Complete novice with limited resources- please help!

[EHS]

Hi everyone, I would be really grateful for any advice. I’m brand new at this and live abroad where certain things aren’t available, so am trying to make the best of what I’ve got. I’m trying to replicate shop bought (normal/grape) wine as much as possible

please could anyone help me with the following?
1)Why would you add different flavours of juice/fruits to grape juice? Just for variety? Does this still taste like standard shop bought (grape) wine with tasting notes or does it taste completely different?
2) how do you calculate sugar totals and what does this therefore mean? I can’t get hygrometers out here
3) when do you top up with water - is it after the first racking?
4) please can someone explain how much headspace is ideal? I have 10L or 5L containers. Is there a difference between glass and plastic?
5) I also can’t buy finings, so was planning on racking 3 times for 5 days each, does this sound ok?
6) also no nutrient available- I read on here someone used tomato purée?
7) please could someone e plain how Epsom salts help?
8) I can buy 100% vegetable glycerine in the beauty aisle - apparently it can also be used as a moisturiser! Is this the same product?
9) Could I use hibiscus tea or similar as an alternative to black tea for tannins? I can’t tolerate the caffeine from normal tea (can’t fine decaf normal tea here) Someone else had mentioned raisins?

id be really grateful for any help with these questions, sorry if they are basic, I’m just trying to learn!

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi EHS
Why don't you tell us which country you're in. There might be others there who have trodden this path before you. Are you in one of the arabic countries that make a homebrewer's life difficult?
By the way, its a hydrometer you want, not a hygrometer and you can certainly get one even if your last recourse is to Amazon. You should also get a book on the subject (Amazon again) and give it a good reading. It'll help you focus your ideas as well as answer a lot of your questions.
1- Variety, body, lots of reasons. Real wines have such a variety of flavours and so do wines made with fruit other than grapes. I made a wine recently from jars of marmalade. It still tastes like wine- that's to say you can find odd aperatif and digestif wines that are reminiscent.
2- Look at some recipes in a book and find some way of getting a hydrometer. They are not only used for wine and beer making, they have other uses, too.
3- You may decide not to top up. But after the first racking would be a a good time. Boil and cool the water first.
4- For first fermentation which can produce quite a lot of "foam" use you 10 litre containers for a 5 litre batch. Start with either plastic or glass, but finish and bottle in glass. Some plastics can leach material into the wine and as we don't know where you are, we don't know what the standards are.
5- No. Rack into secondary fermentation when the first, more violent fermentation has finished, 2-4 weeks and then leave it until the wine drops clear (2+ months). Either bottle from that (carefully) or rack once and bottle after a week or so. I've never used finings with a wine.
6-I'm sure you can get nutrient on amazon, otherwise look for substitutes online. Old yeast from an earlier batch, boiled and cooled makes a good nutrient.
7-Yeast needs a trace of magnesium, but there should be enough in your ingredients. I've never used Epsom salts. For those who use RO water to make beer, they may add a little.
8-Use only food-quality additives. Again, it's not necessary unless you want to "smooth" the wine and disguise some "roughness". I've never used it.
9- No. There's almost no tannin in hibiscus. if you're using red wine juice, it'll contain plenty of tannin as the juice has been left on the skins to extract the colour (and the tannin). Tannin is sometimes added to vegetablw wines where the ingredients contain very little.
Hope that helps.
Get a book.

There a better and more proficient wine-makers than me on this forum so if they disagree, I'm cool with that. I only dabble. Still, the results are good.

Get a book.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

id be really grateful for any help with these questions, sorry if they are basic, I’m just trying to learn!

Follow the videos in the thread below and if you cannot get white grape juice use a litre of red grape juice instead and use 1.5 litres of apple juice instead of orange.

Aim for 1100g of sugar in 4.5 litres (or 1 gallon) this will give you 13% (ish) when it has finished fermenting.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/supermarket-juice-wine-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/

 

[EHS]

Thank you both very much, especially for the very comprehensive answers, I appreciate it. And Yes An Ankou you are correct. I have already watched the videos, and read through a lot of the recipes on that thread, but please may I clarify -
So is it better to top up with water after the 1st racking/remove the headspace from then onwards?
is there a reason why people don’t use 100% red grape juice and tend to mix it with other flavours? I appreciate what you’ve said that other juices can add different things, but is 100% red grape juice not very nice?
And if I am going to try to add raisins, does it have to be golden raisins rather than the usual red/black raisins?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

So is it better to top up with water after the 1st racking/remove the headspace from then onwards?

