Disclaimer:
I aint one of them Vintners. This here’s about how to make good wine as cheap as possible and without all of the fancy schmancy tools that folks’ll tell you that you gotta have. If yer lookin’ for a Vintner’s Guide to Premium Vintage Wine yer Google search has failed you and you should try again. Also, reckon I don’t know it all. I’ve only got one batch done so far but it turned out some awful good. I’ve talked to a lot of old folks that’ve been doing it this way for years and I wanted to share what I had learnt form’em.

Getting started
As I’ve said, you don’t need all of that fancy stuff to make wine. Folks was making good wine for 5000 years or so before anybody thought about inventing a hydrometer to measure specific gravity. Now, I reckon if you want to make the same wine repeatedly so’s that it tastes exactly the same every time you might need that stuff but, on the other hand, maybe you don’t. It don’t matter though ’cause most of us are really only looking to turn that bumper crop of fruit into something other than preserves. This year it might be blueberries, next year it might be strawberries, or peaches or watermelons or or figs… whatever we have extra of. Heck, if you aint got extra fruit you can even make the stuff outta flowers…. I aint kiddin! You can! Ever heared of Dandelion wine? You think that’s made outta grapes? Nope.

I decided that I don’t need all of that high dollar stuff and I aint gonna buy it. Still, you gotta have SOMETHING to make wine in. I personally got me a 5 gallon glass jug for makin’ wine. You can use whatever you have handy. The jug that I got came from a wine making store and costs about $30.00. You can use an old water cooler bottle or even a bucket from Home Depot or somethin’. I mean, really, folks used to make this stuff in clay pots. Don’t get overexcited about how you aint got a new fangled carboy fer the fermentin’. So, that’s what you need… something that’ll hold a few gallons of juice. The return that you get will be a little less than what you start with but not much So, figure on losing a bit but for the most part if you want a gallon of wine you want a gallon jug… call it a 1:1 ratio… the scientific notation oughta be somethin like (1 = (1-li’lbit)). Ok, ok, sorry ’bout that… I didn’t mean to get all technical. Now whatever you use has gotta be sealable but we also need a way to vent gas out of it… we’ll talk about that in a while, for now just remember to get the lid when you get the bucket.

All right, so we have us a container. We’re gonna call that the fermenter just to be high minded about it all. Other things you’ll need is a siphon hose, preferably one that aint been used for stealing gas out of mama’s car. I use two dollars worth of rubber hose from the Home Depot store but you can use an old piece of water hose if you want. You’re also gonna need some yeast and a buncha sugar. The yeast can be anything from specialized wine making yeast to bread yeast. Heck you can even use wild yeast but that’s a little harder. Look, I’m gonna be straight with you. The wine making yeast is better for what you want but honestly yeast is yeast. If you want to use a packet of mama’s Fleishmann’s yeast that’ll work well for you. Just get ready for her to be mad the next time she goes to make some biscuits.

You’re also gonna need somethin to ferment. It really don’t matter what…. strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, figs, watermelons… whatever you got. Just don’t steal it. You can get in trouble over that kind of stuff. That said, stolen fruits make the best wines… Whatever you get you’re gonna need a lot of it. I mean more than your granny can eat in a sitting. Like 10 lbs or so. Since I made strawberry wine, I’ll go with that recipe here but I’ll tell yah what I did to get started. I went down to the grocery store, found the fruit they had on sale that day and bought 10 lbs of it. That happened to be strawberries so that’s what we’re using.

Figure on using about half the weight of fruit in sugar. Just so you don’t gotta do math, that’s 5 lbs of sugar for 10 lbs of fruit. Little more won’t hurt, little less probably will.

Keepin’ it clean
Now, I reckon the most important thing you gotta do is keep everything clean. The big thing that can go wrong with wine making is to get a little distracted and swerve into the vinegar making lane. A little bit of nastiness and you’ll end up with vinegar faster’n your sister’ll fall for a GI. So, how to avoid it? Clean your stuff. Now, real wine makers… err ‘scuse me… vintners have all kinds of high dollar cleaners for this purpose. Don’t worry about that stuff. Just pass by the laundry room and grab a bottle of Clorox and go to work cleaning your stuff. Clean everything… fermenter, hose, jugs, funnels, everything. If your wine is gonna touch it, get some bleach on it first. It don’t take much… just a tablespoon or so in a gallon of water and go to work on it. If it’s clean you’ll be fine. If it aint, you’ll make some fine, fine vinegar.

Stompin grapes
Look, we just went through cleanin’ everythin’. Don’t go stickin’ yer nasty feet in it. Take the strawberries and hull them… that means get yer pocket knife out (clean it!) and lop off the green bit at the top. Rinse it off and toss’er in the bucket. Repeat that until you’re done with all 10 lbs. If you’re using a bottle or a jug like I do you might have to cut it up a little more to get it in. That’s fine. In fact, it’s better, if you’re using a bucket you can give the strawberry a good squeeze to mash it up a little before you throw it in. You don’t want strawberry soup but the more you break it up the better. Once you get that done, add enough water to get the batch up to 3 or 4 gallons. The more water you add the weaker your wine will be but you’ll need at least 2 gallons or so. Add in about 5 lbs of sugar. Stir it good so all the sugar is dissolved and not just sittin’ the bottom. For not so sweet stuff, add a little more sugar, for really sweet stuff add a little less. Once the sugar is dissolved add in about two tablespoons of lemon juice and stir it good. That’s it.

