Steamed canned juice for wine???

[marie79]

Help the freezer is full and it is time to harvest for wine making in winter. I have a wonderful steam juicer, my question is can I juice my fruit and then can it in jars for wine? The canning process would definitely be cooking the juice, so I am not sure how that would effect it with making it into wine.... Any advice would be appreciated my red current patch is ripening, first pick is in the fridge!

 

[Julie]

Hi marie79,

I have not done this but Tom on the site does this all the time. Just remember to add pectic enzyme when you start to use your juice for winemaking.

 

[BobF]

I have also done a lot of this. I run the juice from the juicer straight into canning jars and add lids/rings without further processing. I do recycle the first jar - pour it back into the top to make sure everything has had full heat exposure.

I've never had a seal failure or spoilage, with some of the jars waiting on the shelf for 2+ years before use.

I've done this with elderberry, blackberry and cherry.

As Julie said, make sure you don't skip the pectic enzyme when preparing a must from the canned juice.

I've also found that I prefer adding a bit of tannin when using juice from darker fruits b/c the must won't have the benefit of skin contact.

 

[marie79]

Thank you for the responses! I will be using this approach for sure on raspberries and red currants! I have informed my husband that we need an additional freezer! My mom is going to let me borrow her canner, so I think I will juice straight into jars like you said Bob and then if I have jars that won't seal throw them in the canner. Thank you for the advice puts my mind at ease, I'll get my wine fruit and the wine won't suffer, yay!

 

[SBWs]

I do mostly wine from steamed juice. Like Bob said straight from the juicer to canning jars. I clean my jars first with easy clean. Then I put some k-meta solution into them to sanitize, turn them upside down on a towel to drain and let the fumes work for 20 minutes. Got some 2+ years old and it's still good.

This works real well if you want to experiment with blending different fruits that don't come on the same time of year. You can also mix leftover berries together and steam them as one juice.

I also like doing a few pint jars to use as f-pac's. One pint of juice and a cup of sugar works real well for adding flavor and sweetness. Dissolve the sugar in the juice while heating and simmer for 15, 20 minutes and you have pure sweet flavor.

My BLOG http://shellybellywines.wordpress.com/ on making wine from steamed juice has my procedures on it along with a few of my recipes.

 

[marie79]

Thanks I checked out your blog lots of info! The chocolate raspberry sounds very yummy! So my husband brought home a flat of yellow plums, and I thought I would steam juice what we couldn't eat before they go bad. Now I am wondering about the left over pulp? Could you dehydrate it to put in your primary fermentation, kind of like using raisins? Would that even benefit the wine? I know I could bake with it and what not, just another step I was thinking about. He also brought home some very ripe peaches so I have 1 gallon peach wine started now!

 

[Tom]

Yes I do in fact I have 8 cases of steamed juice in BALL jars

Hi marie79,

I have not done this but Tom on the site does this all the time. Just remember to add pectic enzyme when you start to use your juice for winemaking.

 

[marie79]

The steaming is going great now not only are the freezers full but the shelves are on there way to full! I love this gathering time and imagining what will be made from my efforts! Going to start a blueberry tomorrow with 16 pounds I picked earlier that will help make room in the freezer, will add a couple quarts of red grape juice and some raisin we shall see!

 

[saramc]

I know many people who use the pulp of the steamed juice in their primary, others use it to make fruit leather, etc.

 

[SBWs]

A lot of times I'll use the pulp with 2 cans of welches white grape (per gallon) to make a blush wine. Or I'll put some in a quart jar at the end of steaming and add juice to the top and seal. Then if I want to add body I'll add this to the primary in a mesh bag for a few days. I'm going to steam the few concord grapes I got this year and plan on freezing the skins (pulp) in freezer bags. I'll do the same thing with them.

 

[marie79]

Yes I started saving the pulp in jars, to perhaps ferment in wines. Made some yellow plum butter, and grape butters out of some too. I picked about twenty pounds of black currants today, that will need to be steamed. A friend needed help harvesting and I was more than happy! I throw the currant pulp though too seedy and I tend to leave it on the vine. Never made black currant wine, but I am looking forward to it, thought I might make it a port with some black currant liquere.

 

[barryjo]

Yes I started saving the pulp in jars, to perhaps ferment in wines. Made some yellow plum butter, and grape butters out of some too. I picked about twenty pounds of black currants today, that will need to be steamed. A friend needed help harvesting and I was more than happy! I throw the currant pulp though too seedy and I tend to leave it on the vine. Never made black currant wine, but I am looking forward to it, thought I might make it a port with some black currant liquere.

Rather than throw the pulp, If you would like to use it, just dump it into a kneehigh nylon stocking. Let that soak with the must for a while. When ready, pull the pulp stocking, squeeze the juice out and throw the stocking.

 

[Luc]

Just be sure to add extra pectic enzymes when making wine from the juice.
There will be a lot of pectin released when steam-juicing and that needs extra pectic enzymes to clear the juice.

Luc