Supermarket Juice Wine How To guide and Recipes.

[user 44889]

Ooookkkaaaayyyy. So I took the SG's of all my wines tonight to see what progress has been made in the last few weeks.

First was the apple and mango WOW. It was put on 8 days ago..... SG was about 890... The hydrometer sank further than the scale! There was a heavy sediment in the bucket and the wine is completely crystal clear!

Taste test..... Imagine emptying your hoover bag into a teapot and brewing up a lovely pit of Vax..... That's what it tastes like. Vile! Not a hint of either apple or mango flavours, or even alcohol. Zero good points to balance out the hoover bag flavour. Possibly a hint of a taste version of that smell you get in a brand new pair of work boots after your first day of hot sweaty labour.

I'll rack it into a demijohn and forget about it for six months or so and see if it improves.

What went wrong? My only thought is that it got too warm sitting on the heater pad (despite the warm weather it's only ever got to about 18° I'm the house and only for two days). The 5 gallon batch next to it went on before it (I think) and it's still sitting at 1030.

Sorry to hear that, doesn't sound good. Think your right to leave for at least 6 months before trying it again. If still bad leave it longer and try every 6 months.... you never know it might come good.
I try to keep my temp between 18c to 21c and not had problems. I've made mistakes ie to sweet or to floral (my Elderflower)
What yeast did you use?

 

[gillonstewart]

It was Young's general purpose wine yeast that I used. I was shocked that it had not ly totally attenuated the sugar in 8 days flat but also totally cleared!

 

[user 44889]

It was Young's general purpose wine yeast that I used. I was shocked that it had not ly totally attenuated the sugar in 8 days flat but also totally cleared!

I've used that a few times and not had problems. My go to yeast is Gervin.
Recently i had a country wine ferment out in 6 days ( shocked the hell out of me as it was in an unsealed bucket, loose lid. ) but was not clear like yours. Luckily turned out good.
Hope both of them get good and keep on trucking.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Ooookkkaaaayyyy. So I took the SG's of all my wines tonight to see what progress has been made in the last few weeks.

First was the apple and mango WOW. It was put on 8 days ago..... SG was about 890... The hydrometer sank further than the scale! There was a heavy sediment in the bucket and the wine is completely crystal clear!

Taste test..... Imagine emptying your hoover bag into a teapot and brewing up a lovely pit of Vax..... That's what it tastes like. Vile! Not a hint of either apple or mango flavours, or even alcohol. Zero good points to balance out the hoover bag flavour. Possibly a hint of a taste version of that smell you get in a brand new pair of work boots after your first day of hot sweaty labour.

I'll rack it into a demijohn and forget about it for six months or so and see if it improves.

What went wrong? My only thought is that it got too warm sitting on the heater pad (despite the warm weather it's only ever got to about 18° I'm the house and only for two days). The 5 gallon batch next to it went on before it (I think) and it's still sitting at 1030.

I have no idea what has gone wrong but suggest you try making the wine below using the method in post #1 of this thread (link below) and see how it turns out, don't worry about temperature my wine is sat at 24c as i type this, i use young's super wine yeast compound.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...ne-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/post-456519

Rosé wine

1 litre Red grape juice.

1.5 litre Apple Juice.

750g Sugar.

1 tsp Tannin or a mug of very strong black tea. (3 bags stirred every couple of minutes as you put the rest of the ingredients together)

1 tsp Yeast (i use youngs super wine yeast compound)

1 tsp Yeast Nutrient.

1 tsp Pectolase.

1 tsp Glycerine. (optional)

1 tsp citric acid or juice of one lemon. (optional)

 

[gillonstewart]

I have no idea what has gone wrong but suggest you try making the wine below using the method in post #1 of this thread (link below) and see how it turns out, don't worry about temperature my wine is sat at 24c as i type this, i use young's super wine yeast compound.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...ne-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/post-456519

Rosé wine

1 litre Red grape juice.

1.5 litre Apple Juice.

750g Sugar.

1 tsp Tannin or a mug of very strong black tea. (3 bags stirred every couple of minutes as you put the rest of the ingredients together)

1 tsp Yeast (i use youngs super wine yeast compound)

1 tsp Yeast Nutrient.

1 tsp Pectolase.

1 tsp Glycerine. (optional)

1 tsp citric acid or juice of one lemon. (optional)

The only thing I did differently to that post was the fact it was in a brewing bucket rather than a DJ (because I calculated everything for 5 litres instead of 4.5) and the choice of juice.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The extra head space wouldn't have caused any problems burning fermentation it's only an issue when storing wine.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have reread the post and see you had it on a heat pad I think even through you said it only got to 18c it probably hot much higher when I use my heat pad in the middle of winter it gets to 24c I have a feeling heat is what has caused the taste issues.

 

[gillonstewart]

I have reread the post and see you had it on a heat pad I think even through you said it only got to 18c it probably hot much higher when I use my heat pad in the middle of winter it gets to 24c I have a feeling heat is what has caused the taste issues.

