Red Grape Juice wine.

[commsbiff]

Hi all. I've just bought 6L of Red Grape Juice from Morrisson's at 84p/L (and 3 for 2). I'd like to make swmbo a nice red with this (she normally likes Shiraz or Rioja, but is not fond of overly fruity wines). Any (easy) ideas?
Cheers in advance, CB.

 

[leondz]

Pour into a bucket, pitch wine yeast, move to secondary ferm in a dj after a week, let it get as dry as you like, rack it, add finings + a teeny bit potassium sorbate - then let it clear for a while, and bottle after that. Not sure how good a wine the morrissons grapes will produce but I'm sure you'll find out!

You might like to add a tin of grape juice concentrate to give it some balls (ahem, body). Also, Jack Keller has a great page on the various flavours that wine yeasts can add: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/yeast.asp

 

[commsbiff]

Cheers Leondz for the quick response. This will be my first attempt at a wine (and it's for swmbo - I'm brave). I'll try to get some red grape juice concentrate from my LHBS tomorrow. I've noticed other people add things like yeast nutrient, pectalose, citric acid (lemon juice?), tannin (tea?), stabilisers etc. Would mine benefit from any of these things? Cheers again : .

 

[dandan]

You can get the concentreate from wikos

This will be my first attempt at a wine (and it's for swmbo - I'm brave). I'll try to get some red grape juice concentrate from my LHBS tomorrow.

They sell the concentrate at wilkos if you struggle to get some.

Here two i've got on the go:

4x lidl red grape juice
1x Youngs Red Grape Concentrate
1lb sugar
2 tsp citric acid
1 tsp nutrient
1/2 tsp tannin
1 tsp pectolase
1 pckt yeast (I used a burgandy yeast)


4x lidl white grape juice
1x Youngs White Grape Concentrate
1lb sugar
1x dash of lemon juice
1 tsp citric acid
1 tsp nutrient
1 tsp pectolase
1 pckt yeast (I used a chablis yeast)

Both clearing at the moment!

 

[leondz]

Cheers Leondz for the quick response. This will be my first attempt at a wine (and it's for swmbo - I'm brave). I'll try to get some red grape juice concentrate from my LHBS tomorrow. I've noticed other people add things like yeast nutrient, pectalose, citric acid (lemon juice?), tannin (tea?), stabilisers etc. Would mine benefit from any of these things? Cheers again : .

Most of the above have special uses in country / non grape wine.

• Yeast nutrient - wine yeast thrive on what's available in grapes. They get on less well with things like nettles, where you need the nutrient.[/*:m:56w4akiz]
• Pectolase - for breaking down tough fruit like peaches; you already have juice, so that's sorted[/*:m:56w4akiz]
• Citric acid & tannin - already present in grapes (and their juice), the balance of these two makes sure that you have some flavour - unfortunately the take a while to play off against each other and so unless you're really big on one flavour or the other, the more you add, the more patience you'll need before drinking[/*:m:56w4akiz]
• Stabiliser I guess would be potassium sorbate; stuns the yeast, ending fermentation (it's effectiveness depends on alcohol levels - no good in beer). This one is probably recommended though you'll only use a tiny tiny bit[/*:m:56w4akiz]

Hope this helps!

 

[commsbiff]

Excellent gents - thanks. What effect would tannin have on the wine?

 

[leondz]

Excellent gents - thanks. What effect would tannin have on the wine?

Makes it taste of tannin :) Brew some black tea a bit too long, cool it, and the bit that tastes similar to some red wines, is the tannin. Some like it; I'm not a fan! It mellows with age, though. You need at least some tannin else the wine will taste watery and flat.

edit: .. and the grape juice should have that! Just in case, half a cup of strong black tea and ~25ml lemon juice to balance it would do the drink. Really depends on the grape juice as to whether you need any, but at that price, mistakes are cheap :)

 

[Moley]

Grape juice on its own can be a bit insipid as these juices are mostly pressed from dessert (eating) grapes. I understand that Grape Juice Concentrates for home winemaking are pressed from a mixture of dessert and wine grapes, and so should give better body and vinosity, although I've never used any myself. I've started a few supermarket juice wines today, so watch for a new topic.

 

[tubby_shaw]

I recently made a similar wine to the one that you are proposing using red grape juice.
Although it turned out to be quite a pleasant wine I would call it a rose not a red, If you want a true red I think you are going to have to add some grape concentrate :thumb:

 

[commsbiff]

Thanks gents. OK. LHBS didn't have any grape concentrate. I'm gonna make this one without. Should I be adding a pound of sugar or so to this? Cheers, CB.

 

[dandan]

If your nearest Wilkos sell has a brewing section they sell grape concentrate!

And for the sugar I added 1lb to my grape juices.

 

[leondz]

Thanks gents. OK. LHBS didn't have any grape concentrate. I'm gonna make this one without. Should I be adding a pound of sugar or so to this? Cheers, CB.

Just get enough in to bring OG up high as you'd like. I've just made a batch of jasmine tea wine, using 1.6kg extra sugar in total!

 

[Aleman]

Hi all. I've just bought 6L of Red Grape Juice from Morrisson's at 84p/L (and 3 for 2). I'd like to make swmbo a nice red with this (she normally likes Shiraz or Rioja, but is not fond of overly fruity wines).

Just to add to what has been said, Red grape juice is normally pressed from grapes with a red fruit . . .normal wine grapes have red skins and a white fruit . . . the wine colour is extracted from fermenting on the skins for a few days . . . this also extracts tannin, giving the wine 'bite'. (As an aside, Champagne, traditionally is made from the Pinot Noir grape, clue noir - black, and is white because the juice is pressed from the grapes rather than fermented on the pulp . . . There are some Blanc des blancs, but the good ones tend to stay locally rather than exported.)

I would not use sugar in place of grape juice, it will thin the body (which you won't have a lot of), and make a bland insipid wine . . . Try a kilo of raisins instead, mince them and ferment on the pulp for three days (pushing the fruit cap back into the liquid every few hours). . . then rack into demijohns