Supermarket juice wine and Wurzels orange wine

[TheCheekyMonkey]

well after a lot of messing around, i finally got my boots filter working, it just wasnt doing it by syphoning, it would stop of its own accord after a few minutes (normally when i left the room), so i adapted a vimto bottle, managed to fit a pipe into the bottom of it, and then used this as a reservoir for my `wine to be filtered`. once full, i just let gravity do the rest, it filtered my wines in about 5 minutes, and the results are fantastic, the pads do get clogged though, but i managed to do 4 demijohns with 2 pads .

 

[grinchy]

can you expand on the vimto bottle adaptation please?

I have a vinbrite and went through 5 pads when filtering my last white, which was very vary hazey after two failed finings attempts. And like you, it was running fine until i left the room!!!

 

[Moley]

Monkey: I'd be interested in the header tank arrangement too, any pics?

Grinchy: The wine does need to be fairly clear before you filter. Use finings first, give them plenty of time to do the job, then try to make sure you don't get any sediment into the filter. I polished 6 gallons of Peach wine through one filter pad this morning, first one went through in under 5 minutes, final jar probably took 10 mins.

 

[TheCheekyMonkey]

literally i just cut a hole in the very bottom of the vimto bottle and stuck my filter feed pipe in there, and sealed with a hotmelt glue gun, then just poured in my wine to be filtered and it did the trick, by the time that i had filled it i had to refill it lol it did it that fast.


granted towards the end the filter does get clogged, you could fluh these out if you really needed to (remove carefully from filter and insert opposite way, then flush with clean water)

however it did all mine that fast that i just filtered them all twice, but it really didnt need it, once was enough, i only did it twice as it was a waste of a filter pad.


gravity works best, ive found that you can actually damage the filter pad with over zealous straining

i`m working towords a more cleaner way of doing this, im gonna investigate it later this week as i`ll need to get it out again and ive dumped the vimto bottle, but literally all i want is some sort of vessel that has a nozzle fitted to the very bottom of it (so all the wine will go through) thats reuseable and doesnt look like a bluepeter spin off.


i would not recommend doing this until you have at least racked the wine once, possibly twice if its a very cloudy wine (or pulpy).

Mine where quite cloudy but u had racked and removed a hell of a lot of sediment.



hope this helps.

 

[grinchy]

Thanks.... i normally filter all my whites (kit form normally), but the last one just wasn't for clearing.

I had racked it twice and tried two lots of finings, so the filter was a last ditch effort to try and clear it! Not sure what went wrong with it, but it was the first time i'd had a problem clearing a wine in 4 years :?

The pads were pretty shot at after use, believe me there was no washing them out :cry: Anyhow, was just thinking, how about a collapsable water container that you use when camping :hmm: That can be refilled and it has an in built tap too

 

[Welshwitch]

Don't know if I have missed a post here but just wondered what the red grape and apple tasted like and what % it was when finished. Sorry if you have already posted on this. :grin: :grin:

 

[Moley]

It's a pleasant enough basic rosé, although not much colour to it. I back-sweetened to .995

Mine ended up at 14.1% abv for 39p a bottle :party:

 

[Welshwitch]

Thanks for that Moley we will give it a go tomorrow.

Have you tried just using 2 litres of red grape and if so how did it turn out :hmm: :hmm:

As ever cheers

 

[Moley]

Have you tried just using 2 litres of red grape?

Nope, nor white grape, I've heard it can be a bit insipid unless you use all grape juice, and then maybe add some grape juice concentrate. Wilko sell small tins of the stuff but it's quite expensive, and you can get it from your LHBS.

Supermarket juices are pressed from mostly dessert grapes while GJC is from mostly wine grapes.

 

[sueelleker]

I've got a gallon of red made from Cherrygood juice drink and Welch's Purple Grape juice. The Welch's is made from Concord grapes, which I believe are wine grapes. It seems to give a bit more body than red grap.

 

[Moley]

Seems like Concord grapes are neither one thing nor another, and the Welch's juice is the only one I have seen on the shelves which declares a variety.

