Does anyone have an easy step by step recipe for cheap homemade wine?
June 21st, 2010 | Published in Wine | 5 Comments
I have researched and every recipe is different , I know the basics, fruit juice, yeast and you put it in a jug and put a balloon over it, but some recipes say to poke holes in the balloon and some don’t and some recipes call for acid blend and some dont, some say to boil the sugar and water, but when do you add the yeast and how, I am confused. I just want to make a wine that tastes pretty good, but doesnt call for lots of expensive ingredients.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:43 pm (#)
You will need 1 package (.25oz) yeast, 4 cups sugar, 3 1/2 quarts water and 12 oz can frozen concentrate fruit juice (grape is preferrable). You will also need a one gallon glass jug, a balloon and rubber band.
Bring 1 quart water to a boil and add the sugar, stir until sugar is dissolved. If you skip this step, the sugar sinks to the bottom and doesn’t react with the yeast. In the glass jug in this order mix the water with sugar, remaining 2 1/2 quarts water at room temp, the 12 oz can of juice (thawed) and the yeast. Mix together well. Poke a few holes in the balloon with a straight pin. Place the balloon over the opening of the jug and secure in place with a rubber band. The pin holes are necessary for the carbon dioxide made by the fermentation process to escape. Place in a cool, dark place. You will notice the balloon inflate during the process. Leave jug undisturbed until the balloon is deflated. This will take 5-6 weeks.
When the balloon is deflated, you will need to strain the mixture through cheese cloth or coffee filters to filter out the residue from the bottom of the jug or the wine will not taste good.
At this point the wine is technically ready to drink, but it’s flavor developes more if it is bottled and let set a couple more weeks.
I have always used grape, but I suppose you could use apple or a juice blend as well.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:51 pm (#)
The materials and ingredients we used.
1) 3 cans of 100% frozen grape juice (I use Welch’s 100% grape juice concentrate). In total, the cans should make 144 fluid ounces of juice when properly prepared. We aren’t properly preparing it, so that number is only relevant in determining how concentrated the juice is. Cost: Roughly $2.00 a can. Total: $6.00.
2) 1/2 cup of sugar. I purchased a huge bag of sugar for $2.00, so I probably only used a dime’s worth in this project. You can even steal packets of sugar and use them if you are REALLY, REALLY CHEAP. Just don’t try to use a sugar-free sweetener, because it won’t work.
3) A 1 gallon container. I use a milk jug because it is free. You can buy an expensive container if you want to, but then why not just spend the money on an expensive bottle of wine instead? CHEAP is the idea here!
4) Balloons. You’ll need ONE unless it breaks. These cost a few pennies each, or you can get a bag containing dozens for $1.00.
5) Water. Distilled water is a no-no, but almost any other type that is healthy will do. I use tap.
6) A pin. You’ll need to poke a few small holes into the balloon later.
7) Magic Fairy Dust – AKA yeast. We’ll talk more about this in a moment. You can purchase packets of baker’s yeast at any grocery store. It will run about $0.75 to $1.50, though you will usually get more than one “packet” in a strip.
In addition to these items, I’d also recommend a measuring cup, a rubber band, a siphoning hose (any small, thin piece of tubing will do), and a funnel. You don’t NEED these items, but they’ll help.
Once you have all of the ingredients, place them together on a table and stare at them. You will be turning these common items into wine very shortly. But first…
A Note About Yeast.
I called yeast “magic fairy dust” earlier because it is what turns grape juice into wine. Without yeast, there would BE NO wine/beer/vodka/tequila/rum/whatever. So the next time you take a sip of alcohol, give thanks to the Big Guy for creating it.
But what is yeast? Specifically, yeast is a fungus that exists everywhere around us. That’s right: Fungus. There are many different strains of yeast, but the ones we will be using all have one thing in common: they eat sugar and water and excrete alcohol. Yes, you read that correctly – alcohol is basically fungus piss. Think about THAT the next time you see some attractive member of the opposite sex downing a shot at a bar!
We use one of the three packets of this baker’s yeast in our wine.
But as I said earlier, there are different strains of yeast. Each strain will produce different flavors when used to “ferment” alcohol (what the process of turning “grape juice” and other sugars into alcohol is called). In this article, we use baker’s yeast – something most vintners (makers of wine) would NEVER think about doing. Baker’s yeast will create a strong taste in the wine that many people do not like, but it IS commonly available. On the other hand…
A packet of wine yeast.
..you could also use a yeast specifically FOR winemaking. They run between $0.50 and $1.00 per packet (only slightly more than common baker’s yeast), but can usually only be found at a specialty store. Wine yeast WILL improve the flavor of your alcohol considerably, so keep this in mind when brewing future batches.
Step 2: Mix Some Concentrate!
Now thaw the concentrate and POUR IT INTO THE GALLON CONTAINER. Mix in TWO cans of water for each can of concentrate – NOT THREE as the packaging indicates. Because the yeast will eat a lot of the sugar, we need more concentrate than normal juice to make the concoction even remotely sweet. Thus, we use less water.
Once all of the juice and water is added, cap the jug AND SHAKE IT UP. Not only does this greatly improve how well-mixed the juice and water are, it will also put air into it. This is called AERATING THE MUST in proper winemaking terminology (the must being the juice). Just FYI.
Step 3: Add the Sugar.
Dump that 1/2 cup of sugar into the jug with the juice. It is a lot easier if you use a funnel. After that, SHAKE VIGOROUSLY WITH THE CAP ON. Don’t let the sugar settle at the bottom, or else there may be flavor problems later.
Step 4: Prepare and Add the Yeast.
Preparing and adding the yeast is more complex than just ripping open a packet and dumping the powder into the juice. If you want the yeast to work properly, you need to HYDRATE it first. Follow the directions on the package in order to do this properly. If you’re too lazy to follow them precisely, just pour some warm water into a cup and then dump the powder into it. DO NOT STIR the yeast right away – For best results, give it time to hydrate on its own before messing with it.
Once the yeast is completely hydrated, add a few spoonfuls of sugar and stir. How will you know when the yeast is hydrated? It will look like this:
The yeast is now MOST
June 21st, 2010 at 6:06 pm (#)
Buying wine at a grocery Store is more conveniently and affordable they have more choices for your personal use and following a alcoholic recipe is quite expense.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:06 pm (#)
If you have a Trader Joes in the area. Just buy any of Charles Shaw’s wines known as 2-Buck Chuck.
They have won some very top awards.Compares to higher priced wines. Very hard to make a wine that compares to it for the price.,But a good wine can be made in your kitchen, using ingredients other than just juices so have fun The above answers cover it really good.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:34 pm (#)
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