Leftover grapes?

Every year my Mother-in-Law cans grape juice in quart jars. There are 3 different kinds that they have, King of the North, Valiant and a third that was there when they bought the place and is a tad more tart than the other two. Anyway she did up probably 100 quarts last fall. Of these she gave us 20 of them. She puts whole grapes in with the juice when she cans them. It's these I'm interested in.....





There's probably about a cup of grapes in each quart jar. I've been dumping the leftover grapes into a ziplock bag and freezing them and my in-laws have been doing the same and saving them for me. I intend to make wine out of these, but I'm not sure how much I'll need per gallon. These grapes are whole and have not been juiced. In fact they should have more juice than normal since they're bathed in the stuff right now.


Any thoughts?


It will be a while till I have enough to do anything. I've only gone through 4 jars so far.

I don,t know if this helps but it will give you an idea of the quantity of grapes it took to make 6 gals. of fresh juice ///6 box's/18lb. perbox of grapes= after refining //6gals. juice. this was Thompson seedless variety.

I have been thinking about this Post and figured I should give you my 2¢....

Years ago a neighbor lady would give me grapes if I would help her pick....I used her juice recipe which was like the jars you have. We use to put 1 cup of cleaned grapes in a 1 quart mason jar, sugar to taste and water...then process....strain before drinking....toss the fruit.

Then I got a steam juicer and planted some Beta and Valiant grapes and made steamed juice, dilute it down a bit for breakfast juice...process it in mason jars.

Then came the wine thing....things haven't been the same since.

I think your grapes in the jar are probably pretty played out....
Guessing she used 1-1½ cups grapes per quart....not a lot of fruit.
So, in your 20 quarts of juice you really wouldn't have much fruit....
You have a lot of water involved already in the jars....

Maybe put all 20 quarts of juice in your primary...Get all the fruit you can out of yours and her jars...Put the fruit in a straining bag...boost the S.G. and ferment...

Buy some Welches Concord for your kids to drink.

You could also take all the juiced fruit you can get...add only a small amount of water, balance and ferment and see what you get....Don't expect too much flavor...so don't use much water.

When I make the Valiant Grape Wine I use a lot of steam extracted juice....Usually 18 quarts/6 gallon batch, plus add some WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate, to layer the flavor.....For sure there is water vapors in the juice...do add some water too....

The wine turns out full flavored and foxy [grapey/jammy] with a Concord type flavor....We do like our wines full flavored.

Use what you have and experiment...But, don't add too much water to your fruit...it's already been diluted.

Thanks for the input NW. I will certainly keep this in mind.


I don't think I can talk my wife into letting me make wine out of the juice we got though. The kids helped pick the grapes...well, you know where that argument is going.


Anyway, I still plan on keeping the leftovers. Hopefully I can end up with enough to squeeze out at least a gallon. Remember, the in-laws are saving theirs for me as well. If I have to I can always boost it with a can or two of Welch's. I just stocked up last week as they were on sale in town for just over $1 a can. I bought 40 of them. The Concord was not on sale but the purple "grape juice cocktail" and the white grape juice were so I got 20 of each.I'm contemplating a 5 gallon batch of each.


Thanks again for the input. At least I know not to add water now.