (covered with a towel) overnight. Stir and check the SG, and bump up the sugar as it is certain to be low.

Does this make sense so far?

Yes I have a hydrometer. I made wine before but never made from fresh or frozen and I'm familiar with yeast nutrient and yeat energizer

 

[winemaker81]

Yes I have a hydrometer. I made wine before but never made from fresh or frozen and I'm familiar with yeast nutrient and yeat energizer

Great! I assumed you knew less, but it sounds like you just need a starting point.

As I said in a previous post, stir the defrosted fruit into the apple juice, add K-meta to kill/stunt anything wild, check SG the next morning, and adjust sugar. You'll probably need to add acid -- someone else may chime in with a suggested amount.

From there it's wine, so the procedure I wrote is a good guideline, if you don't have notes from previous batches.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

Great! I assumed you knew less, but it sounds like you just need a starting point.

As I said in a previous post, stir the defrosted fruit into the apple juice, add K-meta to kill/stunt anything wild, check SG the next morning, and adjust sugar. You'll probably need to add acid -- someone else may chime in with a suggested amount.

From there it's wine, so the procedure I wrote is a good guideline, if you don't have notes from previous batches.

I have all kinds of equipment u even have a fermvilla. I had loads of fun mak8ng wine beer mead and cider but quit for a while so just trying to pick it back up

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome back to the hobby, @Stacie rathbone !
@winemaker81 had great information as usual.

Just curious, will all your liquid be frozen apple juice and what quantity of blackberries?

 

[Stacie rathbone]

Welcome back to the hobby, @Stacie rathbone !
@winemaker81 had great information as usual.

Just curious, will all your liquid be frozen apple juice and what quantity of blackberries?

I will defrost my juice and it's store bought blackberries but good brand

 

[Stacie rathbone]

I will defrost my juice and it's store bought blackberries but good brand

And ty

 

[Stacie rathbone]

I will also use puried water

 

[Stacie rathbone]

Making bluberry/apple wine . I did 18 12oz frozen apple juices with 2 1/2 lbs frozen blueberries. Blended juice and berries and added purified water and Camden tablets. Tomorow with add yeast and nutrient and awayyyy we go.

 

[BigDaveK]

18? Are those frozen apple juice concentrates? Nothing wrong with that. Are you making a 6+ gallon batch? I'm asking because if that's the case you'll probably wind up with an apple/blueberry wine rather than a blueberry/apple. I did a one gallon batch with 4 lbs blueberries and it was really good, great blueberry flavor, but I might bump it up to 6 lbs next time.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

Yes it frozen apple juice concentrate.. I'm making a 6 gallon batch.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

I actually bought 5 lb of blueberries but saved half to back sweeten it

 

[ChuckD]

I actually bought 5 lb of blueberries but saved half to back sweeten it

You don’t want to back sweeten with fruit. It will add haziness to the wine and probably won’t give you the effect you want. It’s better to ferment dry then add sugar to bring out the fruitiness.

 

[Stacie rathbone]

So would it be too much to just add the rest of the blueberries now

 

[Stacie rathbone]

And at what part of the process is best to back sweeten

 

[BigDaveK]

And at what part of the process is best to back sweeten

I understand your desire to back sweeten with fruit but as @ChuckD said there are unintended consequences. Clear juice might work but the amount to make a difference in 6 gallons might be considerable.

To the best of my knowledge you can add fruit any time during primary. I think at worst it may prolong the primary process a bit. I'll have to try it and see.

When to back sweeten? The answer you probably don't want to hear - 4-6 months. Crystal clear, no longer dropping sediment.