WOWs Lidl juice

[Patty522]

So I have just got the equipment to try my hand at WOWs wine. I was hoping to follow the Lidl recipe as the husband works there so I get discount

But from looking at the forum the red grape juice that’s stated in the recipe is no longer available. Does anyone know of the current range from Lidl that will work?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

There is a thread about them stopping selling red grape juice here - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/lidl-red-grape-juice.76142/

You can use any juice but avoid ones with preservative as it can stop the yeast in its tracks, best aim for 100% juice but any combination of juices can work well I liked to use at least one litre of grape juice but others have made good stiff without it, if you use juices that are 50% or less you need to double up or the finished wine will be a bit tasteless.

If you haven't already seen this its worth skimming through a few pages to get some ideas - How to make Supermarket Juice Wine - HERE.

 

[kelper]

After joining this forum I learnt to make some supermarket WOWs. Any 100% fruit juice seems to work well so buy what's cheapest! My first was a rose and still my wife's favourite. If you want a red red you'll need to add elderberries as red grape juice (when you can get it) does not have enough colour. I used Welch's purple grape juice (2L) plus 1L of apple juice. It was similar to a Mateus Rose' and perfect with barbecued chicken.

Patty, what equipment and chemicals do you have now? We might be able to suggest a few additions.

 

[Patty522]

I have the following so far:

• 5L demijohn
• Air locks
• Pectolase
• Citric Acid
  
• Young’s yeast
• Wilko Red Grape Juice Concentrate
  
• Wilko Floating Hydrometer
• Syphon
• 1kg sugar

wilko didn’t have any yeast nutrients, so gotta order some of the net.

anything you would recommend to change or add?

 

[Burtie]

I'm also considering starting my first WOW soon...

FWIW (since you already have the concentrate) Sainsbury sell 1ltr of 100% Red Grape juice for £1.

Wilko should also sell Yeast Nutrient (when it's in stock).

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Most supermarkets sell red grape juice its white that's hard to fimd

 

[kelper]

anything you would recommend to change or add?

You need some stuff to sterilise your kit. Baby bottle steriliser liquid or tablets from your local supermarket will do.

 

[Patty522]

You need some stuff to sterilise your kit. Baby bottle steriliser liquid or tablets from your local supermarket will do.

Ah yes, my wilko didn’t have that either. Going to Norwich tomorrow so should be able to pick up from steiliser and yeast nutrients.

 

[marshbrewer]

I make a wine from pure apple juice X2 and pineapple x1 plus the other usual WOW ingredients. It doesn't seem to suffer from lack of grape juice, and makes a nice Chardonnay-like white wine, that doesn't taste much like pineapple at all. That could be a possibility from Lidl?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I would recommend this its one of our all time favourites.

Rose 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

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

I make a wine from pure apple juice X2 and pineapple x1 plus the other usual WOW ingredients.

Do you mean the usual list of chemicals (pectolase, citric acid, tannin, yeast nutrient) or does a WOW have other stuff in it as well?

And then just sugar and water?

 

[marshbrewer]

Do you mean the usual list of chemicals (pectolase, citric acid, tannin, yeast nutrient) or does a WOW have other stuff in it as well?

And then just sugar and water?

Basically, yes - the full process I used is on my blog here - but essentially it's the usual WOW stuff, just no grape juice. My Mother in law, who has been making country wines for years, was quite impressed, which I took as a great compliment!

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

Oh it’s only 1.5 litres of juice!

When you said Apple x 2 pineapple x 1 I assumed you meant litres. Why not use more juice?

 

[marshbrewer]

Good spot! It's a typo - it is if course one carton of pineapple, two of apple making 3L in total; I'll edit the blog

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

I’m totally gonna make that one it sounds awesome lol. And the Morrison’s raspberry one you’ve got on there, that looks great too.

 

[kelper]

I made a WOW with pineapple but it left a lot of sediment and the final volume was only 5 bottles. I'll stick to clear juices in future.

 

[marshbrewer]

I made a WOW with pineapple but it left a lot of sediment and the final volume was only 5 bottles. I'll stick to clear juices in future.

I tend to put the sugar and juice in a demijohn, and let it get past the initial foamy, rigorous fermentation. Then I rack into a 2nd, leaving behind the sediment, and top up with boiled & cooled / own label bottled water to the shoulder of the demijohn, and let it complete fermentation and clear over the next couple of weeks. That way, I get very little sediment in the 2nd demijohn, even with juices like pineapple.

 

[kelper]

I racked it off three times. I did not top up with water as I wanted to keep its strength up.

 

[marshbrewer]

Fair enough, but if you calculate your juices and sugars for your required abv @ 5L, you should see very little in the way of dilution of alcohol strength by racking / topping up to 5L. Yes you will loose a little total alcohol in the left behind sediment, but it shouldn't affect your final abv too much in the grand scheme of things. I usually aim for wine around the 11% mark. I guess the only thing to watch out for is that the yeast can cope with the higher (by volume %) of alcohol in the initial 3L fermentation ~ but again as this stage is only a couple of days long I doubt it gets up that high at that point anyway.

Thats my take on things anyhows.

 

[kelper]

I'm tempted to use only dried elderberries, water and caster sugar for my next WOW. No tea but all the other usual adjuncts.