wine Wine from Grape juice

LUCKYDOG

LUCKYDOG

I work near a distribution hub and they sell 5 gallon buckets of grape juices in different varieties -- I've known people who have made wine from in these containers and pour them into wine bottles. I would like to try to make some for shiggles -

What would I need to do this?
Im thinking some sort of yeast naturally and would I use a balloon on the buckets and how long should it ferment?

Any info would be appreciated
thanks
 
The simplest technique is to just add a packet of wine yeast(EC-1118) a 5 gram package. Very gently (a couple of swirls) the yeast in the wine. Cover the pail and let sit for about 7 days, this is called primary fermentation.

You then rack the wine(suck it into another pail, residue with sit at the bottom of the first pail, toss the residue, then you can suck the wine back into the first pail). Now, depending on the type of wine (brand not style), it sits for 6-8 weeks or several months(again it depends on the manufacture and how far they processed the original juice). At the end of this period(secondary fermentation) rack the wine again, toss the residue, and bottle the wine. Let it sit for a month and start serving.

Now you can do more work, like at the start, you can check the specific gravity to make sure the amount of sugar is at a wine starter level. you can cover with a lid that has a bung so you can watch when fermentation has finished(it will release gas, it bubbles). After several days, you can check the specific gravity again to see how far the yeast has broken down into alcohol to decide if it needs to sit longer. You can also add a yeast nutrient to feed the yeast and get action happening sooner. Some people add a couple campden tablets in the secondary fermentation to inhibit any reactiviation of the yeast and again at bottling time so the yeast doesn't restart in the bottle and either blow up the bottles or makes champagne.

There are scores of websites with instructions on how to do most of this and you can most likely find several youtube lessons.
 
Thanks BC - I like the info and its a good starting base to go by! I like the simple form if it comes out well then I can progress same way I started the hot pepper/food addiction -- I am also curious about blending of the different varieties of juices as well.
 
I'm like you, easy at first is good, you can build on that in time.

What style of wine are you planning? (Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Pinot Noir are top sellers(Syrah is the term for Shiraz for grapes not grown in a specific region in Australia) of course these are all red grape juice). The pail juice that I have purchased in the past came from a company called Alexander and sons in Acampo CA. Today, I purchase California grapes by cases and crush them but after 20 years I have all the hardware.

As for blending, the only time I do it is when I have 2 partial gallon jugs and I don't want them to oxidize, so I unscientifically mix the two - I have friends that do blend direct from grape stages and have a proven recipe. If I were to blend, I believe I would start by investicating acid levels, like peppers require PH level soils to produce the best flavour peppers true to their origin, wine depends on acid levels.

I would recommend, that when you start you wine purchase some oak wood chips. This is added approximately 2 weeks to your secondary fermentation before bottling, a couple of handfuls to the wine, then remove before bottling. If you want, split the wine into 2 separate batches, one without chips the other with. Purchased bottled wine is aged in oak barrels before bottling, if you want any added flavour or aroma this would give that appearance.

Have fun.
 
I would be satisfied with a nice table wine or cab. I wasnt thinking of blending actual wines but juices to make wine. A white with a red for example. But I think its best to stick with easy and go from there ;) - Thanks for the tips and I like the oak idea - makes sense. I've never looked for wine yeast do I buy it on line? Im not sure if there is any brewing places nearby I'll have to look -
Thanks again BC
 
So, to add some worthless knowledge (around blending) and just to add to my posting level, did you know all white starts out white? yep, when you take a grape, green/purple/red, crush it, the juice is white or light green in colour. Red wine gets its colour from the grapes skin, when I crush my grapes when making red wine, I have to let the juice sit in the crush skins for a week to become red. Amazing that this little berry has a protective barrier that prevents the red skin from penetrating into the juice but once crushed the dye is released.

....... I will add this disclaimer now, before someone adds a post saying that is not completely true, the alicante grape has purple/red juice in the berry.
 
LUCKYDOG said:
interesting factoid BC -- hope to try soon thanks
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I've been making wine for a while now, if you have any questions shoot me a message and I'll get you some online resources to use. One thing that hasn't been touched on, but goes for wine as well as hot sauce: cleanliness. Especially with wine, if you don't sanitize your equipment you're inviting failure.
 
