Chenin Blanc from Supermarket Juice and what?!?

[pebrey]

I have been making (white) wine from supermarket juices for a good while now, playing around with various flavours, and adding the compulsory elderflower, oak chippings, or whatever else I can sweep up from the floor of the garage.

I was looking at another site a couple of weeks ago, which gave a list of basic white wine flavours:

Chenin BlancFlavors: Ripe apple, lemon drop, pear, honeydew

Pinot Gris/GrigioFlavors: Citrus, fresh pear, melon

Sauvignon/Fumé BlancFlavors: Grass, herb, citrus, pineapple, peach

(Loads more, these are just a few I picked up on)

I was going to give the chenin blanc a shot, and for a 23l batch, I am looking at 10l Welches white grape, apple and pear juice as a starting point (I have done this on its own before and its pretty nice).

My question is, for the lemon drop and honeydew, what would you recommend? Can I get away with lemon juice? And how much? Or should I skip the juice and add some acid?
For the honeydew, I cant find juice anywhere, so looks like I will have to use the real thing, but again, the question is how much and how would I prepare it? Stew it? Stick it in the food processor?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated..

 

[Shirazzy]

Hi, my thoughts on the melon is to get a nice ripe melon, make sure you get rid of all the pips, sterilise your equipment, scoop out the flesh and zap it in the processor or juicer, basically, make your own juice.

I don't know about quantities but I have read elsewhere on the forum that the later you add juices and flavours to a brew the more the flavour of the juice stays in the wine, that would be worth thinking about when you're deciding how much to add and when.

Keep us updated on how you get on :thumb:

That site sounds very interesting, can you post a link or tell me what I should google to find it please

 

[pebrey]

Hi. Thanks for the advice - I went with 1 honeydew and 2 lemons. Blended, then mixed the pulp with more water and blended / strained again. And again. So I got the maximum juice and didnt add the pulp. I will let you know what it tastes like!

In terms of the site, it was here:

http://www.winemag.com/Wine-Enthusiast- ... ne-basics/

Probably doesn't translate exactly in home brew terms, but thought it was a good one for ideas at least...

 

[Grand gris]

I've never looked at homebrew in terms of what tastes can be detected in standard wines.

Looks like a good idea and would be great to know how this turns out. :thumb:

I am getting to the stage of trying new techniques- I'm wondering what adding a pear drop or 2 at the end of the fermentation might give :wha:

I've got some slightly bland rice n raison that might be worth experimenting with :wha: :pray:

Just looked at the description for Sauvignon Blanc - If someone experiments by adding grass and herbs could they let us know how it goes please :whistle:


OOOH? Just remembered - has anyone found somewhere to buy Pear or Peach juice? Please :hat:

 

[goodolpete]

"Has anyone bought pear juice?"
If you have a local B&M store, they stock tins of 1,5 kg dry weight
Of pears in rgj, total weight 2,5 kg, for £1.49

 

[Shirazzy]

OOOH? Just remembered - has anyone found somewhere to buy Pear or Peach juice? Please :hat:

I got tinned strawberrys in pear juice (3 for 90p in Tescos) 1 tin of which has now been added to a basic rose

 

[Grand gris]

"Has anyone bought pear juice?"
If you have a local B&M store, they stock tins of 1,5 kg dry weight
Of pears in rgj, total weight 2,5 kg, for £1.49

Cheers waterboy - one just opened up near me recently - definitley doing something with these :

 

[Grand gris]

OOOH? Just remembered - has anyone found somewhere to buy Pear or Peach juice? Please :hat:

I got tinned strawberrys in pear juice (3 for 90p in Tescos) 1 tin of which has now been added to a basic rose

Brilliant!!! This i happening soon :thumb: