Welch's Frozen Grape Juice Formula?

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:04 pm

Anybody seen or tried anything like this and is it any good, for distillation?
Found it while surfing the net. Just curious because it looks like something that someone desperate enough would concoct and filter just for the sake of getting drunk

10 cans -(11.5 oz) Welch’s 100% frozen grape concentrate
7 Lbs granulated sugar
Water to make 5 gallons
Wine or distillers yeast

Bring 5 quarts of water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and add frozen concentrate. Add additional water to make five gallons and pour into fermenter. Add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover with cloth fastened with rubber band and set aside 12 hours. After cooling to proper yeast temperature, add activated yeast and recover with cloth. Ferment 30 days

EuroStiller-The Doctor

Post by **HookLine** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:08 pm

I think Pintoshine might have a recipe along those lines.

new_moonshiner · Post by **new_moonshiner** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:09 pm

sounds like wine to me and once distilled it make brandy if done properly .

Old_Blue · Post by **Old_Blue** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:12 pm

looks like something that someone desperate enough would concoct and filter just for the sake of getting drunk

There are some recipes posted here using frozen concentrate.

I have made many gallons myself and they can be quite tasty - depending on your wine making skills..

As-Ol-Joe · Post by **As-Ol-Joe** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:08 pm

Wineo has a good recipe for using welch's.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:44 pm

Thats just the old welches concord recipe that has been around for years.If you add a 1/4 tsp of tannin,and 3 tsps of tartaric acid,and use wine yeast,it makes good wine.If your going to distill it,use 4-5lbs of sugar because you will get more flavor to carry over.I have 2 cases of the stuff bottled and aged almost a year now.Its good stuff,and real easy.

Rumchugga · Post by **Rumchugga** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:44 pm

I have a friend that made pink champaign out of welch's purple grape juice concentrate and it was actually pretty damn good. Also he made white wine out of the white grape juice concentrate, which was also good but not as good as the champaign. I'm not sure of the recipe but I'll try to find out and post it...... I was told you can have a very good end product with it, but it's very easy to screw up.

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:14 pm

Damn

I did not expect this much feedback on this topic. And yes I did read the parent site As-Ol-Joe. I've been around alcohol for as long as I can remember. Even as a child growing up I was served wine at lunch and dinner. Then came the liquers, amaro's, elixirs, rosoli, and distillati. I have picture of myself loading vinacce (grape skins and stems) into the alembic when I was 4, maybe 5 years old. Distillation is not new to me. What is, is all these formulas that seem odd to me. They seem odd to me because I have no practical experience with them. Tomato paste, grape concentrate, turbo yeast. S#it, I just got my wings, I'm not that ready to fly too close to the sun! I'm going to starting out with the most simple wash I come across in the next 2 weeks. I'm talking about bare bones basic to run through my new reflux still. I got it to make neutral spirits, and that's what I'm gonna do. Eventually, yeah, I would like to do a molasses wash and put up a cask of Rum. I suppose I could use my alembic and run my home-made wine, (no welch's involved), and make a Brandy. Maybe one day get to the level of some of you forum members and even start making shine

As-Ol-Joe · Post by **As-Ol-Joe** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:13 pm

EuroStiller wrote:And yes I did read the parent site As-Ol-Joe.

Sorry if you took offense to my tag line. It is there to remind me and others to read. When I first joined this forum, I had read a good portion of the parent site and was generating a lot of questions. Husker and tater, both told me in no uncertain terms to get back to the parent site and read,read,read. I took offense to it, but they were 100% right in telling me that. It has made me a better distiller. Now, hopefully I can help other new comers.

As long as you are asking informed questions, you won't get the read, read, read. Or worse, get totally flamed.

Oh, welcome to the club

Post by **shadylane** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:11 am

I'm too lazy too drag out the calculator and a can of welch's , but it seems there may be too much fermentable sugar for 5 gallons of wine/mash in this recipy.

Post by **Dnderhead** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:11 am

I like to throw in a few extra cans of juice when distilling it never enough flavor ( some wine recipes call for pectin enzyme do not use!)

