Basic Wine from Welch’s Frozen Concentrate
- I have used several types, all yielding acceptable results. Apple-Grape-Raspberry is very good!
- Check specific gravity. It should be around 1.100, resulting in a wine with approximately 12%-13% alcohol. (Topping up, yeast attenuation, among other things will affect the final alcohol content.)
- I like wine with a little more bite so I add this. Tannin addition is optional.
- I have also used with good results Lalvin EC-1118, which is a very active yeast if you’ve never used it. Tolerates high alcohol well.
Instructions to follow…
Updates
Day 1: Here are the two cans of Welch’s that I used. Also, I ended up using a total of 3 cups of sugar to get my SG to 1.098.
Day 2 : Fermentation proceeding quite well using the EC-1118. Not as agressive as I am used to but I only used half of packet of yeast (which is still more than enough for a one gallon batch). Perhaps it is partly due to the fact that one of the Welch’s concentrates did indeed have added sulfites. The yeast may be working a little harder to overcome this obstacle. See picture below for an idea of what it looks like 24 hours after pitching yeast.
Day 3: Since the EC-1118 is so agressive, the must is looking more like day 6 or day 7! So much for me thinking it was starting sluggish! The cap and foaming are starting to recede and active fermentation is continuing. I will probably check the SG tomorrow and see whether it is ready to move to the secondary (which typically wouldn’t be for another week or so.)
Day 5: I decided to check the SG this evening (I forgot last night), after seeing the fermentation slow down just a little bit. I cleaned all the needed items and much to my surprise… The SG was just a hair over 1.000! Apparently, this batch is almost “done” and was most certainly ready to be moved into the secondary. Looking back I should have moved it over yesterday, but all in all, it shouldn’t really matter. I racked over slightly more than a gallon, as you can see in the picture below. The color is very interesting! It’s sort of a grapefruit juice color. It should finish a beautiful rose-salmon color, I would think.
Day XX: Currently in the secondary. Racked and stabilized on 6/27/2007 in the normal fashion. Going to SuperKleer at the same time as a few other wines currently in secondaries.
Notes from What’s Brewing Now page:
Welch’s Apple Grape Raspberry Concetrate Wine (similar to wine listed above, but the the actual wine pictured)
- Racked over 5/14/2007 first time off of fine lees
- Added one campden tablet
- One gallon batch
- Almost clear; allow 2 more weeks settle before possibly adding SuperKleer.
- 5/20/2007 - Remarkably clear. Will allow the full additional week+ before doing anything.
- Gonna add some SuperKleer to polish it a little. Want to serve this at a party later this month. I expect to get 5+ bottles or so. I will probably sweeten a bit.
- Final Update: I racked and stabilized in the normal fashion on or about 6/10/2007. I used 1 campden tablet and a little more than 1/2 tsp of sorbate. I then put the gallon in the refrigerator to cold stabilize as well. About a week later I sweetened with simply syrup to about 1.02 and returned the wine to the cold. It did begin to referment slightly, although not much at all. It’s harder to ward off those little yeasts than I would have thought! I served this gallon at my daughters birthday party to unsuspecting guests… LOL It actually was very well received! The color and nose were both very light and I think after sweetening the alcohol content was a little lower than normal (maybe 10%). I have a little more than 1 bottles worth left so people drank nearly 5 bottles worth! This is certainly one of my better forays into the Welch’s wine, although I clearly need more practice in stabilizing!
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