Tesco forest fruits red wine 6 bottle

[Berry454]

Just wanted to start a thread for one of my experimental recipes. I'm attempting to make a good, cheap red wine using Tesco's forest fruits fresh juice.

I started a batch of this in a DJ on Monday. It's currently bubbling away and I'll keep updating this thread along the brew process.

The recipe

3 X 1 litre bottles of Tesco forest fruits juice.
1 X can of princes black cherry
680g white table sugar
Half sachet of EC 1118
1 TSP Wilko nutrient
1 TSP citric acid.
4 black teabags boiled and added for tannin.

After fermentation I estimate this will come out to be a light red due to the cherries which darken the wine significantly. I may add some grape skin extract post fermentation to colour into a deeper red.

The forest fruits juice per bottle is made up of: Apple Juice (58%), Grape Juice (24%), Strawberry Purée (8%), Blackberry Purée (4%), Blackcurrant Purée (4%).

I estimate the finished percentage should be around 12-13% ABV.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Sounds like it could be a winner.

 

[ColinF]

Sounds great, definitely following this one. Did you use the juice from the cherries as well or just the fruit ? Just wondered if the dreaded 'ites' or 'ates' may have been in the can

 

[Berry454]

Sounds great, definitely following this one. Did you use the juice from the cherries as well or just the fruit ? Just wondered if the dreaded 'ites' or 'ates' may have been in the can

Thanks, should have an update for you all today or tomorrow.

I used the entire can of cherries including all the juice. When cherries are canned, they release a lot of the tannin from the skins into the juice in the can. Hence if you want to achieve a nice "dark" red the full can most be used.

I've used this brand of cherries in several previous wine batches. 2 cans is usually enough to turn a 23 litre batch of rose wine into a dark red. So I'm pretty hopeful on the effects of the single can in the DJ.

 

[ColinF]

2 cans is usually enough to turn a 23 litre batch of rose wine into a dark red.

Oh wow, think I need to start using them in my other Juice wines 1 can in 4.5litres should be fairly dramatic

 

[Berry454]

Update. It's now day 6 and it's down to 1.020.

This one's definitely a slow one!

Not anywhere near as dark of a red as I was hoping from the added cherries. Definitely should have made them into a concentrate before adding them to the wine like I had done on previous batches.

It smells good and it's fermenting hard!

 

[user 44889]

Hiya
Will deffo give this one a go. Look forward to your update on how it turns out. Nice one. Thanks.

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Thanks for this. I’m definitely giving this a try!

 

[Bex Brew]

I like the idea of this one. I get Tesco's bags of 'wonky' fruit. They do a big bag of mixed berries. Tempted to try this at some point and whack some of those berries in.