Saw a great video a few weeks ago for Simple Wine from Fruit Juice, but can't find it now.

Basically, the guy took bottles of 100% fruit juice only added sugar and yeast, slightly put on the cap, let it set, then drank...

He said 30 days or longer, then it was supposedly drinkable, but the longer you let it sit, the better it tasted.
He also warned not to screw the caps on to tight or you'd blow grape juice all over the basement, garage or where ever you kept it.

So I want to give this a try.
I've got 4 of those 1 Gallon Carboy jugs each with a solid type cap, a "bubbler" and a plug with a hole for said bubbler, several things of 100% juice in a few flavors and I have a few packs of Yeast coming from Amazon.

My questions are:
1. How much Sugar should I put in each jug? I was thinking a 1.5 Cups per gallon?
2. How much yeast? I was thinking 1/4 of a teaspoon or one packet?
3. How long, really should I let them age?  

I mean 30 days or longer goes, pretty quick, but I'm sure there is a diminishing point of return, where after say 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or whatever it is, it really doesn't get any better and may even get worse...

I would go with that recipe. Sounds fine with the natural sugar in the juice and then the 1.5 cups per gallon.

Same with the yeast, that will work.

On the time question, with wine, more time equals better. I make mead and the longer it sits, the better it is. I have some bottled mead that is 8 years old and it is better now than it was last year.

What kind of yeast are you gonna use? Wine or beer? I think I'd try it with wine yeast to get a higher alcohol content.

Yea, some Wine Yeast I guess... I didnt actually know there were different kinds.
I ordered it off Amazon.
Attached File

You should have bought a hydrometer to make sure everything is going well.

Clean and sanitize everything and you will get wine and not the runs.

Go on youtube, and search for "Barley and hops Brewing".  George used to run a brew shop near KIleen, TX.  He has many videos on making wine.

I bought a "fastferment" wine kit a long time ago.  It sits here, waiting for me to find the time to make some wione.

He has one vid about making wine from concentrate.

12 or so years ago i bought 2 wine making kits.  They advertised that they are ready in 4 weeks or 6 weeks or something.  i make the first kit and in 4 or 6 weeks tried some.  it was horrible.  i left it in bottles and then decided to try it again a few months later.  It was way better.  

I don't do kits anymore but I let all wine bulk age for around a year.  It is worth the wait.

Well, I got them going.

4 1 Gallon Jugs with the following.

Dark/Purple Grape Juice, 1 Packet Wine Yeast, 1.5 Cups sugar
White Grape Juice, 1 Packet Wine Yeast, 2 Cups sugar
White Grape/Peach Juice, 1 Packet Wine Yeast, 2.5 Cups sugar
Wild Cherry Juice, 1 Packet Wine Yeast, 3 Cups sugar

I read/watched several videos on how much sugar to add, each video said something different. Same with how long to let it ferment...

After getting everything jugged up and getting the Airlock/bubblers in place I watched them for about 20 min and nothing, Watched a few more videos and about an hour later we were starting to see some bubbles here and there.  The next morning I checked them a bit more, that evening I checked them and all 4 were bubbling like crazy...  I've checked them for the last three days and the are all 4 still bubbling their butts off....  

I'll continue to check them for the next 60-90 days or so making sure the airlocks don't run dry.

No idea, how they'll turn out.  This was really just an experiment for fun.
If they come out drinkable, I may try some additional flavors and experiment with the Sugar levels and longer fermentation times.

Wayy too much yeast. 1 packet is supposed to do 5 gallons. I often make a 10 gallon batch with one packet. (This won't hurt anything, it just increases cost and might help make up for not adding yeast nutrient.)

Your yeast will not be able to reproduce very fast without adding yeast nutrient and will slow fermentation.

You should buy you a hydrometer too. It will allow you to see exactly how much sugar is in your wine and give you an idea on the alcohol content after it is finished.

Another thing to look out for is your jugs bubbling over. During the first 2 or 3 days the majority of the fermentation takes place and the wine will bubble up and out of your jug if you don't leave enough headspace or extra room in the jug.

A great generic concord grape wine recipe I have developed that is almost foolproof is:

3.5 gallons of Welch's Concord Grape Juice.

14.5 cups sugar.

Yeast nutrient according to bottle directions.

1 Packet Wine Yeast. (I prefer Premier Curvee or Pasteur Red Both by Red Star)

Balance water to get to the 5 gallon mark in a 7 gallon wine bucket (To allow for foaming).

Primary ferment for 1 week then transfer to a 5 gallon glass carboy.

Should be ready in about 30 days.

14% Alcohol by Volume.

I just went off what I was seeing on Youtube and used the 1 Gallon Jugs I had.
Also, I wanted to start small. 4 1 gallon batches of various flavors, vs 4 5 Gallon

I've been checking them at least twice a day to make sure they are not bubbling over and that the airlocks' water has not bubbled out or evaporated.
I think I left just enough room in them to not get Foam or anything pushing up into the Airlocks...

When you transfer to the 2nd Carboy, do you still use the Airlocks or just bottle and cap/cork?  
If I make more, I'll use more sugar, see if I can find some yeast nutrient(never heard of it before) and get a hydrometer.

When you transfer to the glass carboy yes it will still be giving off CO2 so you will still need an airlock.

Yeast nutrient is kind of a specialized ingredient, but all good homebrew shops should have it. Buy it the same place you get your hydrometer.

Also when you wine is done if you want to sweeten it with more sugar, be sure to get some Potassium Sorbate (K Sorb) it will keep the yeast from re-activating from the introduction of more sugar and your bottle exploding!

I just threw together:

4# sugar.
Bentonite
Yeast nutrient
DAP

1 gal of crangrape
96fluid ounces of concord grape
About 2 qts of apple
Half cup of steeped tea

1 pack of redstar bread yeast.

I already have the blow off tube in place.


Let us call this "Deluxe prison wine!"

You need to use both Potassium Sorbate and Potassium Metabisulfite to stabilize wine.