First brew question.

[DaveMac]

Hello first time poster, wondering if I could ask for a few pointers?

I bottled my first batches of WOW + Variant (both with RGJ) yesterday. The Orange wine is much better than I expected, doesn't taste like orange but very pleasant. The variant I made substituted Cranberry for Orange juice, and its this one I have the question about.

The Cranberry is very tart (to be expected I suppose) but I've read this might ease with ageing. The colour is what is puzzling me, its more orange than red (wasn't expecting red wine red, but a rose red). It doesn't taste like sherry so don't think its oxidised although I could be wrong. It was stabilised with Wilkos stabiliser (got k-met in it so camden not added) and I also used Wilkos finings the 2 stage one (for 5 gal so measured out 1/5 of contents).

So my questions are:

Is the colour because it got oxidised when racking?
Is the colour because the finings caused it to drop out?
Or is cranberry WOW variant just like that?

I'm guessing that someone else has made a similar if not the same recipe, can anyone share their experience/wisdom?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Could you post a picture?

I have made several different versions of WOW and the only one that came out slightly orange was the original Wurzels Orange Wine so i am totally confused, did it clear?

The pictures below are orange and apple juice (the original WOW) i realise you used RGJ + Cranberry but i am just trying to see how orange yours is.

If you look at the videos in my supermarket wine thread you may get some idea of what has happened - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49462

These are a couple of pictures from it, do yours look like either?

Number 1 is before fining and number 2 after.

 

[DaveMac]

Cleared out really well.

Doesn't taste like sherry (hoping that means its not oxidised).

As I said it tastes quite nice, just a bit orange.

Its cranberry and red grape juice.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Did you use pectolace?

 

[DaveMac]

Yeah, there is no haze. Not obvious from the photo but its really clear.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

All the red grape type wines i have made from different juices have turned out Rosé Wine colour so i am baffled as to what has made it this colour, at least it tastes good. :thumb:

 

[chewie]

Do you have a link to the supermarket juices you did use? also how much tea did you use?

 

[DaveMac]

del rivo cranberry juice drink 1L
Don Simon Spanish Red Grape Juice 1L

A mug of black tea was added.

 

[Irish]

Cleared out really well.

Doesn't taste like sherry (hoping that means its not oxidised).

As I said it tastes quite nice, just a bit orange.

Its cranberry and red grape juice.

I think it's a lovely colour buddy

 

[chewie]

del rivo cranberry juice drink 1L
Don Simon Spanish Red Grape Juice 1L

A mug of black tea was added.

Only thing i can think of is the amount of tea has changed the colour, if your cranberry wasn't 100% juice (i can't find any breakdown for that juice of its ingredients) and your grapejuice is a lighter shade it could possibly change it to a more orangy colour, or there has been a slight reaction with the ingredients to produce it.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I also looked but could not find any info, as it says juice drink I am wondering if it had a small amount of juice hence your theory about the tea changing the colour could spot on.

 

[DaveMac]

Hadn't thought about the tea, although it makes sense. The drink definitely wasn't 100% juice and only 1L went in. Will try again with more juice and see how that goes.

Does tannin powder add colour?

Thanks for the input guys/girls :thumb: its appreciated!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Dave try to stick to 100% juice or as close to 50% and double up, we are adding 2.5 litres of water to the two litres of juice in each DJ so if the juice content is low its going to taste watery, powdered tannin is dark brown and will add the same colour as the black tea we use, powdered tannin is a bit of a pain to use as it clumps like lumpy gravy if you are not careful, i only used it once and went back to mugs of tea.

 

[chewie]

Hadn't thought about the tea, although it makes sense. The drink definitely wasn't 100% juice and only 1L went in. Will try again with more juice and see how that goes.

Does tannin powder add colour?

Thanks for the input guys/girls :thumb: its appreciated!

When i add tea to either rose or white wines i only half fill the mug and put in 1-3 bags depending on the mood, as chippy said and the reason i asked about ingredients was that most cranberry juice type drinks i have come across have very low % of cranberry, that don rivo seems to be an aldi brand so i can't check in store as aldi aren't in N Ireland. Pure 100% cranberry (as our most low yield berries) is very expensive hence why you tend to see it as either an ingredient in with a cheaper type of juice (eg apple) or in very low % and lots of water.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

When you see the word "drink" it usually means it is not 100% juice.

This is Tesco cranberry and raspberry juice drink -

Ingredients:
Water, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Cranberry Juice from Concentrate (6%), Raspberry Juice from Concentrate (6%), Sugar, Malic Acid, Flavourings, Vitamin C

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have made wines with this type of juice (mostly apple with a little something else) and even though the raspberry was only 5% you could definitely taste it in the finished wine.

One of these and a litre of RGJ or WGJ would make a decent wine -

Tropicana Apple And Raspberry Juice
Ingredients:
Apple Juice (88%), Raspberry Puree (5%), Grape Juice, Elderberry Juice, Antioxidant: Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Not from Concentrate

I would double up this one with a litre of RGJ or WGJ.
Pomegranate and WGJ used to be our favourite but it got silly expensive a few years ago so we stopped making it.

Tesco Pomegranate Juice Drink 1 Litre
Water, Pomegranate Juice from Concentrate (32%), Apple Juice from Concentrate (13%), Aronia Juice from Concentrate (5%), Sugar, Citric Acid, Vitamin C, Flavouring

 

[DaveMac]

The juice content was very low. Although cant remember what it was exactly.

So I was going to try the pomegranate next anyway and have got.

Ingredients:
Water, Pomegranate Juice from Concentrate (35%), Aronia Juice from Concentrate (4%), Sugar, Vitamin C, Flavouring

2 for £1.50 at the min.

As this is 1/3 juice should I use three in order to get the equivalent of 1L of juice?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Go for it, rather too strong than too weak. :thumb: