red wine ???

[ash1]

i just made some what i hope is red (ish) wine i used champane yeast (hydrated) 2X 5 alive berry burst , 1Xwelches pure grape juice , mixed 500g sugar with boiled water 1l and into the dj, 1 hour on and little bubbles coming on , plan to leave for a week rack campden another week then re rack with finings and bottle . should be ok i think . if i degas and bottle when or if should it be drinkable ?

[ash1]

oh and can i top up with water or would some more fruit juice be better was thinking see how it tastes and sweeten if i need it

[Gordonmull]

No need to rack after a week or campden. It very probably won't be fermented out in a week and racking has a tendancy to stun the yeast, let alone adding sodium met!

Just let it do it's thing and rack it after it starts to clear and SG is below 1000. Campden at this stage. Yeah topping up with water is fine at less than about 100ml/gal you won't notice a difference. If greater, use a similar wine. Don't use fruit juice unless you sorbate, campden and let it sit for a while first to stablise. If you do ferment will restart. This will also sweeten your wine.

Rememeber - the yeast wants to make booze. All you have to do is let it!

[ash1]

thanks for that , i will let it do its job. hope it is good as its my first try at wine if its any good i can see this hobby taking over, probably need to look at some rose for the other half mind as she dosn't drink red

[grumpysod]

Have a look at Wines at Home Number 2 wine It's similar to what you're trying to do and the forum is to wine what Jim's is to beer

[Gordonmull]

What he said ^

[ash1]

update: i just bottled the wine after recking and letting it clear , i added 1LTR apple juice about a week ago and just left it , last night i degassed it and bottled it , i had a little taste and its not bad, rough but drinkable if i chill it . just the obvious question will it get any better if i leave it for another month ????

[ash1]

update: i just bottled the wine after recking and letting it clear , i added 1LTR apple juice about a week ago and just left it , last night i degassed it and bottled it , i had a little taste and its not bad, rough but drinkable if i chill it . just the obvious question will it get any better if i leave it for another month ????

[trucker5774]

Keeping it simple for the first go is the key.............let it ferment out, rack, campden, degass etc.

The next one (sounds like you want it a little sweeter than the fermented out version) try mixing two red to a white grape juice with sugar added and then do what you were thinking................rack and treat early before it has fermented out, thereby retaining some sugar and sweetness. A simple taste as the gravity drops will give you a good idea as to how sweet it is and whether to rack at that point

[trucker5774]

Keeping it simple for the first go is the key.............let it ferment out, rack, campden, degass etc.

The next one (sounds like you want it a little sweeter than the fermented out version) try mixing two red to a white grape juice with sugar added and then do what you were thinking................rack and treat early before it has fermented out, thereby retaining some sugar and sweetness. A simple taste as the gravity drops will give you a good idea as to how sweet it is and whether to rack at that point

[ash1]

update, my wine has cleared now its looking like a nice rose now , just a question about aging now im hoping to leave it for another 4 weeks before i have a try,
is this long enough , i had a try when i frist bottled it and it was like really cheap wine will this get better ?