Homemade Wine

[Wendy]

On one of the blogs I was reading yesterday someone mentioned making thier own wine.

 

Now, I'm not exactly a wine drinker but I enjoy a glass on occasion. Plus, it seems like it'd be fun to do.

 

Her recipe called for fruit, sugar and water. She lets it sit in a big glass jar for 30+ days(swishing it around every few days) and then bottles and corks it or puts it in canning jars to store.

 

She's obviously never killed anyone but is this safe?

[Fritz_Monroe]

I've made my own wine. I've done wine kits, but I've also made fruit wines from scratch. These can have fruit or fruit concentrates.

 

It doesn't sound like it would not be safe, but by just adding fruit, sugar and water, you are as likely to catch yeast as some other bacteria. This means that it is very possible to end up just wasting your fruit. If you are going to try it, take a couple precautions and get a few inexpensive supplies before getting started.

 

Either locally or online, get a drilled stopper that fits your jug. Also get a air lock (bubbler) to keep the nasties out. Spend a $1 or so to get actual wine yeast. You WILL be able to taste the difference.

 

Final hint is to visit Jack Keller's winemaking page. There you will find thousands of recipes. In case you don't know, Jack Keller is the name in home winemaking. He has made just about every kind of wine possible. He's also won so many awards for his wines, and he shares the recipes with the world.

[etp777]

Second everything Fritz just said.

 

Also, if you have a question for Jack, besides just emailing him, can post on the forums over on winepress.us, which he reads and posts on, and get feedback from him and many other extremely knowledgable guys (like the head wine kit guy for one of the largest winemakers).

[MommaDogs]

I thought using campden tablets helped to kill off any other bacteria. I bought some to use with my elderberry wine, and the bottle cost me $2. Well worth it. I'm not an expert, just going by what the guy at the beer store taught me.

[etp777]

Campden does help keep the other bacteria from growing, if you then use a regular wine yeast. They're more resistant to the sulfites, and will start reproducing while sulfite (campden tablets) is still restricting the bacteria, most important being acetobacter, which makes vinegar. By the time the sulfite dissipates, the wine yeast has such a strong hold it's not an issue.

 

But directions quoted originally in this thread don't include adding a wine yeast, just using wild yeast, either from the fruit itself, or from the air, and doesn't mention campden tablets. Even with the tablets, since recipe doesn't add a wine yeast, you'll have sulfites in which will stop the nasties, will eventually dissipate, and then it's often a crapshoot as to whether it will have yeast start, and ferment, or acetobacter start, and make vinegar, or something else.

 

But yes, the campden will help keep down the nasties while your yeast goes to work, mommadogs. Also useful to help prevent oxidation and can help extend aging (again, before oxxidation sets in). Lastly, crush it up and mix with hot water and use as sanitizing solution. I swear by campden tablets or straight pot meta. Just too useful.

[Wendy]

Thanks for all the tips.

 

I guess just the thought of putting fruit, sugar and water in a container for over a month and then drinking it, is kind of off putting. lol When you buy it in the store you don't have to think about how it's actually made!

[westbrook]

want to make wine? here is the primer site!

 

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

 

they have recipes for every kind of wine you could ever want!

[Wendy]

I just looked at the website. Oh goodness. It seems so complicated. There are some spiced recipes on there that seem like they would be great over the holidays though.

 

Ok, so to break it down as simple as possible. The fruit, sugar, water method is OK right? But to make it even better I should add wine yeast, campden tablets and the right kind of lid?

 

That would be doable for me. The recipes on the winemaking site seem a little overwhelming to me.

 

I assume that if it goes bad, you can definetly tell by the smell and taste? As long as it's not something that would cause me to kill myself or someone else, I don't mind experimenting. lol

[etp777]

Heh, if it goes bad, smell and taste will make it obvious that it's vinegar. And yes, nothing that can kill you. at worst, the taste may make you sick to your stomach. Not like food poisoning, just like throw up once or twice, done. That being said, NEVER had this happen. Some sure didn't taste as good as others (still have on bottle of pumpkin wine that I'm trying to find recipe that I can use a white wine, but still ahve enough flavor to cover up it's taste ), but none were anything to make me sick or anything. That's 40-50 batches of wine. Kits, fresh fruit, canned fruit, frozen fruit, frozen juice, fresh juice, fresh veggies, etc etc etc. One of best was a batch from organic cranberry juice, which I'll make a lot more of when I track down that particular recipe.

[westbrook]

you can't make wine without yeast. Yeast is naturally on black/purple fruit like grapes, plums, elderberries. It is the whitish looking stuff on the fruit.

 

So if you want to make strawberry wine you need strawberries, water, sugar and yeast! if you want to make great wine you use the extras.

 

You can use bread yeast but wine yeast is best. Most likely you have a guy in your area that has a little business out of his garage selling beer making and wine making stuff. Check our the yellow pages.

 

It isn't hard or complicated once you get into it. come on over, I have strawberry or peach wine.

 

 

 

[sassenach]

We could all probably enjoy a little wine tonight!

[etp777]

I already am, arby. A cabernet pinotage blend from south africa. Love the cheap wines from trader joe's.