The White Grape Juice shortage thread .

[Gorty]

I've just spoken to ASDA's head office about their WGJ, it seems that sales may have been low as well as supply problems, but they did say that the more requests they get for it, the more likely it was to be restocked in one form or the other. The other thing they said was that some stores still have stock and gave me the location of a couple in my area, just off there now!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I've just spoken to ASDA's head office about their WGJ, it seems that sales may have been low as well as supply problems, but they did say that the more requests they get for it, the more likely it was to be restocked in one form or the other. The other thing they said was that some stores still have stock and gave me the location of a couple in my area, just off there now!

I have all but given up on WGJ and now use the red grape juice instead, ASDA do a decent range at 3 foe £3,

From my earlier post -

ASDA have contacted me and explained they stock on demand and apparently in some areas demand is so low they have stopped stocking it, she said she will bring this matter to the buyers attention in our area and we should see it on the shelves again, if you cannot get hold of it in your local ASDA give them a call.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Here are some of the Red grape juice varieties at ASDA.

ASDA Red Grape Juice

Ingredients

Red Grape Juice not from Concentrate (100%) .

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ASDA Grape Strawberry Kiwi Juice

Ingredients

Red Grape Juice not from Concentrate (70%) , Strawberry Purée (20%) , Kiwi Purée (10%)

----------------------------------------------------------

ASDA Grape Raspberry Pomegranate Juice Drink

Ingredients

White Grape Juice not from Concentrate (39%) , Red Grape Juice not from Concentrate (15%) , Pomegranate Juice not from Concentrate (10%) , Raspberry Purée (5.0%) , Vitamin C and Water.

 

[frdmorley]

Well like chippy I have been using the fresh Asda red grape juice, however this weekend I have e mailed their customer services who have said they will get back to me and I have a contact name.

There are times a white is preferred, so as a bit of a newby any suggestions for making white without kits just fruit juice.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I hope you get a better response than i did, i contacted Tesco and ASDA one said they only keep stocking stores that are selling enough to make it worth while the other said they are not stocking it.

 

[stopsign]

Hi, On Thursday we went on a 50 mile round trip bus ride to Waitrose at York and purchased 6 litres of White Grape Juice, I rang before we set off to make sure they had it in stock, they did and were very helpful £1.75 per litre.

Bill

 

[Chippy_Tea]

£1.75 i guess that's the shortage pushing the price up..

 

[stopsign]

I also had a word with Asda at Leeds and the young fellow I spoke to said he had no Idea why they were not selling WGJ but he said he would have a word with the buying team to find out and that he would get back to me when he hears something.

Bill

 

[goodolpete]

Made a kind of AJ WOW beginning of last month.
Made a starter with 1L AJ, 100g sugar and the
washings from a previous W0814 brew.
Used 250g sultanas, 560g bananas and another
650g sugar plus the usual additives. Brewed at
constant 24 degrees and it took 10 days

 

[helluvatractor]

I too cannot find any wgj anywhere. Was wondering how / what ratio to use sultanas instead ? These are plentiful and cheap. Other than fermenting on pulp, could you mince, boil and strain ? Might experiment with perhaps a kilo in 2 litres of water and take a hydrometer reading to see sugar content. Anyone else tried this ?

 

[tonyhibbett]

Sultanas are 70% sugar, by weight. I kilo = 700g sugar. 1 litre grape juice = 170g sugar. So about 250 g sultanas = 1 litre of grape juice. The same applies to raisins and currants. Mincing them in a food processor helps release sugar faster.

 

[Gorty]

Using Tony's figures, and reading up on some of CJJ Berry's recipes, we can work out that if 250g sultanas = 1L WGJ and 250g sultanas = 140ml grape concentrate, that = 1L WGJ

So 1L concentrate will be just over 7L WGJ and 5L will be just under 36L WGJ.

Unfortunately some retailers give their concentrate in grams rather than litres so I will have to try and remember to weigh 1L of concentrate and let you know.

 

[helluvatractor]

Cool, thanks for that. I'm going to work on some sultanas today.

I'm just thinking of the most efficient way to extract their sugar. Unfortunately I don't have a food processor or mincer.

Could I put them in a blender with some water ? To make a kind of sultana soup .

I could strain out the larger bits. I guess this way would mean a heavy sediment drop out after fermenting though.

 

[Gorty]

A blender should work fine, if you think about it the fruit will still be 'sediment' whether you chop it fairly coarse or blend it into a soup, the only difference is when you take it out, assuming you would strain the chopped fruit out after the initial fermentation but leave the soup in to ferment right out, which would mean that you used all the available sugar making your wine a little stronger so you could afford to top up a little more.

Let us know how you get on please.

 

[helluvatractor]

thanks, i've just bought some of the litre chilled juices from tesco - mango, raspberry, pineapple etc.

i plan to follow the wurzels orange wine recipe, substituting 250g of sultana 'soup' for the 1 litre of wgj.

will post up how i get on :)

 

[tonyhibbett]

Blender is fine. You only need to rough chop the stuff to break the skins. Pulverising it into soup is a bit extreme and could prove a problem to clear later.

 

[Cwrw666]

Our Tescos sells red grape juice in the chiller section but it's a bit pricey at 1.99 for 750ml! It is however very dark stuff and strong tasting - I got a couple of boxes when it was on `spesh' and it's made a decent red wine with a couple of litres of pomegranate.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Here are some of the Red grape juice varieties at ASDA.

ASDA Red Grape Juice

Ingredients

Red Grape Juice not from Concentrate (100%) .

-----------------------------------------------------------

ASDA Grape Strawberry Kiwi Juice

Ingredients

Red Grape Juice not from Concentrate (70%) , Strawberry Purée (20%) , Kiwi Purée (10%)

----------------------------------------------------------

ASDA Grape Raspberry Pomegranate Juice Drink

Ingredients

White Grape Juice not from Concentrate (39%) , Red Grape Juice not from Concentrate (15%) , Pomegranate Juice not from Concentrate (10%) , Raspberry Purée (5.0%) , Vitamin C and Water.

 

[tonyhibbett]

In the world food section in Tesco I found bottles of red grape juice made from concord grapes. Although a wine grape, the quality of the wine is not highly rated and the bottles are quite expensive compared to the usual stuff so I wasn't tempted.

 

[tonyhibbett]

The situation gets worse. I just started a Cellar 7 cabernet sauvignon kit and found the pH was 2.7. This high acidity indicates that the concentrate was made from under ripe grapes. Online, I can only find white, not red, concentrate in bulk (5 litres) and at horrific prices. A lot of grape juice/concentrate comes to the UK from Italy, where the weather last year was unusually wet and cool. If the juice is not up to standard, the crop is either left to rot or used to make industrial alcohol, hence the shortage.