Lidl's red grape juice wine

[joiner_8]

I have not made wine from supermarket grape juice for some time, some i thought i would make some.

4 Ltrs of Lidl red grape juice 10oz of granulated sugar and the usual addatives,
I only added half the sugar as after adding it the SG was 1082 so decided to let it ferment for a few days i started it on the 6th Nov and used wilco Grevin yeast and made a yeast starter, it started with a very vigorous fermentation so waited 3 days and checked it again today 9th Nov SG 1010.
Is normal for the wine to drop down to 1010 in such a short time, i must add i have a temperature controlled brew fridge that is keeping the ambient temperature around 21.5 Degs day and night.
I am just curious to find out if this is normal.

 

[tonyhibbett]

At a constant temperature of 21.5 using purely grape juice that would be normal. I suggest you rack it at this stage to get rid of most of the dead yeast.

 

[joiner_8]

Thanks for the advice, I still had to add the remainder of the sugar syrup to the FV, so I have done this and returned the FV to the brew fridge.
Will keep you posted if I have any problems Thanks

 

[Wonderwoman]

Following this thread :) What sort of wine can one expect from supermarket red grape juice?

Also, what was the reason for you to add half the sugar after primary fermentation? Will this still ferment or add sweetness (I thought to add sweetness you need sweetener)

 

[joiner_8]

I thought the sg was high enough at 1080 so I waited until the sg was down to 1010 then added the remainder of the sugar syrup it's fermenting well now will just leave it now until completion

 

[tonyhibbett]

I tried it once and was unimpressed. The colour was rather pale and the flavour very bland. The grape varieties used are for table grapes, not wine. As a result, the juice is deficient in acid and tannin. Adding dried elderberries, frozen blackcurrants or raspberries makes a good improvement. Sometimes you can get merlot grape juice, which gives good results., at higher cost.

 

[joiner_8]

The recipe i was using asked to add citric acid and tannin so hopefully this should improve the final result, in the future if i was adding frozen blackcurrants how much should i add.

 

[Mordekai]

There are a lot of discussions going on on here about the variations on Supermarket wines and "WOW" (Wurzel's Orange Wine") that will offer great advice on mixing up and experimenting with supermarket bought fruit juices.

Until I first started messing about with these I was pretty much a "Kit Man" with wine, but the relatively cheap and fast access to the raw materials at the likes of Lidl and Aldi allowed me to take risks I wouldn't have taken with, say, a whole days worth of foraged blackberries, or expensive cash money kits.

This has helped me a lot and whatever advice you are given, (which often conflicts...) there is no better way to learn than "suck it and see" (or more likely on a wine forum, "Don't suck it in case you get bacteria on it!")

I'm far less bothered if some bizarre concoction turns out to be abysmal, as it probably only cost about 2 or 3 quid to make, and I learned something along the way.

I would never have tried my chilli wine experiment if the raw juices hadn't cost under 3 quid.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Add blackcuurant juice at no more than 100 ml per gallon, as the flavour is powerful. Tartaric acid will give a better result than citric.