To make homemade wines with the recipes and ingredients here

all one needs is a gallon-size glass bottle, a saucepan and

a polyethylene pail. Make certain to use polyethylene as

some plastics are not suitable. Do not use aluminum, copper,

or enamel vessels to make your homemade wine with.

Sterilization is mandatory for all utensils, bottles and

corks, especially corks. One should use commercially

available plastic corks until you know how to properly

sterilize natural corks.

Ordinarily, baker's yeast and white granulated sugar are

used by the average homemade wine maker. A special wine

yeast and invert sugar makes the best wine possible.

Wine yeast is capable of producing eighteen per cent of

alcohol by volume (32 proof), against the fourteen per cent

of bakers' yeast.

Starting what is called a 'nucleus ferment'or nutrient. A

small jar will do for this. About a 1/2 cup of water

and a teaspoonful of sugar are boiled together for a minute

and then allowed to cool. This is then put into a

sterilized jar and the yeast added in whatever form it is

obtained. Allow to set for 3 days covered with plastic wrap

and rubberband.

Preparing the fruit: Various types of wild yeast and

bacteria are on the fruit naturally and must be dealt with.

Our method, known as the 'sulphiting' method, does

this. For more detailed information on "sulphiting" go to

==>http://www.make-homemade-wine.info/sulphiting.html

How to make homemade wine:

Crush the fruit by hand in the poly pail and pour on one

quart of distilled water. Mix well. Crush one campden tablet

and dissolve the power in 1/2 cup of warm water and

mix with pulp. Leave the mixture for 1 or 2 hours. A little

discoloring may happen. After this, take 1/3 of the sugar

to be used and boil this for 1 minute in 3 pints of

water. Allow this syrup to cool and then stir into the

pulp. Then add the yeast (or nutrient) and ferment for 7

days.

After 7 days, strain the pulp through fine cloth and wring

out as dry as you can. Put the strained homemade wine into a

gallon jar and discard pulp. Then boil another 1/3

of the sugar in one pint of water for 1 minute and when

cooled add it to the rest. Plug the neck of the jar with

cotton wool or fit a fermentation lock and continue to

ferment the homemade wine in a warm place for a further 10

days.

At this stage, pour the homemade wine into the poly pail

leaving as much deposit in the jar as you can. Clean

out the jar, sterilize it and return the homemade wine to

this. Boil the remaining 1/3 of the sugar for 1 minute

in 1 pint of water. When this has cooled, add it to the

rest. Refit the lock or plug the neck of the jar with

fresh cotton wool.

After this, the homemade wine should be left in a warm place

until all fermentation has ceased.

Clearing: it is usual to have a brilliantly clear homemade

wine a month before fermentation has ceased so

patience is required here. After all fermentation has

ceased, siphon the clear homemade wine (if not yet crystal

clear) into another jar leaving the deposit behind. Then

when the homemade wine is finally crystal clear it should

be siphoned into bottles and corked.

To get the maximum alcohol and to get total fermentation the

ideal temperature at which to keep a 'must' is

between 65-70 degrees F.

Fully ripe fruit is essential if we hope to make the best

homemade wine.

CHERRY WINE (A Delightful Sweet Wine):

8lb. black cherries, 7pts. water, 3 1/2lb. sugar (or 4lb.

invert), all-purpose wine yeast or Bordeaux yeast, nutrient.

PLUM WINE (Port Style):

Dark red, fully ripe fruits must be used. 10lb. plums,

7pts. water, 3 1/2lb. sugar (or 4lb. invert), port yeast,

nutrient.

GRAPE WINE

Homemade grape wine is much more difficult and requires 20

pounds of grapes so unless you own a vineyard it is

not cost effective to make homemade grape wine.

After several batches you will get the rhythm of making

homemade wine down to a tee. With further knowledge you

will be able to make homemade wines with a strength,

clarity, flavour and bouquet of which you will be justly proud.

Copyright Chef Brian 2007 all rights reserved

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