Welch's Frozen or Not Juice?

[Cannew]

Notice that the supermarket has Welch's 100% Juice (not blended) 1.36L and the frozen 341ml.

I was planning to use the frozen and adding about 3 ctns to a kit, but now I considering the 1.36L juice.

Do you think the 100% juice is as good? Same? No Difference?

If added during fermentation what do you think it will increase the alcohol % by?

 

[Rocky]

I have only made one batch of Concord and I used the 100% juice which I bought at Sam's Club. It worked fine for me.

 

[Cannew]

I was planning to add the 1.34L Juice to a kit as extra concentrate. Is that what you did?

 

[djrockinsteve]

If you used the juice, you could take a gravity reading then use the Pearsons Square calculation determine how much would increase your sugar content to.

Using the frozen, you could really boost the sugar without adding the volume as with the juice.

You could always wait and add a portion of the frozen to back sweeten later on, just allow extra time for it to settle and clear again.

 

[Rocky]

Oh no, Cannew. I bought enough juice to make 6 gallons of straight Concord wine. I added sugar to bring the SG up to 1.095 and then fermented it to dry (SG = 0.995). I back sweetened it slightly to maybe to SG 1.000, added oak and then added an f-pack comprised of Blackberries, Blueberries and Raspberries, mainly to soften the Concord grape taste. It is in a 5 gallon carboy at present (I added more oak) and it is tasting really nice. Not a wine that you would have with a goumet meal, but something that is refreshing and nice in the afternoon. BTW, I call it my "Berry, Berry, Berry Concord" for obvious reasons.

 

[Cannew]

I found that both the frozen and bottle Welch's had Ascorbic acid (which is a preservative and a no no). Found some Sun Rype juice which is 100% juice with no additives. Guess I'll go with it to add to a Kit.

Thanks

 

[sevenal]

I used the cheap Red WalMart Concentrate added 2# of sugar to each gallon of re hydrated juice and one twist was to substitute a portion of the Frozen concentrate with Cranberry Frozen concentrate.
Use you hydrometer to determine the SG level of say 1.085 to 1.09 per instructions I have found here and BINGO after a couple racking and six weeks or so it was nice.

One buddy goes 30 days with this recipe then racks and lets it set still a couple days then siphons off to bottles. Total 32 days and his wine is nice.

 

[krhodes]

I think you will be fine using either one. I made a gewurztraminer kit last year (6 gallon) and didn't really care for it, it was too dry and just bland. I had three gallons of Welch's wine so I mixed them together and found that it was pretty good. I don't like Welch's wine because it's too sweet. Together they were so good I am doing it again. I never throw anything out just because I don't like the taste, usually I can find a way to improve on it.

 

[Rocky]

I found that both the frozen and bottle Welch's had Ascorbic acid (which is a preservative and a no no). Found some Sun Rype juice which is 100% juice with no additives. Guess I'll go with it to add to a Kit.

Thanks

Cannew, Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is an antioxidant more so than a preservative. I am not trying to convince you one way or another, but I made the wine from Welch's 100% Grape Juice and had no problems at all. It started with SG = 1.070 which I increased with sugar to 1.098. The wine was started on 4-3-11 and fermented to dry by 4-14-11 (SG = 0.094). I held it there for 4 days, then added K-meta and K-sorbate.

 

[Cannew]

Shouldn't the grape juice (or frozen) have natural sugar and therefore increase the alcohol content of a kit during fermentation?

 

[Rocky]

Shouldn't the grape juice (or frozen) have natural sugar and therefore increase the alcohol content of a kit during fermentation?

Yes it would. My juice was SG 1.070 which would indicate approximately 1 lb. 13 oz. of sugar per gallon of juice.

 

[JohnT]

Steady john, Steady now!