Let’er sit
Once you get everything in your bucket… I mean, fermenter… just let it sit overnight. Now, everything you’ll ever read about wine making will tell you to add 2 or 3 crushed campden tablets. You can get these at the wine making store or you can go without them. I use them myself sometimes if I’m being particular about a batch but as long as you’ve kept everything clean you should be ok. Anywho, let’er sit overnight. Don’t need to be long and you can probably even skip this step but I like to let things “rest” over night and since I’m writin’ this just do it. Besides, you’re gonna be tired after all that washin’ and hullin’ and choppin’ and such. Take a break.

Gettin’ the bugs goin’
Next day take yer yeast and add it to some warm water. For anything less that 5 gallons or so just use one packet or a tablespoon or so. No need to be particular about getting it exactly right. It works pretty much the same way as makin’ bread. Water about 75 or 80 degrees, stir the yeast in and let’er sit until it starts making bubbles. Once you’ve got bubbles goin’ in the yeast just dump’er in your fermenting fruit and stir it good. If you’re using a bottle or jug just cap it and give’er a good shakin. Leave the top off and cover your fermenter with something. Cheesecloth works great or a towel… whatever you got. You just wanna keep the flies out of it. You’ll want to leave it like this for a while. Just walk by every day or so and give it a good stirrin’ (or shakin’) to keep things going.

Keeping it going
Yeasties need air to get going but after a while the air starts to work against them and you have to get it all out. I waited 10 days for this (mostly because I was on vacation at the time and didn’t get back. How long you wait before taking the air out is science. Most recipes will tell you how many days you need to wait or the Specific Gravity of the wine… since we don’t do SG measurements, here’s the trick. When your wine starts to smell like really strong beer it’s good to go and can be airlocked. Now, the yeast are really working and putting off a lot of gas. You can’t just seal up your fermenter and leave it because the dang thing will eventually explode from the pressure of the gas the yeast are putting off. That can be kinda cool to watch but is really counter productive in the wine makin’ process. So, here’s the trick: you gotta make an airlock. The idea behind an airlock is simple, it allows gas (from the yeast) to escape but doesn’t let air back in. You can buy an airlock that’ll work fine at the wine makin’ store for cheap… less than a dollar… or you can make your own. To make your own you just punch a hole in the fermenter, figure out a way to attach a hose to it and then stick the other end in a glass of water. How you go about attaching the tube to the lid of your fermenter is up to you but 30 minutes in the Home Depot store and you should be able to figure something out. Whatever you come up with has to be airtight. If you’ve got it right you should start seeing bubbles coming out of the tube in the glass after a while. As long as it’s making bubbles it’s makin’ wine… just leave it alone. You can take a quick peek every once in a while but mostly you want to keep the air out of it so leave the lid on it.

Cleanin it up
After another week or so the strawberries will start to bleach out and get kinda white. It’s time to get rid of them. When you’re ready to do that, get yourself another container… shoulda bought two of them buckets… and clean it with bleach like before. Rinse it out good and then use your hose to siphon the juice out of your fermenter. Don’t worry too much about getting little bits of strawberry right now… you just want to get as much of the juice out as you can. Once you have all of the juice siphoned out just throw the strawberries away. While yer at it you might notice that things are really cloudy… that’s ok, we’re gonna fix that. You can either wash out your fermenter bucket and pour your juice back in or just continue the fermenting in your new bucket. Either way works. Whatever you do, get the airlock back on it as quick as possible. From here on out you want to avoid moving, shaking or stirring the fermenter. The idea is to let all of the cloudy stuff settle out. It should get back to fermenting and making bubbles pretty quick. Let it go for another two weeks or so without moving it and then repeat the siphoning process. This time filter it through some cheese cloth (or one of mama’s dish rags) to catch all of the strawberry bits that you missed last time. You’ll notice a lot of white stuff on the bottom, that’s the dead yeast that’s making your wine cloudy and settling out. When you siphon it you want to avoid sucking that stuff up. It’s ok if you get a bit of it but you want to leave most of it on the bottom of the bucket/fermenter. From here on out you can start tasting your wine to see how it’s going. If it tastes really sweet let it keep working. If it takes like it’s got too much alcohol in it just water it down a bit. Here’s the trick though, while the yeast are working any sugar you add to it will get converted to alcohol. So don’t go addin sugar to it to make a sweeter wine cause that’ll keep getting converted until you’ve got something that’ll knock yer prom date completely out. Just let’er keep going until all of the fermentation stops. You can tell because it’ll stop makin’ bubbles in your airlock. Once all fermentation has stopped then you can add more sugar to the mix and make it sweeter. Do this one cup of sugar at a time. Add a cup, stir it in good, wait a few days to see if fermentation (bubbles) starts up again. If it does, let it finish again, wait a few extra days and then try adding another cup of sugar. When you can add sugar to the wine without restarting the fermentation it’s done and you can add as much sugar as you want to get it as sweet as you want. Let it sit for another week or two until things start to clear up again… siphon the wine off of the dead yeast and keep going. 3 or 4 weeks at a time until it’s as clear as you want it. Pretty much any time after a month or so you can sneak a little nip here and there. It won’t be as pretty as a store bought wine until everything settles out but it’ll be as good as it gets.

Bottling
You can get wine bottles and corks at the wine makin’ store, but you don’t need’em. Wine will keep just fine in pretty much any container as long as it’s air tight. I use one gallon glass jugs but you can use anything. My uncle uses left over 2 litter coke bottles to store his. Works fine, tastes fine. No need to get snazzy with it, anything with a screw on cap will work.

