I'd spit some beechnut in that dudes eye for some myself!!!!
OMG ... homemade strawberry wine ... that brings back some memories ... my mom was royally PISSED at us when she found it out in the barn.
1gal of apple juice, drop in 1 lg handful of redhots, put balloon over top. It will inflate and deflate in about 30 days, when it is deflated your wine will be ready.
Pure homemade wine is made from grapes and nothing else. You don't add yeast, nutrients or water. With many homemade wines, you can have a finished product in 60 days or less, but with pure wine, you may have to wait three to four months before the wine has completed the fermentation process. Making wine of any kind doesn't require a lot of fancy equipment, but you do need a few items dedicated to the process.
The Equipment
You will need two large 10 to 20 gallon stone crock or food grade 40 gallon barrels with lids. Crocks can often be found at flea markets and farm auctions and barrels can be found at surplus outlets. You will also need an airlock of some type for the wine vessel. If you plan to use a crock, measure the diameter of the top and have your local lumber yard cut a lid from plywood 1/16 of on inch smaller than the crock opening. Drill a hole using a 1/4 inch drill bit into the center of the lid. Place an airlock into the hole and use silicone caulking around the base of the lock to hold it in place.
The Grapes
Any wild grape, such as muscadine or fox, will have enough natural yeast and sugars to turn the juice into wine. muscadine and fox grapes ripen in the late summer and can occasionally be found at farmers' markets if you do not have access to them in the wild. You will need approximately 45 pounds of grapes to make pure wine.
Preparing the Grapes
Remove any stems from the grapes and begin mashing them with your hands to break the skins. Working with a pound or two of grapes at a time, heat the grapes in a large stock pot over low heat to release the juice from the grapes. Use a potato masher or the back of a large spoon to press the grapes as they cook. Cook each batch for 30 to 45 minutes and pour into your brewing vessel.
The Fermenting Process
Once all of the grapes have been pressed and are in the brewing vessel, place the lid on the vessel and fill the airlock half full of water. Move the vessel to a place where the temperature will remain warm and draft free. After a day or so, you will begin to see bubbles forming in the airlock. This is the fermentation process and it should continue for about 60 days.
Strain the Wine
Use a ladle or scoop and strain the wine through a fine wire colander into the second brewing vessel, leaving behind the grape skins and seeds. Place the lid back on the vessel and let the wine ferment another 90 days or until the airlock stops bubbling.
Bottle the Wine
Use a length of food grade plastic tubing to siphon the wine from the brewing vessel into bottles. The end of the siphon hose should be kept several inches above the bottom of the brewing vessel to keep any sediment out of the wine. Cap the bottles tightly and store the wine in a cool, dark place.
I use to know a recipe from the old Foxfire books. This recipe is similar, go to Prague when they have the Kolache Festival.They have a wine contest and ask a few of them how they do it!! May 7th, this year. http://www.praguekolachefestival.com/food.htm
The Equipment
You will need two large 10 to 20 gallon stone crock or food grade 40 gallon barrels with lids. Crocks can often be found at flea markets and farm auctions and barrels can be found at surplus outlets. You will also need an airlock of some type for the wine vessel. If you plan to use a crock, measure the diameter of the top and have your local lumber yard cut a lid from plywood 1/16 of on inch smaller than the crock opening. Drill a hole using a 1/4 inch drill bit into the center of the lid. Place an airlock into the hole and use silicone caulking around the base of the lock to hold it in place.
The Grapes
Any wild grape, such as muscadine or fox, will have enough natural yeast and sugars to turn the juice into wine. muscadine and fox grapes ripen in the late summer and can occasionally be found at farmers' markets if you do not have access to them in the wild. You will need approximately 45 pounds of grapes to make pure wine.
Preparing the Grapes
Remove any stems from the grapes and begin mashing them with your hands to break the skins. Working with a pound or two of grapes at a time, heat the grapes in a large stock pot over low heat to release the juice from the grapes. Use a potato masher or the back of a large spoon to press the grapes as they cook. Cook each batch for 30 to 45 minutes and pour into your brewing vessel.
The Fermenting Process
Once all of the grapes have been pressed and are in the brewing vessel, place the lid on the vessel and fill the airlock half full of water. Move the vessel to a place where the temperature will remain warm and draft free. After a day or so, you will begin to see bubbles forming in the airlock. This is the fermentation process and it should continue for about 60 days.
Strain the Wine
Use a ladle or scoop and strain the wine through a fine wire colander into the second brewing vessel, leaving behind the grape skins and seeds. Place the lid back on the vessel and let the wine ferment another 90 days or until the airlock stops bubbling.
Bottle the Wine
Use a length of food grade plastic tubing to siphon the wine from the brewing vessel into bottles. The end of the siphon hose should be kept several inches above the bottom of the brewing vessel to keep any sediment out of the wine. Cap the bottles tightly and store the wine in a cool, dark place.
I use to know a recipe from the old Foxfire books. This recipe is similar, go to Prague when they have the Kolache Festival.They have a wine contest and ask a few of them how they do it!! May 7th, this year. http://www.praguekolachefestival.com/food.htm
Really big food grade bags inside a plastic garbage can work good with recipes containing pulp.
Yall got prickly pears around your neck of the woods? They make great wine.
Yall got prickly pears around your neck of the woods? They make great wine.
Old thread I know, but had to comment.
I dont know why you wouldnt want to use yeast. Yeast is a lot more effective at jumpstarting the fermentation process and has relatively no added flavor if you are using the correct type of yeast. By using yeast, you dont have to deal with scraping mold from your must. The conversion to alcohol is rapid enough, nasties dont have a chance to get started.
So far, I have made melomel (blackberry mead using champagne yeast) and hooch (nothing more than a jug of welches grape juice, a cup of sugar and a packet of bread yeast). Believe it or not,... the hooch was like a claret after about 1 month of fermentation (both taste and dryness)... I am further aging it to see how the flavor changes.
I think for my next attempt, I might try an old recipe for mead and let wild yeast do its job instead of pitching something that was cultured in a lab.
Do you do homemade wine, Cohiba? I like knowing who else is out there just so I have people to bounce stuff off of.
