How to make base homemade wine without a kit?
June 23rd, 2010 | Published in Wine | 7 Comments
My uncle did this when I was a kid with a big pickle jar. Any idea how he did that?
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June 23rd, 2010 | Published in Wine | 7 Comments
My uncle did this when I was a kid with a big pickle jar. Any idea how he did that?
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June 23rd, 2010 at 5:38 pm (#)
buy grapes and squeeze them with your feet then pee in the jar and there you go.
June 23rd, 2010 at 6:36 pm (#)
You’re going to want the kit. Your uncle may have made an alcoholic liquid with grapes, but I doubt it tasted very much like wine. When you buy a kit you get a concentrate made with the proper kind of grapes. Unless you have access to a vineyard, you will have a herd time getting the right kind of grapes (the ones at the grocery store will not work well).
June 23rd, 2010 at 7:08 pm (#)
You’ll need a fairly recent web-browser to see this site.
“The traditional homemade wine base ingredient is the grape because it naturally contains the correct mix of sugar, moisture, tannin, and nutrients required for fermentation and preservation, and it even carries its own yeast. But in truth, wine can be made from almost any non-toxic plant or plant part if additional ingredients are supplied in the correct amount. It may not be great wine or even good wine, but it can be made.”
Starting from a kit is probably a lot easier but you can check this out to see how you’ll like it. This is where it talks about the basics, starting from the grapes.
June 23rd, 2010 at 7:55 pm (#)
Mash grapes and let ferment 3 to 5 days.
Draw off 5 quarts of juice.
Dissolve 10 lbs sugar in hot water.
Pour all into a 5 gallon jug container.
Add water to fill jug to top.
Cover jug opening with a small sandsack for 3 to 4 months.
Draw off and rejug and seal jug with a tight-fitting cork or other kind of stopper.
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:37 pm (#)
for answers and useful information on wine and spirits goto:
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:00 pm (#)
What Uncle made was probably what Uncle could get his hands on. If he could have made better, then he would have and so should you.
Wine is as much a science as it is an art. It is best made closest to harvest time and from fresh ingredients.
You are in LUCK! Right now is the wine harvest, so the supply of grapes and juice is plentiful and cheap!
Start in the Yellow Pages under “Beer and Wine Supplies.” A good supply shop can help you with concentrated juice, fresh yeast and hardware you can keep sanitized. The natural course of wine is to turn to Vinegar. It is the winemaker’s job to shorten that course. A good shop will have plenty of knowledgable advice to help that matter.
I know this isn’t quite what you meant by “not using a kit,” but undoubtedly Uncle learned from someone with experience, and didn’t have to make too many mistakes. A good pasteurized wine grape juice (not concentrated) may cost a few $$, but you’ll learn better and have something good to drink, when you’re done.
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:39 pm (#)
I used to do this in high school. It doesn’t taste great, but it works. Before you get started, you need to get a balloon and poke about 5-10 holes in it with a needle. Then get a bottle of 100% grape juice and add a premeasured packet of yeast. Then you put the lid on and shake it up a bit to get it well mixed. Then you take the lid off and put the balloon on the top of the bottle. You let it sit in a cool dark place (like a closet) for about 2-3 weeks. The balloon will fill up with air, and you know it’s done when it deflates. The point of the punctured balloon is to get the excess gasses created duing fermentation out withou alllowing oxygen in. Oxygen will make it taste like vinegar. When you’re all done, you should probably strain it through a coffee filter to get the dregs (yeast corpses lol) out of it. However, I didn’t drain it and it tasted fine. Good luck!