Supermarket Juice Wine How To guide and Recipes.

[Chippy_Tea]

I wanted to give this a go and my DJ was looking all sad and empty, so..

I used 1L of 100% RGJ (175g total sugar) and 1.5L of AJ (145.8g total sugar) added a further 800g sugar boiled in about 400ml of water with the usual extras.

It's bubbling along though my house is usually freezing so it may take a little longer than it would in a warmer house. Worth the experiment either way.

When you say "boiled in about 400ml of water with the usual extras" did you add the pectolase, nutrient, tannin, yeast etc?

A good tip if you have a cold house is to wrap the DJ in something to keep the heat in, i use a beach towel on my bucket and it does make a difference. :thumb:

 

[BrewWoo]

I wanted to give this a go and my DJ was looking all sad and empty, so..

I used 1L of 100% RGJ (175g total sugar) and 1.5L of AJ (145.8g total sugar) added a further 800g sugar boiled in about 400ml of water with the usual extras.

It's bubbling along though my house is usually freezing so it may take a little longer than it would in a warmer house. Worth the experiment either way.

When you say "boiled in about 400ml of water with the usual extras" did you add the pectolase, nutrient, tannin, yeast etc?

A good tip if you have a cold house is to wrap the DJ in something to keep the heat in, i use a beach towel on my bucket and it does make a difference. :thumb:

Yeah, a tsp of each.

When I say the house is cold, is mainly when I'm not at home. As I'm only here (home) for three days out of the week. The rest of the time, the heating only comes on to keep the pipes from freezing. I'll give wrapping it up in a couple of thick beach towels a go though. Can't hurt. :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I don't think putting the ingredients into boiling water is a good idea especially the yeast which will be die, i have never read anyone doing this in the forum, i only add the sugar to the hot water to help it dissolve, everything else is added after i pour the cold juice in then add the warm sugar water to keep the temperature between 20c and 25c.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

tonyhibbett posted.

Here's a 'chardonnay' version:
3 litres pure white grape juice, not from concentrate.
1 litre of 'exotic juice'
425 g sugar
15 g tartaric acid
1 teaspoon each of pectolase, yeast nutrient and tannin
6 g Youngs French oak chips
1 teaspoon Youngs super wine yeast compound
The exotic juice is not that exotic, consisting mostly of pineapple, orange and apple juice, and a small amount of passion fruit, banana and mango. The sg is 1035. I've not used it before, so don't take this as a recommendation. It took a lot of acid to get to the pH of 3.5.

 

[BrewWoo]

I don't think putting the ingredients into boiling water is a good idea especially the yeast which will be die, i have never read anyone doing this in the forum, i only add the sugar to the hot water to help it dissolve, everything else is added after i pour the cold juice in then add the warm sugar water to keep the temperature between 20c and 25c.

If that's in reply to me, the water/sugar was allowed to cool. As you said, the water was only boiled to help the sugar dissolve. :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I don't think putting the ingredients into boiling water is a good idea especially the yeast which will be die, i have never read anyone doing this in the forum, i only add the sugar to the hot water to help it dissolve, everything else is added after i pour the cold juice in then add the warm sugar water to keep the temperature between 20c and 25c.

If that's in reply to me, the water/sugar was allowed to cool. As you said, the water was only boiled to help the sugar dissolve. :thumb:

TBH i don't let mine cool much as i don't use boiling water just very hot water, I find pouring it into 2 litres of juice that has been in the fridge cools it a lot and it ends up at the right temperature to pitch the yeast.

 

[BrewWoo]

Just a few questions.. I won't be able to top mine up with water for another couple of days (after the first few days of just the juice/sugar-water) will this be a problem?

Also, although the airlock is bubbling away like crazy, it never fizzed/frothed up as in the WOW video on YouTube. Does this mean anything, or will it be fine?

It's looked pretty much like this:

Constantly.. The first day I had a 2mm thick foam/scum across the top of it, but that died down pretty quickly.

Cheers

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Just a few questions.. I won't be able to top mine up with water for another couple of days (after the first few days of just the juice/sugar-water) will this be a problem?

I believe too much sugar can kill the yeast and it does not look like you have much water in the DJ, I normally fill the DJ to the base of the shoulder before adding the yeast so there is not much topping up required later.

Also, although the airlock is bubbling away like crazy, it never fizzed/frothed up as in the WOW video on YouTube. Does this mean anything, or will it be fine?

The orange wows are volcanic, the red fruit juice wows are a lot less volatile, it will be fine.

Constantly.. The first day I had a 2mm thick foam/scum across the top of it, but that died down pretty quickly.

You always get a crust in the early stages, i usually give the DJ a swirl on day 2 to get it all mixed in.

 

[BrewWoo]

Thanks for the input. Although it looks empty there's close to 4L in the DJ. I was just going to top it up to the neck with water. I'll try and get back home tonight and top it up.

 

[El Draco]

Will be starting another 25l wow this week

Thinking of doing a apple blush type so would i be best adding say a cherry to the mix or swap a wgj for a litre of red grape juice?

or has anyone got a nice recipe?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks for the input. Although it looks empty there's close to 4L in the DJ. I was just going to top it up to the neck with water. I'll try and get back home tonight and top it up.

If its got 4 litres in it I would not add more yet, you need space for degassing if its full to the neck its going to make it hard work.
I top up after degassing, stabilising and adding finings.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Will be starting another 25l wow this week

Thinking of doing a apple blush type so would i be best adding say a cherry to the mix or swap a wgj for a litre of red grape juice?

or has anyone got a nice recipe?