You need to leave headspace until you have degassed as you need room whatever method you use once you have degassed you can top up to the base of the neck.

is there a reason why people don’t use 100% red grape juice and tend to mix it with other flavours? I appreciate what you’ve said that other juices can add different things, but is 100% red grape juice not very nice?

Many members have tried using 100% red grape juice (me included) it turns out rather bland but by all means give it a try you may like it.

And if I am going to try to add raisins, does it have to be golden raisins rather than the usual red/black raisins? t

I don't think it matters but having never used them i may be wrong to be honest you don't ned to use them and members rarely do but again feel free to give it a try and let us know how it turns out.

 

[An Ankoù]

Thank you both very much, especially for the very comprehensive answers, I appreciate it. And Yes An Ankou you are correct. I have already watched the videos, and read through a lot of the recipes on that thread, but please may I clarify -
So is it better to top up with water after the 1st racking/remove the headspace from then onwards?
is there a reason why people don’t use 100% red grape juice and tend to mix it with other flavours? I appreciate what you’ve said that other juices can add different things, but is 100% red grape juice not very nice?
And if I am going to try to add raisins, does it have to be golden raisins rather than the usual red/black raisins?

I've never used 100% grape juice, to be honest. When I have used it, it has been to add body and tannin to other fruit recipes or to simply make up the volume. Headspace is and isn't such an issue with wine as it is with beer; with the latter, we need to limit oxidation of the isomerised hops products, but with a fermenting wine, carbon dioxide will fill the headspace and the airlock should stop the diffusion of oxygen back into the vessel. But, acetic acid bacteria is everywhere and it can taint or even ruin your wine, but only in the presence of oxygen. For that reason, as fermention subsides, it's a good idea to fill up to the bottom of the neck of the demijohn. Instead of using water, red grape juice would be excellent in that respect. But, when I'm making a fruit wine, eg. a mix of blackberries and elderberries, I'll always have a bigger volume in the primary fermenter than will fit in the demijohn- the excess goes into a Perrier bottle with a lunchbag over the neck, held in place with a rubber band. I use that to top up the demijohn after racking the wine off the sediment into its final demijohn. There's always too much and I consider the excess a reward for my hard work.

Nearly forgot about the raisins. If you're going to add them, either colour will do and both will be nice, but they'll be a bit different. As for "usual" I have difficulty finding anything other than golden raisins here in France, for Christmas cake making, and the like.

It's worth noting that there are two schools of thought going on here: one is using supermarket juices to make a wine which is quick to make, quick to mature and ready to drink in a few weeks, while the the old school boys like myself will make something which takes ages and is probably better drunk after 4-6 months or longer. It's horses for courses and if I were stuck out in the dessert, I know which one I'd go for. But I'm not.

 

[Stevieboy]

Hello EHS - welcome aboard - agree with all An Ankou said - and here's my take -

1. Most home winemakers add different fruits to shop bought grape juice to add body and taste, because shop bought grape juice is quite poor for winemaking in and of itself (because it is made for drinking as is, and is not the juice of winemaking grapes). It is very unlikely you will make a home made wine that will taste like shop bought wine, at least at first.

2. Sadly, you will need to get a Hydrometer - with experience you can guess how much sugar to add, but ideally, you need a H.

3. Topping up - with water, will er water down your wine! Fine if it's very strong. I would advocate topping up with grape juice/sugar water.

4. Headspace - very subjective - depends on how much you put in the container to start with. Some fermentations go off like a rocket, and will require a lot - at a very rough estimation leave at least 6 inches for the first part of the fermentation. I start mine in a 10l plastic bucket, then transfer to glass demijohns for the secondary fermentation.

5. No finings no problem - patience is the key. Rack from your primary FV to you secondary after the first vigorous part of fermentation is over (one to two weeks). Allow to ferment out totally, then rack again to clear down.

6. Nutrient - if you're using grape juice, you probably won't need nutrient. You can buy all in one yeast and nutrient to be sure.

7. I've never used Epsom salts either!

8. What do you want the Glycerine for? - Normally added to liquers etc for mouthfeel.

9.Tannins - there should be enough in the grape juice - you can buy online - or add grape juice concentrate, or indeed some grape skins if you feel the need.

Feel free to ask anything else!

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

If you're where I think you are, are you sure you should be looking at this kind of thing on the internet?