Homemade Wine Recipes

Although wine making is often considered a simple process, made of common everyday ingredients, the truth is that the process of making the perfect delicious heady wine remains an art that is perfected with years of practice.

The availability of better ingredients and automated devices have made the process of making wines easier and faster, not to forget the achievement of the uniformity of taste.

Homemade wine making has become quite a popular hobby in recent times with the ease of attaining home brewing supplies and a number of homemade wine recipes at your disposal contained in books, periodicals, and websites. So if you want to make your share of delectable wines, then here are easy wine recipes you can try at home.

For making the wines at home you would need a primary fermentation container such as a 4-gallon food grade quality heavy plastic container with lid, 2 1-gallon glass jugs, large nylon mesh straining bag, hydrometer, thermometer, and acid titration kit.

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 can of frozen flavored juice concentrate (Thawed)
• 4 quarts cold water, or as needed

How to Make
In a gallon jug, mix the juice with sugar and yeast. Fill the rest of the jug with water. Now rinse a large balloon and secure it over the glass jugs with a rubber band. Place the wine-filled jugs in a cool dark place for fermentation. In a day or two, you will notice the expansion of the balloon.

This is an indication of the gases being released as the sugar ferments into alcohol. Once the balloon is deflated, at around six weeks or so, you know that the fermentation process is complete and your homemade wine is ready to drink. Remember not to use citrus juices for these recipes.

Ingredients

• 18 lb. ripe red grapes
• 1 Campden tablet
• Tartaric acid, if necessary
• Table sugar, if necessary
• 1 packet wine yeast

How to Make
For making homemade grape wines, you need to harvest the grapes when they have reached 22 to 24 percent sugar with a hydrometer. Now sanitize all the wine-making equipment, place the grapes in the nylon straining bag, and deposit the bag into the bottom of the primary fermentation container. Using a crusher or even your hands, mash the grapes. Crush a Campden tablet over the nylon bag and cover the container with a cheesecloth for an hour.

After an hour, check the temperature with a thermometer. If it is between 70° and 75° F, then take a sample of the juice in the pail and measure the acid with your titration kit. Dissolve the yeast in a pint of warm water and allow it to rest till you can see the bubbles on the surface. Pour this yeast solution on the must in the nylon bag.

Mix the bag well and allow the yeast to mix. Cover with the cheesecloth and set it in a warm area. Monitor the fermentation progress regularly and once the must has dried, strain out the liquid from the nylon bag.

Let the wine settle for some time before racking off the sediment into a jug. Keep the container topped with grape juice of a similar style till 10 days. Rack the wine into another sanitized one-gallon jug and top up with wine of a similar style. It is only after six months that you can siphon off the wine and place it in clarified wine bottles for storage.

Ingredients

• 3 kg cherries
• 4 liters water
• 2 kg sugar
• 1 tablespoon yeast

How to Make
Wash the cherries thoroughly after removing the stems. Add boiled water over it and leave them under press for four to five days. Strain the cherry juice and add the sugar and the yeast to start off the fermentation process.

You can also add a bit of lemon juice and leave the jug in a warm, dry place for the fermentation process. After a couple of weeks, the process is over. Shake up the juice and leave it for around four to five months for the residue to settle. Bottle carefully and keep it in a cool, dry place for aging.

Ingredients

• 4 pounds blackberries
• 5 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
• 1 teaspoon acid blend
• 1 teaspoon pectic enzymes
• 1 Campden tablet
• Yeast

How to Make
In the primary fermentation container, crush the fruits, and pour in the additives and the sugar. Mix it all up and add a gallon of warm water on top. Let the mixture sit for around 24 hours, before you add the Campden to it. Finish off by adding the yeast to start off the fermentation. Rack and bottle your amazing homemade blackberry wine.

Sample the wine to check if it has matured or not. If not, then allow the wine to rest. After all, the longer you let your wine brew, the better it's going to taste. As my dad always says, patience is a virtue when it comes to enjoying great wine at home.