Welch's Aqua Juice "Wine"

On a whim, I decided to ferment a bottle of Welch's Aqua Juice (Fruit Punch-flavored) using some Safale S-04 and a pinch of yeast nutrient (fermented right in the bottle at room temperature - mid 70s). There don't seem to be a whole lot of fermentables in that drink, so the fermentation finished and cleared in just over one week (!), yielding a very enjoyable light fruit cocktail that would make for a delightful mid-summer drink if served cold and lightly carbonated. This seems to be an excellent, cheap and slightly less-sweet alternative to the various alcopops available in stores.

What do you think the alcohol content was in this?

I would guess somewhere around 4% with this yeast, but I am not sure.

I fermented some Cargill 3+1 Grape Cocktail that I got at the local Cash & Carry restaurant supply store. 16oz juice concentrate, 40oz water, an 1/8tsp of Montrachet wine yeast in a 2-Liter bottle with an E-Z Cap, and we were off to the races! My house is 64F-68F every day, so after 11 days fermenting, I popped it into the fridge to cold crash it and then racked it off the lees into flip-tops on day 14.

It tastes exactly like grape soda, perfectly fizzy. Next time I'll take a hydrometer reading at the start and finish just to see what I've got for alcohol content, but this is perfectly refreshing as-is. Simple as can be!

khiddy said:

I fermented some Cargill 3+1 Grape Cocktail that I got at the local Cash & Carry restaurant supply store. 16oz juice concentrate, 40oz water, an 1/8tsp of Montrachet wine yeast in a 2-Liter bottle with an E-Z Cap, and we were off to the races! My house is 64F-68F every day, so after 11 days fermenting, I popped it into the fridge to cold crash it and then racked it off the lees into flip-tops on day 14.

It tastes exactly like grape soda, perfectly fizzy. Next time I'll take a hydrometer reading at the start and finish just to see what I've got for alcohol content, but this is perfectly refreshing as-is. Simple as can be!

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Mmmmm...I love grape soda, I think I'll give this a go. From start to stop when were you able to drink it, 14 days if I read correctly?

Ok here's what I did...

I mixed per instruction 2 cans of frozen concentrate welches grape cocktail and 2 cans of frozen grape concentrate old orchard brand (what I had around).

I added 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient total.

After all that I took a reading of about 1.06, so a potential ABV of just under 9%, but I'm planning to watch the density until it is down to an estimated 5%, then throw in the fridge, then bottle. I'm on a tight schedule because I want it to be ready soon, but we'll see how it goes.

EDIT: I meant 1.06, not 1.66!

khiddy said:

I fermented some Cargill 3+1 Grape Cocktail that I got at the local Cash & Carry restaurant supply store. 16oz juice concentrate, 40oz water, an 1/8tsp of Montrachet wine yeast in a 2-Liter bottle with an E-Z Cap, and we were off to the races! My house is 64F-68F every day, so after 11 days fermenting, I popped it into the fridge to cold crash it and then racked it off the lees into flip-tops on day 14.

It tastes exactly like grape soda, perfectly fizzy. Next time I'll take a hydrometer reading at the start and finish just to see what I've got for alcohol content, but this is perfectly refreshing as-is. Simple as can be!

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Just another question, do you have to keep this in the fridge then the rest of the time, to keep the bottles from exploding?

I keep it in the fridge just as a precaution, it's pretty clear when I racked it off the lees (trub, to beer folks), but there definitely is some yeast in the bottle because it doesn't seem to lose the carbonation even when I've opened the bottle several times to pour out a glass. Frankly, this stuff goes down so easily that I doubt it will be much of a problem as a bottle bomb, because it will be consumed well before the pressure can build up too much!

Your process sounds pretty much exactly like what I did, though I didn't add the yeast nutrient. I like your idea there quite a bit. What type of container are you fermenting in? I used a 2-liter plastic bottle and an E-Z Cap, which is a standard 2-liter plastic bottle cap with a hole in the middle covered by rubber. It lets off excess pressure, but still keeps enough pressure inside the bottle to carbonate the drink.

khiddy said:

Your process sounds pretty much exactly like what I did, though I didn't add the yeast nutrient. I like your idea there quite a bit.

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I saw that the OP did that, so I thought it couldn't hurt!

khiddy said:

What type of container are you fermenting in? I used a 2-liter plastic bottle and an E-Z Cap, which is a standard 2-liter plastic bottle cap with a hole in the middle covered by rubber. It lets off excess pressure, but still keeps enough pressure inside the bottle to carbonate the drink.

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Ohhhhh, I didn't know about e-z caps, darn, maybe this stuff I'm working on won't stay carbonated? I've got the batch divided between two gallon plastic jugs that had Motts apple juice in them from a previous batch of apple wine, with a paper towel attached over the top with a rubber band. I'm pretty new to all this, and on a budget, so I'm making due with things I can scrounge at the moment.

Yeah, even an airlock won't keep it pressurized, so you won't get much carbonation (if any at all) without an E-Z Cap. There's also another product from Australia called OZ-Tops, that offer three different carbonation levels with the cap. They look great, though I haven't bought any myself yet. They're only $24.95AUS, which is less than $18 USD for a set of six caps (with included yeast).

BTW, I'm not a shill for any of these products, I'm actually simply a very satisfied customer. My bride and I regularly have a glass of homemade cider made with the E-Z Caps, and we love it. We're not gonna put Spire or Woodchuck out of business with our little project, but at least we can make booze at home as simple as making juice!

khiddy said:

Yeah, even an airlock won't keep it pressurized, so you won't get much carbonation (if any at all) without an E-Z Cap. There's also another product from Australia called OZ-Tops, that offer three different carbonation levels with the cap. They look great, though I haven't bought any myself yet. They're only $24.95AUS, which is less than $18 USD for a set of six caps (with included yeast).

BTW, I'm not a shill for any of these products, I'm actually simply a very satisfied customer. My bride and I regularly have a glass of homemade cider made with the E-Z Caps, and we love it. We're not gonna put Spire or Woodchuck out of business with our little project, but at least we can make booze at home as simple as making juice!

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I looked at those ez caps but can you buy them separate or do you have to get the kit? It doesn't say how many caps come in their package.

According to the website you get 6 caps and the bottle of yeast. I didn't see anyplace where you could buyjust the caps but I found the place where you could buy just the yeast.

HTH
Storm

Just an update, I drank a glass of this tonight and it was pretty good! I put it in the fridge after two days of heavy ferment...took a reading of about 1.024, so I figure it's give or take about 5% alcohol. When I put it in the fridge I stoppered it up, so it still has some fizz to it. I let it sit in the fridge for about 48 hours. Very nice and refreshing! I hope it keeps a while in the fridge so i can take my time drinking it up.

Well, I've nearly plowed through about 2 gallons of this stuff!

So few days ago I started another small batch of grape, and a small batch using an Apple/Kiwi/Strawberry juice concentrate. What I've found is that if I close the lids tight on these once they're in the fridge they retain a nice amount of carbonation. I even bottled 2 bottles of it in corona bottles just to see what would happen. I left them in the fridge and they haven't exploded yet, so I'll probably drink them this weekend.

Oh, one other thing I've noticed. Now that I am down to the last glass or two of the grape batch I made, I think it is drying out a bit, and getting a little more sour. I think that what's happening is that the fermentation is slowed way down, but not stopped completely.