Wine from just supermarket grape juice???

[dpile1]

Anyone ever made wine from just grape juice from a supermarket? I was thinking of running a batch of red grape juice through the process but wondered if you guys have ever done this and what you thought of the final result?

Is it nice? Ok? Eurgh?

 

Grape juice for drinking is made from "dessert" grapes" so will be very low in acid.
This could make for a dull, flat, lifeless wine.
Perhaps a little citric acid would pep it up.

 

[dpile1]

Grape juice for drinking is made from "dessert" grapes" so will be very low in acid.
This could make for a dull, flat, lifeless wine.
Perhaps a little citric acid would pep it up.

Ah didn't realise that, thanks for the tip. Usually I add lemon juice to non-acidic wines, wonder if that'll be alright......

 

[Barkie]

I'd add a little tannin to red gj as well as citric acid (yeast seem to like a bit of acid with their sugar), omit some water and use more juice, and perhaps a little glycerin for "mouth feel"?

 

[dpile1]

I'd add a little tannin to red gj as well as citric acid (yeast seem to like a bit of acid with their sugar), omit some water and use more juice, and perhaps a little glycerin for "mouth feel"?

Thanks for the tip. I was gonna use just grape juice and no water at all. Hopefully it'll be ok. :thumb:

 

[Barkie]

Usually I add lemon juice to non-acidic wines, wonder if that'll be alright......

BTW - It will be fine, I use it in preference to powder as I usually have some lemons in the fridge. I add the juice to the pan of boiled water when I put in the sugar in, to invert it.

 

I was gonna use just grape juice and no water at all.

That's what I'd do as well!

 

[dpile1]

Hopefully I'd be able to get away without adding sugar too.

Has anyone tried this? Would anyone make it again?

 

[Samarith]

Most supermarket juices have about 100-130g sugar per litre.

You need about 1.3kg of sugar in 4.5l to make a 12% ABV wine (give or take), so you'll need to add 700-800g of sugar. Without the extra sugar you're making grape cider, which is a pretty nice drink in and of itself.

 

[dpile1]

Thanks for the help :thumb:

 

[tommy227]

hi ,as a complete newbie, can you give me a full recipe, e.g. amount of yeast etc , thanks

 

[dpile1]

hi ,as a complete newbie, can you give me a full recipe, e.g. amount of yeast etc , thanks

For methodology, this is an excellent post / thread by Moley and is well worth a read:

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=3532


If you're after a recipe for one gallon of wine from just red grape juice then here we go:

4 litres of Red Grape Juice like so: http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Shopping ... duct=80668

320 grams of white granulated sugar (for this grape juice anyway)

Juice from one lemon

Tannin (as per instructions on the tub for one gallon like this:) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Youngs-Wine-Makin ... 5ad566f120

Yeast Nutrient, instructions are on the tub for one gallon: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Youngs-Brew-Yeast ... 3cafdaf971

Pectalase, instructions on tub: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Youngs-Brew-Pecto ... 563eac6bcc

Yeast: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/YOUNGS-DRIED-YEAS ... 3caf860c52

Campden tablets, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-Campden-camden ... 335f0279ec

Potassium Sorbate, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fermentation-Stop ... 2a094f1784


You'll also need a demi-john, bung & airlock. Sterilise all equipment before use.

Instructions: Please note that I’ve not made this myself. This is the recipe that I will be using when I get round to making some. It might turn out awful – but hey, it’s an experiment.

Using a saucepan or something, dissolve the all sugar into 3.5 litres of the Red Grape Juice. Save the 0.5 litre for laters. If you stir enough, you should be able to do this without heating the juice at all.

Add the correct amount of tannin, yeast nutrient, pectolase, lemon juice and yeast. The amounts you need will be written on the tubs that they come in. (apart from the lemon juice!).

Stir

Put the mixture into the demi john and fit the bung and airlock.

Hopefully the yeast will start to consume the sugars within a day or two. Once the reaction has slowed down, add some of the grape juice that you saved to the demijohn to top up to the neck.

After a month, rack the fermenting juice into another sterilised demi-john. See youtube for details on how to rack & why. (Youtube again).

Once the bubble rate through the airlock is down to like 1 bubble every 5 minutes. Add a campden tablet and some potassium sorbate to kill the yeast and to preserve the wine.

Do not touch the wine until it’s clear and then either rack into a clean demijohn or bottle.

Drink. Should be about 12.5% alcohol and dry.

 

[tangledbrain]

havent tried the supermarket grape juice but have used innocent brand juices - about 3L with added tannin, citric acid and yeast nutrient . I then SG it and adjust it up to 1090 with sugar (about 10oz) .
Have tried a general purpose bordeux yeast and so far they seem to be working ok.
best of luck!

 

[sueelleker]

I use Welch's Purple Grape Juice in preference to red-it seems to have a bit more flavour, and the colour is gorgeous. I use it with apple juice to make a nice dark rose.

 

[metalmickey]

Ive tried a few red recipes from jiuce, bu so far i cant find one that will make a deep red wine.

Ive got a 50% blackcurrant high juice on the go which is fading by the day
Ive also got an Aldi mixed berry juice blackberry/loganberry/blackcurrant which im waiting to see if it fades.

anyone got a red recipe from juice that will stay red? or any pointers to keep the colour or even red dyes to keep it dark?

And just a point about the amount of sugar in the post above, its suggested that 1.3gk of sugar is required to make a 1080 brew, which gives and abv of 12%.
ive got a hydrometer which says the amount of sugar per liter to make a 1080 brew is 208g per litre...which when mutlitplied by 4.5 ( approx a galon) would give 936g of sugar. Theres quite a difference between 936 and 1300, have i got my calculations wrong?

 

Ive tried a few red recipes from jiuce, bu so far i cant find one that will make a deep red wine.

You won't!
The colouring in "deep red" wine comes from the "Black grape" skins, which is leeched out by alcohol in the very early fermentation stage.
It contains high levels of tannin, which, if added to grape juice "for drinking" would give a harsh bitter taste.
You would do better with your Black Currant juice if you added squashed Black Currents.

 

[Samarith]

Well this is embarrassing, I think the 1300g figure was started by myself. I was using a program called winecalc to estimate sugar additions but didn't realise it was working out sugar to add to 4.7L rather than sugar in 4.7L.

According to Mr Berry, 12% Potential ABV = 1090 OG = 1065g sugar IN 4.5L (or 1112g in 4.7L). Don't think this takes into account multiple rackings and the dilution from topping up.

I think I lose about 20% of the original brew during two rackings, so taking the 15% ABV (from using 1300g in 4.5L) and topping up with water. I get 0.8*15 = 12% ABV for the bottled product. :whistle: Yeah, yeah I'm trying to make mistake look like a stroke of genius.

 

[metalmickey]

Righty ho, nuff sed.