Merlot Grape juice

Grand gris · Mar 22, 2014

This Thursday Lidles will have bottles of Merlot(not from concentrate ) Merlot grape juice Â£1.39.

Just wondering if anyone has opinions on whether this is worth fermenting straight with no water just as an experiment.

I was thinking of giving it a go :idea:

If I do, do I need to add any thing other than yeast :wha:

Any tips, or simply don't bothers would be great :thumb:

BrewWoo · Mar 22, 2014

Lidl's?

If so, I'll pop in at some point and put a gallon of pure juice on. See how it goes..

Chippy_Tea · Mar 23, 2014

Just wondering if anyone has opinions on whether this is worth fermenting straight with no water just as an experiment.

I think it will be way too strong tasting, i only use 2 litres to a DJ (which is 5 litres when topped up to the neck)

I have read making wine from just grape juice does not turn out well, i haven't read anything about merlot juice but the results could be the same.

tonyhibbett · Mar 23, 2014

Go for it. You could be onto real winner here!

Grand gris · Mar 24, 2014

Chippy_Tea said:
Just wondering if anyone has opinions on whether this is worth fermenting straight with no water just as an experiment.

Click to expand...

I think it will be way too strong tasting, i only use 2 litres to a DJ (which is 5 litres when topped up to the neck)

I have read making wine from just grape juice does not turn out well, i haven't read anything about merlot juice but the results could be the same.

I have heard the same about grape juice but I thought that was with standard juice rather than juice of a particular variety?

got to say I normally use just 2/3 litres to a gallon but I was thinking of not adding acid, glucose etc.

Chippy_Tea · Mar 24, 2014

Let us know how you get on :thumb:

Grand gris · Mar 24, 2014

Certainly will : cheers:

This would be my most expensive non kit wine so it'd better work :pray:

tonyhibbett · Mar 25, 2014

All of the grape kits I've used are not pure grape but supplemented with sugar and water. The Cellar 7 range produces good reds from only 50% grape juice. The key factor is the sugar content of the juice. Typically, carton juice has 17 g sugar per 100 ml, but varies, so check the label. At 170 g per litre, you need add at least 30 g, so to 5 litres of juice, add 150 g sugar to produce wine of 11% abv. To save money you could use 4 litres of juice and an extra 170 g of sugar in a litre of water, or even go down to 3 litres.

Grand gris · Mar 25, 2014

Thanks For the advice :thumb:

I was going to check the gravity first to make it dry/medium : cheers:

Drunken Horse · Mar 28, 2014

Just bought a 4 bottles of this and opened one up to see what I'll be working with, definately tastes more "winey" with much more mouth feel than the carton RGJ. Think I might have a go at brewing this straight (well with just water and a bit of sugar if needed). I would definately consider using this to back sweeten a red wine or WOW.

bobsbeer · Mar 28, 2014

Does it tell you on the bottlw what the sugar content is? But it must be worth a try. What quantity do you get for Â£1.39?

Drunken Horse · Mar 28, 2014

bobsbeer said:
Does it tell you on the bottlw what the sugar content is? But it must be worth a try. What quantity do you get for Â£1.39?

Just checked 17g per 100mls and 0.75 litres. so 127g a bottle

bobsbeer · Mar 28, 2014

:hmm: For a merlot juice, makes you wonder why this is so low in sugar. But maybe explains why this wasn't made into wine.

Drunken Horse · Mar 29, 2014

It's also alot darker in colour than carton juice hopefully that'll carry through into the wine.

tonyhibbett · Mar 29, 2014

My UK grown grapes last year averaged about the same amount of sugar. Obviously in warmer climates, the sugar level would be higher. Some vineyards have restrictions on the amount of wine they can produce, so surplus grapes may be used to produce juice or concentrate. In a poor year, when sugar levels are low, sugar is sometimes added to boost the potential alcohol level, although there are regulations restricting the amount, typically no more than 10%. 17 g per litre would make a wine of 9.2% abv. A typical bottle of merlot has 11-13 %, so the amount of added sugar required would be way above 10%.
Sadly, my local Lidl doesn't stock this juice, just the usual generic red.

Drunken Horse · Apr 1, 2014

tonyhibbett said:
My UK grown grapes last year averaged about the same amount of sugar. Obviously in warmer climates, the sugar level would be higher. Some vineyards have restrictions on the amount of wine they can produce, so surplus grapes may be used to produce juice or concentrate. In a poor year, when sugar levels are low, sugar is sometimes added to boost the potential alcohol level, although there are regulations restricting the amount, typically no more than 10%. 17 g per litre would make a wine of 9.2% abv. A typical bottle of merlot has 11-13 %, so the amount of added sugar required would be way above 10%.
Sadly, my local Lidl doesn't stock this juice, just the usual generic red.

It was tucked away from the fruit juice in my one down by the freezer section in the Luxury range stuff, Ive been in another one nearby and it was in the same place in there.

tonyhibbett · Apr 1, 2014

I'll take another look. I must have been close but got distracted by the scallops and kangeroo steaks! However, I also came away with bottled cherries, anthocyanin red food colour and superb Italian ham, plus a few other goodies, so not a wasted trip.

tonyhibbett · Apr 2, 2014

Sure enough, I found 4 bottles and bought them, along with 3 litres of the generic red grape juice at 95 per litre.
My refractometer says 18g per 100 ml and my jug says 800 ml of juice per bottle. So 4 bottles = 3.2 litres. To turn this into a gallon of wine of 12% abv would require 1.5 litres of syrup with enough sugar in it to bring the sg to 1090, or slightly lower if a dry wine is intended, about 500 g. 6 bottles of merlot juice with 200 g sugar would be the ideal, and not really that expensive at Â£1.50 per bottle of wine. However, considering that the Cellar 7 kits are only 50% grape, only some of which is pure varietal stuff, yet still produce a decent 'merlot', it's worth considering an alternative recipe. Substituting merlot juice with generic red grape juice concentrate doesn't work out much cheaper, but using generic carton red grape juice does, at 95 per litre. Therefore I propose to make a 2 gallon batch, using the 4 bottles of merlot and the 3 litres of generic juice, topped up with sugar and water, about 500g in 3 litres, plus 12 g oak chips, which would work out at about Â£1 per bottle.

tonyhibbett · Apr 3, 2014

2 bottles of merlot juice, 1.5 l red grape juice, 1.5 l water, 480 g sugar, 1 teaspoon tannin, yeast, 6 g oak chips.
Sg 1090, pH 4.0, so tartaric acid will need to be added.

Grand gris · Apr 4, 2014

My local did not sell it in the end

- looks like waitrose sell it for

Merlot Grape juice

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