Canning wine.....

[Mismost]

My Grandmother made mustang grape wine and she canned it in Mason jars. When passed, I bought her place. There were cabinets full of home canned veggies, jellies, jams, and about 20 quarts of knock your socks off mustang grape wine.

So, I know it can be done. Anyone have tips or tricks for canning wine?

Thanks!

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I've got "The Modern Book of Home Canning", (Copyright 1938, never put the word "modern" in your book title, if you don't want people laughing at you 80 years later.) and there's squat in there about canning wine. Grape juice, sure, but not wine.

Are the rings actually sealed to the mason jars, or are they just held on by rings? If the latter, she just used mason jars like wine bottles. If the former, it was actual canning.

 

[sanguine]

Wine doesn't seem like something that's worth actually putting through the canning process; the point of canning is to seal the jars and sanitize their contents to prevent spoilage, but wine won't spoil as long as it's left in a reasonably airtight container. Chances are she just used the jars as wine bottles - something many of us have done at one point or another.

 

[jensmith]

A short water bath would seal the jars. As wine does not need to be steralized to keep, there is no reason for longer heating or pressurizing.


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[Mismost]

Interesting....GrandMother actually canned this wine...the lids were sealed on....she only used rings to hold on the lids during canning. No telling how long that wine had been in jars, but it was a long time, dust on the jars inside a cabinet suggested years and years.

Question.....would not the canning process help drive off oxygen? Kill the yeast, so no bottle bombs?

I should have asked her these questions about thirty years ago! I suspect she would say, because that's the way my Momma did it! Besides, no Christain lady would have wine or beer bottles in her house, it just wouldn't look right.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Well, I'd agree with Jensmith, then: A short water bath, just long enough to seal the jars. You don't need to sterilize it, and don't want to drive off the alcohol.

 

[sniktaw]

As said by Jensmith & Brett_Bellmore, you should be able to use the water bath canning method for wine. I would look up directions for canning grape juice and use those for the wine. Biggest problem would be that the flavor profile might change somewhat from the heat, but really only a minor concern for most homemade, non-show wines.

http://victorio.info/usda-canning-guides.html

Guide 2 has the info for grape juice, with the applicable times on page 16.

 

[Mismost]

As said by Jensmith & Brett_Bellmore, you should be able to use the water bath canning method for wine. I would look up directions for canning grape juice and use those for the wine. Biggest problem would be that the flavor profile might change somewhat from the heat, but really only a minor concern for most homemade, non-show wines.

http://victorio.info/usda-canning-guides.html

Guide 2 has the info for grape juice, with the applicable times on page 16.

THANKS! That Guide is now bookmarked....who knows, someday I might just want to can crabs and oysters ! Seriously good information and I will use that this year.

 

[Yooper]

Ethanol boils (off) at a lower temperature than water, so I would guess that even water bath canning would lower the alcohol level of the wine. The jars don't seal until the jars are cool, so any time over 173 degrees would drive off the alcohol.

I'd be really interested in checking the ABV of the wine before canning, and then afterwards to see how much alcohol actually boils off before the jars are sealed.

 

[theDREWery]

I know some vacuum sealing units have attachments that let you purge some air from canning jars, enough to create a good seal without relying on the ring. This would prevent the possibility of boiling off precious ethanol. Also fun to make marshmallows inflate to 100x normal size.

 

[Bear979]

A trick I use when canning is to boil the lids (new lids should be boiled anyways). The hot lids will seal themselves if tightened on the jars. Probably what she did. Simple, easy, and works!!