Well I know I could just google it and I have but I get such a jumble of replies suggesting this and that leaving me more confused then I was to start with. It should be simple but I do want to end up with quality juice with relatively low sugar. I have a pressure canner if that helps.
I pick my grapes when they are ripe and juice them with no added sugar. Like apples grapes don’t need added sugar. I just water bath can the juice.
Thanks for the reply Clark. I have been canning jelly and now have enough of that. In doing so I have tasted some of the leftover juice but it always seems to be way too strong. So I was considering just adding some water and then adding some sugar to compensate so to smooth it out. I got about 20 pounds of ripe grapes in the frig. How much head space do you use and how long do you process? I am assuming that you use quarts.
Put the grape juice in a large bottle with some yeast and a water lock. Wait about a month.
That will give you quality juice with relatively low sugar. 
Daemon2525,
The alcohol makes the juice more enjoyable right? If your making wine I would use red canadice or one of the other summer grape choices rather than concords. Not that you can’t make wine with concords but I did not care for the way mine turned out last time I did.
In my opinion for juice if your hot packing leave at least a half inch of head space in the quart jar if your hot water bath canning. Cold packing is different leave more head space because it expands. I’m not using a book so take that for what you will. My family taught me. We used pressure cookers only when we needed to because when you have 10 gallons of juice pressure cookers are to slow for juice. My opinion if it’s something new to you get a canning book they are not expensive.
Your funny. I am not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination but years ago I did try the yeast with the balloon trick using concord grapes. I don’t know what result was but it smelled horrible and it sure was nothing that I was willing to put in my mouth. I ended up throwing it out. Now then I am willing to give it the “old college try” again with the yeast and a water lock (whatever that is) if you will volunteer to be the first one to try to drink it. 
I was just kidding. I do make wine but if you get serious then please wait for better instructions
There are many more steps to it than that.
And yes, I will be the first to try it! LOL!
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Daemon,
Lol! Talk about not needing to make sure the lids seal! This carboy is what I have left of my old batch of cherry wine. The jars are juice.
I was just kidding too. But how expensive is it to get into wine making? I have read that one should get into wine making generally as a hobby cause it is not really economically feasible. I am not a wine drinker but I’ve thought about it for the purpose of having wine for canning pears rather than using vinegar. I have good results using a sparkling rose wine. Not such good results with the sweeter wines. Too strong.
Honestly Clark, I did not even know cherries was used for making wine. Why did you say that the lids didn’t need to seal? You lost me there.
By the way, I juiced my grapes yesterday and will give it a water bath this morning. I know what you mean about giving more head space when cold packing. Several years ago, I had some jars of tomatoes to break while trying to cold pack during pressure canning. Its a bad feeling to open up the canner and see them busted. I quit cold packing after that. Keep everything hot. Thanks.
Tennessean,
All fruits and many other things such as blossoms are used to make wine. The wine I make does not require canning I add an airlock initially and eventually a cork and it’s done. If a sealed lid is added I would be making sodapop or champagne depending on the recipe. The general rule of thumb that I go by for me is if the food is high acid I water bath can it such as tomatoes, peaches, cherries, and grapes. Low acid foods like potatoes, green beans, corn, shell beans should be pressure cooked. Some people have hybridized that through the years and made things like corn and black bean salsa. You should always go by a canning book such as this one when in doubt or if it’s something you have not done a lot http://www.walmart.com/ip/4641740. Those books give you a lot of extra facts such as the head space, length of time to keep under boiling water etc. You likely know that poorly canned foods can cause illness such as botulism https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/botulism/ so always be careful and go by the directions. We can give opinions of what we do for ourselves but when canning go by the book. Originally things like sodapop were made like this http://wellnessmama.com/11392/homemade-root-beer/ and this http://wellnessmama.com/8945/ginger-ale/ and this http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Sarsaparilla/ . You might be interested in reading some history on soda pop which will make it all make more sense http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-toxic-history-of-soda-pop/. Many years ago sassafras was determined not be safe for human consumption any longer and its no longer commercially available. I think there is a lab process that removes the toxin from the root for those who still like to use it. The leaves were and may still be used in gumbo in the south and the roots were used for tea and sodapop. Okra is used most of the time for gumbo