1987 Welch’s Raspberry Juice

October 2018 – I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am – when I see that people are still fermenting Welch’s. I have no clear remembrance why I did this, other than I wanted to ferment something and my options were limited. Or maybe I just wondered if I could do it.


Ingredients

Fruit 7x 12 oz cans Welch’s Raspberry Orchard
Water 4-3/4 gallons
Sugar 22 cups
Acid 2 tsp acid blend
Nutrient 3 tsp nutrient + 2-1/2 tsp energizer
Sulfite 1/2 tsp K-meta
Yeast Epernay II

Method

Started 08/25/1987
SG 1.095
Yeast added 08/26/1987
SG 1.095
Racked 09/06/1987
SG 1.016
Racked 09/20/1987
SG 1.015
Racked, oak chips added 10/25/1987
SG 1.015
Racked 12/06/1987
SG 1.015
Filtered, #2 filter pad 02/27/1988
SG 1.015
Bottled 05/29/1988
SG 1.015

Notes

Yield 28 bottles
Alcohol 10.9%
Afterthoughts Considering it’s basically junk, it’s amazing how popular the Welch’s wines were! Side note — I don’t remember if this wine stuck at 1.015 or if I managed to stop it intentionally. The sweetness contributes to a LOT of people really liking it!
October 2018 In retrospect, I’m fairly certain that the wine simply stopped fermenting when it did. The commercial juice-like products contain preservatives and it’s surprising they ferment at all.

Although I did this way back when, I can’t recommend it. There are a lot of things to ferment – pick something of quality. 😉