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Wow...I made good wine

I opened a bottle of my apple/mango/passion fruit made from Old Orchard frozen concentrate last night and was really surprised at how good it was.

Not that I intended to make lousy wine but this batch is very good and it was a bit of a surprise to me how it has developed from the last time I tasted it. The strong tart taste is gone.

I made 6 batches back to back to start this hobby and they are all fairly close together time wise so it's going to be interesting to see how the others turn out. At this point this is certainly a wine I could be happy to make more of and be proud of how it turns out enough to give away as gifts.

The only thing I think I'll do different next time is bring the alc % up some. I'm at around 11% and one of our favorite brands is at

14.5%.....we could tell the difference. :)

I'm still surprised at how good it turned out. It's a tropical fruit sort of thing that tastes so much like "wine"...I'd never guess it's mostly apple (frozen concentrate) rather than a 100% real grape wine.

John F

Reply to
John F
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Be carefull with raising the alcohol content. An unbalanced wine is an undrinkable wine.

Reply to
Droopy

I hope 14% is reasonable without getting unbalanced...it's a 3% jump. ??

Reply to
John F

I'm glad they came out for you; I've always had good luck using Old Orchard fruit juices. I guess I would caution you on trying to raise the % alcohol up too high. I usually stick with 11-12%. Sometimes if you go to high, all you can taste is "what I call" the alcohol kick, and you don't get to taste the flavor of the wine. I've made "by accident" a couple of high % alcohol wines, and it does take longer for those wines to smooth out. But it is up to your tastebuds and what you prefer.... Darlene ;o)

Reply to
Dar V

congrats

Reply to
Regge trajectories

Well instead of looking at a 3% jump look at it this way it is a 27% increase of alcohol. If it was balanced at 11%, do you think the sugar, acidity and fruit will be able to handle a 27% increase alcohol while remaining at their former levels and still be balanced?

That is like the differnce in driving 75 on the interstate instead of

60, in a car that was built to do 60. It will get you where you are going a lot faster that is true....but you are also much more likely to die in a terrible firey crash.
Reply to
Droopy

Congratulations on a successful introduction to this great hobby. It is surprising how good of a wine you can make. Listen to others and their suggestions but remember that you are crafting wine for your own taste. If you want to try 14.5%, by all means do so. If it goes too far you can always drop back with the next batch.

How long did you need to age it to make it drinkable? I find that frozen concentrate wines age out pretty quick. In that case experiment.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

I have never seen this put better; numbers can get away from you if not put in perspective.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

And if you are drinking your 14% wine while driving, oh MY!

Reply to
billb

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