bases. The native american side of my family were heavy users of the sassafras roots in the spring. My grandparents grew a dozen sassafras trees that were part of their orchard. The plant sassafras Sassafras - Wikipedia was used for many things. This is an article about the tree, tea and the ban http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401052/Sassafras-Tea-Safety.html. Those sodapops would have yeast added to them for the process of fermentation, Fermentation produces carbon dioxide and alcohol as the yeast consumes the sugar from the beverage. You can read some about that here http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/fermenting/brew-soda-at-home-zmaz04djzsel.aspx. There are a lot of homemade sodapop concentrated extracts if you don’t want to do things the old fashioned way and want to try it once https://www.amazon.com/Homebrew-Concentrated-Extract-2-Ounce-Boxes/dp/B001D6KH8K. This is the yeast I use https://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-Pasteur-Blanc-Champagne/dp/B00434CB74/ref=pd_sim_325_1/159-4603439-7101735?ie=UTF8&dpID=51VTebdseAL&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR123%2C160&psc=1&refRID=1QX02TZF2K59XQJATXV4. These are the air locks that were mentioned earlier by Daemon https://www.amazon.com/Twin-Bubble-Airlock-Carboy-Bung/dp/B00A6TRKO4/ref=pd_sim_328_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41uSXkjkulL&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL320_SR198%2C320&psc=1&refRID=B094HCPYNVY71KMMS2MB. The carboy you saw in my picture used for making wine https://www.amazon.com/Learn-To-Brew-LLC-39-BS46-H46M/dp/B0007R8ZBC/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1470494240&sr=1-3&keywords=carboy. Here are bottle caps used for pop among other things https://www.amazon.com/RiteBrew-Gold-Oxygen-Absorbing-Bottle/dp/B0038L5T68/ref=sr_1_15?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1470494476&sr=1-15&keywords=bottle+capper or https://www.amazon.com/Crown-Caps-Silver-Gross-Package/dp/B00DB606PO/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1470494431&sr=1-2&keywords=pop++bottle+capper . A bottle capper to seal the caps on the bottles https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Red-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1470494476&sr=1-1&keywords=bottle+capper . Here are the bottles for pop and other things https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Brew-Home-Brewing-Supp/dp/B01467U8LS/ref=pd_bxgy_328_img_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8YN2G4CHXKGJDCD2ZK5B . You likely would just want a kit to start if you plan to make wine, beer, champagne, sodapop, hard cider etc. like this one but bottles are not included typically https://www.amazon.com/DP-GFZY-7I2K-Homebrew-Gallon-Glass-Carboy/dp/B01467U8KY/ref=pd_sim_79_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=41jxfkcCp4L&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR160%2C160&psc=1&refRID=9YZVEG844QC5AWFJ4AVJ. Hard ciders use a similar process to pop http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Brew-Hard-Cider-from-Scratch/ as do champagne http://www.colchesterhomebrew.co.uk/homebrewingandwinemakingblog/read_48997/elderflower-wine-and-elderflower-champagne.html , Guess I’ve got far enough off the track of fruit for a bit and there is a lot more to know I don’t fully have time to explain. If you or someone else is interested in learning that is a starting point at least. This is similar to what I use for my hot water bath canner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BZLJX60?ref_=ams_ad_dp_asin_3 and this is what I use for my pressure cooker for my non acid foods https://www.amazon.com/All-American-921-2-Quart-Pressure/dp/B00004S88Z/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1470495266&sr=1-1&keywords=all+american+pressure+canner .
You have probably already canned your grape juice but thought I’d share what I’ve done for many, many pints of juice. For years I crushed by hand then pressed with a small fruit press. Very messy but it worked. For Valients (probably similar taste as Concords) I ended up liking about 1/4 cup sugar per pound (on stems), but it really depends on the fruit that year. Bring juice just to a boil, pour into hot canning jars, lid with hot lids. Just that. No more processing. Then I got a stainless steel Mehu-Liisa steam juicer. It’s easier and much less messy. The hot steamed juice goes direct to jar. Works for other fruit, too (just did some raspberry juice).
I agree with you Sue the mehu-Liisa is a very nice juicer and you get a lot of juice out of your grapes that way. I still water bath can the juice. This is the juicer Sue is talking about if anyone is not familiar with it https://www.amazon.com/Mehu-Liisa-Stainless-Steel-Juicer-Steamer/dp/B000SSU6V2 . Mine is showing some wear on the bottom now after years of use and a lot of juicing but it still works great.
You all are much better equipped for this than I am. I guess I am just too old-fashioned. Thanks for all the information.
Anyone canning juices this year? Anyone canned autumn berry?
Hi Clark!
Yeah, I canned all of the Concord juice that I got. 8 quarts. Prefer to make jam out of some plums. If I run out of plum jam, I will cook up some concord juice for jelly. Drank all of the muscadine juice as soon as I got it.
How are your grape vines doing?
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My grapes are good but I’m getting alot of competing shrubbery coming up around them.