I normally use wgj in all my wow variants, I did make pomegranate and rgj and it was fine, I tend to stick to DJ's that way if I make something I am not keen on I am not stuck with five gallons of it.

 

[BrewWoo]

Thanks for the input. Although it looks empty there's close to 4L in the DJ. I was just going to top it up to the neck with water. I'll try and get back home tonight and top it up.

If its got 4 litres in it I would not add more yet, you need space for degassing if its full to the neck its going to make it hard work.
I top up after degassing, stabilising and adding finings.

Thanks again for the input. I'll leave it till I'm ready to degas etc then. Cheers :thumb:

 

[IOMMick]

My first WOW is about 3 weeks in, I racked it for a second time yesterday and it now looks like there is very little fermentation left to be had and I'm more or less at the clean up stage before bottling.

It is looking a lot clearer than it did at first (still quite opaque, but no longer looks like a '*** on the beach') but I haven't got any wine finings available to speed the process along, so I was thinking (coming at this from a beer brewing perspective) if I cold crash it by leaving it in the garage for a week or so does it help it clear any faster?

 

[BrewWoo]

My first WOW is about 3 weeks in, I racked it for a second time yesterday and it now looks like there is very little fermentation left to be had and I'm more or less at the clean up stage before bottling.

It is looking a lot clearer than it did at first (still quite opaque, but no longer looks like a '*** on the beach') but I haven't got any wine finings available to speed the process along, so I was thinking (coming at this from a beer brewing perspective) if I cold crash it by leaving it in the garage for a week or so does it help it clear any faster?

Surely if you can leave it in the garage for a week, you've plenty of time to buy/order some Kwik Clear/finings?

 

[IOMMick]

My first WOW is about 3 weeks in, I racked it for a second time yesterday and it now looks like there is very little fermentation left to be had and I'm more or less at the clean up stage before bottling.

It is looking a lot clearer than it did at first (still quite opaque, but no longer looks like a '*** on the beach') but I haven't got any wine finings available to speed the process along, so I was thinking (coming at this from a beer brewing perspective) if I cold crash it by leaving it in the garage for a week or so does it help it clear any faster?

Surely if you can leave it in the garage for a week, you've plenty of time to buy/order some Kwik Clear/finings?

Postage to the Isle of Man is a pain in the nuts. A local shop does sell finings but despite being Wilko branded they are twice the price as buying them from Wilko direct, and Wilko have a £80 minimum before I get free postage so I'm trying to wait to build up some demand for other things before I put in an order (and even then, at £1 for the sachets I'm not too happy buying them as it adds about 20% to the cost of the finished product!)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

My first WOW is about 3 weeks in, I racked it for a second time yesterday and it now looks like there is very little fermentation left to be had and I'm more or less at the clean up stage before bottling.

I follow the WOW guide and after fermentation has finished rack to a second DJ onto a crushed campden tablet then stabilise and clear, why have you racked it twice if it is still fermenting?

It is looking a lot clearer than it did at first (still quite opaque, but no longer looks like a '*** on the beach') but I haven't got any wine finings available to speed the process along, so I was thinking (coming at this from a beer brewing perspective) if I cold crash it by leaving it in the garage for a week or so does it help it clear any faster?

I have never cleared a wine naturally but imagine even in the garage it is going to take a long time to clear, i have used a couple of different finings and now use Kwik clear as it is by far the best, its a two part fining and does many gallons.

Kwik clear thread here - viewtopic.php?f=40&t=48575


.

 

[IOMMick]

My first WOW is about 3 weeks in, I racked it for a second time yesterday and it now looks like there is very little fermentation left to be had and I'm more or less at the clean up stage before bottling.

I follow the WOW guide and after fermentation has finished rack to a second DJ onto a crushed campden tablet then stabilise and clear, why have you racked it twice if it is still fermenting?

It is looking a lot clearer than it did at first (still quite opaque, but no longer looks like a '*** on the beach') but I haven't got any wine finings available to speed the process along, so I was thinking (coming at this from a beer brewing perspective) if I cold crash it by leaving it in the garage for a week or so does it help it clear any faster?

I have never cleared a wine naturally but imagine even in the garage it is going to take a long time to clear, i have used a couple of different finings and now use Kwik clear as it is by far the best, its a two part fining and does many gallons.

Kwik clear thread here - viewtopic.php?f=40&t=48575


.

I'm coming at this from having brewed beers as my education course, and giving it a few days in a second fermentation tub has helped me get my bottles a bit clearer. With my WOW first time around it looked as if it had finished fermenting as the airlock had stopped, the head had died, and there was quite a bit of trub. As I siphoned it into the clean DJ it started fizzing a bit with a head, so I left it a few days until last night where there was a thin layer of residue at the bottom of the DJ, so I racked it again to try help it clear without the finings. I think I've read somewhere about here that finings and campdens are optional, but yeah I guess if it speeds things along they may be worth investing in.

I'll have a look at Kwik Clear, my problem is when I go onto these homebrew online shops I keep finding loads of stuff I should stock up on to prevent me getting screwed in the LHBS, my last order a few weeks back (before I had wine in my line of sight) was nearly £200 :shock:

 

[BrewWoo]

Can someone help me make sense of these hydrometer readings?


http://imgur.com/lj30lap
http://imgur.com/4I0AWUI

Not sure what to make of it?

 

[MattN]

Looks like 1.032 and 1.092 ish