My First Grapewine: Gone bad or normal?

[Beerfant]

I just fermented my first batch of grape wine....

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 liters of packed red grape juice (without sugar and preservatives)
1 liter water
100 grams raisins
500 grams cane sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
1/2 cup of strong black tea
2 packets of bakers instant dry yeast
100 ml vodka (approx)

Procedure:

I boiled sugar in about 1 liter water, along with one packet of yeast to kill it, then added the raisins paste, blended with a little water. I let the syrup boil for about 10 minutes and cooled it down. Added it to a clean 6-liter water bottle, added juice and citric acid, and shook the must well. Finally I pitched a packet of bakers yeast. Finally I sealed the bottle and an airlock was attached with a mixture of clean bottled water and vodka.

The 100 ml vodka given in the ingredients, I had added to the must as a disinfectant. I have no idea if it was a reasonable thing to do or not. I could not any information on this anywhere, and it was my own idea that could not hurt in any case.

I must say I do not have access to special wine making yeasts and other stuff such as Campden tablets and special sanitizers.

The temperatures were in the recommended ranges. The primary fermentation went well. Now, after 2 weeks, with the fermentation halted completely a few days ago, I decided to rack it to the secondary. There was still some raisin pulp floating on the surface, so I filtered it through a sterilized sieve into another 6-liter bottle, and added another liter of the same grape juice to fill the bottle up to the mouth with very little free space left. I also took a quarter of glass of the wine to test (before adding the additional grape juice.)

Here is what I found: The wine has dried out, with almost no sweetness. The taste seems quite nice. The only problem is it seems a bit tart. There is no reason for it to have turned into vinegar so soon, considering that there was no way for Oxygen to have entered into the primary during the fermentation.

I would appreciate if you ladies and gentlemen can advise what might have caused the sour taste? Is there any remedy to make it less sour? How do I know if the tartness is not because of acetic acid?

Would appreciate any help.

 

[Lebl468]

Sounds safe and sound to me. Just sounds a little young tasting. I can't see anything in your process that is glaringly wrong, even the vodka addition I don't think would hurt anything. You may also be getting a little off taste from the bakers yeast, but if it tastes good but a little tart this young, to me that is a good sign you are on the right track. I have made 2 batches of grape juice wine so far and both were pretty sour off the start but after 6 months bottled, they mellowed out nicely. Good luck!

 

[Beerfant]

Sounds safe and sound to me. Just sounds a little young tasting. I can't see anything in your process that is glaringly wrong, even the vodka addition I don't think would hurt anything. You may also be getting a little off taste from the bakers yeast, but if it tastes good but a little tart this young, to me that is a good sign you are on the right track. I have made 2 batches of grape juice wine so far and both were pretty sour off the start but after 6 months bottled, they mellowed out nicely. Good luck!

Thank you for being encouraging! What do I do to stop any further fermentation. I have added a liter of grape juice and I would not want it to dry out again. Can I add some preservative at this stage and let the wine clear out, then bottle and age or should I leave it in the secondary to age even after it has cleared out?

Do you think the tartness is because I added too much citric acid?

 

[Lebl468]

Maybe someone can jump in with the additives that halt/slowdown fermentation, but I always just let it take its fermentation course, clear then bottle. I know the correct additives come with commercial kits, but I honestly don't remember what they are called.

Chris

 

[Lebl468]

Sorry, didn't get my whole answer in before clicking post! Like I said, I think the sour is just a natural side effect, I add I no citric acid and mine still comes out tart. If you don't mind dry, I would just let it clear in secondary, and bottle. I think it is going to age nicely in the next 6 months.

Chris

 

[Beerfant]

Update:

It's been more than 12 hours since I added 1 liter of grape juice. There is no sign of fermentation! Is it possible the alcohol tolerance of the yeast has been reached?

 

[Lebl468]

Update:

It's been more than 12 hours since I added 1 liter of grape juice. There is no sign of fermentation! Is it possible the alcohol tolerance of the yeast has been reached?

Yes, if I am not mistaken, bread yeast has a low tolerance for overall alcohol content.

 

[Beerfant]

Yes, if I am not mistaken, bread yeast has a low tolerance for overall alcohol content.

Sometime later, I made wine with strawberries. I even used much more sugar (both white and brown - about 4lb in all) and the resultant wine has a nice ABV, although a bit sweet, because there was no fermentation after I added the last 1lb of brown sugar. I can feel the burning down the throat as I take a sip. What I am trying to say is the bread yeast may not have as high a tolerance as EC-1118 or even Montrachet, but it sure has enough to make a decently strong wine.

My grape juice wine never fermented when I last added a liter of the same juice. It is now too sweet for a wine. Is it possible the yeast died for some reason? would pitching more help? The extra sweetness seems to destroy the taste of the wine.

 

[Beerfant]

Well the wine was far from drinkable, so I did an experiment. I took a little out in a half liter plastic soda bottle, added a pinch of yeast and shut the cap tight. Nothing much happened. So I thought I should try reducing the abv. I added water to reduce the abv, and pitched in the remaining packet of yeast. I left the bottle for an hour and guess what? It was foaming to the top! I couldn't open it without spraying the yeasty must here and there. I made some space in my carboy that contained the grape wine, added some water, and then added the fermenting must from the soda bottle. I added an air lock and now it's been fermenting again for the last 3 days!