White wine from white grape juice, best results?

[RobWalker]

I'm brewing a white wine, but only so I can brew it on oak chips and use the resulting oak chips in a saison. I'd like to do this cheap, so I'm looking for the best results possible without using a legit wine kit. The end wine should be enjoyable, but I'm not really that arsed about it.

So how can I get a sort of pinot/chardonnay/sauvignon/any of the above flavour into the wine starting with a gallon of white grape juice from the supermarket?

please uh, save the snobbery on this one - I love a good red but this is all about the beer - I'm really not looking for a clone, just something that will translate well into the chips!

 

[ohbeary]

Rob, you do not "brew" wine, it is fermented, if you are "not arsed about it" don't bother, using a gallon of supermarket grape juice you are not going to get any of your suggested wine types as they will be mostly dessert grape juice, add all the oak chips you like it will be **** but the chips may help you make your saison.........!

 

[oldbloke]

Grape juice will only give you around 5%
You need to add sugar - quite a lot
Also you'll need to add tannin.

 

[bobsbeer]

I would go with a WOW type, 1lt WGJ and 1lt pomegranate. Make up with 800g sugar, 1tsp tannin and 1tsp pectolase in a 5lt DJ. Add your oak chips at the beginning of the ferment. Use a white bordeaux yeast or Lalvin D47. Ferment at 18 for about a month. No need to secondary ferment but top up with WGJ as required after initial active phase.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I would go with a WOW type, 1lt WGJ and 1lt pomegranate. Make up with 800g sugar, 1tsp tannin and 1tsp pectolase in a 5lt DJ. Add your oak chips at the beginning of the ferment. Use a white bordeaux yeast or Lalvin D47. Ferment at 18 for about a month. No need to secondary ferment but top up with WGJ as required after initial active phase.

Another WOW alternative: start with 1L each white grape & pineapple juices, plus 700g sugar, oak chips, pectolase, tannin, nutrient and 1.5L water (for 4L total) and either of the yeasts bobsbeer recommended. Add 1L apple juice after ten days, and leave for three weeks or until it has fermented out. Degas, fine & rack as normal. Shoulg come out similar to sav blanc.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

Just wondering if this was deliberate:

please uh, save the snobbery on this one

Rob, you do not "brew" wine, it is fermented, if you are "not arsed about it" don't bother, using a gallon of supermarket grape juice you are not going to get any of your suggested wine types as they will be mostly dessert grape juice, add all the oak chips you like it will be **** but the chips may help you make your saison.........!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Just wondering if this was deliberate:

Either that or he missed the last line. :lol:

 

[RobWalker]

Part apple juice sounds like a good shout, pushing this in the direction of beavertown barley champagne wouldn't be a disaster! Thanks for that.

I'm happy with a WOW type, I brew them sometimes to drink, got all the chemicals and equipment - I'm just looking for an inexpensive alternative to using a high end wine kit that can pass for "white wine" in oak chip form...I know it's not going to be a clone.

I take it montrachet is ***** then and a better yeast would help? I use it for general wines, but again, i'm not a big wine man and it's cheap...happy to spend a few quid, my LHBS stocks lalvin.

Cheers for the info so far!

 

[Robbo]

The Apple and White Grape combo turns out really well with a general purpose wine yeast......cheap and easy

 

[tonyhibbett]

Yes, apple and grape are a winning combo. By the way, grape juice contains significantly more sugar than apple.

 

[Jonny69]

Apple and white grape works for me too. I've not tried adding oak chippings though.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Oak chips are highly recommended. They're one of the ingredients I add to almost every wine I make.

 

[matjam]

Regarding oak chips, where do you all get them from? And how much do you use and when?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Duncs]

I live next to a woods, there are plenty of Oak trees there, can I break off a branch, dry that out and use it? :shock:

 

[oldbloke]

Not really - you want white oak, which is native to France, parts of the USA, and parts of Eastern Europe. Quite rare here.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Regarding oak chips, where do you all get them from? And how much do you use and when?

Thanks,
Matt

You can get oak chips from your local home brew shop, or from most online equivalents. The main variation is in the size of the chips.

One type are larger chunks of wood added to the demijohn during maturation. These larger chunks also come in various different styles depending on source (French or American) and how well-toasted they are (medium or heavy) or they may have previously been a commercial barrel containing whisky or sherry. All of this does have a subtle effect on the flavour and colour of the finished wine, but it's not something I'm much of an expert in TBH. I've never used them, primarily because they come in 250g bags and my brew cupboard is already over-full.

The type I use are fine, almost like sawdust, and come in 30g sachets. They are added right at the start of fermentation, eventually falling out with the rest of the sediment. I use 1-2tsp/gallon.