Torani Smoothie Mixes as Wine?

[Vertumnus]

Had a bout of inspiration at the grocery store today when I saw the Torani flavoring syrups and wondered how they could add to my wine. My research on here tells me that they are good for adding post fermentation for sweetening/flavoring purposes.

I further found that Torani also makes Real Fruit Smoothie Mixes that don't contain the preservatives/additives of the syrups. For example, the Blueberry Pomegranate which comes in 64oz and is around $20.00 on Amazon is listed as having these ingredients (taken from the Torani site):

Water, Sugar, Blueberries, Pomegranate Juice from Concentrate, Strawberries, Dextrin(soluble dietary fiber), Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, colored with vegetable juice, Guar Gum, Pectin, Xanthan Gum, Ascorbic Acid(vitamin C).

That's just one of the selection they have. What do you all think about using these as the base for a wine? Maybe a lazy man's DB? Any experiences fermenting with these things and what other additives might be needed (sugar, nutrient, acid, etc.)?

 

[jojabri]

Why not give it a shot... you might have stumbled upon the next big thing. Either way, I'm pretty sure either way, you'd be a ground breaker.

BTW, I've heard of crazier.

 

[loumik]

64 oz is a 1/2 gallon, not a gallon. So, you are talking about $40 per gal. I don't know how much you were planning to make, but be aware you'll need twice as much as you might have initially thought.

Good Luck with it.

LOUMIK

 

[corinth]

Torani

Hi,
I have used Torani syrup, both sugar free (splenda) and others. They sell it at smart and final and the price is good. You might also look at Amazon to see what they sell. It does not mean you have to buy from them but the reviews are very helpful. I have used Ribena black currant at times.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=syrups%20torani

Corinth

 

[Gen-italian]

So here we are a decade later..... I've recently purchased 6 of these smoothie mix jugs in an effort to make a no hassle strawberry wine. I used about 6 tablespoons of baking soda to neutralize the citric acid... the question remains.... will it be enough?

Anyone with suggestions please reply.

 

[Rice_Guy]

welcome to WMT

The ingredient list on several syrups is OK for back sweetening. I would stay away from the low calorie sucrolose types, sorbate and benzoic acid. sorbate prevents yeast and mold growth.

As noted (2014 original thread) the product is expensive. As someone who gets ads from International Flavor and Fragrance I would use a no added sugar commercial concentrate instead of a flavored sugar syrup. ,,, See ColomaFrozen Foods, or frozen 100% juice concentrate from the grocery store or 100% fruit concentrate sometimes available at Costco.

@Gen-italian Wines are a preserved food. Part of their stability is from pH below 3.5, ,, as a bottom number yeast do not like pH below pH 2.8. If you have removed acid you need to know where you put your pH.

 

[Gen-italian]

I ended up using 6 half gallon(3 gallons) jugs and 3 gallons of water. I added a little baking soda to contend with the citric acid and the fermentation has been very strong ever since it started. The flavor is great. The wine tastes great. I'm going to allow it to finish dry and then I'll back sweeten it after there's zero activity for a couple weeks. The ABV should be 16.4%. It's young and has a full mouth feel, awesome fruit flavor that lingers on the pallet the alcohol flavor is not that strong. It's not exactly finished and I expect some age to make it even better.

 

[Gen-italian]

Xanthan and guar gum.
If anything you have in your recipe has those two ingredients it will make your wine opaque. It won't clear even with fining agents. I ended up buying a filter to try to clear this stuff up the best I can. As you can see from the picture the light won't pass through it. It does taste real good at 17% ABV, I didn't back sweeten it and it and it is not an overpowering alcohol flavor. It just looks like hell. Next time I make strawberry wine it will be with strawberry preserves.