Welch's... frozen or off the shelf?

I bought welches grape juice off the shelf. It is the juice that is ready for drinking, not the frozen stuff. Ends up all I find are recipes which use frozen juice concentrate, yet I have the 100% juice already. So, my question is:

Do I use the juice at full concentration as is, or should I get some frozen concentrate and add that?

It seems that the recipes online use 4 cans of 12oz juice. This equates to 48oz of concentrate. Then they add water to make it a gallon, which is 80oz of water. When you make juice at the correct concentration, one 12oz will create 48oz of juice, so 4 cans will make 192oz of juice, which is 1.5 gallons.

Often, the shelf stuff has sodium benzoate, and that's why it's not used (it won't ferment).

I used white grape/peach off the shelf: a one gallon off the shelf and did not have a problem fermenting. It is an experiment I am working on. I started another batch yesterday morning of blueberry/pomegranate and it was fermenting last night.
I had to use off the shelf because I could not find the frozen in the groceries here.

Same here Sammyk, sounds like I am doing a similar experiment as you. Started in 48 hours ago and its fermenting. I added a cup of sugar to the juice(about 3/4 gal). I am experimenting with different yeasts.

ok, I checked and there was no sodium benzoate, no artificial flavors, and no preservatives... does that mean it is ok to use as is? I guess it is no big deal, just a gallon.

bunggo said:

ok, I checked and there was no sodium benzoate, no artificial flavors, and no preservatives... does that mean it is ok to use as is? I guess it is no big deal, just a gallon.

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Yes, it would be fine. It's weird that it wouldn't have preservatives though- otherwise it would ferment on the shelf. Double check- it's ok if it's got metabisulfite and ascorbic acid- but no benzoate.

I made the gallon of apple for topping up when needed.

Check its SG and adjust it to 1.08 or so with sugar.

I used the Welches concord for a pyment, it had no preservatives, just citric acid.

I also do a lot of preserving and I have no problem pasteurizing high acid juices in canning jars(crab apple, black berry, etc) and getting one to two years of shelf life, with no additives at all.

I am new to this and have heard that grape juice from the store will have no problem fermenting as long as it has no additives. My question is what is the best kind of yeast to use for red and for white wines?

This looks like it has good information for you. I used Red Star, Montrachet and it seems to be fermenting just fine.

http://winemakermag.com/guide/yeast

Back in high school i made wine with welches frozen concentrates. Not the best stuff but it was a hit at high school parties (added lots of sugar and drank fresh lmfao). I used 2 cans per gallon plus a lb of sugar per gallon if I remember right. It tasted like wine alright. I bet it would have aged nice. If only I saved a gallon I bet it would be amazing now!