I hope you are enjoying your Exquisite wine from An Amazing Wine Of The Month Club. But if you haven’t joined yet. Have you ever been sitting around enjoying a glass of great wine and thought “How hard can it be to make my own”? Chances are you might not become the world’s next greatest winemaker, but here are some recipes for making homemade wine to just to give it a shot. You never know you might just surprise yourself with the results.
Making Homemade Wine: Give it a try you might just surprise yourself.
I lived most of my life in South Jersey in the Atlantic City area. One of my favorite things to do was making homemade wine. As I had the room to do this without making a big mess inside. Plus I had extreme fresh fruits and a good variety of them to use. Of course when they were in season. I stuck to a few recipes that I have used before. And would adapt them to whatever fruit I saw and looked good. In season Blueberries in our area were very abundant. And can turn out to an excellent wine.
When I first started to try my hand at making homemade wine. Most were epic failures but this didn’t stop me from trying again. After a few attempts, I did start to get some really good batches of wine. From time to time I would still get some bad results. But that’s par for the course.
I ended up 10 years ago having to move for work. And started living in an apartment so I basically have put the making homemade wine on the back burner. It is tough and trying to do this in an apartment just didn’t seem like a smart thing to do. Especially blueberries wine. Blueberries can be very messy and they do stain.
Hats off to all you great winemakers out there in the world. You all do a very good job. Here are a few recipes for making homemade wine that I have tried and liked. So I hope you give it a try and enjoy.
Almond Wine (1)
- 1-1/2 oz. bitter almonds.
- 1 lb. raisins.
- 3 lbs. granulated sugar.
- 1-gallon water.
- 2 lemons
- Yeast and nutrient
First, mince the almonds and raisins. Then gently boil in the 1 gallon of water for 1 hr. Then strain the liquor onto the sugar in the primary fermentation vessel. (If you don’t have any store bought fermentation vessel a plastic bucket with no valve works great). Stir until sugar is dissolved and add enough water to bring it back up to 1 gallon. Add lemon zest and juice and allow to cool to 70degrees. Add yeast and nutrient, cover and stir twice a day for the first 10 days. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a fermenting bottle and fit airlock. Rack it after
30 days, then again after 6 weeks. Rack and bottle after an addition 6 weeks. Taste after 1 year
[ Adapted from C.J.J Berry’s First Steps in Winemaking]
Racking the wine means very simply, to siphon most of the wine from one container to the next. To leave any sediment behind.
Yeast Nutrients assist the wine yeasts in producing a complete and rapid fermentation. It is recommended for use in all fermentations. Yeast Nutrient provides a singular source of nitrogen for the yeast to utilize during the fermentation process.
Most yeast nutrient blends contain amino acids, inorganic nitrogen (ammonia), B-vitamins, sterols, unsaturated fatty acids. And oftentimes autolyzed yeast which gives a mixture of all of these components. These blends are typically used when making wine, cider or high adjunct beers. To provide critical growth factors required by yeast. Fermentations lacking yeast nutrients are usually sluggish with a tendency to become stuck.
Apple wine [Heavy Bodied]
• 24 lbs. windfall apples, mixed varieties*
• 3-6 lbs. granulated sugar.
• 1 gallon water.
• 1 tsp. pectic enzyme.
• Sauterne wine yeast and nutrient
Chop the apples into small pieces. And put into the primary fermentation vessel. Add the pectic enzyme and water and cover the mixture. The water will not cover the apples, so stir several times a day to bring the bottom apples to the top. After 24 hours, add the yeast and nutrient. Keep covered (a bath towel held fast with a large rubber band works well if the primary fermentation vessel doesn’t have a lid). Keep in a warm place for 7-10 days.
When the vigorous fermentation of the pulp subsides, strain the juice from the pulp and set aside. Then press the juice from the pulp and add to the set-aside liquor. Measure and add 3 lb. sugar per gallon of liquor. Put into a carboy or gallon secondary fermentation vessel and fit with airlock. Rack when clear, allow another 60 days, then rack again and bottle. Allow six months before tasting, one year for best results.
[Adapted from C.J.J. Berry’s First Steps in Winemaking]
*For this and all apple wine recipes, unless varieties are specified, the more acid and sour varieties are preferred, and the sweeter eating varieties are to be avoided. Winesap, McIntosh, Jonathans, and crab apples are best. Delicious apples should be avoided.