I think you're right, it's the only variable that wasn't controlled as such. Whenever a DJ or a 5 gallon batch is on them, it doesn't seem to do much. Either to much of the pad is uncovered (DJ) or the volume doesn't get a chance to hear up but a 1 gallon batch in the bucket has full coverage on the pad and hardly any volume so has the potential to get pretty warm.

Good news is that I have three litres of juice left over so I can clean out the bucket and try again without the heater pad. I like to use the bucket so that it can froth away to its heart's content and then finish in a DJ once it's calmed down.

 

[Backtobrew]

Ooookkkaaaayyyy. So I took the SG's of all my wines tonight to see what progress has been made in the last few weeks.

First was the apple and mango WOW. It was put on 8 days ago..... SG was about 890... The hydrometer sank further than the scale! There was a heavy sediment in the bucket and the wine is completely crystal clear!

Taste test..... Imagine emptying your hoover bag into a teapot and brewing up a lovely pit of Vax..... That's what it tastes like. Vile! Not a hint of either apple or mango flavours, or even alcohol. Zero good points to balance out the hoover bag flavour. Possibly a hint of a taste version of that smell you get in a brand new pair of work boots after your first day of hot sweaty labour.

I'll rack it into a demijohn and forget about it for six months or so and see if it improves.

What went wrong? My only thought is that it got too warm sitting on the heater pad (despite the warm weather it's only ever got to about 18° I'm the house and only for two days). The 5 gallon batch next to it went on before it (I think) and it's still sitting at 1030.

I have used this a few times and get a pretty decent result;
1 Litre Cranberry
1 Litre Red Grape
1 Litre Apple and Raspberry.
You could just use Apple instead of the last mixed juice which I am going to do this week.
It`s quite a nice summer drink when chilled or add a couple of ice cubes.

Cheers All.

 

[gillonstewart]

I'm actually struggling to find grape juice. Can get plenty of apple, cranberry, tropical etc. but grape isn't easy to get locally it seems.

Grape concentrate specifically for winemaking is easy enough to get and I have a batch on as an experiment.

I have three litres of apple and mango juice left ove so I'm going to put that on tonight's a second attempt, seeing as I have the stuff anyway.

 

[Dutto]

I'm actually struggling to find grape juice. ….

Lidl every time @ 99p a litre for red grape juice!
:hat:

 

[gillonstewart]

Lidl every time @ 99p a litre for red grape juice!
:hat:

Yup, never spotted it in Lidl. I'm away to head out there shortly so I'll look again

 

[Dutto]

Yup, never spotted it in Lidl. I'm away to head out there shortly so I'll look again

It’s usually in the fruit juice section on the top row!

Enjoy!
:hat:

 

[gillonstewart]

I transferred the dodgy wine into a demijohn and got some in my mouth.... It hasn't improved over the last few days

I've also put a new batch on, same recipe. Straight I to a DJ this time and no heater pad. I've put the DJ into a bucket though because I think frothing will be inevitable.

Will report back in a couple of weeks

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I'm actually struggling to find grape juice.

ASDA

TESCO

Sainsbury

 

[user 44889]

I'm actually struggling to find grape juice. Can get plenty of apple, cranberry, tropical etc. but grape isn't easy to get locally it seems.

Grape concentrate specifically for winemaking is easy enough to get and I have a batch on as an experiment.

I have three litres of apple and mango juice left ove so I'm going to put that on tonight's a second attempt, seeing as I have the stuff anyway.

Get mine from either Salisbury or Lidl

 

[Robin54]

ASDA

TESCO

Sainsbury

as an aside Chipster, Ive just put a raspberry wine on, ( Sainsburys had loads going cheap) and I tipped the weak dregs of the tea pot in. Not mega strong
but will this matter?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

How many litres of juice in what size FV?

 

[Bubbleyjugs]

Hi all, I’m going to do a red grape and apple wine from juice. So I get it all ready to get started and notice that the Welchs red grape juice has artificial sweeteners in it. Grrrr it’s a juice drink and not pure. Any ideas of how I can get around this? I’m only doing 2 litres of each plus a bag of sugar in a 5ltr bottle. I’ve heard that you can boil a bottle of cordial to get rid of the additives and what not. Hopefully there’s a way to use it so it ferments all or at least most of the sugar. Any help would be gratefully received.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

@Bubbleyjugs

Can you post the juice details so we can have a look.

What % juice is there in the carton?

Is there any sugar or is it just sweetener?

I’m only doing 2 litres of each plus a bag of sugar in a 5ltr bottle.

When using 100% juice you don't need to use 4 litres of juice in 5 litre DJ the taste will be way to strong

I’ve heard that you can boil a bottle of cordial to get rid of the additives and what not.

Don't do it the preservative is there for a reason and boiling doesn't get rid of it, google Ribena wine slow fermentation and you'll find loads like me who tried it and it failed.