Aging
Once you’ve got’er all bottled up the easy part is over and the hard part begins… waitin… Now, here’s the thing about agin’ wine. It WILL get better the longer you wait… up to a year or three… BUT unless your gonna enter this stuff in the county fair contest why would yah? It’ll be plenty good right out of the bottle and if you’re the one drinkin’ it AND you like it… why the hell wait? My wine ages in the bottle while it’s waiting to get drunk. If I take a nip and think it’s good for drinkin’ it gets drunk…or I do… but the point is, aging wine is for making the wine good enough to drink not for the sake of aging it. If you like it drink it. If you think it needs more time, wait. Simple, like that.

Is it dangerous?
Nope, not a bit. There aint much that you can do to wine that’ll cause it to make you sick. Now, granted it goes to vinegar and you drink it you’ll spend some time heaving but that’s to be expected and it won’t hurt you… much. In general though, if you can force it down, it won’t hurt you.

What about vinegar?
If it goes to vinegar then you’ve made vinegar. There aint no gettin it back. Just throw it out and start over. That’s one of the things that all of that scientific fancy stuff is trying to avoid. Still, as long as you don’t care about losing a batch every now and again it’s no big deal. If you keep things clean like I told yah then you won’t have this problem anyway. Just step around it, clean things better next time and make another batch.

Just pickin’
I reckon I’m pretty hard on them Vintner fellers here. That’s because some of them are pretty hard on folks who don’t wanna follow the high dollar path. They speak of vintages and years while we speak of “damn, that’s good!” That’s ok. What they do is really cool. They put a lot of work into getting wine just so and making sure that it comes out that way every time. They get the most bang for the buck… and they use cool tools to make it happen. I’m good with that, it’s a hobby or a job for most of ’em and it’s important to ’em. That bein’ said, it’s not a crime to do it the old fashioned way. To get good wine out of left over fruit and to enjoy it out of a dixie cup instead of a wine glass. They’re makin’ one thing, we’re makin another. That’s all there is too it.

487 thoughts on “The Redneck Wine Makin’ Guide (or “how to make wine on the cheap”)

  • July 7, 2015 at 2:41 am
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    I was wandering if I had messed up I put it all together like u said but instead of waiting I put it on air lock as soon as I got it together ( a cork with a hose coming out) and didn’t let it set first it never started bubbling?!?!

    Reply
    • July 7, 2015 at 6:59 am
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      Sounds like the yeast didn’t get a good start. When you start your yeast add it to warm water in a cup and stir. Wait until it starts making bubbles and has a little foam on the top and then pour it into your fermenter.

      Reply
      • July 7, 2015 at 10:57 am
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        Am I able to still do this or do I need to start over? And thank you for replying to me..

        Reply
  • July 7, 2015 at 2:55 am
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    Phoenix says:
    July 6, 2015 at 7:37 pm
    Ok I think I may have messed up I put it all together except when I did I guess I didn’t read it correct I put a cork in it with a hose into a glass of water it never bubbled like it says guess I didn’t let it get air it’s been like that for 6 days now is there anything I can do or do I throw it out?

    Reply

    Reply
    • August 30, 2015 at 3:48 am
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      add more yeast and see what happens.

      Reply
  • July 7, 2015 at 8:52 am
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    Re: June 21, you’re welcome! I’ve been having very good luck with my mango wine the past few years. Since mango breaks down into very small particles, I have not had too much luck with getting it very clear. Toward the end, is there some way I can get it more clear by adding something; and if so, what? When this batch is done, I will give a step by step of how I made it to maybe help some of your newbies get over their puzzlements.

    Reply
    • July 7, 2015 at 9:25 am
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      Using an additive (or agent) to clarify wine is called ‘fining” the wine. I don’t use anything at all preferring instead to just wait it out.

      However, if you want to try something the most common product is bentonite clay. You can get it at any local wine making supply store or order it online.

      These folks are local to me and are pretty handy. http://ebrew.com/product711.html

      Looking forward to your post!

      Reply
      • December 25, 2015 at 9:54 pm
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        I use nude extra support panty hose then work my way down to coffee filters then to layered coffee filter panty hose coffee filter it is a slow process but works great extra clear. You may have to change filters often because it really filters and will near about stop. But a cheap way to clarify your wine do this four or five times let set a day between straining and it helps with keeping the settlements at the bottom. when you can our it straight they the coffee filter you good to go. Keep in mind it is slow. .

        Reply
        • December 26, 2015 at 12:10 am
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          My wife gets some mad about me using her panty hose for such as that. multiple layers of cheese cloth work just as well for a primary filter. Coffee filters are a bit too fine for me because (as you note) they tend to be very good at what they do and clog easily. But your method does work and it works well for folks in a hurry.

          I’m still pretty oldschool preferring to just give it time to settle on its own. I aint in much of a hurry.

          Reply
  • July 7, 2015 at 9:42 am
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    Thanks for the quick reply. I’m making 6 gal. and I would have to add 6 doses and 6 cups of water, guess I’ll wait it out; my carboy isn’t big enough LOL.

    Reply
    • July 7, 2015 at 9:55 am
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      Nah, just add 3 tsp into 1 cup of boiling water and go from there. The boiling water is just to dissolve the stuff before you add it. It’s not a part of the process.

      Reply
  • July 7, 2015 at 12:15 pm
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    I removed my fruit yesterday and added sugar because my batch of mango/pineapple wine had stopped bubbling only 4 days into air locking it. Then It began bubbling again until some time this morning. I have seen no bubbling in 7 hrs. Is there any hope? I don’t know what is wrong and I followed all your directions. Any advice? thank you JF

    Reply
  • July 12, 2015 at 1:58 pm
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    I’m making blueberry wine and have followed all instructions so far up to airlocking and its not bubbling in the water unless i give my bucket a little shake and bubbles like crazy any advice or do you think i have to small a hose or does the water need to be higher than the bucket??

