Grape Juice and Sultana Wine

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GDog

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4 Litres Asda Red grape juice
500g Sultana's
130g sugar
1 tsp glycerine
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp pecolase
1.5 tsp Super yeast compound
1 normal + 2 redbush teabags
SG = ??? no idea how to measure, as the sugar in the fruit should be 300g ish but I guess a hydrometer can't tell this as it hasnt dissolved yet.

15/01
500ml boiling water for teabag juice stewed for 15 mins, and rough chopped (by hand) sultanas into small fermentation bucket. Lashed all other ingredients in.

Stirred twice daily, pushing fruit back under the surface. Bubbling like mad.

20/01
Strained off pulp into DJ, using nylon bag not muslin as they are ****. Topped up right to he top with previous batch of grape juice wine. Cloudy Rose, not red, as sultanas are white grapes. SG is 1.0 already.

22/01
Airlock isn't bubbling really, every once in a while, but there is activity in he DJ, small bubbles and slight lava lamp effect. Will leave for a few weeks, this looks like a racking job and a half, very cloudy. Tastes great so far, VERY fruity.
 
I am liking these fruit / redbush variations. Good luck with it.
I will be doing a small batch of something soon and taking inspiration from these sort of experiments
 
I am liking these fruit / redbush variations. Good luck with it.
I will be doing a small batch of something soon and taking inspiration from these sort of experiments

I'll keep updating this thread as I rack etc, just a bit of an experiment as you said. Initial taste was amazing compared to just the juice, but the more stuff you add, the more it just becomes 'wine' I guess as Tau pointed out.

The final experiment in the x3 I planned, is grape juice and a handfull of dried elderberries, a la Tony Hibbert and CJJ Berry.
 
29/01

Racked off a pretty compact sediment. SG still 1.0 so no movement in 9 days.
Degassed, topped up to neck with half a pint boiled water, meant to use a cup of redbush but forgot. Still not using Campden though.
Tasted the trial jar, I'm really pleased. Tastes nothing like the pure grape, fruity rather than body, rose rather than red. Really rather pleasant!

Worth the **** on chopping and straining ? Definitely.

Have wrapped the DJ in brown paper and chucked it in the garage to clear naturally, no finings.

Don't normally like rose but will try a bottle in a few weeks and give the rest away,my brother will love it . The currant batch is the one I'm really waiting on.

Al
 
I like the sound of this one . I've been playing around with raisins recently.
Worth the effort me thinks.


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Just a quick one for you wine makers Ritchies grape concentrate is pure, Youngs grape concentrate contains Glucose so diluted with sugars ??
 
clearing/racking is an issue as suspected.

clear as a bell in the DJ when drawing of a sample, but an odd 'fog' on the inside of the DJ, evident when tilting then straightening up. Sediment at the bottom is thin and rock solid.

No weird smell or taste, in fact the sample is very nice indeed.

Sterilized all my gear and 6 bottles, racked to a clean DJ ready for bottling, and the second DJ is now VERY cloudy. Whatever had coated the inside walls of the first DJ has come with the wine.

Total waste of an hour, have got a couple of RGJ WOW's almost ready for racking, so will use finings, and will add to them all (and the currant) at the same time - I was hoping to clear naturally but I think that may take weeks.
 
still cloudy as anything, and hardly any sediment in another week.

Added wilko's 2 part finings last night as I had 2 other batches to do, and this morning it's as clear as a bell !
 
Bottled tonight (into the asda litre PET bottles the juice came in), and having a sample glass now - absolutely lovely.

Fruity and smooth, more of a dark Rose. Bit of a fook on with the Sultana's and clearing, but definitely worth a try. Not the sort of wine I would buy, but I'm not giving it away it's too nice.

I bet it will improve too, but I probably won't bother . Definitely revisiting in the summer.

I'm sure x3 litres of RGJ with the 500g raisins would have sufficed, keeping costs down too.

Al
 
Think I'll give this one a play [emoji106] what was your final ABV% ?


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pass - finished at the usual 0.990, but I'm not really sure how to work out initial SG for 1070g initial sugar in a gallon batch..

640g sugar in RGJ (4x 160g)
300g in fruit (I think)
130g added sugar

Tastes around 14.5%, but I base this on nothing other than gut feel and bull ****
 
pass - finished at the usual 0.990, but I'm not really sure how to work out initial SG for 1070g initial sugar in a gallon batch..



640g sugar in RGJ (4x 160g)

300g in fruit (I think)

130g added sugar



Tastes around 14.5%, but I base this on nothing other than gut feel and bull ****



Drink a bottle and base it on that [emoji39]


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1070g of sugar in 4.54 litres (1 gal) gives an SG of 1.089 (using batch stat's calc' http://www.brewersfriend.com/extract-ogfg/

on the abv calc' to an fg of 0.990 gives 12.99%

Yet on this table https://mpesgens.home.xs4all.nl/thwp/sugar.html#sg

1090 gives 12% abv ... at 1089g

Using another table: http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/HydSugAl.htm

1070g = 235.68g per litre (divided by 4.54) which should give an abv between 11.3-11.9 abv

Somewhere someone has the wrong figures or calculations.
 
Ah, so its 1070g of sugar and not a 1.070 gravity reading, sorry I misread!

A 1.090 OG fermented to 0.990 FG is gonna be over 13.5%
 
Ah, so its 1070g of sugar and not a 1.070 gravity reading, sorry I misread!

A 1.090 OG fermented to 0.990 FG is gonna be over 13.5%

Thought you did that :smile:.

Wondering if the bach stat's program is adding something else into the equation to rise the og estimate, maybe hops or something that wine wouldn't have or an error on conversions. American imperial to metric is often known to have prob's recalll a space craft being messed up when parts made in U.S where fractionally out to the parts made in E.U under metric measurements. Maybe brewers friend could tell us?
 
having another bottle of this tonight, its really quite nice..

I couldn't place the taste before, until I tried it cold from the garage before using my bottle warmer.. It tastes like white wine (looks like Rose) - I don't drink white, must me ten years since I've even had a sip, and that is what this tastes like. Fruity, and not rocket fuel strong..

Would't make again, bit of a fook on with chopping the sultana's and clearing and it's really not my usual tipple, but with the white grape juice shortage you lot have got to give this a try
 
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