making wine from welch's

I am new to the art of winemaking.. as a matter of fact this is the first year i am doing it. A friend of mine taught me the basics and I made my first batch of raspberry wine with him in my prescence. Since then I made elderberry, blackberry, current, another batch of raspberry, and sour cherry. Since wine grapes are not very prominent in my area I was thinking about trying to make some concord wine from welchs. upon my initial fermentation, i typically start my wine at about 1.070 on the hydrometer, and then put it in a secondary fermenter at about 1.020 and go from there. My question to you experienced winemakers is, is this the same way im going to start wine from a juice such as welch's and if anyone has any pointers or guidelines for water addition and such i would greatly appreciate any help. Im only 24 and have a love for wine and making wine and would like to continue doing this for a long time to come.

Thanks. Jim

Reply to
James K. Albert Jr.
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Look here for recipies

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Reply to
A.J. Rawls

Jim,

I'm so glad we have a "young man" entering our midst.

First of all you need to look at a couple of web sites.....

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and
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and
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There are a few others but in my humble opinion these a pretty good to great for where you are.

A quick answer to your question is 2 cans of concentrate for every gallon you want to make seems to be pretty standard. Check the above pages for sugar, pectic enzyme, etc. that you'll need to add.

A couple of comments....

1.07 might be just a bit low....think about upping your sugar content to oh, say 1.09 to 1.1 or so. Don't freak out.....there is no "right" answer.....play with it a bit. Make a BUNCH of one gallon batches and see what YOU like.

Racking to secondary at 1.02 is great and just what you should be doing.

This is a great hobby. It is one that will allow you to experiment and find your own style. So enjoy and remember, if you're not having fun then you're not doing it right.

Dave Stacy

Reply to
Dave

I'll second the recommendation for Jack's site and his recipes. I've made several of the one gallon batches from concentrate and would recommend trying several of them for yourself. If nothing else it will get you used to the process and help hone your skills as a wine maker. Heck, the end results are pretty good and interesting too.

Jon.

Reply to
Jon Foster

Young man? hmmmm, to be 24 again!

I was 37 when I started 3 years ago, and 40 years old now. Still have a LOT to learn...

What's the average age of all our winemaking friends? Many around Jim's age? Many around my age? Many around retirement age?

How old are we? And how long have we been doing it for? just a way to get to know the list participants a bit better!

Rick

Reply to
Rick Vanderwal

I think I asked this question of age and profession last year. The thread was staggering in length. It was really cool to read all the responses although it took a couple weeks to finish.

Jon.

Reply to
Jon Foster

Rick, I'm a fortysomething (actually 45), and I started making wine about 3 years ago. Darlene

Reply to
Dar V

it's interesting how often some of these topics can cycle, like removing labels, or making wine from welch's or age, etc... But it does show that new people find the group, or people just start this wonderful hobby!

I must have missed it when you asked that last year Jon...

rick

Reply to
Rick Vanderwal

Rick,

I started making wine at age 15 and am now 49. I volunteer as a part time "cellar rat" at a friend's commercial winery, but I mostly make FA hybrid wines from my own small home planting. Yes, I started with Welches and have, perhaps, learned a bit. But, as you say, there's a lot still to learn. Let's hope we don't run out of new things (and wines!) to discover.

Cheers, Mike McGeough MTM

Reply to
MikeMTM

I'm only 22 :)

Been at winemaking for a couple years now and have been reading as much as possible on the matter.

Reply to
Charles H

I'm mostly a lurker here.,,,but i do make a bit of wine and mead. Mostly beer though. I'm 22 and I've been homebrewing for about 2.5 years

john

Reply to
John D. Misrahi

Newbie here.. 27 and less than one year of winemaking.. in my second batch, tho I have yet to taste my first batch.. (giving it more time to age in the bottles as recomnended... :) )

email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well!

Reply to
Dave Allyn

Age 43 Started making wine in DEC with my Xmas Gift :) been makking Homemade Apple Jack /Hard Cider for years

Reply to
GWP29

Aubrey Johnson from Augusta, GA. I am 70 years old and have been making wine only three years. Work with fruit wines, mostly Scuppernong, Blackberry and Blueberry. Thiw web site has been a real find for me. Check on the posts almost daily and still learning every day. Aubrey

Reply to
Aubrey

I am 28 and I have been making wine and beer for about 14 years now. I have been happy with the beer for some time, but the wine only started turning out drinkable in the last year or so ( about a year after I started reading r.c.w.) With any luck I am not too far from retirement age.

-Galileo

Reply to
Galileo

I am 58 and started when I was 24. Let's see, that is, ummm, a long time.

I still get excited when I start each batch and know that it will be the best ever.

Ray

Reply to
Ray

But it never will be as good as mine ;)

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

hehe.... lawbreaker!!!!

I started about 1.125 years ago, and am 22 also. =)

Reply to
evilpaul13

Drinking age in Canada is 18 or 19, depending on the province... so no worries for John or I!

Reply to
Charles H

I'm 77 and have been making wine for over 20 years. Have won a wall full of medal too!. Last year I entered 5 wines in the NM State Fair Wine Competition and won 5 medals. 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze, The 2 golds were best of show (one for red and one for white.) Very rewarding!!!!!

Reply to
Rex Franklin

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