 

[paulbrrtt]

Hi guys, I have some juices and some time so i,m thinking of making a few batches tonight. What I got is 2 white grape, 4 apple, 1 red grape and three orange, I have also seen a cherry juice which I fancy. A few questions though, my first is why do you use citric acid in some and not in others, (what is it role). also do you head for 1080 ish in all wines? and finish about .995. As I am learning im guessing that if I took a hydro reading and it was say 1060 then i add more sugar or juice to bump it up a bit?. So with that in mind then if i wanted my wine say 998 then i just stop it by killing the yeast? that way it wont be to dry then?. I think im on the right track but bot sure lol.
P.S stupid i know but when you take the hydro reading then top up the jars a few days later does that affect the reading?
Cheers

 

[Moley]

Hi Paul, it sounds like you've got the theory all sussed :thumb:

Try any juice combinatiion you fancy, but in my opinion it needs one grape plus one other.

Wine yeasts like a balance of nutrients and a bit of acid. Wine drinkers also like a bit of acid otherwise your wine can seem a bit flat and insipid. One teaspoonful of citric is usually quite enough, but use your common sense, if your juices already seem slightly acidic, like orange juice, don't add any more, or you'll end up with something like a cheap Liebfrau or Hock.

1.080 to 1.090 is a good starting point for most wines, if you're making something fuller bodied you might want to push it to 1.100 or more, it's all entirely up to you. You can try to stop your yeasties at .998-ish if you want to, I prefer to let mine ferment out to dryness, stabilise and then back-sweeten to taste when I bottle.

And yes, if you've got 4 litres at 1.090 and then top up to 4.5 litres with water, your true reading would be 1.080

 

[paulbrrtt]

Thx very much Moley great help, I have just been out and my total juice count now is 4 apple, 4 orange, 3 white grape,2 red, and a litre of cherry. I also have one of those grape concentrates (250 ml) to add body. Im really keen to try the cherry out i was thinking 1 red grape, 1 orange and 1 cherry maybe the grape concentrate?

 

[Moley]

White grape & apple is a good basic white table wine.
White grape & orange is a favourite, look for the Wurzel's Orange thread, I've only got 6 gallons on the go at the moment, it's about time I started another batch.

The red grape & cherry you're on about sounds good, grape concentrate will add body and ‘vinosity’, it's pressed from mostly wine grapes, unlike the supermarket juices which are mainly from dessert grapes. Personally, I wouldn't add the orange juice.

 

[paulbrrtt]

I have just knocked up two DJs one with red grape,cherry half a tsp of citric acid, The other is white grape, orange juice, glycerin and pectolase. Really pleased with the last batch (wurzels). I will let you know how the cherry turns out. meant to say added grape concentrate to both also. The reading on the red was 1070 and on the white 1080. Would the red be to low? I take it that the red is slightly lower due to less sugar in the red

 

[Moley]

The white grape is slightly sweeter than the red, but it wouldn't make 10 points difference to the OG. Do you still have the empty cherry carton, if so what's the sugar content of that?

As to whether or not your gravities are high enough, that's entirely your call. You're heading towards 10% abv for the red and 11% for the Wurzel. If you want to bump that up a bit you need to add around 4.5oz, 120g of sugar to the gallon to get a 10 point rise in SG.

 

[paulbrrtt]

just had a look at the carton and it has energy,protein,carbs etc but cant see sugar content at all. If I do bump it up is it to late to do that now? I might leave it as it is and keep it for xmas I was aiming for 12% but 11 or even 10 isnt to bad . could be a nice easy drinking wine. I live in hope lol

 

[Moley]

That's it, carbohydrates, of which sugars ....

You've probably got a value per 100ml and/or per 250ml serving, multiply by 10 or 4 as appropriate.

Add more sugar whenever you like, I assume your jars aren't full yet.

 

[paulbrrtt]

ok i got that now its 10.5 of which 10 .2 sugars, so am i right in thinking 120 grams?. i have got some room left in it not a great deal though ( up to the shoulder)