Frozen juice concentrate wine

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PapaScout

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 10, 2014
132
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Indiana, US
Okay, I'm trying something without honey :

6.5 gallon carboy:

12 - 11.5oz frozen Welch's 100% concord grape
1 - 3lbs frozen half sweet/half sour cherries
1 - 5lbs sugar
filtered water to 6 gallons
heat to 100F
Transfer to carboy
aerate with wine degasser

Yeast starter :

boiled 10 oz water and 4 tbs baker's yeast
add 2 cups of must
cool to 95F
add 15g EC-1118
stir occasionally over next hour
huge head

pitched yeast and added water-filled airlock

This airlock was bubbling constantly within 20 minutes and same frequency 3 hours later.

O.G. 1.075

Will add 4 more room-temp Welch's concentrate around 1.03
 
Don't worry too much, I used EC-1118 pretty exclusively for the first couple years I made wines and never noticed a lack of flavour. Not that I'm saying there wasn't, just that I didn't notice it. In the future you might want to consider RC-212 for reds, it just needs to be fed. A lot.
 
My first wine was concentrate and it was delicious. Most of the concentrate recipes I've seen used pasteur red star. I've had great success with that one especially for reds.
 
A large percentage of the world's red wines are made with EC-1118 because it is very reliable for fermenting to dryness and rarely gets stinky. It will work OK but with concord wines, you typically want them a little sweet, so choosing a yeast that is easier to stabilize may be something you want to consider for future batches.
 
Thanks for the feedback all! I like wine, but I don't "know" wine. Sounds like this one will at least be drinkable by me - if not slated to win any awards.

I just got home from work and this thing is ticking away like a stop watch. I've never seen churning like this and will wait for it to slow down (even to every second would be slow by comparison) before I attempt a reading.
 
It's slowed to every 10 seconds and is at 0.995. Taste is not spectacular, but drinkable for a lush like me. ABV 10.6% which is in the range I wanted it knowing that the ec-1118 would finish dry. Will give it a week and then rack to secondary and set it aside.
 
Sounds like this one will at least be drinkable by me

Well, that's the important thing, right? A lot of my favourites would probably fall flat in competitions, but I made them for ME, not for some judge somewhere who actually knows what they're looking for! :)
 
Well, that's the important thing, right? A lot of my favourites would probably fall flat in competitions, but I made them for ME, not for some judge somewhere who actually knows what they're looking for! :)

Thank you CG. I've got the rest of my life to create the perfect libation. Life's a journey, not a destination. I'll enjoy the process and growing in my skills equally - hopefully a little blurry-eyed along the way. :)
 
....and that's pretty much the attitude that's gotten me to the point where I'll try fermenting just about anything I can fit in a fruit bag. :)
 
....and that's pretty much the attitude that's gotten me to the point where I'll try fermenting just about anything I can fit in a fruit bag. :)

AMEN to that! I like to experiment with flavors both in the kitchen and now with alcohol bugs. "What if" is the most profound statement statement because it leads to innovation.
 
Thank you CG. I've got the rest of my life to create the perfect libation. Life's a journey, not a destination. I'll enjoy the process and growing in my skills equally - hopefully a little blurry-eyed along the way. :)

Have you read way of kings?


Sent from The Age of Legends, trapped inside a Stasis Box
 
Frozen juice concentrate wine ---> Never tried this before but I'm curious. I think it would taste better if I'll add honey and lemon.
 
Honey is plenty acidic enough, no need to add lemon before or during the ferment. If the finished product tastes "flabby", then lemon might be one solution.
 
I have made a lot of Welches concentrate wine. I usually use more concentrate and less sugar. About four cans per gallon I use. It always turns out great. After aging at least six months.