    Reply
    • July 17, 2015 at 7:08 am
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      Check for leaks. It sounds like under low pressure the gas is escaping somewhere other than they way you want it to. When you shake it the gas escapes faster and makes bubbles. You probably just have a small leak.

      Reply
    • September 29, 2015 at 11:17 pm
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      how many lbs of blueberries did you use?

      Reply
  • July 30, 2015 at 6:19 pm
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    Great recipe! Just what I was looking for! I want the simple method, yet need all the fermented and airlock stuff explained fully since I’ve never done it before. Excellent instructions! Making peach wine for the first time. Will let you know how it comes out. 😀

    Reply
    • July 30, 2015 at 10:05 pm
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      Glad it helped! Let us know!

      Reply
  • August 8, 2015 at 9:44 am
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    Waited a year with it in the bottle- it’s bubbly, sweet and fairly thick. Also has some “bits” in it. Do I strain it or is all lost?

    Reply
    • August 30, 2015 at 3:49 am
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      give it more time. 🙂

      Reply
  • August 15, 2015 at 10:19 am
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    Hey…this is a great, neat old KISS site…two questions: I have lots of grapes that came with 3 vines at the new house we bought…I don’t want to waste them…what is the grape juice to water ratio and how do I squeeze them without having to buy a 200.00 press.

    Thanks a lot for the good old fashioned tips written in redneck

    Fred

    Reply
    • September 7, 2015 at 9:03 am
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      Juice them then you don’t have to worry about straining and lose any from siphoning. Just a thought.

      Reply
  • August 19, 2015 at 3:07 pm
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    I picked my grapes today not all of them are good and ripe should I wate till the are all good and soft ripe before I start my wine making .

    Reply
    • August 26, 2015 at 8:48 am
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      You really want to wait until the fruit is ripe and has had time to develop the sugars needed to convert to alcohol

      Reply
      • September 29, 2015 at 11:15 pm
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        grapes will not ripen after being picked.

        Reply
        • September 29, 2015 at 11:31 pm
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          Right! Thanks for pointing that out. I meant to wait to pick them until they’re better. Sorry for being unclear.

          Reply
  • August 27, 2015 at 2:40 pm
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    Can you use muscadines

    Reply
    • August 28, 2015 at 6:21 am
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      Yes. My uncle used to make them every year. Works great!

      1 Gallon Fruit
      3 Gallons water
      8lbs sugar

      Crush the fruit in the water and let it sit for 24 hours then strain it out the fruit.

      Add your yeast and let it go!

      Good luck!

      Reply
  • August 28, 2015 at 8:05 am
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    What type of strainer do you use…is cheese cloth a good option.

    Should the mess be strained more than once to get all the particles out.

    What tool do you use to mash the grapes up…would a hand made crusher: a round piece of plywood on a 2′ piece of round stock work.

    Thanks for the good tips

    Reply
    • August 30, 2015 at 3:52 am
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      cheesecloth is great and preferred.

      Usually straining more than once is not needed. You just want to get the large bits out. The smaller stuff will settle out with time.

      Usually we just use our hands to smash fruit. Anything will work.

      Reply
  • August 31, 2015 at 4:17 pm
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    I have lot of good small seedless grapes ready to go…i want to use their natural yeasts. Any hints; recipes; proportion of water/sugar?
    Do I put an air lock on the bucket fermenter right away, or cover the pail with a cloth, if so, for how long? before putting the airlock in(the first fermenter? or the second?)
    I’m 81 and a little old lady, so a speedy response would be appreciated…..

    Reply
    • August 31, 2015 at 8:04 pm
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      Yes ma’am.

      Use the same proportions described in the post for water and sugar.

      Crush the grapes in the primary fermenter with sugar and water and cover with cheese cloth. Stir every day for 14 days. Siphon/strain the juice off of the must and put into a secondary. Airlock it in tthe secondary.

      If there’s something that you don’t understand just send me a email at jinksto@gmail.com and I’ll try to help right away.

      Reply
      • September 1, 2015 at 9:54 pm
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        thank you so much.How do I measure “3 gallons of grapes” to 3 gallons water.The water I can figure out how to have three gallons_ the grapes??I

        If i rinse the grapes first am
        I washing off the natural yeasts?
        Do I have to disolve the sugar i water, or can i just stir it in?

        ‘m still alive and kicking , well, staggering, but who knows for how long….thanks for speedy answer!

        Reply
        • September 2, 2015 at 8:17 am
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          Crush the grapes to measure them. An easy way to do it is to pour 3 gallons of water into a bucket, mark the level and then crush the grapes in the bucket until it reaches the 3 gallon mark.

          If they are commercial grapes you need to wash them as you don’t know what chemicals have been added to the grapes. If you know the source of the grapes and know they haven’t been treated then it’s fine to use them without washing. Washing will remove some of the natural yeast but as long as you don’t go overboard you should be fine.

          It’s best to dissolve the sugar first. If you boil a gallon of water you should be able to dissolve the sugar in it fully and create a syrup. Just let the syrup cool completely before adding it.

          good luck!

          Reply
  • September 1, 2015 at 3:10 pm
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    This is FANTASTIC and exactly what I have been trying to find! Thank you very much for taking the time to write this out.

    Reply
    • September 1, 2015 at 3:54 pm
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      I’m happy you enjoyed it. Let us know how things turn out for you!

      Reply
  • September 9, 2015 at 11:05 pm
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    I started 2.5 gals watermelon, sugar and lemon juice yesterday. I let it sit overnight and then added yeast and covered with cheesecloth. It’s now been about 9 hrs and its rising up the neck of my 3 gal bottle. I think my fermenter is too small.

    The top 1/3 is fruit pulp. Can I siphon off the lower 2/3 and just airlock it now?