Apple and Banana Dry Sherry
• 2 lb. apples
• 1 lb. bananas
• 1-1/4 lb. granulated sugar
• 1 pt. white grape concentrate
• 1 oz. gypsum
• 1/2 oz. cream of tartar
• 1/2 oz. pectic enzyme
• 1/4 tsp. tannic acid
• 1 gallon water
• Sherry wine yeast and nutrient
Before beginning
core and chop apples and dissolve sugar in 1-1/2 cups boiling water. Allow to cool and store in a jar for future use. Slice bananas with skins and boil in 4 pt. water for 30 minutes. Put apple
pieces in primary fermentation vessel and strain liquid from bananas over apples. Add grape concentrate, cover, and allow to cool.
When cool, add gypsum, cream of tartar, pectic enzyme, tannic acid, activated yeast, and nutrient, stirring well. Cover and allow to ferment three days, stirring twice daily. Strain off apples, add 1/2 cup sugar syrup and continue fermentation. Add 1/2 cup sugar syrup each day until all has been used. Then add sufficient water to bring to one gallon.
When fermentation is complete (additional 10-14 days), rack into large enough secondary fermentation vessel (1-1/2 to 2 gallon) to allow a fair amount of air above wine. Plug opening with cotton. Normally, that is the only racking in sherry production. But if pulp particles appear in sediment. Rack again after two weeks and plug again with cotton. Store secondary fermentation vessel in cool (55-60 degrees F.) place and leave undisturbed.
Flor may form in 3-4 weeks or as late as 4 months. If flor forms, leave undisturbed until all flor has sunk to the bottom. Carefully siphon off lees through a double layer of fine muslin into bottles. If flor does not form, allow to sit six months. Carefully siphon into clean gallon bottle. Sweeten with sufficient white grape concentrate or sugar water (1/3 lb. sugar dissolved in one cup water) to top up to one gallon, and then bottle. Allow two or more years to mature
[Adapted from Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan’s Making Wines Like Those You Buy]
APPLE, PARSNIP, BANANA AND FIG SWEET SHERRY
4 lb. apples
• 1-3/4 lb. parsnips
• 1 lb. bananas
• 1 lb. figs
• 1-1/2 lb. granulated sugar
• 1 pt. white grape concentrate
• 1/4 oz. pectic enzyme
• 1/4 tsp. tartaric acid
• 1 gallon water
• Sherry wine yeast and nutrient
Before beginning,
scrub and chop parsnips, slice bananas (throw away skins). Core and slice apples, and wash figs, removing stems. Dissolve sugar in 1-1/2 cups boiling water, allow to cool. And store in a jar for future use. Boil the parsnips in 6 pt. water for 10 minutes. Strain off pulp and boil bananas in the same water for 30 minutes. Put apple slices and figs in primary fermentation vessel and strain liquid from bananas over apples and figs. Add tartaric acid, nutrient, and half the sugar syrup. Cover and allow to cool, adding pectic enzyme and activated yeast.
Cover and allow to ferment five days, stirring daily. Strain liquor carefully through a fine nylon sieve and add the grape concentrate. After 10 days, add 1/2 cup sugar syrup and repeat every three days until all has been added. Add sufficient water to bring to one gallon. When fermentation is complete (additional 10-14 days), rack into large enough secondary fermentation vessel (1-1/2 to 2 gallon) to allow a fair amount of air above wine. Plug opening with cotton
[by James key]
Normally, that is the only racking in sherry production. But if pulp particles appear in
sediment. Rack again after two weeks and plug again with cotton. Store secondary fermentation vessel in cool (55-60 degrees F.) place and leave undisturbed. Flor may form in 3-4 weeks or as late as 4 months. Flor should not form, but if it does, leave undisturbed until all flor has sunk to the bottom. Carefully siphon off lees through a double layer of fine muslin into bottles. If flor does not form, allow to sit six months. Carefully siphon into clean gallon bottle, sweeten with sufficient white grape concentrate or sugar water (1/3 lb. sugar dissolved in one cup water) to top up to one gallon, and then bottle. Allow at least four years to mature.
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