Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
I just made my first batch with a fractionating still. The best batch yet. About 94% and after polishing tastes great. I threw a bottle in my trunk to bring to a friend and drove around most of the day with it there. It was cold ,about 10 or 15 degrees F,. The spirit turned cloudy. The only thing added was a small amount of finishing glucose. None of the other bottles turned cloudy. Whats the deal?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
About the only thing I can think of is that the spirit became airated. The spirit would tend to hold the air for a period of time due to the surface tension created by adding the glucose.The spirit should settle back to near clear with rest,sound fair or what ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
this is a cheap recipe for concord wine. all you need is 2/1/2 gal. concord grape juice an about 7lbs. of sugar. simply mix 2/1/2 gal. of concord grape juice and water about four gal. then blend whith 3/1/2 cups of sugar per gal. of juice and water approximately 5# of sugar. then pour in two packages of fleishmans active dry yeast and let ferment for approximately two weeks then add 4 cups of pure sugar syrup. if it doesnot start a more rapid fermentation then it is near its peak alc. content of 12%. this was my grandpas recipe and was handed down to me. hope somebody can enjoy this oldtime recipe for cheap concord grape wine. thankyou for checking out this recipe. please email any oldtime recipes to me at [email="ens961997
yahoo.com"]ens961997
yahoo.com[/email]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Where can I find a cheap source of pure sugar syrup?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
WHAT KIND OF CONTAINER WAS IT IN?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Hey Brewwnman34, I only recently discovered this terrific forum, and I just wanted to let you know I too have used this ,or a VERY similar recepie to make a pretty darn good wine! The point I want to make though, is, This also makes some of the best damned 'sippin' brandy you ever tasted! In fact I'm sitting here now, enjoying a 'snifter' of brandy that I made last year. I know, I know,...if I had just waited...it woulda aged sum an been even better! But ya know whut? Better late 'n never, huh? Ah mean Hit don git much bettern this pal, trus me. Hic!
Really, this does make a 'very good brandy' if you know how to distill it, and I assume any one reading this does! At any rate , by all means Brewman34, enjoy the fruits of your labor, you worked for it, so you deserve to enjoy them!
Spiritmaker
,sort of a late comer to distilling, but lovin evey minute of it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
I always have friends that give me plenty of concord grapes. This is very labor intensive but worth the work. If you want more information let me know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Hey Charles, Thanks for th offer. I only have muscadine grapes where I live ,that's why I've made some wine with concentrated Concord grape juice, and agree it is more work. I do think it produces a better wine though when one has real grapes to work with, but since I like to convert mine into brandy, th cheaper an easier to make th wine, th better! Now, if I can just figger a way to get some of those great, fresh Concord grapes from you...I'll be in hog heaven,jis kiddin,.
Thanks,
Spiritmaker
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Hey Brewman24, I recently made your concord wine
,actually, cut the recipe in half, and it's not what I thought it would be. The color is 'not right' and still tastes like grape juice, with a kick. Have you ever tried just adding sugar and yeast to un-diluted grape juice? If so, what amounts did you use? Thanx.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
I also brew wine as well as beer and if you want grape juice the best place to get the juice is from Walkers Press House. It is located in New York and they will ship the juice to you and this stuff is great. They have many varieties availabe and I have been purchasing juice from them for sometime now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
One more question for Brewman24,
As I wrote earlier, I made your concord wine and was wondering how to stop the fermentation. I bottled the wine after about 4 weeks and it is still expelling CO2. It's been well over 6 weeks now and it is still active. I need to keep 'burping' the bottles, similar to opening a bottle of Coke Cola. Am I rushing things? Thanx.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Yes you are Standtz, you're playing with a hand-grenade there my friend. Four weeks is WAY too soon to bottle wine unless you stop the fermentation first! Or you are gonna distill it, and even then you run a risk of 'boilling over' ,the wash boils up into your column ,,reflux,,or lyne-arm ,,pot,,, depending on what type still you operate. You simply gotta get rid of the excess sugar ,by waiting till the yeast are done,, or kill the yeast to stop production of gasses! One way winemaking hobbiests do this is to use Camden tablets ,I think potassium is another alternative, but not sure,, available from any on-line wine and brew shop. Otherwise, the pressure can build up in the bottle and literally explode! I have had ,recyled, wine bottles explode with such force that glas was shot THROUGH one side of a nearby sheetrock wall, so be careful when handling these. Never use cheap botles ,the ones with flat bottoms, for wine, either use real wine bottles or kill th yeast first! PLEASE get yourself some Camden tabs or just wait till the lil beasties do their job and the fermenting has really stopped.
