Winemaking project: Pictures page 6!

[TanksHill]

 

[Emerald]

One of the Mom's that are helping me with the costumes for the school play happens to run the pie making company that our school has for fund raising and asked me if I was still making wine--come to find out they always have tons of cherry and blueberry juice left over when they do a run of pies and I asked how much she wanted as I would save some cash for some--she said " NOTHING!" if no one wants it for jelly or whatever it gets tossed! So after this weekend I might have a few gallons of cherry juice(with only some sugar added as they make and freeze the cherries with sugar in season) to make wine with!! Whoo hoo for good luck!

 

[freemotion]

Huh??? What is this???? How do I find it?? Why do they have juice left over...I don't, when I make pie. Tell me more, please!

 

[chicken stalker]

Rose hips should be ripe now. I heard they make a good wine.

 

[Emerald]

Huh??? What is this???? How do I find it?? Why do they have juice left over...I don't, when I make pie. Tell me more, please!

Well they start with the bing tart cherries right after harvest and they pit them and cover them with a bit of sugar to help them with the freezing and then they(the cherries) get packed into 4 gallon buckets and frozen till they need to make a run of pies for a school.
Then the church gym/school gym gets set up and the school who is selling the pies gets volunteers in and they have a huge set up where one group make the crust and another puts it in the pans and then another makes the filling and so on till they are all done and then they get picked up.
So after they are frozen and thawed there is quite a bit of juice that is drained off the cherries so that the pies are full and not just juice.
I hope that makes sense.. I have worked as a volunteer at least 3 times for the school making blueberry and cherry and apple pies with these folks.
But the apples usually are from whole apples that the family grows and they go thru a few extra steps-like thru the big peeler and then the spotter table(where people with small knives check for seeds and peel and bad spots) then the apples go thru the slicer and then they get mixed with the spice/sugar/thickener mix and then on to the crusts. it is quite the set up!
If you ever notice a pie sale in your area- it wouldn't hurt to check it out and see if they have volunteers come in to make the pies and usually any left over filling or crust or the juice is either sold really cheaply or given away to the helpers. Might just be a good frugal pick up of goodies.
By the way I asked about making jelly with the juice in the food section, I have always made jam and really a newby on jelly so need a few questions answered. Wouldn't mind some help from anyone who is in the know.!

 

[freemotion]

Thanks, Emerald, I'll keep my ears open...and ask around. My clients are great resources!

I have a batch of Welch's Concord Grape in the primary, using 13 cans of frozen concentrate. It is the only juice I could find (with a quick search, I will continue looking) that is not sulfited. Sheesh! Sulfites in juice, hoodathunk? The recipes I found mostly called for 10 cans (2 per gallon plus 1.5 lbs of sugar) but I found some notes that recommend using more, three cans per gallon. I decided to split the difference and used the extra three cans. I used 5 lbs of sugar, reduced to make up for the extra sugar in the extra concentrate, but will check the specific gravity tomorrow when the temp normalizes and will adjust for a specific gravity of about 0.090. That is the plan. Using a hydrometer is the only way to go with this, since there is no other way to determine the sugar content of this particular batch of grape juice. It can be adjusted by adding sugar....that is why I went on the light side.

I will make a spiced mead next, but I still haven't cracked open that pail of honey yet. It seems like a big job to portion it out into jars, so I've been avoiding it. Keeping the primary in use gives me another week to avoid that task!

 

[Emerald]

Just a heads up- I have used the frozen white grape Welches and the frozen white grape/peach from them too, the trick to using that juice(that is if you are not allergic to sulfates) is to make the juice and shake the crap out of it to add tons of air, slightly crack the lid(I have been using empty juice jugs or cider jugs to make up the juice) and let it sit in the fridge for about 24 hours for the sulfates to evaporate(just like using the campden tablets on fresh fruit) and then add your yeast and it ferments fine for me. the white grape/peach is hubby's favorite so far. The peach really shines thru.

 

[freemotion]

Thanks, I'd read that...but I am quite sensitive to sulfates/sulfites and don'd use 'em. I was shocked to find them in so many products besides wine. I don't drink juice much at all so it hasn't been an issue.

My Welch's Concord Grape....chosen only because it was the first juice I found without chemical preservatives in it...has a specific gravity of 1.100 and a potential alcohol of about 13.5, so that will do. I'm not going to adjust it. It will get adjusted to be slightly lower when I top up the carboy with water after racking anyways.

 

[Emerald]

If you can look for Old Orchard in the freezer section-so far they don't add anything to their juices other than vitamin C(ascorbic acid) and I love the apple/raspberry flavor-makes great flavored wine and if you add more fruits to it, it gets even better. They even have blueberry pomegranate.
Lucky for me our local big box store will sometimes put them on the 10 for $10 get one free sale and I can stock up as it is good for just drinking as juice too. lol

 

[freemotion]

What is your big box store? I'm hoping we have the same one here...