I only make a few single 1 gallon batches a year which turn out reasonalble.
But I've been given 6 x 1gal sweet white kits. Can I use the grape
concentrate as a direct replacement for sugar, and ignore the fact that its
GRAPE,

for instance I hope to make a batch or two of blackberry , my thought is
just to use the grape concentrate to directly replace as much of the sugar
as possible, only using it to adjust the starting SG.

"Ian James" > wrote in message
...
>I only make a few single 1 gallon batches a year which turn out
>reasonalble. But I've been given 6 x 1gal sweet white kits. Can I use the
>grape concentrate as a direct replacement for sugar, and ignore the fact
>that its GRAPE,
>
> for instance I hope to make a batch or two of blackberry , my thought is
> just to use the grape concentrate to directly replace as much of the sugar
> as possible, only using it to adjust the starting SG.

No, the wine police will come and get you and report you to Homeland
Security.
Just kidding. Of course you can do that. You might experiment and try
adding sugar to some and bring up the SG with concentrate with the other and
see which you prefer in the end.

Ian James wrote:
> I only make a few single 1 gallon batches a year which turn out reasonalble.
> But I've been given 6 x 1gal sweet white kits. Can I use the grape
> concentrate as a direct replacement for sugar, and ignore the fact that its
> GRAPE,
>
> for instance I hope to make a batch or two of blackberry , my thought is
> just to use the grape concentrate to directly replace as much of the sugar
> as possible, only using it to adjust the starting SG.

You can do that with two caveats, first you will want to be careful
that your acidity does not get out of hand. Second, it will affect
flavor, so be carefull of that too. Many non-grape wine recipies call
for grape concentrate to add vinousness (tartaric acid character mainly
IMO) and additional body. Jack keller has a compilation of 10
blackberry wine recipies and one of them calls for the addition of red
grape concentrate.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/blackbr2.asp

The use of white grape concentrate will lighten the color but you
should be ok.

Ian - A very good commercial winery here in the KC area does just what you
are thinking of doing. They don't use sugar...just grape concentrate for
added fermentables.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA


"Ian James" > wrote in message
...
>I only make a few single 1 gallon batches a year which turn out
>reasonalble. But I've been given 6 x 1gal sweet white kits. Can I use the
>grape concentrate as a direct replacement for sugar, and ignore the fact
>that its GRAPE,
>
> for instance I hope to make a batch or two of blackberry , my thought is
> just to use the grape concentrate to directly replace as much of the sugar
> as possible, only using it to adjust the starting SG.
>
>

William Frazier wrote:
> Ian - A very good commercial winery here in the KC area does just what you
> are thinking of doing. They don't use sugar...just grape concentrate for
> added fermentables.
>
> Bill Frazier
> Olathe, Kansas USA
>
>
> "Ian James" > wrote in message
> ...
> >I only make a few single 1 gallon batches a year which turn out
> >reasonalble. But I've been given 6 x 1gal sweet white kits. Can I use the
> >grape concentrate as a direct replacement for sugar, and ignore the fact
> >that its GRAPE,
> >
> > for instance I hope to make a batch or two of blackberry , my thought is
> > just to use the grape concentrate to directly replace as much of the sugar
> > as possible, only using it to adjust the starting SG.
> >
> >


Bill, is that the one that makes the elderberry wine?

Me and the wife were thinking a while back (before the recent gas
surge) of making a trip down to KS to buy a bottle of it. It has been
a while since I checked, they might have a shipping program set up now.
Maybe I can order a bottle or 20.

I was speaking of Holy-Field Vineyard and Winery in Basehor, Kansas...just
west of KC proper (www.holyfieldwinery.com). I know Les and his daughter
Michelle very well. Their best wine is Chambourcin followed by Vignoles and
Melody. The elderberry winery is Wyldewood Winery in Paxico, Kansas. They
used to be in Mulvane which is south of Wichita but their winery burned down
several years ago. Check them out on www.elderberry.com. They have some
interesting wines including one made from the elderberry flowers. I bought
some a few years ago for a presentation about Kansas fruit wines. They
shipped to me here in Olathe.

Bill Frazier


> Bill, is that the one that makes the elderberry wine?
>
> Me and the wife were thinking a while back (before the recent gas
> surge) of making a trip down to KS to buy a bottle of it. It has been
> a while since I checked, they might have a shipping program set up now.
> Maybe I can order a bottle or 20.
>

Thank you Gents for the answers, I'll being giving it a go.

Ian

Ian,
It's a very common practice, it's hard to have grapes not ripen in
California but if they needed to bump the sugar up they would use
concentrate. It's illegal for them to use sugar.

As others have mentioned, just think about what this particular
concentrate will do to the flavor. A Concord is very distinctive, while
a Niagara would be less so if you are talking frozen concentrate from a
grocery store. If concentrate from a wine shop, the sky is the limit.


As a rule of thumb concentrate is roughly 70% sugar, but add it in
stages in case yours is different. In other words, if that would work
out to 3 ounces of concentrate add a third of that, taste, etc. There
is nothing more annoying than getting close to the end and making a
mistake that could have been avoided.

Joe