Easiest wine to make?

[hong]

Come on then, who thinks which wine is the simplest to make and why?
( not including Turbo Cider! )

[Hippie]

Grocery store juice wines, concentrated or otherwise.

Pour it in a bucket, sweeten it up to whatever SG you want, sprinkle on yeast, attach lid and airlock. You have wine in a few days.

[daveb50]

Come on then, who thinks which wine is the simplest to make and why?
( not including Turbo Cider! )

If you've made Wine before, I think the easiest Wine to make is "the next one". Why? Because you have all the knowledge you gained from "the last one".

Now, If this is your first wine, I would say any Wine kit. It has everything measured for you, and they guarantee it.

[shirlthegirl43]

Grocery store juice wines, concentrated or otherwise.

Pour it in a bucket, sweeten it up to whatever SG you want, sprinkle on yeast, attach lid and airlock. You have wine in a few days.

How do you work out what SG you want to start with? Any recommendations on best juices to use? Any further instructions please?

This sounds like a good next step after my kit wine (which is lovely).

Thanks and cheers,
Shirley

[carolinej]

Yup, I am a bit confused by this sg thing I will be watching to see what answers you get.

cj

[P cuthbert]

With store juices, watch for the preservatives. Too much will prevent fermentation.

For these wines, a SG of 1.070 will work nicely. The wine will ferment to about 9% and should be nicely drinkable a couple of mmonths after bottling.

[hong]

I`ve never made a juice wine before. Is it as simple as adding the juices, sugar and yeast? Do you not need bananas or raisins for body? Think i`ll try a juice one, trouble is, so many cartons of juice too much choice!

[Hippie]

Add sugar to increase SG or thicken it up, add water to decrease SG or thin it out. That is about as basic a winemaking lesson as it gets. Everyone HAS studied up on basic winemaking before jumping into this, right?

[lockwood1956]

trouble is, so many cartons of juice too much choice!

Try Morrisons cranberry/raspberry

nice...

[carolinej]

Add sugar to increase SG or thicken it up, add water to decrease SG or thin it out. That is about as basic a winemaking lesson as it gets. Everyone HAS studied up on basic winemaking before jumping into this, right?

Of course

cj

[heeby]

caroline do you know what s.g is have you got a hydrometer

[carolinej]

I have a hydrometer, but only use it at the end of fermentation.If it reads less that 1.000, I take it that fermentation is finished, and then I rack the wine off.

I heard that it is good to take the sg every day, but was worried that this would be a bit of a risk of letting bacteria in, if every day, some is poured into the jar and back into the bottle, even if I sterilised it every day. So I just let it do its thing, till the bubbles stop

As you can tell, I have a lot to learn

cj

[Axl]

I have a hydrometer, but only use it at the end of fermentation.If it reads less that 1.000, I take it that fermentation is finished, and then I rack the wine off.

I heard that it is good to take the sg every day, but was worried that this would be a bit of a risk of letting bacteria in, if every day, some is poured into the jar and back into the bottle, even if I sterilised it every day. So I just let it do its thing, till the bubbles stop

As you can tell, I have a lot to learn

cj

You really need to take a reading at the start of fermenting, this will help you understand how the ferment is progressing, also taking an SG everyday is to much, once a week will surfice for a wine that is fermenting quickly, keep an eye on the bubbling activity in the airlock, amongst other things this can help you decide when to take an SG reading.

But carolinej, i'm no expert!

[Hippie]

You do not need to take an SG reading every day. You should use your hydrometer to adjust the SG when preparing must. You can calculate the potential alcohol by using the hydrometer or some of them are called 'triple scale' and show the potential alcohol at the same time as SG.

BTW, are you Welsh? I have some Welsh ancestry.

[Paul]

starting SG and hydrometers

My hydrometer measures the potential alcohol (PA), the specific gravity (SG - water is zero), and also includes a scale for sugar ounces per gallon.

The SG scale is set at a temperature of 60 F. It is pretty easy to find a scale to adjust based on the temperature of your juice.

So measure your temperature, then measure your SG. Adjust the SG according to the temperature from using your scale (my hydrometer came with a sheet for all this).

Reading the SG and turning the hydrometer you can see the PA. So if you have a PA of say 8% from just plain juice and you want a PA of 12% then then you can read down the scale on the hydrometer from 8 down to 12 and just roll the hydrometer to show the sugar ounces per gallon. At 8% you have about 21 ounces of sugar per US gallon, to get to 12 you need about 31 ounces of sugar per US gallon. so you would need to add 10 ounces per gallon to achieve a 12% PA reading.

You can always add the sugar, stir it up well, remeasure to see how you do. Dilution with water will lower the PA/SG reading and so on.

But that's having a hydrometer that can accomodate exactly what I've described, but well worth the effort for doing juices.

Also, for the bananas and raisins recommendations. My only juice wine has been pomegranate juice, and if you've tasted that juice it needs no help for body!!