    Reply
    • September 10, 2015 at 12:21 am
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      It’s better to leave it if you can to get a better flavor. Letting it overflow is fine if you can avoid the mess. Otherwise siphoning it off early will be ok too.

      Reply
      • September 10, 2015 at 12:23 pm
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        Thanks for the quick reply! I’m just cleaning it up as it flows 🙂

        Reply
  • September 10, 2015 at 12:16 pm
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    All the watermelons in my patch ripened at the same time. Even with eight grandchildren, we can’t eat them all. I have per used a lot of posts and can’t find the answer to the following questions.
    1. It’s a pain in the backside to pick out all the seeds. Can I leave them in initially and strain them out with the pulp when the time comes?
    2. Can you give me a go fruit-to-water-to-sugar ratio for water melon?

    Also, I made blackberry again this year using the natural yeast. Made 2 buckets. In the first bucket, the first 3 gallons came off a clear, beautiful dark purple. The 4th gallon came out reddish and cloudy. And the whole second bucket came out this way. Is it okay to drink it cloudy or should I wait for it to settle?

    Reply
    • September 11, 2015 at 4:20 pm
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      1) You can leave them.
      2) The ratio in this article should work great.
      3) It’s better to let them settle. That said, give it a taste and see what you think. If you like it then rock on!

      Reply
  • September 11, 2015 at 2:27 pm
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    Came across a full acre of wild riverbank grapes and intend to put them to use. Using the regular yeast and starting it in a new 5 gallon bucket from HD. No sweetness as much as I can tell….and I saw a recipe that called for equal parts of riverbank juice, water and sugar…
    What ratio would you recommend for this type of wild purples? thanks

    Reply
    • September 11, 2015 at 4:18 pm
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      I’m not familiar with this fruit. 1:1:1 seems a bit much. I’d try 3:2:1 or 2:1:1

      Reply
      • September 12, 2015 at 10:48 am
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        these grapes are just the small wild grapes found here in CT and the Northeast..if that helps

        Reply
        • September 12, 2015 at 10:58 am
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          Vitis Riparia (Michaux): Commonly, the Bermuda Vine, Frost Grape, June Grape, Maple Leaved Canadian Grape, Mignonette Vine, River Grape, Riverside Grape, Riverbank Grape, Scented Grape, Sweet-Scented Grape, Uferrebe Grape, and Vignes des Battures; botanically, the Vitis Amara, Vitis Boulderensis, Vitis Callosa (Le Conte), Vitis Canadensis Aceris Folio (Tournefort), Vitis Colombina, Vitis Concolor, Vitis Cordifolia (Darlington), Vitis Cordifolia Riparia (Torr. et Gray), Vitis Cordifolia var. Riparia (Gray), Vitis Cordifolia var. Culpina (Eaton), Vitis Dimidiata (Le Conte), Vitis Hyemalis (Le Conte), Vitis Illinoensis (Prince), Vitis Incisa (Planchon), Vitis Intermedia (Nuttal), Vitis Missouriensis (Prince), Vitis Montana, Vitis Odoratissima (Donn.), Vitis Odoratissima (Pursh), Vitis Palmata (Vahl), Vitis Populifolia, Vitis Riparia var. Palmata (Planchon), Vitis Riparia var. Praecox (Englemann), Vitis Rubra (Desf.), Vitis Serotina (Bartram), Vitis Tenuifolia (le Conte), Vitis Virginiana (Hort.), Vitis Virginana (Poir), Vitis Virginiana Sylvestris (Parkins), Vitis Virginiensis (de Juss), Vitis Vulpina (Linnaeus), Vitis Vulpina var. Praecox (Bailey), Vitis Vulpina var. Riparia (Regel), and Vitis Vulpina var. Syrt. (Fernald and Weigand).

          Reply
  • September 15, 2015 at 9:17 pm
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    This was a real enjoyable read! Thanks. My Muscadine grapes are ready to be harvested & I’d like to try to make a little wine out of them. I do have a question, if you don’t mind – can I line the bucket with a large plastic bag & ferment in that? Then twist it airtight, & burp it every day? Or do I have to figure out an airtight lid/hose method? Thanks again.

    Reply
    • September 16, 2015 at 9:19 am
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      I can’t think of a reason that wouldn’t work. It’s even possible to seal the bag and just poke a couple of pinholes in it to relieve pressure and avoid having to “burp” it.

      Reply
  • October 6, 2015 at 9:01 am
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    A friend has given me about 4 litres of “juice” he squeezed from grapes on his property. I am not sure of the ratio for water/sugar for this… I have only made wine from kits at the wine store. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Reply
  • October 6, 2015 at 9:03 am
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    Oops! anonymous October 6, 2015 is Lisa

    Reply
  • October 19, 2015 at 10:33 am
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    Hav a question how long do i leave concord grapes soakin in bucket with yeast to break down and when should i crush

    Reply
  • October 19, 2015 at 10:37 am
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    How long do i leave concord grapes in cloth soakin in yeast before crushin

    Reply
    • October 19, 2015 at 11:24 am
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      Crush them as soon as you put them in the bucket. This creates “must”. Add yeast to the must.

      Reply
  • October 19, 2015 at 10:43 am
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    How long leav concord grapes soakin in yeast and cloth

    Reply
  • October 19, 2015 at 5:35 pm
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    I wad going to but a wine distributer told me to not crush so now its been in bucket for 10days smells and looks good so now i will crush and test sugar content. What u think

    Reply
  • October 20, 2015 at 4:15 pm
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    I’m looking for a simple muscadine wine recipe without using yeast. Do you have one to share?

