Cartoned grape juice

[Sanjo]

I want to make an orange and grape wine and cartons of grape are cheaper than fresh stuff. It doesn't contain any preservative (it says 100%) juice but it must be pasteurised musn't it. Is that OK to use?

[salome2001]

as far I as know, pasteurisation uses heat to sterilise the milk/ juice, no chemicals added. Do check the label though as even if it is "100% juice" that will refer to having no water added, not that a preservative hasn't been.

[Hilary B]

If it says something like "once opened keep in refrigerator and use witnin 3 days" it should work OK for wine. If there is no such comment, I wouldn't risk it.
If it is reckoned not to keep well once opened it should ferment satisfactorily.

[Sanjo]

Thanks Hilary and Salome. I bought 2 x 1.5 litres of Don Simon orange (squeezed direct from the orange - no concentrate) and used 3 x 1 litres of Tesco Cartoned white grapejuice (from the squash shelf. 100% fruit mentioned no additives)
Prepared it all yesterday afternoon and it is all bubbling away now.
I had intended to do one each of orange and grape and apple and grape but as the Don Simon was on special at buy one get one free I ended up making three demi-johns of the same wine.
We'll see.
I now have 5 demis on the go. Small room has a very weird smell!!

[ohbeary]

Sanjo, there are some very helpful peeps here,
http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/forum/YaBB.pl
Can you post the recipe please, the juice you have bought should make 15lt with 2.7kg sugar added to give 11-12%, I suggest that you join "Home Wine and Beer Making" it is a friendly site with nice people, lots of good winemakers on tap to help.

[Farmer_Gyles]

Sanjo, there are some very helpful peeps here,
http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/forum/YaBB.pl
...... I suggest that you join "Home Wine and Beer Making" it is a friendly site with nice people, lots of good winemakers on tap to help.

seconded!
lots of useful info on that site .... i'm kinda getting to grips with it all now .... 11 gallons on the go at the moment, all from home grown fruit ....

[Sanjo]

Thanks for that FG and OhB. I have joined one called Thehomebrewforum and yes, like here, they were very helpful.
I started what they called Wurzels Orange Wine on 20th April with SG of 1090.
Checked the SG of the three demijohns on 25th and it was 998.
By 5th May there had been no airbubbles through the lock for two days so racked off, added Campden, stabiliser and finings. SG was 994 plenty dry enough for us.
By yesterday (8th) it was clear enough to see a printed sheet through the glass.
We popped the small 1/2 litre bottle in the fridge last night (for testing purposes you understand)
The rest I shall rack off again today as the fining has produced more sediment and then we will leave it for a few weeks to improve.
On the website I used, this wine (and variations of it) are raved about as a good starter wine for beginners which is a fast fermenter and finishes very quickly. Well 20th April until 8th May is that alright. It was drinkable but will improve with a bit of keeping.
Thanks for the replies and helpful suggestion

[ohbeary]

Home brew forum is a good site but more beer related, home winemaking is more wine oriented and as far as I can see a lot more fun, Wines at Home is a very serious wine makers site, not much fun but very good technical advice.

[Sanjo]

Thanks for that OhB. I've looked at the site and you are right, it is more wine making than the one I've joined. I can see my allegiance is already wavering.

Recipe as requested for Wurzel's Orange Wine (now in the public domain as they say so OK to use it on here. Mr Wurzel!! waived his rights to it)

1 litre carton Pure Orange juice
1 litre carton pure pressed white grape juice
1 1/2 lbs sugar
1 tsp nutrient
General purpose yeast
1/2 teaspoon tannin (mixed with a little water first)
1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp glycerine
Water to a gallon
Dissolve sugar in a pint or so of boiling water
Stir all ingredients into the 1 1/2 pints of cold water will well mixed and aerated
Top up to 1 gallon, check initial S.G. which should be around 1.090 and adjust if necessary
Ferment as usual under air lock. Rack at 1.000 (or ferment to dry and backsweeten)
Add 1 crushed campden tablet plus potassium sorbate.
Clear as usual and bottle. The wine is ready for immediate consumption but will improve with time.
Serve this medium dry wine slightly chilled. It has a pleasant fruity nose, an attractive orange tint and a good mouth feel thanks to the added glycerine.

On the site I am currently on they rave over this wine and many people make variations of it as it is so quick.

PS. I always try and make a yeast "starter" as per Mr Berry's book and I did it for this and it took off and was fementing within an hour.
After adding the potassium and campden I then fined using finings from Wilkinsons and it was brilliant. I've never used finings before so I was impressed as you can tell.

I currently have my mixed fruit wine (from my last year's bottled, unused fruit) on the go, the fruit T Bag wine from here, Ribena ( or rather Tesco 50% blackcurrant), and Apple and Red Grape based on the above Wurzel recipe.
All I need now are the bottles to put it all in.
My daughter has a party at the weekend, I must remember to ask for the empties!

[ohbeary]

Just a little tip regarding grape tannin powder, mix it with caster sugar before adding to brew, it does not mix willingly with water or wine.

[Sanjo]

Just a little tip regarding grape tannin powder, mix it with caster sugar before adding to brew, it does not mix willingly with water or wine.

Thanks for that OhB. By the way, I tried to join that excellent site you mentioned but ended up getting banned
I kept being told the name/ID was already in use, so kept trying again. Tried different email addresses thinking it was that. I never did receive a log in email giving me a password, despite them telling me they had sent one.
I assumed that my last try at getting registered was a step too far 'cos they banned me.
Ah well, there has to be a first time for everything. My husband was horrified at first and now thinks it's hilarious.

[ohbeary]

My husband was horrified at first and now thinks it's hilarious.

Sanjo, you will be reminded of this ad nauseum as I am reminded by SWMBO of various innocent but damning remarks, some made 30 years ago....

[ohbeary]

Thanks for that OhB. By the way, I tried to join that excellent site you mentioned but ended up getting banned
I kept being told the name/ID was already in use, so kept trying again. Tried different email addresses thinking it was that. I never did receive a log in email giving me a password, despite them telling me they had sent one.
I assumed that my last try at getting registered was a step too far 'cos they banned me.
Ah well, there has to be a first time for everything. My husband was horrified at first and now thinks it's hilarious.

Just having a Damacene moment here, you could try using "Josan" as a user name, might work

[Samurailord]

Hey Sanjo

As long as the juice has no preservative in it you can use it to make wine - in fact all the preservative does is make it harder for fermentation to start, so it doubles the time it takes to make it.

If you want a tested recipe for fruit juice wine let me know.

Andy

[hollychap]

ive been making the wurzels orange wine for a couple of years now i use tescos grape juice (cartons) it is a very fast fermenter and it gets better with age i do 5 gall batches