Couple of newb Q's

[gitmo234]

Hey all,

Just ordered EZ caps, and I currently have 6 2liter bottles of varying types of wine brewing up.

I have sparking white made from 100% pure white grape juice
a wine of black cherry and grape
two 100% grape wines
a Cranberry/strawberry/white grape
and a mix of red and white grape wine

What I've done is made sure (except the cran/strawberry/white grape) all wine I bought was 100% pure juice. I'm wondering what kind of wine this will produce when compared with something like a juice drink that may only contain 50% juice or less.

Also, any tips on getting this to taste similar to a bottled wine? I dont mean I want 90+ rankings on a wine scale, but I also want something could be thought to be a bottled wine, if there was no label, if my formulas wont already produce something similar. I'm not looking perfect quality, but pretty darn good for homebrew quality.

I played with the sugar content a lot too. Adding 1 cup in some and 2 cups in others, and everything in between. Writing down my mixes and labeling the bottles.

My plan is to buy a corker and use my old wine bottles and have enough for me and to give to a few friends, and constantly have some being made. I'm not a wine snob by any means, although a good red wine is right there next to beer with me.

[ezcaps_phpbb3_import2]

Hey all,

Just ordered EZ caps, and I currently have 6 2liter bottles of varying types of wine brewing up.

I have sparking white made from 100% pure white grape juice
a wine of black cherry and grape
two 100% grape wines
a Cranberry/strawberry/white grape
and a mix of red and white grape wine

What I've done is made sure (except the cran/strawberry/white grape) all wine I bought was 100% pure juice. I'm wondering what kind of wine this will produce when compared with something like a juice drink that may only contain 50% juice or less.

Also, any tips on getting this to taste similar to a bottled wine? I dont mean I want 90+ rankings on a wine scale, but I also want something could be thought to be a bottled wine, if there was no label, if my formulas wont already produce something similar. I'm not looking perfect quality, but pretty darn good for homebrew quality.

I played with the sugar content a lot too. Adding 1 cup in some and 2 cups in others, and everything in between. Writing down my mixes and labeling the bottles.

My plan is to buy a corker and use my old wine bottles and have enough for me and to give to a few friends, and constantly have some being made. I'm not a wine snob by any means, although a good red wine is right there next to beer with me.

Most of the juice drinks I've tried to ferment have turned out really good. The yeast does seem to love corn syrup. Interested to see how your experiments turn out. Please post the results!

[rastoma]

It's really hard to give specific help on how to produce a good wine. Using ez-caps and the provided yeast can produce horrible wine or as good as the best you could buy anywhere. It's all in the process, ingredients and time.

You can make a batch of drinkable wine in 10 days. Or you can rack it, age it, rack it again, age it some more and have a totally different product which many would consider to be a higher quality. You can buy canned or boxed kits of specific types of grapes and make a wine that could possible compete with anything commercially produced, again depending on the process.

But remember, the main 'thing' that EZ-CAPS does for you is give you an easy way to make 'sparking wine', not just plain wine. You can let it ferment for weeks and eventually it will lose ALL it's fizz (natural carbonation), but if you're going to do that there's no reason to really use EZ-CAPS. Just take some small balloons and poke several holes in them and secure to the bottles with rubber bands. Once the balloon deflates weeks later, fermentation is done and then you can clarify, rack, etc.

But if you want a sweet/semi-sweet sparkling wine, then EZ-CAPS makes it super easy to do, which is what I personally prefer.

You are doing the right thing though. It's all about YOUR process. Juice is pretty cheap and so experimenting, like you're doing, is the best way to find out what works for you. You'll probably pour out an entire bottle or two your first go around since you did so many varieties. Just let us know how it turns out.

[gitmo234]

Well, I'm about to take the last gulp of my first bottle of 100% pure black cherry + grape juice (welches 100% pure from concentrate) with 1.5 cups of sugar added.

Originally after fermentation it produced and extremely dry wine. It was almost on par with what you would get from a cheap wine commercially bought, but just a bit dry. The type that hits your back jaw and makes you almost make a face. I actually appreciate that kinda flavor but my girlfriend didnt, so I added 1 cup of sugar after fermentation which was just a touch too much.

So now I'm drinking sweat wine that almost tastes like grape juice, I'd take dry any day, but this works. My girlfriend is buzzing pretty hard. I'm proud of this mix, and will do it again.

The other bottles still show signs of fermentation.

I only wish there was a way to clear it faster. If I could do that, I would be 100% amazed. Right now I'm 95% happy.

I will post the rest of the results as they finish up. If you're wondering, yes, I actually corked the bottles too. I dont have a corker (yet), but if you take a synthetic cork, a wine bottle a sanitzed pair of channel locks and a sanitized rubber mallet you've got all you need. Use the channel locks to twist cork as far down as you can go, then put the rubber mallet on it and apply pressure. Dont swing or hit, just push down. it will eventually push all or 90% of it in.

[Morriganpoe]

Hello Gitmo,

there are products that you can purchase at a brewing store that will clarify you wine faster.
"Bentonite, a natural clay, can be added to the wine to hasten the clearing. The molecular charge in the bentonite attracts the microscopic particles of pulp in the wine, and the weight of the clay pulls them to the bottom, usually clarifying the wine in a few weeks."

Read more at Suite101: How to Eliminate Cloudiness and Clarify Homemade Wine: Bottle Crystal Clear Wines Made at Home http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to- ... z1A872VXhG

hope this helps.

Morriganpoe