Water Question

[blackpage]

I was just thinking about my next batch and what I will do and I was wondering about the amounts of water that you put into a batch. It seems that all recipes (no matter how much fruit you use) call for X gallons minus 1/4 gallon of water. I would think that if you are using significantly more fruit then you shouldn't use at much water??

For example, I did a one gallon batch of strawberry with 4 lbs of strawberries and it called for 3/4 gallon of water. My next batch that I did I used 10 lbs of strawberries but I still used the same amount of water. That just doesn't seem right to me. Wouldn't more fruit give more juice so you wouldn't need as much water? Just curious and trying to make my next batch better.

 

[Julie]

Blackpage you are right, the one thing I constantly say is a recipe is a guidance not a rule. The amount of water you use is what you need to make the 5 or 6 or whatever gallon batch you are making.

 

[Wade E]

For the most part the less water you use the better!!! In other words the best wines are made from all juice with no water added. the only exception to that are fruit that are very high in acids and need the acids diluted down like Muscadines. In that case Id most likely try to lower the acids first by use of additives like Calcium Carbonate and once you lower them as much as the directions to that additive let you then do the rest by water dilution. This is why juice buckets like those sold at Walkers Fruit farm or Presque Isle make great wines. Lots of us work around this by adding a f-pack later due to the fact we cheated usually due to not having the money to buy enough fruit to begin with.

 

[tjbryner]

I was just thinking about my next batch and what I will do and I was wondering about the amounts of water that you put into a batch. It seems that all recipes (no matter how much fruit you use) call for X gallons minus 1/4 gallon of water. I would think that if you are using significantly more fruit then you shouldn't use at much water??

For example, I did a one gallon batch of strawberry with 4 lbs of strawberries and it called for 3/4 gallon of water. My next batch that I did I used 10 lbs of strawberries but I still used the same amount of water. That just doesn't seem right to me. Wouldn't more fruit give more juice so you wouldn't need as much water? Just curious and trying to make my next batch better.

Were did you get the recipe for strawberry that had only 4lbs per gallon? Thats half of what i would recommend.

This is why you should post the recipes here for people to look at before you do them. I know most of us would have told you to double that.

 

[djrockinsteve]

For the most part the less water you use the better!!!

Which do you like better. 100% apple cider or watered down cider. Exactly!

Use little or no water. Adding water would extend the amount but thin it down. Your grape juices are not "normally" watered down unless they are so thick, as with muscadine, or they are high in acid as Wade said. Acid can be reduced without adding water if not too high.

 

[SBWs]

I make mostly country fruit wines. I find it's a balancing act when it comes to fruit and water. There are times when more fruit does not always equal better wine. If you are dealing with high acid fruits the advantage of adding more fruit is sometimes out weighed by the things you need to do to reduce the acid. In my opinion use as much fruit as you can while still keeping the pH and acid within adjustable levels. Then if you still have to you can add a flavor pack to get the flavor and sweetness you want. Once again in my opinion this is better than ending up with a very high acid wine, with the acid covered by making it super sweet. I once had someone tell me super sweet wines are bad wines being covered up with sweetness. I know this isn't true about all sweet wines but it is most likely true about some.

 

[Mine-Fine-Wine]

I think that you should try to use as little water as possible also, unless a highly acidic fruit is being used. I always say that you know more than you think you do, trust in your decisions but seek others opinions.

I would say cut the amount of water and just monitor carefully. Experience is the most important thing so trial and error, although time consuming, will ultimatley have the best end result.