How To Make Grape Juice

Learning how to make grape juice is simple. The results are healthy and simply delicious.

Our family loves 100% pure grape juice.

Equipment and Supplies

• Fresh Grapes
• Jars & Lids
• Steamer Juicer
• Lid lifter

Preparing Your Jars

Wash your jars with hot soapy water.
See preparing your jars, lids and rings.

After washing the jars, I also put my jars in the oven at 200° to sterilize the jars. This is because I don’t process my grape juice. If you’re going to process your grape juice in a hot water bath, you don’t need to sterilize your jars in the oven. See Processing Grape Juice.

Picking and Washing Your Grapes

Concord Grapes make the best grape juice. Pick your grapes when they’re a deep purple. When the grapes ripen, they’ll begin to soften. Taste them. If they’re still sour and tart, they aren’t ready to make into juice. In Utah we pick our grapes late in the fall right before it freezes.

If you have other varieties of grapes mix them in with your Concord Grapes. If you don’t have any Concord Grapes plant some and make grape juice with what you have.

We’ve mixed chokecherries in with our grapes. They give the juice a deep rich color and we like the flavor of the mixture. You can also mix apple juice in with your grape juice. You can make straight grape juice or get creative in the varieties you create as you learn how to make grape juice.

To wash the grapes leave the grapes on their stems and submerge the entire bunch in a sink of cold water.

Here’s How to Make Grape Juice

• Fill the bottom section of the steamer juicer with water and turn the heat on high. As you make your grape juice, watch the water level in this bottom section so that it doesn’t run dry.
• Put the washed bunches of grapes in the top section of the steamer juicer. Fill the basket all the way to the top and put on the lid.

  Add more grapes to the top of the basket as the grapes begin to shrink.

  Let the leftover grape pulp drain overnight before throwing it back onto the garden.

• The heat from the steam will cook the grapes. The grape juice will drain into the middle section of the steamer juicer.

  You’ll get a feel for how fast this middle section fills with up with juice. Don’t let the juice level get to the level of the middle cone or in will spill over into your boiling water in the bottom section.

• When the grape juice is ready to drain, unclamp the rubber tube and drain the juice into your hot sterilized jars. Leave your jars in the oven until you’re ready to use them.

  I hold onto the top of the jar with a wet dishcloth. Be careful. It’s very hot.

  When you’re done filling jars, hang the rubber hose clamp on the handle of the steamer juicers so that it doesn’t leak.

• Leave a ¼ to ½ inch headspace between the juice and the top of the jar. Screw your sterilized lid onto the jar.

  Note: You need to put the lid on while the juice is steaming hot. If you’ve drained out less than a quart of juice and can’t finish filling up the jar, pour the leftover juice back over the steaming grapes.

You can sterilize your lids by boiling them in hot water.

• Set your quart of juice on a double-layered towel while it cools.

You’re done. It’s so easy to learn how to make grape juice.

I usually have some other canning project going while I’m canning grape juice. Canning grape juice takes all day, but it doesn’t take much effort to keep the process going.

Processing Grape Juice

My mom’s been canning grape juice for over 60 years and taught me how to make grape juice. I love her grape juice and make it just like she does. She doesn’t process her juice after it comes out of the steamer juicer.

The official recipe recommends that you process your grape juice for 15 minutes in a hot water bath. If you want to process your juice, follow the instructions on the
boiling water canner page.

Check for Seal & Store Your Grape Juice

Always check your lids for a seal before storing your jars of grape juice.

Store your juice in a cool, dry, dark place. If you can’t do this, do your best.

Make sure you Earthquake Proof your food storage room.

We don’t add any sugar to our grape juice. 100% pure grape juice tastes great. When my mom uses her juice, she mixes it half and half with water. I like the grape juice straight and undiluted. It’s all a matter of preference.

Return To:

Home Canning from How to Make Grape Juice
Growing Grapes
Pruning Grapes