Substitute for white grape juice?

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

I can't seem to get WGJ round these parts at all. How about substituting some juice out of a cheap wine kit tin, say Youngs Definative Chardonnay for example?

It says this has 900g of white grape concentrate.

So just as a guesstimate might a third of such a tin be equivalent to a litre of WGJ? Not sure how concentrated a concentrate is :)

Chippy_Tea · Sep 11, 2017

If you have a Wilko close they sell a white grape concentrate you use the full bottle to a DJ (think its 230ml)

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

Chippy_Tea said:
If you have a Wilko close they sell a white grape concentrate you use the full bottle to a DJ (think its 230ml)

Nearest Wilkos is 140 miles away unfortunately. I do miss them!

Chippy_Tea · Sep 11, 2017

Have you tried red grape juice?

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

Chippy_Tea said:
Have you tried red grape juice?

I'm just clearing a DJ of the RGJ and apple WOW now (which smells great btw so thanks for that chippy :) ) but the wife prefers white and I wanted to make the orange/pineapple and WGJ which also seems to go down well on the WOW thread.

Chippy_Tea · Sep 11, 2017

I cannot believe this white grape juice shortage has gone on so long, i believe it started when bad whether caused the lesser quality grapes usually used in grape juice to be used for making wine instead but i would have thought it would have been sorted by now as IIRC it was a couple of years ago.

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

In the meantime though would you say a 1/4 tin of Youngs white wine tin kit is about 1l of WGJ?

Chippy_Tea · Sep 11, 2017

I haven't a clue to be honest but why wreck a white wine kit to make something that will probably be less quality than the original?

Tau · Sep 11, 2017

Use sultanas as your white grape grape juice. Two choices with this, mince and boil and strain juice into dj or chop, wash, soak and into must and ferment for 3-4 days and strain into new dj either way you get your equivalent wgj. 250g is equivalent to a ltr of wgj, they sell sultanas in 500g bags for 84p in Lidl's, tescos and asda.

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

Chippy_Tea said:
I haven't a clue to be honest but why wreck a white wine kit to make something that will probably be less quality than the original?

Good point I suppose - think I was expecting a cheap kit to be fairly low quality and certainly lacking in pineapple notes of the above mentioned WOW. Also it didn't seem too bad if it was being split and raising the quality of three to four WOWs?

Thanks for the feedback Chippy.

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

Tau said:
Use sultanas as your white grape grape juice. Two choices with this, mince and boil and strain juice into dj or chop, wash, soak and into must and ferment for 3-4 days and strain into new dj either way you get your equivalent wgj. 250g is equivalent to a ltr of wgj, they sell sultanas in 500g bags for 84p in Lidl's, tescos and asda.

Certainly a more cost effective solution if slightly more work. Are sultanas preferable to raisins or are they interchangeable?

Thanks for the reply Tau.

LED_ZEP · Sep 11, 2017

I use sultanas in all my WOW's to give a little vinosity and body.

LED_ZEP · Sep 11, 2017

Chippy_Tea said:
I cannot believe this white grape juice shortage has gone on so long, i believe it started when bad whether caused the lesser quality grapes usually used in grape juice to be used for making wine instead but i would have thought it would have been sorted by now as IIRC it was a couple of years ago.

As they have used the lesser quality quality grapes to make the wine can I safely assume my home made whites will be a closer quality match to the shop bought? :lol:

Chippy_Tea · Sep 11, 2017

The quality of the white wine i used to buy was so low i doubt it was made with the "better" grapes so mine has always been close :lol:

The Baron · Sep 11, 2017

Why not use the powdered grape juice that one of the members was talking about a few weeks ago (on Ebay) they do white rose and red I have ordered the red you get 1 kilo enough to do about 40 litres of wine it also comes with yeast and nutrient and the red has a grape skin additive to deepen the colour. These seem ideal as a base to make WOW's etc or just on their own.
Will post once I have made my next red up and let you know the quality etc

YeastLord · Sep 11, 2017

the baron said:
Why not use the powdered grape juice that one of the members was talking about a few weeks ago (on Ebay) they do white rose and red I have ordered the red you get 1 kilo enough to do about 40 litres of wine it also comes with yeast and nutrient and the red has a grape skin additive to deepen the colour. These seem ideal as a base to make WOW's etc or just on their own.
Will post once I have made my next red up and let you know the quality etc

Hadn't thought of that. Would work out that about 25g equates to a litre of juice. Do they do a small pack to test it out I wonder?

Thanks for the reply :)

LED_ZEP · Sep 12, 2017

the baron said:
Why not use the powdered grape juice that one of the members was talking about a few weeks ago (on Ebay) they do white rose and red I have ordered the red you get 1 kilo enough to do about 40 litres of wine it also comes with yeast and nutrient and the red has a grape skin additive to deepen the colour. These seem ideal as a base to make WOW's etc or just on their own.
Will post once I have made my next red up and let you know the quality etc

That would of been myself.

I've had good results with the red grape powder on it's own. It can also be used as a good base to add in fruits.

On the back of this bought some white grape powder... I'm sure it normally would work well but the pack I got was sealed but it didn't have a vacuum as did the reds. As a result the powder looked as though it had oxidised (dark brown in colour). I've tried a batch and it looked like mud when made up (fermented well) and I've racked to try and clear it today. I shall report back when done.

YeastLord · Sep 12, 2017

LED_ZEP said:
That would of been myself.

I've had good results with the red grape powder on it's own. It can also be used as a good base to add in fruits.

On the back of this bought some white grape powder... I'm sure it normally would work well but the pack I got was sealed but it didn't have a vacuum as did the reds. As a result the powder looked as though it had oxidised (dark brown in colour). I've tried a batch and it looked like mud when made up (fermented well) and I've racked to try and clear it today. I shall report back when done.

Shame about the leak. It'll be interesting to see if that really is a substitute for WGJ - especially if we never see it on supermarket shelves again! :)

LED_ZEP · Dec 20, 2017

LED_ZEP said:
That would of been myself.

I've had good results with the red grape powder on it's own. It can also be used as a good base to add in fruits.

On the back of this bought some white grape powder... I'm sure it normally would work well but the pack I got was sealed but it didn't have a vacuum as did the reds. As a result the powder looked as though it had oxidised (dark brown in colour). I've tried a batch and it looked like mud when made up (fermented well) and I've racked to try and clear it today. I shall report back when done.

Just a quick update on the batch of white. It cleared well but I wasn't over keen on the flavour. I decided to use it for something else (which can't be talked about on this forum) so it didn't go to waste.

TJ2You · Dec 20, 2017

Ladies n Gents, I have seen on eBay 8 x 1 litre white grape juice cartons for ÃÂ£19 it was from a health shop, they also do red, when I put cartons, I d9 believe they are full lol.

Substitute for white grape juice?

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