A common question on the site, mostly by novices, is: Is my wine working
normally? Or some variation there of. My usual comment is that there is no
real norm. This weekend I started a couple off wines that are a case in
point.

I started two 3 gallon batches. One of Welch's White Niagara and one of
Welch's Red Concord, both from frozen concentrates. I added 7 cans to each.
Each got the same amount of pectic enzyme, nutrient, and acid blend.
(Basically Jack's recipe.) The starting SG's were 1.055 and 1.060
respectively. I brought this up to 1.098 and 1.095 respectively. I
sprinkled 1 pkt Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast on each. I did not stir it in. I
covered each primary bucket with a heavy towel.

The next morning the White had a moderate layer of yeast over the surface.
The Red had a light layer of yeast on the surface. I did not touch either.
That evening the white had a dense cap of yeast over the surface (perhaps
1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The Red had no cap at all. Every thing had sunk. I
stirred each lightly. The red had a lot of CO2 in is so there was no
question about it working.

By the next morning the white had a layer of foam perhaps 1 inch thick
consisting of very tiny bubbles over the whole surface. The red had perhaps
4 to 6 inches of bubbles climbing the sides of the bucket with less in the
center and the bubbles were very large, mostly 1/4 to 1/2 in diameter.

My point is that 2 wines, both grape though of different types, both treated
the same using the same yeast, and the fermentation "looks" very different.
There may not be a norm. The norm is that they are both fermenting nicely.

These are just general comments but any other comments or observations would
prove interesting.

Ray

--

Question - what would you compare the wine made from Welch's with? I was
thinking about trying a small batch of it myself.

Al

"Ray" > wrote in message
.. .
> A common question on the site, mostly by novices, is: Is my wine working
> normally? Or some variation there of. My usual comment is that there is
no
> real norm. This weekend I started a couple off wines that are a case in
> point.
>
> I started two 3 gallon batches. One of Welch's White Niagara and one of
> Welch's Red Concord, both from frozen concentrates. I added 7 cans to
each.
> Each got the same amount of pectic enzyme, nutrient, and acid blend.
> (Basically Jack's recipe.) The starting SG's were 1.055 and 1.060
> respectively. I brought this up to 1.098 and 1.095 respectively. I
> sprinkled 1 pkt Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast on each. I did not stir it in. I
> covered each primary bucket with a heavy towel.
>
> The next morning the White had a moderate layer of yeast over the surface.
> The Red had a light layer of yeast on the surface. I did not touch
either.
> That evening the white had a dense cap of yeast over the surface (perhaps
> 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The Red had no cap at all. Every thing had sunk.
I
> stirred each lightly. The red had a lot of CO2 in is so there was no
> question about it working.
>
> By the next morning the white had a layer of foam perhaps 1 inch thick
> consisting of very tiny bubbles over the whole surface. The red had
perhaps
> 4 to 6 inches of bubbles climbing the sides of the bucket with less in the
> center and the bubbles were very large, mostly 1/4 to 1/2 in diameter.
>
> My point is that 2 wines, both grape though of different types, both
treated
> the same using the same yeast, and the fermentation "looks" very
different.
> There may not be a norm. The norm is that they are both fermenting
nicely.
>
> These are just general comments but any other comments or observations
would
> prove interesting.
>
> Ray
>
> --
>
>
>

Can't help you there. These are my first batches. I have used it to
enhance other wines but thought I should make some base runs to see how it
is by itself. Lots of people here make it though. Some have won prizes
with it. See the Welch's wines on Jack's site.

Ray

"Alfonse" > wrote in message
. ..
> Question - what would you compare the wine made from Welch's with? I was
> thinking about trying a small batch of it myself.
>
> Al
>
> "Ray" > wrote in message
> .. .
> > A common question on the site, mostly by novices, is: Is my wine
working
> > normally? Or some variation there of. My usual comment is that there
is
> no
> > real norm. This weekend I started a couple off wines that are a case in
> > point.
> >
> > I started two 3 gallon batches. One of Welch's White Niagara and one of
> > Welch's Red Concord, both from frozen concentrates. I added 7 cans to
> each.
> > Each got the same amount of pectic enzyme, nutrient, and acid blend.
> > (Basically Jack's recipe.) The starting SG's were 1.055 and 1.060
> > respectively. I brought this up to 1.098 and 1.095 respectively. I
> > sprinkled 1 pkt Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast on each. I did not stir it in. I
> > covered each primary bucket with a heavy towel.
> >
> > The next morning the White had a moderate layer of yeast over the
surface.
> > The Red had a light layer of yeast on the surface. I did not touch
> either.
> > That evening the white had a dense cap of yeast over the surface
(perhaps
> > 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The Red had no cap at all. Every thing had
sunk.
> I
> > stirred each lightly. The red had a lot of CO2 in is so there was no
> > question about it working.
> >
> > By the next morning the white had a layer of foam perhaps 1 inch thick
> > consisting of very tiny bubbles over the whole surface. The red had
> perhaps
> > 4 to 6 inches of bubbles climbing the sides of the bucket with less in
the
> > center and the bubbles were very large, mostly 1/4 to 1/2 in diameter.
> >
> > My point is that 2 wines, both grape though of different types, both
> treated
> > the same using the same yeast, and the fermentation "looks" very
> different.
> > There may not be a norm. The norm is that they are both fermenting
> nicely.
> >
> > These are just general comments but any other comments or observations
> would
> > prove interesting.
> >
> > Ray
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> >
>
>