    Reply
  • November 29, 2015 at 7:18 pm
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    My bucket of concord grape mix is 6 weeks old it has been yeasted and racked twice i needed to add more sugar not sweet enoygh how do i meadure alcohol level

    Reply
  • December 22, 2015 at 8:57 pm
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    what type of yeast do you use?

    Reply
  • December 27, 2015 at 4:32 am
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    New to wine making and found your post to be helpful. I want to try to use bananas but am getting confused by all the different recipes and all the extra stuff they want to add. Do you have a simpler way?

    Reply
    • December 27, 2015 at 2:58 pm
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      Yeast Nutrient will be a good addition. The other additives can be left out.

      For acid blend use two lemons.
      Add 1 and 1/2 cup of raisins.
      Use 3 -5 lbs of bananas pealed and sliced into 1/2″ slices.
      Use any yeast
      Use 5 cups sugar and about a gallon of water.

      That should get you there. 🙂

      Reply
  • January 2, 2016 at 5:34 pm
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    I am trying to make wine from the juice I extracted while making preserves. I strained everything out, added sugar & yeast and yeast food and put it in a glass carboy with an airlock. It appears to be bubbling up. Will it turn into wine even though I cooked it?

    Reply
    • January 2, 2016 at 8:21 pm
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      Yes, if it’s making bubbles it’s making alcohol. 🙂 I have no idea what it’ll taste like though. Please report back!

      Reply
      • January 4, 2016 at 6:49 am
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        And if I add more sugar it turns into brandy? its made from blueberries! I will report back, but when? Thanks!

        Reply
        • January 4, 2016 at 10:22 am
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          No. Brandy is liquor that has been distilled (same as whiskey). The difference is that Brandy starts with wine as a base rather than sourmash or some other base.

          Adding more sugar makes the alcohol stronger up to a point. After that it’ll just make the wine less dry.

          Reply
  • January 11, 2016 at 5:00 pm
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    Made some concoction out of cranberry sauce, sugar, self rising flour, and some sandwich bread…will this make wine. If so am I gonna be dead after trying it. Used the bread and flour as a replacement for yeast, got this from a prisoner I once knew..he called it prison brew and swears it works. Point is…..I don’t wanna end up dead or crippled…lol. Any advice would be much appreciated.

    Reply
    • January 11, 2016 at 9:31 pm
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      Prison wine is a thing and it does work. It probably won’t kill you. If you can drink enough of it to make you sick I’ll be impressed. Good luck!

      As for advice… I’d recommend reading the article and giving the real thing a shot. 🙂

      Reply
  • January 14, 2016 at 1:47 pm
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    Just to be sure… I can’t accidentally make that liquor that makes you go blind or anything, can I? I mean, if its bad, it will stink or scream when I open the bottle or something right? I’m just afraid I’ll drink it (nom nom nom) and then keel over “sweetmotherofjumpingjacks-MYEYES!!!”

    Reply
    • January 14, 2016 at 5:06 pm
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      🙂 That’s a different kind of alcohol. In most cases “bad wine” turns into vinegar… which won’t hurt you. You can’t accidentally make poison wine. You’d have to add a “bad” alcohol to it.

      Reply
      • February 15, 2016 at 11:21 am
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        Well, I took her out and decanted into a bottle. The result was a beautiful clear purple “wine” from my blueberries. It smells wonderful, but its a bit sour. Not vinegar, but not sweet at all, and no bottom to the flavor, if you know what I mean. Like, no tannins. Is there any way I can sweeten it up a bit? Do I just add sugar? Will that make the yeast get happy again and blow up the bottle?

        Reply
        • February 22, 2016 at 12:21 am
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          yes you can add sugar. Yes, it might blow the bottle… but probably won’t. Good luck!

          If you’re worried about the yeast kicking off again just airlock the bottle.

          Reply
  • January 14, 2016 at 2:03 pm
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    When folks used a still (for distilling whisky or other stuff) and the pipes were joined with lead solder, people would go blind or worse. That process is not used in winemaking. Relax!!!

    Reply
  • January 20, 2016 at 11:54 pm
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    I made a double batch of the banana recipe, and it’s amazing! It’s the first batch that’s gone really well so far and the first batch I’m proud of. Thanks for your help.

    Reply
    • January 21, 2016 at 8:00 am
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      Excellent! Thanks for letting us know! It’s best if you give some away. 🙂 *Cheers*

      Reply
  • February 9, 2016 at 12:57 pm
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    Gosh!! I thought maybe “Larry the Cable Guy” was writing this! It was GREAT. A couple of questions: Can you use just regular yeast and how much per gallon? Do you need sugar (how much)! I bought one of those fancy “wine making kits” and don’t have a clue how to make wine with it. Any simple help will be good. I’m a little on the stupit side so keep it simple. Thanks Bob

    Reply
    • February 9, 2016 at 1:29 pm
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      1) Yes. You can use regular yeast. Use 1 packet (or 1 tsp) for 1 gallon. For 5 gallon’s used 2.
      2) Yes. From the article, “Figure on using about half the weight of fruit in sugar. Just so you don’t gotta do math, that’s 5 lbs of sugar for 10 lbs of fruit. Little more won’t hurt, little less probably will.”
      3) Fancy wine making kits are neat. In the end wine is easy. I mean, I reckon people invented it on accident, we outta be able to make it on purpose. Just follow the instructions in this article using your fancy kit.
      4) I reckon we aint qualified around here to pick on folk for being stupid. Just give it a shot and see what happens. The worst you can do is waste a little fruit.

      Reply
  • February 20, 2016 at 11:10 pm
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    We put all kinds of fruit in the freezer every year; strawberries, peaches, blueberries, blackberries. Can we use this frozen fruit?

