Homemade wine

gayleygoo

I make my wines mostly out of cartons fruit juice, which work out at under 50p per bottle. Usually one carton of grape juice, then one of apple/orange/pineapple or mixed fruits. I add about 900g of sugar to this and top up to 4.5 litres (adding yeast, nutrient etc), and this makes a tasty, quick drinking wine. Due to the lack of grape tannin, I find it needs some added, either in powdered form or a cup of very strong tea.

Or, using two cartons of grape juice, and a litre of tea made up with 20 fruit flavoured teabags (bring to boil, turn heat down low and simmer for 10 minutes, then allow to cool before straining, add the sugar, heat again to dissolve it and cool again slightly before adding to the grape juice.) Add wine yeast and tannin, sometimes a little acid helps too. Blueberry and vanilla is good, and strawberry and mango. You can use any of the fruity/flavoured teabags, and the wine tastes good usually a month or two after bottling and improves for a few more months.

I also make mead. It's not cheap (I use a mid-priced honey), but worth making as it tastes lovely after a year or so of aging. Fresh fruit like blackberries or strawberries can be added if you have plenty.

reddleman

2013 has been good to me. I've made elderflower, redcurrant, gooseberry and plum wine. Eight demijohns in total. Presently drinking 2010 gooseberry, and enjoying it!

Zero_Sum

50 odd bottles of blackberry wine for me

Goalz

I'd like to know how to make wine at home bottle grape juice and my cousin recommended Awsomic Wine Maker, has anyone tried it? (just google it)?

skogar

Never heard of it but having looked at the website had no idea that winemaking was fraught with such peril that it required all those instrutions. :eek:To be honest I'd just start with something simple first. I think the first step is actually making something. :beer:

We originally just made beer from kits. Just went into the local homebrew place and asked what I needed gave lot of advice and only sold me the absolute essentials. Then just followed the instructions with the kit. Looked on forums on the internet for advice if needed.

I like to use wine in cooking as well as drinking and couldn't justify the cost so started making wine from kits. Again went into a local homebrew shop explained I wanted to make wine and already had stuff for making beer kits. Again sold only the essentials and advice on how to do it even cheaper (I bought a large plastic fermenter but was advised on all the cheaper options). Again followed instructions on kit.

Then ended up with a glut of fruit.... Hence my forray into making fruit wines. Found a book we'd picked up in a charity shop and just started with an appropriate recipe. Again plenty of books in local libraries and recipes on the web to give something a go.

I would just start by following some instructions and making a small batch. Ask for help on the homebrew forums for a suitable recipe and just give it a go. You can always ask for help if it gets stuck.

There's an in depth how to make orange wine on this link which might be a good starting point. i looked at this before making our first batch of elderberry.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7249

A decent recipe should take care of things like tannin levels etc so get your head around making a basic wine and then move on to more advanced things. It's really not that difficult.