Wine out of welch's juice concentrate?

[bn087]

Have any of you known anyone that has made wine out of Welch's Juice concentrates and made a tasty batch? I noticed the supplies you need cost about 5 bucks and it would be a fun experiment.

If you have done this or tried some let me know how it came out.

Also, where would you find Wine Yeast? I heard you can use bakers yeast but the product has a funny taste in the end....[EDIT] Wine yeast is at most liquor stores...go figure; I'm just never in the wine section.

I found many websites with different recipes but most call for 100% Juice Concentrate, Sugar, and Water...you also need a gallon size container, funnel, single balloon...The basic recipes seems to be just the juice concentrate, sugar, and water...then prep the yeast and add that...shake and sit for 2 weeks - 2 months...filter the contents and you have wine!

To be on topic with agave related spirits, could you use agave nectar as a sweetener? Could agave nectar mixed with yeast yeild alcohol? I know you cant use artificial sweeteners because the yeast wont turn anything but sugar into alcohol...but no website mentioned agave nectar...

[EDIT] - After further research...I have learned you can take that product or any wine product and with a cheap homemade still on the oven, you can make flavored brandy and fruit spirits...can agave be incorporated in any of this...? Does agave come in a flavor that isnt sweetened like nectar or distilled like tequila...just some plain ole' agave juice or flavor to make an Agave Wine?

[gsars1]

Just curious as to why you would want to do this? I would think that making wine out of grape juice concentrate would tast horrible. For 5 bucks you could buy a cheap bottle of wine that would have to taste better than Welch's. If you do try it, you'll have to let us know honestly how it tastes.

[bn087]

Well the directions I found contained one can of White Grape Peach concentrate and one can of White Grape concentrate...although it may not taste great it would be fun to try....err...I think. There are about a dozen different flavors, some also reccomend strawberry. For 5 dollars I could get a decent bottle of cheap wine but wheres the fun in that? It would be interesting to sample...then tweak the recipe to suit me better if it does come out decent. I will let you know when I start (should be this weekend).

If it has a decent taste, it may be a decent beverage to mix with juice or punch to serve a large party for cheap. Technically you could build a homeade still on the oven and turn the Fruit Wine into some form of Brandy...could be yummy

[bn087]

I did it!

Not that bad. I am not a wine drinker but I gave some to my dad, who is...and he was surprised. I dont think it would be an everyday drink by any means for anyone but it worked out.

Heres what I did...

One jug of Welch's Concord Grape
One jug of Welch's Concord Grape / Black Cherry
and
One jug of Welch's White Grape
One jug of Welch's Apple

All juices were 100% juice from concentrate and contained no preservatives. (64oz bottles I think, but I didnt use all of it up.

I bought 2 gallon sized plastic jugs, one packet of wine yeast from the liquor store. I didnt know which type and she said they had a basic that would be a good first start. It was on .50 and contained enough yeast for 5 gallons of wine.

I filled the jugs up about 8/10 full of the juice I bought. (one was grape cherry, the other white grape apple). I added 1/2 cup of sugar mixed with 1/2 cup of water, bring to boil (simple syrup)...to each jug.

Prepare the yeast according the the recipe on the packet. Take the prepared yeast and split it between both jugs. Take a balloon and prick it with a pin at the tip. Add it to both jugs in place of the caps. (These balloons will allow the gasses to come out but bock oxygen from coming in.

I set them on the counter and went to sleep...the next day the jugs were bubbling and kinda foamy on top. I let them do this for about 7 days. Take a flashlight and make sure all bubbles stopped forming before next step.

Pour contents out slowly into new jugs and use the same balloons again in the new jugs. (hopefully most of the yeast will stay in those older jugs)...Allow to sit again for another week. Pour into bottles.

Bottles can be drank then, and you can sit them for up to 6 months for a more desired taste.

I tried both of mine. They were well received with quite a few people.

Total cost, 9.00 and about 60 minutes of my time. I made 6 - 750ml bottles total.

[chefrob]

Yellowtail does something similar to this, although their process is a lot more high-tech. They use grape juice instead of fresh grapes which yields a very cheap, metallic tasting wine. Visit lifehacker.com for some homemade wine recipes and a lot more.