MrMarbleHead
01-05-2008, 07:11 AM
OG: 1.090
FG: 0.998
Fermentation Data: 30 days at 65-70/ Bulk aging/clearing in secondary 2 months
Yeast: Lalvin K1-V116
This is a very simple & inexpensive red wine made from Welches or other knock off brand of frozen concord grape juice, with No Preservatives or Additives in it. You can really tailor this wine to suit your tastes. I was going for a semi-dry red wine, basically a good table wine that would appeal to the masses, as i gave it out as gifts. The procedures seem long but really, with prep and clean up time i think it took me about 30-45 min to make this wine.
Batch size: ~4.5 gallons
Ingredients
12 Frozen cans of concord grape concentrate
4 gallons of water (this can be tap, distilled or what ever you want to use, will cover campden in the instructions.)
4 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar)
1 sachet of yeast. I used Lalvin K1-V116 on the recommendation of one of the local vintners.
Equipment
5 Gallon Carboy (or bucket or Better Bottle)
Funnel
Air Lock
Stopper
Procedure
There are a few ways that you can handle this, so i will outline my procedures with a few notes on alternate methods as well.
-First, open all the grape concentrate containers, you may want to stick them in the microwave or allow time for them to thaw out, they tend to not clog the funnel as much this way. Empty all the containers into the carboy using the funnel, don't worry the grape stains will come out of the funnel, but not your shirt so be careful with the splashing.
-Then, using some of the water rinse out the containers to get the most you can out of them. Then dump 2 of the gallons in the carboy rinsing the funnel down well.
-Take, 2 pounds of dextrose and empty into one of the remaining gallons of water and repeat with the other 2 lbs and one gallon of water. Now shake the water/sugar like a crying baby, until well dissolved and empty into the carboy.
-Now take a gravity reading if you like, should be somewhere around 1.090.
-At this point there are a couple of options, you could take some campden tablets and crush them up, toss them in the carboy, cap it off and wait 24-48 hours to kill the wild yeast that may be present. Or you could, like me, say screw it and just pitch your yeast now, no need to rehydrate just pitch the sachet, and be done. Affix the stopper and airlock and you are done for the next 30 days.
-Now after primary fermentation has begun it will be a muddy purple color but no worries this will settle out to a wonderfully clear medium to dark red.
-After about 20 days you can start taking hydrometer samples. I let mine ferment out all the way to a .998 gravity to get the most out of the sugars, then back sweetened (more on that in a minute).
-When your desired gravity is reached you can transfer to a secondary container (preferably glass for long term aging). If you are going to back sweeten then you will need a tertiary container.
-Bottling, after you have aged this for how ever long you deem fit (really it is ready to drink after about 30 days), then you can add some Potassium Sorbate and Campden Tablets, to kill the yeast and stop any future fermentation, allow the wine to rest for at least 24 hours. Then bottle & cork.
-Back Sweetening, you may want to do this because no doubt your wine is face suckingly dry as mine was, ringing in around 12-13%abv. Follow the same steps out lined above for bottling, but do not bottle. Then decide on what and how much you want to back sweeten with. I used a bottle of grape concentrate (16oz) from the LHBS and a 1/2 lb of dextrose. The best method i have come up for this is to dump the concentrate and sugar into a tertiary container and then rack the wine on top to ensure even mixing.
Looking back on this wine I would have cut the amount of sugar and concentrate used to back sweeten the wine by half. I would suggest that you add a little at a time over the course of a few days until it is just below where you want it. As this ages in the bottles the sweetness will come out a little more.
FG: 0.998
Fermentation Data: 30 days at 65-70/ Bulk aging/clearing in secondary 2 months
Yeast: Lalvin K1-V116
This is a very simple & inexpensive red wine made from Welches or other knock off brand of frozen concord grape juice, with No Preservatives or Additives in it. You can really tailor this wine to suit your tastes. I was going for a semi-dry red wine, basically a good table wine that would appeal to the masses, as i gave it out as gifts. The procedures seem long but really, with prep and clean up time i think it took me about 30-45 min to make this wine.
Batch size: ~4.5 gallons
Ingredients
12 Frozen cans of concord grape concentrate
4 gallons of water (this can be tap, distilled or what ever you want to use, will cover campden in the instructions.)
4 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar)
1 sachet of yeast. I used Lalvin K1-V116 on the recommendation of one of the local vintners.
Equipment
5 Gallon Carboy (or bucket or Better Bottle)
Funnel
Air Lock
Stopper
Procedure
There are a few ways that you can handle this, so i will outline my procedures with a few notes on alternate methods as well.
-First, open all the grape concentrate containers, you may want to stick them in the microwave or allow time for them to thaw out, they tend to not clog the funnel as much this way. Empty all the containers into the carboy using the funnel, don't worry the grape stains will come out of the funnel, but not your shirt so be careful with the splashing.
-Then, using some of the water rinse out the containers to get the most you can out of them. Then dump 2 of the gallons in the carboy rinsing the funnel down well.
-Take, 2 pounds of dextrose and empty into one of the remaining gallons of water and repeat with the other 2 lbs and one gallon of water. Now shake the water/sugar like a crying baby, until well dissolved and empty into the carboy.
-Now take a gravity reading if you like, should be somewhere around 1.090.
-At this point there are a couple of options, you could take some campden tablets and crush them up, toss them in the carboy, cap it off and wait 24-48 hours to kill the wild yeast that may be present. Or you could, like me, say screw it and just pitch your yeast now, no need to rehydrate just pitch the sachet, and be done. Affix the stopper and airlock and you are done for the next 30 days.
-Now after primary fermentation has begun it will be a muddy purple color but no worries this will settle out to a wonderfully clear medium to dark red.
-After about 20 days you can start taking hydrometer samples. I let mine ferment out all the way to a .998 gravity to get the most out of the sugars, then back sweetened (more on that in a minute).
-When your desired gravity is reached you can transfer to a secondary container (preferably glass for long term aging). If you are going to back sweeten then you will need a tertiary container.
-Bottling, after you have aged this for how ever long you deem fit (really it is ready to drink after about 30 days), then you can add some Potassium Sorbate and Campden Tablets, to kill the yeast and stop any future fermentation, allow the wine to rest for at least 24 hours. Then bottle & cork.
-Back Sweetening, you may want to do this because no doubt your wine is face suckingly dry as mine was, ringing in around 12-13%abv. Follow the same steps out lined above for bottling, but do not bottle. Then decide on what and how much you want to back sweeten with. I used a bottle of grape concentrate (16oz) from the LHBS and a 1/2 lb of dextrose. The best method i have come up for this is to dump the concentrate and sugar into a tertiary container and then rack the wine on top to ensure even mixing.
Looking back on this wine I would have cut the amount of sugar and concentrate used to back sweeten the wine by half. I would suggest that you add a little at a time over the course of a few days until it is just below where you want it. As this ages in the bottles the sweetness will come out a little more.