Supermarket Juice Wine How To guide and Recipes.

[Chippy_Tea]

I haven't got any, still waiting for a delivery.

I used to use Citric Acid but after making one without it as i didn't have any i found the finished wine tasted no different so i stopped using it.

 

[kelper]

My all grape WOW has stalled. I had not put any citric acid in so I thought that could be a reason. I added some and waited - no difference. The pH meter arrived just now and the pH is under 4 so I expect it was ok before. I've repitched three times now, once with a starter of water and sugar and once with the must. Still no action. SG is 1.045 so I will wait and wait. There is an occasional bubble in the airlock still. And if I shake the DJ there is a lot of fizzing.

 

[Wynott]

I haven't got any, still waiting for a delivery. Oh well never mind. I'll still drink it, don't worry about that...... ;-)

The juice of one lemon can be used instead of 1 teasp of citric acid.

 

[Barley Rubble]

Hi Wynott. Yes I was aware of that, but it seems that it is not necessarily needed in WOW's. Apparently doesn't make a lot of difference.

 

[Barley Rubble]

I used to use Citric Acid but after making one without it as i didn't have any i found the finished wine tasted no different so i stopped using it.

Thanks for that Chippy. I won't bother adding it if it doesn't make any difference. I remember in the earlier WOW recipes every one was using glycerine for mouth feel, and now the consensus is it doesn't make any difference. Its all about just using the right ingredients.

 

[kelper]

I think yeast needs the wort or must to be slightly acidic. pH 5.4 is mentioned. My flowering currant wine changed from yellow to red and stopped fermenting. I put the colour down to the pH. A little calcium carbonate did rescue it and turned the colour back. Red Cabbage is another plant that acts as a pH indicator, going from blue to red.

 

[Andyhop]

Hi all. I would be grateful for some advice. I started my first 2 WOW variation wines last week. They have been fermenting very nicely and now settled down. I took a reading today and the red is currently sitting at 7% ABV but the white is currently 22.5% and still going. I think maybe over did the sugar .
Is it best to add water once all has finished before I clear to bring the ABV down to a sensible level?
Thanks in advance
Andyhop

 

[LED_ZEP]

I took a reading today and the red is currently sitting at 7% ABV but the white is currently 22.5%

How are you calculating the ABV's. You'll struggle (although not impossible) to get any yeast to ferment to 22.5%

 

[marshbrewer]

How are you calculating the ABV's. You'll struggle (although not impossible) to get any yeast to ferment to 22.5%

What @LED_ZEP said. Don't stress, I think you may be miscalculating your abv. How are you arriving at your figures?

The good news is that they both seem to be fermenting ok, so you'll end up with wine!

 

[Andyhop]

Hi Led zep. These are my recipes

1lt waitrose Deep Merlot grape juice
1lt Sainsburys Red grape juice
1lt Sainsburys apple juice
1kg sugar
OG 1.300
Reading taken today 1.240

2lt Welch's grape boost white g, pear, apple
1lt pineapple juice Sainsburys
1kg sugar
OG 1.112
Reading taken today 940

The white certainly tastes strong, more like a sherry

 

[ChrisT]

My hydrometers only measure between 1200 and 980. How are you measuring the Red OG and the white FG? To my inexperienced eye the white OG looks in the right area, I couldn't measure the other numbers with my equipment?

 

[LED_ZEP]

If we assume the juice is around 100g - 110g/l sugar then you have around 1.110 O.G. for your brews (about 1.3kg of sugar in total in 4.5l or 1gal). If it gets down to 0.994 then it's 15% abv ish (depending on the formula used).

Edit: Just checked and the Welch's Grape boost only has 47g/l sugar so that would be around 1.100 O.G. About 13.5 -14% on that brew

 

[Andyhop]

think I might need new glasses or a hydrometer with bigger numbers.
Having looked again the red OG was 1.130 not 1.300 so that gives a better result. I'm assuming I may have read the white OG incorrectly also so I will go with the 1.100 (thanks Led zep)

Will take another reading later in the week

Once I have racked degased and added stabiliser and finnings (if I can find any as everyone seems to be out of stock) do I still need to keep it at the same temperature to clear etc or can I move it somewhere cooler?

Thanks Andyhop

 

[kelper]

somewhere cooler is good..
Someone needs to design a hydrometer with a flat scale, instead of a tubular one. I agree the current ones are hard to read and too fragile. But the scale part has to have a small cross section to move a reasonable distance for very small changes in density.

 

[ChrisT]

@Andyhop That sounds much better and yes, coolest place you can find to help the clearing process.

 

[Andyhop]

Thanks guys

 

[Scottyburto]

Someone posted this in another thread...

http://downloads.brewhaus.com/alcohol-yield-from-sugar.HTML
Obviously it's not foolproof but it's good for judging whether adding more sugar is a good idea (or bad)

 

[country joe]

somewhere cooler is good..
Someone needs to design a hydrometer with a flat scale, instead of a tubular one. I agree the current ones are hard to read and too fragile. But the scale part has to have a small cross section to move a reasonable distance for very small changes in density.

I'm sure years ago Boots sold a flat red plastic hydrometer

 

[Janulka098]

Noob question ... I am experimenting with some pineapple and apple juice WOW, it’s nearly done at 994, tastes very nice like a light table white, however rather sharp - I like dry wines but this one is quite acidic. I will be racking it and stabilising soon and then clearing, thinking of backsweetening with about 100g of sugar to a gallo . Do I backsweeten after racking and before clearing or after it’s clear? Thank you very much for your help

 

[LED_ZEP]

Do I backsweeten after racking and before clearing or after it’s clear?

I tend to use sweetener instead of sugar to avoid fermentation starting up again. If you add it at the same time as your finnings (after racking) you can make sure it's well mixed in. If you add it later and mix it in you'll disturb any sediment that has fallen out unless you rack again first.