100% Juice or Cans of Frozen Concentrate?

[arh13p]

I have been looking at the products in the store and am wondering which is the way to go? Just buy the jugs of 100% juice with no preservatives or buy can's of concentrate (no preservatives) and mix with water? What is the difference? Any insight on what would work the best? If concentrate is the way to go (I am thinking Apple for my next batch) how many cans of frozen concentrate would you suggest for a 5 gallon batch?

 

[Dend78]

i did 6 cans for my 2 gallon batch topped up with water figure about 15 cans for 5 gallons, somehow my liquid level crept up to closer to 3 gallons so apple flavor is a bit weak but overall flavor is great though i started at 1.155 now im down to 1.085ish as of this morning.

i think with real 100% juice your acid levels may be more of a concern but i dont know that for sure, and i would think you may need more sugar as well but ive never compared the two to know that for sure. maybe compare costs 15cans versus 5 gallons

 

[BobF]

I prefer juice over concentrate. Just make sure you watch the ingredients either way.

 

[Charlietuna]

I used 24 cans per 6 gallon. Did not need to f-pack. Plenty of flavor left on concord. Its a huge favorite.

 

[Julie]

Either way would work, I would look at which cost the cheapest. If using the juice, no water added and if using the concentrate at least 3 cans per gallon.

 

[mustangcobra1789]

I prefer juice over concentrate. Just make sure you watch the ingredients either way.

What do you mean the ingredients? 100%juice? I am brand new so I have no idea. I am trying to learn to make fruit wine. Thanks

 

[mustangcobra1789]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a book to read to learn. Maybe "wine-making for dummies". Lol

 

[Bartman]

What do you mean the ingredients? 100%juice? I am brand new so I have no idea. I am trying to learn to make fruit wine. Thanks

They mean watch the ingredients to see, primarily, if any preservatives were added that would inhibit yeast growth/activity. Ascorbic acid is okay, but potassium sorbate and others will make fermentation frustratingly difficult, if not impossible. Also, I look on the ingredients list for sugar/water added - if it's truly "100%" juice, it shouldn't have that. Ocean Spray 'cocktail' juices are notorious for having a little juice and a lot of sugar/corn syrup and water added.

I have made apfelwein (recipe/thread elsewhere on the forum), and used apple juice that contained only apple juice and ascorbic acid (according to the ingredients list - whether I have total confidence in that being true is a whole 'nother discussion).

 

[Bartman]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a book to read to learn. Maybe "wine-making for dummies". Lol

Yeah - you should consider this forum an e-book of "winemaking for dummies". The books I have seen have many good points and ideas, but nothing so comprehensive as the collected experiences, wisdom, experiments and trial-and-error as this forum.

 

[mustangcobra1789]

Cool thanks I will pay more attention to that at the store. I will be making my first attempt at a fruit wine in about a week when I get all the materials around and ready. Being in Germany there is a little bit of a language barrier here and some stuff can be difficult to find. Thanks again for the reply

 

[BobF]

What do you mean the ingredients? 100%juice? I am brand new so I have no idea. I am trying to learn to make fruit wine. Thanks

100% juice and watch for preservatives like potassium sorbate, which you don't want.

 

[southlake333]

I have been looking at the products in the store and am wondering which is the way to go? Just buy the jugs of 100% juice with no preservatives or buy can's of concentrate (no preservatives) and mix with water? What is the difference? Any insight on what would work the best? If concentrate is the way to go (I am thinking Apple for my next batch) how many cans of frozen concentrate would you suggest for a 5 gallon batch?

Both will work. However, concentrate is just that, a concentrated form of the juice. When making wine and looking for a fuller body with more flavor, the only way to achieve that is by concentrating your solution. To do that you either have to boil down juice, or start with frozen concentrate. That being the case, you should be using at least some (if not all) concentrate in your juice batches.

 

[jswordy]

They are really essentially the same thing, so price may rule the day. I have used both. But as southlake points out, the concentrates have the advantage of providing you easily scalable water to juice ratios. If the can instructions say 3 cans = 1 gallon, you might start out pumping up flavor by going 4 cans = 1 gallon, then scale up or down from there depending on results.

Concentrate is also an excellent way to backflavor and sweeten wine prior to bottling. Some people reduce the concentrate even further on the stove before use, but I just dump in thawed cans of it until the flavor I am after is achieved. It rarely takes more than 1 or 2 to a five-gallon batch on the back end.

Concentrate is also a great way to goof around with final wine flavor. Since you are already past the preservation stage when you are backflavoring and backsweetening, you can add, for example, a fruit punch concentrate to a concord wine, even if the concentrate says it has preservatives in it. Won't matter.

Juice has the advantage of being storable without refrigeration for some period of time before use. Concentrate is more compact to store but requires a freezer.

 

[BobF]

If water quality is a concern it might be worth considering juice over concentrate until backsweetening as Jim described.

 

[southlake333]

+1 to jswordy for using concentrates for backsweetening. I forgot to mention that.

+1 to BobF on water quality. I tend to forget that since my water here is great but I have lived places with nasty water where I definitely wouldn't want to add it to a wine.

 

[arh13p]

I wanted to make apfelwein but after reading some people didn't think it had much taste I might try the concentrate instead of juice and just add more can's then what is recommended for a gallon.

 

[Julie]

I wanted to make apfelwein but after reading some people didn't think it had much taste I might try the concentrate instead of juice and just add more can's then what is recommended for a gallon.

You have to use at least 3 cans of concentrate for each gallon you are making. A lot of members will use 4 cans for each gallon you make and the flavor in that is very good. I would caution you to check our acid because if maybe a little high. When your wine is done you can add more concentrate for backsweetening if you want.

 

[arh13p]

Well I mixed and pitched the yeast tonight. I did 15 cans of concentrate, 6# sugar ( a bit high, SG=1.15), oh well. added tannin and pectic enzyme, and nutrient. we will see what happens...