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:36 am

Some times I'm tired of reading/ studying and my brain hurts, LOL. I have had too many year of "book learning" thrust upon me. Sometimes, it would nice to just have the perfect formula fall into your lap, you know!! I was fortunate enough to be home schooled, since my mother used to be a teacher, until the age of 16. At 16 I went back to Italy, and started my college level courses. I have a Laurea, 3 years, (B.S.) in Biology, a Laurea Specialistica, 2 more years, (M.S.) in Organic Chemistry and a concurrent Laurea Magistrale, 3 integrated years, (M.S.) in Pharmacology, and finally my Dottore in Medicina i Churigia, 6 more years (3 in rotation), (M.D.) in Medicine and Surgery. I earned My J.D. (Not Jack Daniel's, Juris Doctor, Lawyer) here in America in 2 years time! So I'm a Doctor of Internal Medicine, Surgeon, Doctor of Pharmacy, and a Lawyer, technically a Ph.D.! Pretty good for a guy who can't figure out what the hell to mash and distill to end up with C2,H5,OH, otherwise known as ethanol!

I've been in practice for only a year now. I have 3 partners in the practice, which is nice because I get to set my own schedule. And no, it's not about the money. There is no more money to be made in being a Doctor anymore, well a little. But malpractice insurance in this country is astronomical!! I pray for socialized medicine in the US. Either that, or when you hit say 60, the government pays for everything! Bunch lazy kids out there making a lot of money and hiding it away. That’s not fair! Enough on that note!

And yes you do get addicted to this forum. It's like I was told when I got my first tattoo: "Tuffiamo i nostri aghi soltanto nel heroin più fine." let me translate that for those of you who don't understand Italian:"We dip our needles only in the finest heroin." LOL

EuroStiller- The Doctor

eternalfrost · Post by **eternalfrost** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:43 am

almost any of the frozen concentrates will ferment nicely. just look for anything that dosent have preservatives in it. most wont since they are frozen solid and dont need it.

used to make that all the time when i was like 15 haha

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:07 pm

Like I said, I'm new to it and was curious if it was worth making for distillation purposes. But it seems that the general consensus is that it is more of a wine/ beverage that a base to distill. So I learned something! How do ya like that

EuroStiller- The Doctor

I just found out one of my neighbors works for a food distribution company, Sysco. I think I'll be able to get things like molasses and sugar through him, in large quantities, for a fraction of what I would have to pay retail! Isn’t life sweet!!!!

Old_Blue · Post by **Old_Blue** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:19 pm

Frozen concentrate, frozen whole fruit, or canned (without preservatives) is better to make wine than fresh fruit in most cases.

Fruit that is frozen or canned is used at the peak of ripeness where "fresh" fruit is usually picked somewhat green so it can handle the rigors of shipping and warehousing until it gets to its final destination. It sometimes arrives rotten or beat to death.

That is, if you don't have a local source where it can be got fresh from the tree/vine.

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:24 pm

Old_Blue

I make wine every year religiously! I've been buying my grapes by the lug (36 pounds each), from the same source. They come from California. I've never had a bad lot, knock on wood! They get picked and shipped the same day. So the time it takes to get from Napa to Chicago: A good trucker can do it in 30 hours, probably less! I do check the Brix before starting out. I mostly make red wine, so I like a Brix of at least 20-23. I don't use sulfites because I cannot tolerate then and I don't believe in them. I believe in the grape and that’s it. Lately, I have had to add some EC-1118 yeast, as the grapes just don’t have the kick that European grapes do. I rely mainly on Sangiovese grapes. Sometimes I will mix in Pinot Noir, and now I can get it Shiraz. On average I get 20- 24 lug of grapes and end up over 50 gallons of wine each year. And yeas, it all gets consumed!!

EuroStiller- The Doctor

Old_Blue · Post by **Old_Blue** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:40 pm

Good deal Euro.