    Reply
    • February 21, 2016 at 7:12 pm
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      Absolutely. Errm thaw it first. 🙂

      Reply
  • February 24, 2016 at 2:23 am
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    You’ve helped me in the past and was wondering if you could tell me how to make a peach jalapeño wine?

    Reply
    • February 24, 2016 at 8:04 am
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      I’ve never made pepper wines so can’t be much help. In general though, it’s done the same way as with other wines. If you find a decent recipe be sure to share it with others!

      Reply
  • May 11, 2016 at 8:54 am
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    I’m not new to making homemade strawberry wine but this time didn’t turn out the same.
    I used 20lbs of fresh strawberries. After I lop off the tops I make a bag out of cheese cloth and crush the daylights out of em and add enough water to get me to 5 Gallons and I used 8lbs of sugar.. I let it work till it dang near had stopped.. Drew a shot glass full and the strawberry smell and flavor was perfect but had to sweet taste at all, added 2 more lbs of sugar and and it took off again..
    it’s quit and I added potassium sorbate @ 3 teaspoons for 6 gallons. No sugar taste at all still, but plenty of alkiehol and a bit acidy tastin.
    how can I sweeten this and not dilute the flavor any more and have I been lucky or is acid levels high in strawberry wine? I also added fruit pectin at fermentation because I used strawberry kiwi juice (with no sugar added).
    What’s a fellar like you suggest?

    Reply
    • May 11, 2016 at 10:29 am
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      Put an airlock on it and ensure that the fermentation has absolutely stopped. The Potassium Sorbate will help with that for a while. Add a couple of campden tablets to help keep things stable. Once you’re certain the wine is stable you can add more sugar to back sweeten it. Adding sugar will help develop the flavors. Add it slowly, 2 cups at a time for 5 gallons, tasting after the sugar is fully dissolved. KEEP IT CLEAN! 🙂

      Potssium Sorbate is an acid but it degrades so expect the acidity to go with it. Sadly it also adds undertones to the wine which is one of the reasons we don’t like it.

      Reply
  • May 11, 2016 at 3:02 pm
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    Airlock stays on it unless I rack it into a clean carboy like I did earlier.
    Do you mean the PS will add it’s own taste undertone? I never knew that or heard that but I will definitely take head to it.
    How is it people can make say plum wine in nothing but a cooler and throw slices of bread in and it turn out great.. I know an old man that does all his wine that way. It’s not very strong but it’s always perfect.. no additives at all

    Reply
  • June 26, 2016 at 7:10 am
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    Hi, I read your recipe and it seems easy enuf. in fact I have made wine before in a bucket out of Grape juice (CERES BRAND) and using bakers yeast. it was ok but very cloudy and harsh on the throat.

    My 2 questions
    1) Could you help me with a recipe with whatever (GRAPE, APPLE etc)Juice as its easier to handle. my email is Clinton@bitckw.com

    2) We cannot get campden tablets here as we live in country where alcohol is banned. So no wine stores etc. hence would being extra clean with everything good enuf?

    Reply
    • June 27, 2016 at 2:47 pm
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      Yes. You can do perfectly well without campden tablets. All you need to make wine is fruit, sugar and yeast.

      Reply
  • August 12, 2016 at 9:44 am
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    Total novice here. I have a steam juicer and would like to make wine with the juice. Adjustments?? Will start with blackberries.

    Reply
    • August 12, 2016 at 9:53 am
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      Shouldn’t be major adjustments. I don’t think you’d want to add as much water but can’t say for sure.

      Give it a shot and let us know how it turns out!

      Reply
  • August 12, 2016 at 4:16 pm
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    That’s a purdy useful article ya did friend! I’m doing my first batch, using plums and a pressure cooker as the fermenter. Only holds 4 gallons of stuff, so I didn’t add much water. I hope the juice isn’t too strong.

    Reply
      • August 23, 2017 at 1:11 am
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        Well it’s been a year now since this batch got started. Most of it is a little bitter, but not like in a dry wine sort of way. Not vinegar either. It’s still cloudy too. Good enough to drink, after adding sugar. I think the pressure cooker added some aluminum taste to it. Got another batch started in a big cooler, so we’ll see how this one does.

        Reply
  • August 15, 2016 at 9:52 am
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    Any thoughts on substituting honey for sugar? All or in part? I do know the honey needs to be processed.

    Reply
    • August 15, 2016 at 10:06 am
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      You need a little more honey than you would normally use for sugar. About 25% more. Otherwise it should work fine. We make an excellent mead (honey wine) with it. Yeast has to work harder to convert honey so it’s a pretty slow fermentation after an initial quick bump. It gives wine a much more mellow flavor.

      DO NOT use processed honey. It’s very much a ripoff and, many times, is imported from places like China. In fact, you really shouldn’t be using it for anything. Ever.

      Local, unprocessed, honey is too easy to get. Use that.

      Reply
      • August 15, 2016 at 2:19 pm
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        I’ve found (sic) that using honey gives you mead. My brother has used honey in beer, says that you have to cook at 170 degrees for 30 min. to keep sugars from changing to something weird. I think for my first batch I will just use sugar. I picked this AM and have 4 gal of blackberries to steam juice, and will start process.

        Reply
        • August 15, 2016 at 4:17 pm
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          Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

          I guess I should clarify… don’t use processed commercial honey just because it’s been “processed”. If you have local honey that you want to cook to convert the sugars that’s fine. However, yeast will convert the complex sugars even without pre-processing it. It just takes more time and slows down fermentation.

          -J

          Reply
  • August 15, 2016 at 9:22 pm
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    I just steam juiced 14lbs of blackberries. Got 5 qts of juice, shooting for 3 gal of wine. Does that sound reasonable?

