Wine From Concentrate - Wine from Frozen Juice

One of the easiest ways to make wine is to make wine from concentrate. I like to use Welch's frozen "Juice Maker's" 100% frozen juice concentrate. They have so many different flavors that you can try... why not try them all?!? I am going to...

Just know... some will be good and some won't... but you will never know what you might like... so have at it...

The cool thing about this recipe is that you do not need a lot of wine making equipment... a couple of gallon jugs for fermenting (milk jugs will work) and a tube for racking will do... along with some plastic or a balloon and a rubber band...This is a great way to get your feet wet when it comes to wine making.

You can use other frozen juices by the way... Just make sure there is no sorbate in the ingredient list... and make sure that they are as close to 100% juice as you can get..

By the way... my husband told me that this is how they used to make wine in the Navy when they were out to sea. Guess you have to fill your days with a hobby huh?

I am going to ask my dad if they made wine like this when he was in the Navy. My dad went into the Navy when he was 18 and then retired after I graduated from High School so he was in for life and has a ton of stories to tell. I will have to see if he has any great wine making stories

Recipe #1 - Welch's Frozen Grape Juice Wine

1-1/4 lbs granulated sugar

2 tsp acid blend

1 tsp pectic enzyme

1 tsp yeast nutrient

water - enough to make 1 gallon

1 pkg - wine yeast

Boil your sugar in 1 quart of water and let it cool, stirring a little to make sure that the sugar has dissolved. Add your frozen concentrate to your sugar water and use the cans to add enough water so that you have a gallon of liquid. Add all of your other ingredients except for the yeast.

Pour your liquid into a jug. Put a piece of plastic over the top of your jug and hold it in place with a rubber band... or you can use a balloon...

After 24 hours take off the rubber band and add your packet of wine yeast. You can stir your mixture with a chopstick... these work well.

You can now either put a new piece of plastic on your jar held in place by your handy dandy rubber band... or you can put your airlock on. Store your jug in a dark warm place for about a month while it ferments.

After about a month go ahead and rack your wine... siphon it into a new jug.

You will now want to add some boiled water to make sure that your wine reaches the bottom of the bottle neck. Put your airlock back on... or put a new piece of plastic over the top and secure with your rubber band.

Let your wine sit for another 6 - 8 weeks. Rack your wine again.

Reattach your airlock or replace your piece of plastic and let set for another couple of months.

When your wine is clear feel free to sweeten it if you would like to and then go ahead and bottle it.

You have now made wine from concentrate.

The thing about making wine is that once you know the basics then you can feel free to experiment... mix a couple of different juices together... make wine from concentrate mixed with wine from fruit... don't feel penned in by recipes...

But always take notes... you will want to be able to reproduce a fantastic batch of home made wine... or you will want to remember what NOT to do...

Share a story with me. I love to hear a great wine making story. When did you first make wine from concentrate or frozen juice? Was it in the Navy like my husband?

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