I made the Twisted Mist Raspberry Iced Tea Wine Cooler kit last year, and got rave reviews from some family members. I would like to make it again and of course it's not available. I'm not sure if it was seasonal or if it's been discontinued, but anyway, I decided to see about making my own raspberry iced tea wine.
Proposed recipe for 1 gallon test batch:
2 qts brewed tea (6 tea bags)
White grape juice concentrate
Water to 1 gallon (note: I have no idea what the SG will be so the water amount may have to be adjusted)
2-3 lbs frozen raspberries
I would like to end up at about 7% ABV but I haven't used frozen grape concentrate before so I'm winging it with that. I can add sugar if I need to raise the starting SG, or I can add water if necessary to lower it. Or I can live with it being full wine strength, if it's good!
I also am considering fermenting the tea and grape juice first, then adding the raspberries as a flavorpack, but I'm leaning more toward fermenting it all together. I am sure I will backsweeten it some. I'll check the flavor first and figure out if it makes sense to backsweeten with a raspberry fpack and/or sugar - in the planning stages I want a lighter, wine cooler effect, but if it turns out more heavily flavorful and I like it that way, I'm okay with that.
Obviously I will be using kmeta/campden and potassium sorbate before backsweetening.
Am I on track with this recipe?
P.S. I'm also going to crack open one of the Twisted Mist bottles I have left, to get a better idea of the strength of the tea vs raspberry flavor. That might cause me to tweak the amounts in the recipe.
Thanks!
Proposed recipe for 1 gallon test batch:
2 qts brewed tea (6 tea bags)
White grape juice concentrate
Water to 1 gallon (note: I have no idea what the SG will be so the water amount may have to be adjusted)
2-3 lbs frozen raspberries
I would like to end up at about 7% ABV but I haven't used frozen grape concentrate before so I'm winging it with that. I can add sugar if I need to raise the starting SG, or I can add water if necessary to lower it. Or I can live with it being full wine strength, if it's good!
I also am considering fermenting the tea and grape juice first, then adding the raspberries as a flavorpack, but I'm leaning more toward fermenting it all together. I am sure I will backsweeten it some. I'll check the flavor first and figure out if it makes sense to backsweeten with a raspberry fpack and/or sugar - in the planning stages I want a lighter, wine cooler effect, but if it turns out more heavily flavorful and I like it that way, I'm okay with that.
Obviously I will be using kmeta/campden and potassium sorbate before backsweetening.
Am I on track with this recipe?
P.S. I'm also going to crack open one of the Twisted Mist bottles I have left, to get a better idea of the strength of the tea vs raspberry flavor. That might cause me to tweak the amounts in the recipe.
Thanks!
