Supermarket juice wine and Wurzels orange wine

[Cussword]

Cussword: I generally use around 800g sugar to the gallon to get an OG around 1.090 and an ABV around 13%, which to me seems about right for a juice wine, but I have pushed it to 1kg giving an OG of 1.105 and 15% abv.

WTF is “Young's Definitive Enricher” ?

Right, based on the recipe I use I'm on 800g per gall, so I'll try one Kilo per gall next time thanks for that.
Youngs Definitive Enricher is a can of concentrate that they sell in wilko's £2.99 :rofl:
It does make a difference :hmm:

 

[Moley]

Youngs Definitive Enricher is a can of concentrate that they sell in wilko's

So is that Grape Juice Concentrate (around £2.95 for a small can) sold under a pretentious marketing name?

If it is GJC that's pressed mostly from wine grapes and would make a quite a difference in body.
BTW, that's a completely different product to supermarket grape juices “from concentrate”

 

[Cussword]

:clap: Yep, pretentious is the right word. As I said it really does make a difference. I'm just about to bottle 5 gallons that I added 2 cans, just to try :whistle: All in the cause of research, you understand

 

[Cussword]

Whatever you do, keep notes so you can make something again, or know when not to bother.

Those are very fancy notes you've taken.
Seriously, did you design it yourself or can you buy them. It would be very usefull to us newbies to see how & what you think is relevant to note, & a good way of arranging it :thumb:

 

[Moley]

I designed my own notes sheets and fermenter tags.
Send me your email address and you can have them as pdf files, or can they be hosted if I send the files to one of the site crew? They are only 24kb each.

 

[Cussword]

:thumb:
Thanks, pm sent

 

[Cussword]

: Thanks Moley, very detailed. Will study, then use. Thanks again.
Toni :drink:

 

[Polymath]

I know what you mean about having notes. Its always good. In the next few weeks im going to post some of my notes about homebrew, in particular my supermarket juice wines What went well, what went wrong.

P.S. I suspect this thread will never die

 

[danny]

Hi All

Finings added yesterday, I am short of liquid in the DJ as I didn't top up with water after the initial 'whoosh'. Can I just fill up to the DJ neck with grape juice? Also, will addition of liquid now cause any problems as the sediment has formed on the bottom?, don't want to disturb it.

:

 

[Moley]

Hi Danny, don't worry about stirring up sediment by adding liquids now, it will soon settle again.

What liquid to add would depend upon the volume you're topping up, your SG now and whether or not you want to sweeten it slightly before bottling.

If you've already stabilised, adding grape juice will sweeten, roughly 1 gravity point for every 50ml added. If you haven't stabilised and add grape juice it will start fermenting again.

 

[danny]

Damn! what a donkey I am! I've added red grape juice as it was a rose type wine and i've lost the lovely clearness, just looks like a gallon of grape juice now :shock: HA HA

 

[Cussword]

Hey Moley, just started an apple/grape easy white. I have always done it before in a fermenter (the ones with the screw top). This time I used a bucket that I had measured & marked to 5Gall.
My start SG was 1098 :drunk:

 

[danny]

Whoops! :shock: On day 8 I topped up to the neck with water as all seemed fairly calm in the DJ. Today is day 10 and its started whooshing again!! hope it stays at that level or there could be trouble :whistle:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49476181@N03/4537956234/

 

[Moley]

That's a pleasant sight, working nicely, but you've got a head of clean little bubbles which aren't carrying any **** around with them.

That looks safe to me :thumb:

If it worries you, stand it on a tray, I use large plant pot saucers.

 

[Polymath]

Aye that looks well safe. Nothing like the trouble they are having in iceland.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[danny]

Hi All

I know this has already been answered somewhere else but I can't find it....

How long can wine be left on the lees after finings have been added? I want to keep the wine in the dj for about a month before bottling but have already fined the DJ.

Cheers

 

[Moley]

If fining but then leaving to mature in bulk for a while I would always re-rack after 1-2 weeks.

 

[danny]

Ta Moley

Can I omit the CT on the second rack?

 

[Moley]

When racking, drop the output end of the syphon tube all the way into the receiving jar so it fills gently from the bottom without falling through air and splashing about. Prevent oxidation that way and you can get probably get away without another CT if you've run out or are looking to save tuppence.

I still add a CT or 10ml of sulphite solution at every racking.

 

[danny]

More questions......

When fermentation has settled down can you top up to the the DJ neck with bottled water instead of boiling and cooling tap water?

: