Quick wine made from store-bought concentrate
Marshall Jose
tasty wine made from Langer's frozen apple juice concentrate. I find it at my
local Safeway grocery store. Being frozen, it has no sorbates or benzoates,
but it's got ascorbic acid, which turns out be a bit of a help.
What makes the taste "curious" is that I don't fully reconstitute the
concentrate with water, allowing the higher sugar percentage to contribute
to the total desired start SG. By doing this, I also raise the amount of
natural apple flavor above that which would normally be present in a starting
apple must.
The result is a strong-tasting wine (my family calls it "hooch"), with much
body and plenty of natural tannin. More importantly, because the juice has
already been filtered before concentration, clarification is rapid. About 2
months after fermentation slows, the wine has only a vague haze, and the
lees are firm (when EC-1118 is used).
Typically, I make a gallon at a time, thus:
- 4 Langer's frozen apple concentrate bottles
- 2.1 liters bottled spring water
- 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 tsp EC-1118 dry yeast
This liquor will have a SG of 1.115, which the yeast can handle, but will
produce a high-alcohol wine, If this is objectionable, only add 0.5 to 1
cups of sugar. Fermentation to SG=1.000 will take roughly 10-12 days,
largely due to the presence of the ascorbic acid. Daily stirring will assist
in degassing the must during primary fermentation.
Naturally, one can wait a reasonable 6 months for more complete
clarification, but I've been surprised by the flavor of the result when
enjoyed prior to that time.
Marshall
McKevvy
Can I ask which country that you're in please? I used to really enjoy
making wines from fruit juices - a quick and easy way to make wine but
here in the UK sodium metabisulphide has in included in every bottle
of juice for a good few years now....like most things in the UK, if
you enjoy then, given time, the authorities will clamp down on it.
McKevvy
Steve Peek
"McKevvy" <vicko_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e2ed9902-38a7-4a2c...@y7g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
Check out the frozen fruit juice concentrates. Here in the US they generally
don't contain preservatives.
Steve
Marshall Jose
apple juice.
At any rate, I find that most frozen juice concentrates have only
ascorbic (and sometimes also citric) acid added to them. I guessing the
USFDA expects that freezing the juice concentrate greatly reduces the
need for a stabilizer such as a benzoate or metabisulphite.
I concur that most juices transported and sold at "room temperature"
have a stabilizer added to them, making them much less suitable for
fermentation.
Marshall
Luc Volders
The sulphite level might just be low enough to get
a fermentation going.
Otherwise you could aerate the juice. That means splashing
the juice from one container to another. This binds free sulphite
and at the same time introduces oxygen in the juice.
Then when using a real strong yeast starter you are likely to get
fermentation starting.
Luc
>
> Can I ask which country that you're in please? I used to really enjoy
> making wines from fruit juices - a quick and easy way to make wine but
> here in the UK sodium metabisulphide has in included in every bottle
> of juice for a good few years now....like most things in the UK, if
> you enjoy then, given time, the authorities will clamp down on it.
>
> McKevvy
merrydown
As Luc suggests you can make wines from the long-life or other cartons
of fruit juice. I have done so with apple in particular.
As for the frozen fruit juices, there just isn't the demand for frozen
juice here in the UK that there is in the US. We used to have a lot
of frozen orange juice but we don't know. Continental Europe still
has frozen orange juice but I don't know about other juices.
Jim
Billy
<e2ed9902-38a7-4a2c...@y7g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>,
McKevvy <vicko_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
No reason to stop. SO2 is normally added at wineries to suppress
natural (unpredictable) yeast. SO2 is bacteriostatic, not bacteriocidal.
The commercial yeast may start slowly, otherwise it should be a normal
fermentation.
--
- Billy
There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who
learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and
find out for themselves.
Will Rogers
http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm
http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn
Billy
Luc Volders <lvol...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Have you tried making wine with these juices.
> The sulphite level might just be low enough to get
> a fermentation going.
>
> Otherwise you could aerate the juice. That means splashing
> the juice from one container to another. This binds free sulphite
> and at the same time introduces oxygen in the juice.
> Then when using a real strong yeast starter you are likely to get
> fermentation starting.
>
> Luc
The SO2 is already bound to the sugar. You would have to hit it with
sodium hydroxide to dislodge it. Unbound is more active in low pH
environments. One splash is good. Like pouring it into your fermenter.
> >
> > Can I ask which country that you're in please? I used to really enjoy
> > making wines from fruit juices - a quick and easy way to make wine but
> > here in the UK sodium metabisulphide has in included in every bottle
> > of juice for a good few years now....like most things in the UK, if
> > you enjoy then, given time, the authorities will clamp down on it.
> >
> > McKevvy
--
- Billy
Billy
"Steve Peek" <sp...@ioa.com> wrote:
But are probably pasteurized.
Steve Peek
"Billy" <wildbilly@without_a.net> wrote in message
news:wildbilly-9EE7F...@c-61-68-245-199.per.connect.net.au...
Being pasturized will not affect the fermentability of the juice. The
finished product may have a bit of "cooked" flavor, but absent preservatives
it will ferment.
Steve
Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:
Don't worry. The two cups of sugar will probably overcome any "cooked"
taste -- at least after a few glasses :-)
Cheers,
Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)