Keep asking questions no matter how stupid you may think they are, you may just save yourself an awful lot of grief!
My best wishes to ya!
Spiritmaker
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Okay, sounds good. I guess I will leave the juice in an airlock container a bit longer next time. I'm also assuming by doing this it will keep the product from going bad or geting contaminated.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
If you want to stop a fermentation and leave residule sugar use campden tablets,Sodium metabisulfite,1-2 tablets per gallon and if you want to finish the wine dry and sweeten back use the campden tablets as stated above and then add potassium sorbate. This stops the yeast from fermenting the sugar. A simple and good sugar syrup is 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water. Put water in the pan and then add the sugar and stir and heat until the liquid starts to boil and then take off the heat and let cool. I put the syrup in a bottle and use it as needed. The only way wine should be put in a bottle that is still working is to put it in a champagne bottle only.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
freebrew, you say in one sentance to use campden tablets & inthe next you say to use potassium sorbate. do you mean you should use this together to stop fermentation? i dont know wht you mean by sweeten back.
thanx rigdiver
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
The campden tablets will stop fermentation. The potassum sorbate is if you use the syrup recipe that I gave you to sweeten the wine. If I brew a fruit wine I will let the wine ferment all the way out. Then I will add small amounts of simple syrup to my taste and then add potassium sorbate to keep the yeast from refermenting. Campden will stop fermentation and oxidation, but campden tablets used alone will not stop re-fermentation if residual sugar is left. When the wine is transferred from vessel to vessel the campden,sulfite, will become less and less by exposing it to air and hitting the wine in the vessel. Sorbate will not be driven off and will keep the wine stable and from re-fermenting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Thanx Freebrew, I wasn't really up on th potassium sorbate part. I had been told that 'potassium' would do it, my friend wasn't all that specific. 'preciate that!
Thanks agin!
Spiritmaker
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
The wine is much better now that it has aged. Tastes nothing like it did a month ago!
I guess I need more patience.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
Groups: Guests
Joined: 2/10/2002(UTC)
Posts: 5,254
|
Been spending all of my time here in the general forum and just noticed this thread. I'm not crazy about the concord but I can make a good one. Pinot noir is my number one choice with Cabernet as a second. However, Believe it or not I have made some pretty good wine from Welches frozen concentrate and ordinary white cane sugar. No single recipe will do this though unless you don't mind the possibility of a too sweet wine. You must use a hydrometer and measure the sugar content of the juice before adding any sugar if you want it to ferment to dry. Check this page out for more specifics: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp As a matter of fact I highly recommend that site for anything you want to know about making wine. Bread yeast is a very poor choice as well. I use Red Star Montrachet dry wine yeast. Last time I got in the mood to make a Welches wine was new years eve. Mostly because I just wanted to make something at the last minute simply because it was a memorable date. I hit the local grocery store and unbelievably they didn't have enough cans of Concord for me to make 5 gallons so I decided to throw into the mix two cans of white grape/raspberry. First sample was tasted this weekend and is very promising. A few friends tasted it and are in love but I don't count their cheap drunk opinions very highly lol. Seriously though it is hard to believe this wine started out the way it did. It will be interesting to see what this taste like after a couple of years in the cellar. Here is the exact recipe for this particular batch: 5 campden tablets 4 teaspoons lemon juice 5 pounds sugar 2 cans welches white grape / raspberry 8 cans welches concord grape water to make 5 gallons 1 satchel red star montrachet dry wine yeast Starting sg 1.100 ending SG 1.00 It is still clearing. Just for a redneck kick I'm going to bottle a few of these as a champagne. Bam! lol
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.
