Making Fruit Wine For Beginners Recipes

HOMEMADE FRUIT WINE

Steps:

• Place the fruit in a fermentation bag inside a sanitized primary fermenter. Combine the sugar with 2 quarts of the hot water and pour over the fruit. Add the lemon juice, pectic enzyme, and grape juice concentrate (if using), and additional boiled, cooled water to bring the water level up to 1½ gallons. When the temperature cools to 72°F (22°C), test the specific gravity or taste the liquid. It should taste quite sweet, as sweet as light syrup. Sprinkle on the yeast and cover the primary fermenter after providing a way for gases to escape, such as using an airlock or covering the container securely with several folds of cheesecloth or a clean towel.
• At least once a day for 5 to 6 days, use clean hands to knead the fruit in the fermentation bag and turn it, so a different side floats to the top. The liquid will become cloudy and slightly fizzy; with some fruits, large bubbles form on the top. Taste the liquid just before washing it from your hands. The sugar level should drop noticeably by the fifth day.

HOMEMADE WINE

Steps:

• Combine the yeast, sugar and juice concentrate in a gallon jug. Fill the jug the rest of the way with cold water. Rinse out a large balloon, and fit it over the opening of the jug. Secure the balloon with a rubber band.
• Place jug in a cool dark place. Within a day you will notice the balloon starting to expand. As the sugar turns to alcohol the gasses released will fill up the balloon. When the balloon is deflated back to size the wine is ready to drink. It takes about 6 weeks total.

HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY WINE RECIPE

Steps:

• Wash all your tools and sterilize to your desired level of cleanliness. Maintain this level of cleanliness throughout the process.
• In a big bucket, a large jar, or specifically designed fermenter, add the frozen fruit, cane sugar, and pectic enzyme (if using). Cover and let sit out until the berries are defrosted and the entire mixture is quite juicy-at least four hours, up to 24 hours.
• Using a potato masher or clean hands, mash the berries to crush them. No need for it to be a smooth puree.
• In a small bowl, combine about a cup of water with the yeast, set aside to wake up for 10 minutes.
• Add the wine tannin or black tea and acid blend or lemon juice to the strawberry mixture. Add in enough water to bring the total volume of the mixture to about 1 1/3 gallons-no need to be perfectly accurate.
• Pitch the yeast water into the mixture, and stir well to agitate. Close the lid on the fermenter and fit with an airlock.
• Place the fermenter in a spot out of direct light, but where you can keep an eye on it. Agitate the mixture well at least once per day by stirring or swirling.
• The fermentation should start within 1-3 days. Continue to stir or swirl thoroughly throughout the entire primary fermentation stage.
• When the bubbles slow down considerably in the airlock (usually around the 10 day mark for us with this wine, but it'll vary based on the heat of your house), your primary fermentation is done.
• Fit a funnel with a mesh sieve into the neck of a sterilized carboy. You can also use a special brewing funnel with a strainer if you choose.
• Using a large ladle, scoop out the whole and mashed strawberries and pour them through the sieve and funnel.
• Press the berry puree into the sieve to get as much of the early wine out as possible.
• When the sieve fills up, dump the spent must into the compost, and replace. Keep repeating until the majority of the fruit is out of the wine.
• Pour the remainder of the wine through the sieve and funnel.
• You want the wine to come to the bottom of the neck of the carboy. If you have too much, you can pour yourself a glass of not-yet-finished-but-still-delicious wine. If you have too little, you can top it off with more non-chlorinated water.
• Fit the carboy with an airlock. All this agitation will restart any sluggish fermentation quite actively, so I recommend placing the carboy in a place where you can keep an eye on it easily (but still out of direct sunlight).
• Once you know it's not going to geyser wine everywhere, you can then move the carboy to a dark, out-of-the-way spot to do the longer secondary fermentation.
• Secondary fermentation is complete when the wine is "still," meaning there is no carbonation in the wine, no bubbling in the airlock, and the wine has cleared. This can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to months, depending on a number of factors. Do not bottle until the wine is still.
• Using a siphon, transfer the finished strawberry wine-leaving behind the sediment-from the carboy to the bottling bucket (or the primary fermenter if it has a spigot).
• Fit the bottling container spigot with a bottle filler, if using.
• Fill clean, sanitized bottles using the bottle filler or just the spigot.
• Cap, cork, or close the top of the bottles. Label the bottles.
• Store in a cool dark spot (if using corks, turn the bottles on their sides to keep the corks wet) and age for at least 30 days, but preferably 6-12 months for the best flavor.