Unfortunately, a lot of would be wine makers go for their first batches with piss-poor from the local market and end up making nasty stuff which turns them off forever. Too bad they miss out on making their own good stuff like us.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:44 pm

Ive been making wines for years,but mostly fruit wines.The grape wines I have made were from local grapes,not wine grapes but concords,and seeded white grapes.Im too cheap to buy a cab of good wine grapes,but plan on growing some in a few years when the kids are grown,and I move to a better location.I make alot of blackberry,elderberry,and wild cherry wines,and still make some from frozen juice.The grape,and cranberry that I make from frozen juice make very good wines and are alot cheaper to make than kits.The cranberry is my favorite.The recipe is posted,and it cost about $25 to make.Most of the fruit I use,I pick,or get free.I have about 400 bottles in the celler now,and about another 100 bulk ageing.

mikeac · Post by **mikeac** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:16 pm

Hey Wineo, what blackberry recipe do you use, I tried a batch last year but it really wasn't any good. We have HEAPS of blackberries around here though.

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:21 pm

This has been in my family for as long I can remember, along with a few other cherry ones. This however, is the best in my opinion. It is very strong. Most Americans I serve it to just gag. It is made from the Amarne (marasca) or bitter cherry and some of its leaves, picked wild or from this little orchard in Michigan. I grind the fruit, pit and all in a very large marble mortar and pestle. For every Kg of fruit, I add roughly ¼ - ¾ Kg of sugar, tasting along the way. I add the leaves whole just before I put it to ferment. I open ferment in a cask, covered with towels. Again, I do this without the use of yeast and those damn sulphites. When fermentation completes, then it heads for the press. After pressing it gets fortified with both wine and grappa and it goes into very large demijohn's I brought back from Italy to settle. After 3 months I rack and bottle. Most excellent! And I have no worries about HCN poisoning. Probably better than Brandy after shoveling snow to warm you on the worst winter day! The Luxardo Company in Italy puts out a similar product called Sangue Morlacco (they cask age theirs for 2 years, my ancestors could barley wait 3 months!). I still think mine is better! And it ages sooo well.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:58 pm

I dont use any sulfites also.There nasty.

Post by **HookLine** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:22 pm

Wineo, who is that in your avatar? Looks familiar but I can't place him.

new_moonshiner · Post by **new_moonshiner** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:32 pm

I was thinking the same thing Hook, Kinda reminds me of young Junior Johnson .. but I could be wrong .

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:39 pm

Try John Dillinger, shot to death infront of the Biograaph Theather, Chicago July 22, 1934

Post by **HookLine** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:43 pm

Yup, that looks like him.

Chev · Post by **Chev** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:49 pm

EuroStiller wrote:Most Americans I serve it to just gag.

I probably would too, bitter cherry sounds like cough syrup lol.

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:10 am

Chev

Bitter cherries get picked when they are green in this country, pitted, dyed red, processed, persevered with a s#itload of chemicals, and become cherry pie filling or Maraschino cherries for drinks. Think about that next time your using you tongue to tie that cherry stem into a knot or licking all those colorings from nice slice of cherry pie you just had off you plate.

Eat real food, drink spirits, and walk 5 kilometers daily and you will live to be 110 like my great-grand mother, well I know I will.

P.S. Don’t knock it, till ya tried it!

EuroStiller- The Doctor

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:19 am

John dillenger didnt die in 1934.I know thats what all the history says,but its not true.The guy they shot up wasnt him.The reason I know this is because my great grandfather and him were life long friends.He changed his name,and lived in indiana,and died in his 80s.My great grandfather was a shiner,and a cherokee.

Post by **Dnderhead** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:39 am

sorry but maraschino cherries are sweet cherries like rainier a lite
colored cherry then dyed red and prickled , pie cherries are tart cherries
and bitter cherries well ---go pick some what we in US call choke cherries you will see the difference

EuroStiller · Post by **EuroStiller** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:02 am

The Marasca cherry was also the original base cherry used to make
Maraschino cherries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marasca_cherry" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Don't even try to prove me wrong!

EuroStiller- The Doctor