Forum Rules, Notifications and Helpful Hints

Explore the community of craft distillers and discover the largest professional association dedicated to the art and science of craft distillation. ACE DISTILLER has been serving all levels, from novice enthusiasts to seasoned professionals, in the craft distilling industry since 2010.

Home Forums Beer, and Wine Mead Made with Concord Grapes

  • Mead Made with Concord Grapes

    Posted by rickyaifd on April 25, 2024 at 2:28 am

    Not really a distillation question per se, I have some off-brand grape juice that I got from a food box, that claims to be concord grape concentrate, water, and ascorbic acid which is vitamin c. No other ingredients listed on the bottle. How much honey and nutrient would I need to add to make a good grape mead? I plan on using EC-1118 or D47 for the yeast strain. Any recommendations on the type of nutrient? Honey by itself, doesn’t have enough nutrients for yeast. Most good wines made from grapes, do not use the Concord grape…. So I don’t think it would distill well. Hence, this is why I think I can use it to flavor a mead. Curiously, the Google search didn’t give much info.

    rickyaifd replied 7 months, 3 weeks ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • subbrew

    Member
    April 25, 2024 at 3:48 am

    Test your gravity to see what the sugar in the grape juice reads. Without knowing how much juice you have, the gravity of the juice, desired abv for the mead and how much mead you want there is no way to give you an answer on how much honey you need. Honey will add a about 43 points gravity per lb. A half teaspoon of yeast nutrient and a half teaspoon of DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) per gallon will provide nutrients. If you don’t have that, you can chop up and add a half cup of raisins per gallon. Depending on how hard your water is you can also add 1/2 teaspoon of calcium carbonate (chalk) per gallon to buffer ph. As a precaution for ph drop I usually use D47 yeast as it seems to take low Ph better than EC-1118. But EC-1118 is better at highlighting floral and subtle fruit flavors. Probably not an issue with concord grape.

  • rickyaifd

    Member
    April 25, 2024 at 9:08 am

    Duh, kicking my own buttinski … I KNOW to start with the sg.

Log in to reply.

en_USEnglish