So i have tried this befor and it worked marvelously. I saw a kit online that had you pour a magical pouch of powder into your grape juice bottle and put a gas regulator(bubbler) on top. So i went to a local beer and wine making store and talked to the guy there. He sold me the bubbler, a hydrometer(for testing sugar and alcohol levels) and a couple packets of champagne yeast.(i had carboys at home from purchasing gallons of wine on sale) and he basically said fill the carboy with juice that had sugar listed atleast as 31% on the nutrition label. Then i was to wait a week and it should be done with an alcohol level of around 16%. Well using my hydrometer it only had a 4-5% alcohol level. I had not used anyhting to clear it so it was cloudy. And to be honest it tasted like rotten fruit. Granted i didnt age it and i used cran-raspberry juice. But overall i loved it. Its kind of like even if your child is ugly, they are still the best lookin kid you know. My friends hated it so it worked out since i got to drink it all. If you want to do this to save money by making it yourself, you will spend atleast what it costs to buy the wine(or beer if you homebrew beer). but if you are prepared for trial and error, enjoying the fruits of your labor even if they are rotten fruits, and if you have a passion for process and scientific exactness...(like i do) then this is the way you wanna do it. try searching online for a homebrew store near you they should be able to help you out quite a bit.
 
i wasnt making wine. i was making fermented juice. like i said there are these kits that you can purchase, from thinkgeek.com. This guy said he had never made wine befor. I have not either but i figured this was a good way to take a small step into the process. This taught me to use a hydrometer, and how much power this kind of yeast has and i know i did it correctly since it got me drunk without making me sick or anything. The guy at this store has been making beer wine mead and an assortment of other things for quite a bit of time. He gave me what i wanted. And it worked perfectly. Where are your home wine and beer making stores?
 
pepperpunk said:
i wasnt making wine. i was making fermented juice. like i said there are these kits that you can purchase, from thinkgeek.com. This guy said he had never made wine befor. I have not either but i figured this was a good way to take a small step into the process. This taught me to use a hydrometer, and how much power this kind of yeast has and i know i did it correctly since it got me drunk without making me sick or anything. The guy at this store has been making beer wine mead and an assortment of other things for quite a bit of time. He gave me what i wanted. And it worked perfectly. Where are your home wine and beer making stores?
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I use a similar technique and it comes out fine. I get apple juice or grape juice(frozen concentrate usually) add some sugar and some bread yeast, put my airlock on top, I then let it sit for about a week or more depending on the time of year it is and the ambient heat, and that's about it. No filtering, no racking, just take care in pouring so you don't get all the residue at the bottom in the glass. Its comparable to a decent cheap wine IMO, and for only a week to two weeks of waiting thats pretty damn good. I make it a few times a year
 
Get juice without preservatives in it.
OR you might get a bottle bomb if you age the wine.

Wine foam melts Balloons.

I used to make wine with just yeast using any kind of juice i could find.
Mostly Apple Grape and a few berries(Blueberry,Cherry,Raspberries etc.).

Apple was especially good.Warm it up and add a stick of cinnamon and or clove to it in the winter,hot toddy style.

Melted a few balloons and blew up a few bottles...

The problem with the preservatives is sometimes they don't let all the sugars ferment until they either break down or the temp. gets just right for the yeast to start fermenting again.

USE Champagne bottles or wine bottles.
Corks are better than screw tops-IF a bottle got capped early the cork pops.With a screw top the bottle explodes.
Old/second hand booze bottles explode real good. :)

I made my wine when I lived in AZ. on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
They named my brew Grand Canyon Burnout Brew.
 
i use 5 gallon buckets and a airlock welches grape juice 100% and sugar check my gravity and let it sit a week. next stage i dump it into a bucket clean out my original bucket put it back in for another week its done.
 
It can be done.  Maybe not as easy as dumping yeast into a bucket of juice though.  I would advise removing some of the juice and replacing it with sugar (to up your original gravity).  Regular white table sugar would work... but corn sugar would dissolve faster and ferment a tad cleaner.  Then go to your local homebrew store (or find one online) and get some wine yeast or champagne yeast.  Red Star and Montrachet both make yeast specifically for fruity, sweet wines that will leave it a bit sweeter.  Champagne yeast will ferment dry - less sugar and more alcohol.  You may also want to pick up some yeast nutrient and citric acid... but it will probably work without them.
 
If the bucket seals airtight, you can make your own blow-off tube (better than a balloon airlock).  Go to the hardware store and grab 2 ft of clear vinyl tubing.  Drill a hole in the bucket lid just slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the tubing.  Force the tubing through the hole, so the pressure holds it in place.  Stick the other end of the tubing in a cup of water.  If your tubing starts to bubble in the water after about 24 hours... you're makin' booze.
ps - here's a 1-gallon recipe that uses Welch's grape juice.  You can either split a 5gallon bucket and make several of these, or scale this recipe up to meet your needs.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request121.asp

 
 
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