What's your favourite WOW variant?

[Gayle]

I'm just about to go shopping for the ingredients of a 5 gallon WOW, what is your favourite juice combination? Has anything worked brilliantly or not so well at all?

I was thinking I'd do 5 litres of grape juice, with two of orange and three of mixed fruit. I will be adding honey and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe star anise?) to a gallon or two after fermentation, are any of these flavours going to go badly together?

 

[graysalchemy]

er Wow is wow clue in the name worzels ORANGEwine :lol: :lol:

Since my last 12 gallons have ended up un bearable sweet I have gone off it completely. :evil: :evil:

Got about 9 gallons left so since it won't even make a decent vinegar its going to get chucked. :sick: :sick:

 

[Gayle]

Don't worry there's orange juice going in there too well I suppose I should have said "WOW variant", I prefer a bit of extra flavour in there with the orange juice.

Goodness, that's a lot of wine to be throwing away, can nothing be done to save it?! Would it work for topping up wines if you save a few bottles?

 

[graysalchemy]

No I am drinking one bottle a week with a tsp of malic acid in it to make it slightly bearable but i dread to think what it sis doing to my tooth enamel.

As soon as I can get a cheap white kit on the better.

 

[Zedilly]

I've only ever read good things about WOW, what happened to your last batch that made it so sweet GA?
I'm only curious because I've recently put my first ever WOW's on and I don't want them to turn out sweet.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Adding malic acid makes sense. A lot of the citric acid (in oranges) is consumed during fermentation and dessert wine recipes usually include more acid to balance the sweetness. Most sweet white wines are best served very chilled and go well with pork.

 

[wino2012]

RGJ, Apple and a bottle of Shiraz Grape and blackcurrent cordial pitched towards the end of the fermentation, YUM :thumb:

 

[Moley]

Since my last 12 gallons have ended up unbearably sweet I have gone off it completely. :evil: :evil:

Well I thought WOW was pretty much foolproof, although they do say that there's no such thing because fools can be so ingenious. So how did you manage to screw up?

I had a duff tub of yeast compound a couple of years back and a few wines which refused to ferment out below 1.010, but I changed yeast and everything was back down to the 0.990s. Other than that, I have never had any trouble with a WOW or any variant.

 

[samnorfolk]

what yeast do you use 'Moley' please

 

[Moley]

I only use general purpose super yeast compounds (containing dried active yeast, nutrients and bentonite) for my juice wines. The troublesome pot which seemed to have low attenuation or alcohol tolerance was a Harris SYC. I switched to a Young's SYC and normal service was resumed. I have since tried Harris again with no problems and now use whichever I have to hand.

 

[Slate Miner]

I find WOW 'original' a bit on the 'harsh' side, it helps to sweeten it slightly with a drop of white grape juice, but to be honest I don't think I'll make the original version again, even though Mrs Slate Miner thinks it's ok.

However it is certainly worth experimenting and trying out different versions and varieties

Personally I much prefer WOW made with apple juice, or any other WOW with apple juice as a base mixed with another juice. eg apple, peach, mango & passion fruit (from Tesco) A multi-fruit rose using RGJ with a litre of grape, apple, blackcurrent, blackberry, cranberry (Aldi) also turned out nicely.

Anything made using a predominently orange based juice just doesn't do it for me, a breakfast juice of (90% orange & 10% grapefruit was similar to WOW original - again 'harsh', whereas a 'tropical' WOW I made up (pineapple 65%, Orange 30%, mango 5%) was much better.

 

[samnorfolk]

Yeah i made a pineapple WOW that was pretty harsh to be honest...although am hoping it will become better with time left int he bottle

 

[samnorfolk]

Ive made a original WOW using RGJ and Orange juice as ive never tried this one before, its in the primary still finishing fermenting...ive had a sniff and to be honest smells like it would benefit from another or other flavours to it...when i come to rack it off coudl i then top up with something like Apple, mango and peach juice from Tescos????

 

[WillG3]

Can the wow recipe be attempted with red grape juice instead of white to obtain something in the vein of a red WOW or is his a laughable idea? :? :lol:

 

[samnorfolk]

you can use RGJ instead of white i believe i have! :thumb:

 

[bobsbeer]

You can use red grape juice, but the result is more like a rosé rather than a red. I use it all the time in various combinations. I have yet to come across a good recipe for a red WOW, so when it comes to red wine I make it from kits such as Beverdale.

 

[SloeBrewer]

Can the wow recipe be attempted with red grape juice instead of white to obtain something in the vein of a red WOW or is his a laughable idea? :? :lol:

If you want a red, then you could do "Richard's red". Basically 3 litres of Red grape juice, a 230g tin of wine enricher/concentrated grape juice and 450-500g of sugar and a red wine yeast, like a Burgundy one.

 

[graysalchemy]

Since my last 12 gallons have ended up unbearably sweet I have gone off it completely. :evil: :evil:

Well I thought WOW was pretty much foolproof, although they do say that there's no such thing because fools can be so ingenious. So how did you manage to screw up?

I had a duff tub of yeast compound a couple of years back and a few wines which refused to ferment out below 1.010, but I changed yeast and everything was back down to the 0.990s. Other than that, I have never had any trouble with a WOW or any variant.

I tried a whole host of different yeasts to try and get it to ferment again. That was 18 months ago. I have even tried making another gallon with new yeast, but again the same. However kits beer and Tc ferment fine. So for the foreseeable future wow production has ceased.

 

[stevie1556]

I like white grape juice and pineapple juice. Back sweeten it a bit and it's a lovely wine. Only had the left overs after bottling, but white grape juice with cherry juice is also extremely good. A nice, light coloured rose.

 

[ScottM]

7L pressed grape juice
2L Pineapple Juice
2L Grapefruit Juice
2L Orange juice
10L Water
3KG Sugar

Then all the usual additives etc.

If you want to make it the same way I do, I promise you won't be disappointed, add all the grape but hold back 1L of each of the other juices. After 5 days of fermentation transfer into a secondary and top up with the remaining juice. Allow to ferment dry then transfer again and put out the way to clear/mature.

Best wine I've made by a mile. Everyone that's tried it complimented me on how good it is.