Apple Wine Part 3: Re-racking [11/11/17]

[11/11/17]*

*Apple Wine was re-racked today before I started the grape wine

The apple wine was last racked on 10/31, over one week ago. There was only a slight buildup of lees, barely any volume. Clarity has gone up, and standard racking procedures were followed to rack from carboy to carboy.

Bottom carboy foaming up from the residual Star San used to clean:

Auto Siphon in the top carboy. 

Lees remaining in the carboy: 

Campden tablet was not added as 1 tablet had already been added in the prior racking. Specific gravity was also not measured as wine was at 0.995 last time, and should be very close, if not already, to completely dried wine. This wine should probably sit for 1 month, in order to clear more and fine up. It seems to be taking longer as no fining/ clearing agents were used. Carboy was put back into insulation like so. Next check should be after New Year.

Concord Wine Part 1: Starting from Grape Juice [11/11/17]

[11/11/17]

Making Concord wine from 2 bottles of grape juice from concentrate, and 1 can of frozen grape concentrate. Time: 11am

Juice Details-

• Market Basket 100% Grape Juice from Concentrate (1/2 gallon bottles) x2
• Market Basket 100% Frozen Grape Juice Concentrate (12oz can)
• Sugar: 870g total
• Vitamin C (ascorbic acid): ~2 to 3 grams
• Concentrate and juice made from concord grapes.

Must Details-

• 1 whole packet of Red Star Montrachet yeast.
• 1 gal Juice from bottle
• 1 12oz can concentrate
• 12oz water to rinse out can
• 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
• 1/4 tsp wine tannin
• 1 cup sugar diluted in 0.5 cups water (only ~75% of solution used to sweeten)
• 1.096 original SG (Approx 13-14% potential ABV)

Frozen concentrate was thawed and poured in first. 1 more can of water was used to rinse out concentrate. The bottled juice was added in on top afterwards. Pectic Enzyme was added at this point and left for ~15 minutes to work. Specific gravity reading was taken and sugar solution was added gradually to reach 1.096 SG. about 1/4 of the sugar solution remained. Yeast nutrient was added right afterwards and stirred lightly.

Yeast is then pitched by sprinkling on top:

At this point, I realized that there was no tannin added yet. After some research suggesting that Concord grapes have low levels of tannin, it was decided that 1/4 tsp of tannin (the same amount as the apple wine) should be added. The tannin was added to the wine and stirred lightly.

Wine is currently under cheese cloth. Airlock should be fitted in about 4 days time (11/15/17), and first racking into secondary should be in 1 week (tentatively 11/19/17).

Grape Wine Prelude

Tomorrow, I will be making wine from concord grape concentrate, and grape juice from a recipe derived from Jack Keller's Welch concentrate wine recipe (below).

Welch's Frozen Grape Juice Wine

• 2 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's 100% frozen grape concentrate

• 1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar

• 2 tsp acid blend

• 1 tsp pectic enzyme

• 1 tsp yeast nutrient

• water to make 1 gallon

• wine yeast

Bring 1 quart water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Add additional water to make one gallon and pour into secondary. Add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover with napkin fastened with rubber band and set aside 12 hours. Add activated wine yeast and recover with napkin. When active fermentation slows down (about 5 days), fit airlock. When clear, rack, top up and refit airlock. After additional 30 days, stabilize, sweeten if desired and rack into bottles.

For my wine, I will be using 2 64oz bottles of Market Basket's 100% concord grape juice from concentrate, in addition to 1 can of Market Basket's frozen grape juice concentrate. This additional can will compensate for flavor lost through adding syrup initially, and will also bring total volume up to at least 1.2 gallons. This is so that we will end up with 1 gallon after the first racking, with a bit more to taste.

Grape Juice details-

• 2 bottles of 312g sugar + 1 can of 246g sugar = 870g sugar 
• Acid is unknown. According to nutrition facts, total should be around 2800% of daily intake on a 2000 calorie diet, according to Market Basket. This could be anywhere between 2 to 3.3 grams of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
• Frozen concentrate comes in 12oz cans, and makes 48oz of juice. Ascorbic acid added.

To start this wine, no acid will be added as people have complained about concentrate wines being too tart, and we are adding an additional can of frozen concentrate. Grape juice is also more sweet than our previous apple wine, and less sugar should be needed to get to the 1.090 SG mark.

Tentative Procedure:

1. Pour juices into plastic fermenter, after thawing out frozen concentrate.
2. Rinse out concentrate container with water and throw into pail.
3. Add 1 tsp pectic enzyme to mixture. Not heaped, but better to be over than under.
4. Make sugar syrup by mixing 1 cup of sugar into 1/2 cup of boiled water. Add slowly into wine to get it to 1.090 mark. It should not need the entirety of the solution, maybe only three quarters. (note: record the amount of sugar used)
5. Add 1 tsp yeast nutrient, make sure must is at a good temperature (60-80 degrees F)
6. Pitch 1 packet of Montrachet yeast by sprinkling on top.
7. Cover with cheesecloth and let primary ferment for 1 week. Airlock should be fitted after 3-5 days.

I will also be include wine tannin, as concord grapes naturally have low tannin content. 1/4 tsp wine tannin as per the previous apple wine should do. Concord grapes have a low tannin content and high levels of Methyl anthranilate, which is the taste of grape juice or jelly. This is the difference between concord grapes (Vitis labrusca) and typical wine grapes (Vitis vinifera).

Tasting Notes #2

#2 [11/7/2017]

Alambrado Argentina
Malbec Mendoza. 2014

• Not too fragrant
• Plum/ deep red fruit start
• Medium high tannin
• Medium acid
• Slightly spicy, almost like decaying autumn leaves on the back palate
• Tartaric tartness layered with plum fruit
• Pair with-
• Larb (tested and tried)
• Any spiced, dry, fatty, (maybe fried) food
• Solid table wine 7/10

Apple Wine Bloopers

Bloopers [11/1/17]

You may remember the small sample of Apple Wine I put aside from racking primary into secondary. This value amounts to about 350ml, judging from the size of the cup. To this, I added one heaped teaspoon of table sugar (cane sugar), so simulate a backsweetened wine. The solution was poured it into an empty bottle of Old Overholt rye whiskey, and contained trace amounts of the remaining whiskey. The bottle was rigorously shaken to degass and left to chill in the fridge for a couple hours. Here are the notes of when I tasted it that night.

• Initially smells acidic, yeasty, very obvious fruitiness.
• Stings on first tongue contact, medium high acid. No signs of carbonation.
• Sweet, but not overpowering undertones.
• Yeasty breath (smells like live yeast)
• Fiery back palate (like a “hot” wine) - maybe attributed to age.
• Let it air out a bit to soften, makes it better.
• Does not taste like "oxidized" or reddened apple flesh. Still retains a freshness to it.
• Current level of sugar (1 heap tsp/ 350 ml) is just right to bring out fresh fruitiness, but still not overpowering or even noticeably sweet (in a sugary way).
• Lees are still precipitating onto the bottom of the glass

Color in a wine glass:

What I ended up doing for a temporary insulation solution* (should keep it warm and dark enough):

*A bunch of plastic bags to wrap the carboy, all covered with the plastic bag that the original juice was purchased in.