wine from old canned juice?

[appleweld]

my sister found some old canned pure grape juice that granny made years ago. it was never turned into jelly as she intended. its still sealed, and about 5 years old. can we turn this into wine?

 

[Waldo]

As long as it hasn't spoiled you should be ok to use it. Have you tasted it?

 

[appleweld]

no, we haveny opened it yet. there are only three pints. it is pure juice concentrate though. do you think thats enough concentrate to get a gallon of wine if we add water? or should we add some storebought juice of some sort?

 

[pelican]

Do smell test and taste test first - if in doubt, throw it out... but I've made wine from home canned juice older than that, and it turned out
fine! (really fine).

Test the sg of the juice to get an idea of the concentration level and a guide to how much sugar you need to add. Depending on how concentrated the flavor is, 3 pints might be enough for a 1 gallon batch.

My very scientific method would be, assure myself the juice is still good, add enough water to the three pints to get 3 quarts volume, test the sg and have ready at hand some sugar syrup and then add some sugar syrup, mix well - test sg again, if you are spot on your target sg or close to it, top up with a litte more water and a little more syrup -- test the sg again, repeat the process of water and/or sugar till you have the volume of must and the right SG. If you end up with a gallon and a quart of volume at the end, all the better. If you end at right about a gallon, then go ahead and stop there. A little bit over is better than under because even without fruit in the mix there will be racking losses and the little extra volume means you don't have to top up.

If you are short when you rack then I'd recommend using marbles to make up the volume vs. adding water, or you could top up with some grape juice or storebought juice that complements the canned juice.

Speaking of which, what flavor juice is it? do you know what it is? (I have mystery jars in the pantry, so in my experience it's not that dumb a question as it might seem in the first place

)

 

[appleweld]

thanks for all the info. i have no idea what kind of juice it is, but we will try it out and see what it makes. i thiught of adding some oak to this, any thoughts?