Making homemade wine is rewarding because it allows one to enjoy a beverage brewed by one's hands. Here is a simple recipe on how to make fruit wine at home. This process is ideal for beginners who want to try and make wine using different fruits, like grapes, berries, or apples.
Ingredients:
- Any fruit of your choice: 3-4 pounds (for example, grapes, berries, apples)
- Sugar: 2-3 cups (at times, depending on the fruit's sweetness)
- 1 gal. Water
- 1 packet Wine yeast — or 1 tsp., if using loose yeast
- 1/4 cup Lemon juice, for acidity
- 1-2 Campden tablets, optional, for sterilizing and preventing spoilage
- 1 tsp. Pectic enzyme, opt, for clearing the wine
- 1 tsp. Yeast nutrient, opt, for promoting fermentation
- Airlock and fermentation vessel, e.g. narrow-neck glass jug or fermentation bucket
- Siphoning tube, for transferring wine
- Bottles, for storing the finished wine
Instructions
Prepare the Fruit :
- Rinse the fruit with clean water. Remove as much of the stems, leaves and seeds as possible.
- Crush the fruit in order to extract the juice. You can use a potato masher, your clean hand or a fruit press. Put the crushed fruit into the fermentation vessel.
- Addition of Sugar and Water:
- Dissolve the sugar in small amount of boiling water and then add to the fruit.
- Add the lemon juice and enough water to fill the vessel, leaving some space at the top for fermentation.
Sterilize (Optional):
- If using Campden tablets, crush 1-2 tablets and add them to the mixture. This will sterilize the must, or the unfermented mixture, killing any wild yeasts or bacteria.
- Cover the vessel with a clean cloth and let it sit for 24 hours.
Add Yeast and Other Additives:
- Within 24 hours, add the wine yeast to the must. You may also add pectic enzyme and/or yeast nutrient, if you choose to do so. Stir well to introduce the yeast.
Fermentation:
- Set up an airlock on the fermentation vessel and place it in a cool, dark place with a very stable temperature, approximately 60-70°F, or 15-21°C.
- Let the wine ferment for 1-2 weeks at this stage you can see airlock bubbles from the action of yeast, since it ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Stir this mixture once a week daily for the fermentation to be even.
Secondary Fermentation:
- After this fermentation period, siphon the wine using a siphoning tube into another vessel, clean from the sediment at the bottom that is called lees.
- Reattach the airlock. Let the wine ferment for an additional 4-6 weeks, or until fermentation is complete (no more bubbles rising through the airlock).
Clarifying the Wine:
- If your wine is cloudy, you can add some pectic enzyme or just let it age a bit longer to clear.
- Transfer the wine once more into another clean vessel, leaving sediment behind.
Bottling:
- When it becomes obvious that fermentations have ceased, it is now time to bottle. Siphon the wine into sterilized bottles with a siphoning tube.
- Seal the bottles with corks or screw caps.
Aging:
- Finally, store the bottles in a dark and cool place. Most homemade wines get better after aging. So just let it sit around for at least 3-6 months before drinking.
- Some wines may even improve with even longer aging, up to a year or more.
Enjoy:
- Your homemade wine, once aged, is now ready to be enjoyed. Pour into a glass, savor, and enjoy what you have worked hard on!
Tips:
- Sterilization, before use, is very important in winemaking since it avoids contamination of the equipment.
- The quantity of sugar added can be modified to make your wine as sweet or dry as you want.
- All patience comes with the cooking of wine; the longer you let it cook, the better it shall turn out.
Here's to your homemade winemaking!