    Reply
    • August 16, 2016 at 5:08 pm
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      It’s a bit of a stretch but I think it should be fine. Go with 6-8lbs or so of sugar.

      Reply
      • August 30, 2016 at 2:21 am
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        I make wine at home in central north nc. Have bloodclots in lungs. Massive,dr say. Red wine is helping upon his agreement. Muskidine grapes here(wild)make good wine. I use crockpot to kill yeast. Candy thermometer. 140deg. Turn it off then. Let cool n no trouble with explosions.(like my honey locust n persimmon beer)..it blew two refrigerator doors open! Big mess. I didnt “cook” the beer.

        Reply
  • September 14, 2016 at 12:58 pm
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    I am so glad to have found your recipe! It is my first attempt at winemaking. I searched and read everything I could before I started and your method is by far the simplest and most clearly written recipe I found. Thank you.
    I am making chokecherry wine- the pits are toxic, but I could think of no easy way to remove the pits so I left them in the must. Do you know if the pits will leach or is it safe to continue ? This is day 2. I added the yeast yesterday? Thanks again.
    Northern Manitoba girl.

    Reply
    • September 14, 2016 at 2:25 pm
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      I’m not an export on Chokeberry but as long as you don’t crack the seed pods you should be OK. Destoning them first is certainly the best way to go.

      Let us know how it goes or if you find more information on the leaching.

      Reply
      • September 15, 2016 at 4:52 pm
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        Good.Thanks. I was hoping you,d say that. The pits are really hard (like a walnut shell). I was careful not to crack them so there may not be much leaching going on. Sure, I,ll let you know any info I find and how the wiine turns out. Thanks again and so fast too!

        Reply
        • September 15, 2016 at 9:46 pm
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          Just wanted to say thank you!!!! My gram made homemade blueberry peach wine for years when she passed I thought I would never taste that sweetness again, reading your how too was almost like listening to her go through the process again with me !!!! Thank you again!!!! Long live the hillbilly, we always survive!!! Lots of love!!

          Reply
  • September 19, 2016 at 12:38 pm
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    UPDATE on my chokecherry wine making. Turns out there are enzymes in wine that will break down the pits in chokecherries causing cyanide to leach from them! They must be removed from the fruit! On day 5 of our winemaking process my husband and I poured off the fermenting juice and saved it in a sterilized pot. We removed pits from the fruit one at a time until they were all out. When we got tired of doing that we disposed of the rest of the fruit. I think most of the juice was out of the fruit by this time anyway.(There are thousands of pits in 10 lbs. of chokecherries!) Then we put put the fruit and juice back in the jug and gave it a good shake. The juice at this point was very tastey. My common sense tells me that these hard pits would only leach cyanide if they are exposed to the enzymes for a long period of time. In my case, after only 5 days I believe my yeasty juice is safe drink. Cyanide tastes like almonds. And from what I read on the Internet, to kill an adult one would have to injest approximately 100 cracked or broken pits. Before I drink any of my wine I^m hopefully going to find out EXACTLY how long the pits take to break down when exposed to enzymes.

    Reply
  • November 28, 2016 at 5:29 pm
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    Thank you SO MUCH for this. Last year I had a surplus of good old Concord grapes so I set to making wine. You made this easy enough for me to make it, and after the year was up after bottling….man oh man!! This is some GREAT wine! I gave a bottle to a little old lady I play bingo with, for her Birthday. She has been begging me for another bottle. She said it was ” the best wine her and her daughter has ever had, perfect in sweetness and alcohol levels” I also made a batch of ” Blushing Apple” by throwing in a few hand fulls of our home made raisins to the apples.The results? A faintly pink tinted Apple wine. WOW! DELISH! Now I don’t personally drink much wine, but I have become ” addicted” to making it! I am getting ready to start a batch of Elderberry , then a batch of either Strawberry or Mulberry. Heck, I might do all three! Thank you so very much for putting this information out here for all to see.

    Reply
  • December 26, 2016 at 5:10 pm
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    I’ve made a blackberry/blueberry wine (my first time)….we’ve bottled it and after having it bottled a couple of weeks I realized I forgot to deyeast the wine prior to bottlling. The wine does not taste like yeast and there is no pressure behind the cap when opened. Shall I just let it be?

    Reply
  • March 21, 2017 at 3:02 pm
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    i use a balloon instead of a hose and water….is this ok? i learned this from an old timer had good luck with my first batch but the second time i did it …..it didnt seem to work right???

    Reply
  • May 1, 2017 at 7:03 pm
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    Hi I am attempting to make wine from grapes and not sure if what im doing is correct. I like the way you explained things and wish I would have found this before I started this project.
    I took about 5 lbs of black grapes (washed) placed them in a 5 gal bucket and hand smashed them. I added one gallon of water (boiled and cooled) I added 2 1/2 cups of sugar to the water before it cooled and added it to the smashed grapes. I then added 1 cup of dry washed wheat (don’t know why honestly) and added 1/2 of 1/8 of a tsp of Metabsulfite (don’t know why I did but just followed someone on you tube) I mixed it and covered it loosely with the cover and a dish towel over that. This morning I looked in and didn’t know what to think lol except sheesh I hope im doing this correctly.
    1. Im adding the wine yeast toning (24 hours later)
    2. can I let it sit for a week in the 5 gallon fermenter even though its only 1.5 gallons.
    3. the plan is in a week strain in a nylon bag and transfer the liquid in a gallon bottle.
    4. Am I reading correctly but the more sugar the less sweet? I like a semi dry wine.
    Please tell me if it sounds like im doing this correctly.
    Thanks in advance

    Reply

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