Winemaking - On the Cheap

[jvs]

If you want to try a 'new' kind of winemaking, and not have it take you to the poorhouse by buying sugar, try making wine out of commercial Jelly.
 
I ran unto this a few years back when I was trying to make Cranberry wine.  I had so much trouble trying to make Cranberry because I could not find the right dilution of the juice and have the yeast survive that I did a search for alternatives.
 
I found a recipe for making wine out of Jellied Cranberry Sauce, and it worked perfect.  Not only did it contain the correct dilution, but the sugar was already in there.  I added nothing but something to make the pectin settle to the bottom after fermentation was complete. 
 
I told my buddy about this and he made a batch out of Strawberry Jelly, all without adding any sugar because it is already in the jelly.  It came out perfect.  Now he even makes it out of those Coctail Mixes that are in the supermarkets.  You would have to add sugar to those though.
 
So....if you want to make wine on the cheap, try making it out of Jelly.  Just make sure you buy A-1 products and they only use sugar as a sweetener.
 

[Cornbelt]

 Did you have to use any pectic enzyme?

[jvs]

I'd have to look in my winemaking supplies.  It was some kind of enzyme that held a different ion charge than the pectin had, and made the pectin fall to the bottom.  And if I remember correctly, it took the red color with it.  Cranberry turned out to be a white wine.  Pectic enzyme would be the only additive that I use in wine making.  I am not a big fan of adding any kind of chemical to a natural process.
 
I have not made 'jelly wine' lately but it is still and economical way to do it.  Normally I use fruits and berrys that are in season.  No concentrates, no commercial juices and no mixes.  One exception is I sometimes make Raspberry wine out of frozen berrys from the supermarket.
 
What do you normally use?

[Cornbelt]

 I had tried making elderberry wine out of jelly, but didn't have any luck. That was before learning about pectic enzyme, which I use when making blueberry wine.
 Elderberries I just use fresh, so haven't tried it from jelly, but the only way I got a decent product was to let the pulp ferment with the wine, then throw out the wine and add water to the pulp and start all over w/the old pulp.
 I dried some berries this yr for future reference, but haven't gotten around to it as yet.

[doc623]

I would like to know the proportion of the ingredients of Jellied Cranberry Sauce - oz? - and water to make how much wine.
 
Thanks.

[jvs]

I would like to know the proportion of the ingredients of Jellied Cranberry Sauce - oz? - and water to make how much wine.
 
Thanks.

I dont remember specifically how many cans of jellied cranberry sauce I used to make the wine, what I do remember is looking up a jelly wine recipe and substituting cranberry sauce instead of regular fruit jelly.  I also remember only using Ocean Spray Sauce.
 
I suppose it tends to be another 'trial and error' practices.
 
It turned out pretty good.  Except I would have rather had a red wine instead of white.  The loss of color did not affect the taste though.

[AtlLaw]

Some one please remind me.      It seems to me that I would get whatever I was using in the primary fermentation bucket and then check the specific gravity with my hydrometer.  I would add sugar diluted in water to bring the must up to a specific level, but I can't remember where the level I wanted came from.
 
Am I misremembering and completely off base here?      If not, and you had a must made of a jelly/water mix couldn't you do the same thing?

[bilmac]

Geeez, I'm glad I'm still here. I just ran my apples through a grinder designed to mush them before pressing them. I guess I'd better core them if I want to make juice again.

[jvs]

I am thinking that the discussion on toxicity of some winemake ingredients is important enough that it should have a thread of its own for now.
 
So if you people don't mind, I will split this off and have it stand alone in the list of topics.

[beerbelly]

 I made some muscadine wine and ran them through my electric grinder. The ground up seeds made it so bitter I did not want to drink it. Just mash up the fruit or berries and you won’t get the bitter taste or possible poisoning!