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Homemade Wine
Ever fancied making your own wine? Like beer, wine making can be done at home using either a shop bought kit or from your own ingredients. If you're of a certain age the latter may bring visions of "peapod burgundy" from the Good Life but wine can be made from any fruit or vegetable, although it might not taste very good! Soft fruits usually make the most pleasant wines like Elderberry wine (and of course grapes!), blackberries, strawberries, peaches and plums. Try experimenting with different mixtures for different tastes.
Making Wine At Home
To make your own wine at home you'll need a few items of basic home brewing equipment:
- A large saucepan able to hold 4 - 5 litres of water
- A demijohn or two (fermenting jars)
- Wine bottles!
- Sugar (usually about 1 kilo)
- Wine yeast and yeast nutrients
- Tannin (or cold tea!)
- Citric Acid (1 or 2 tsp)
- Around 2kg of fruit or vegetables.
The basic method for making wine is: boil fruit until tender, strain the liqour into the sugar, tannin and citric acid until the sugar is dissolved. Add yeast and remaining ingredients and pour into a demijohn (fermenting jar) with an airlock fitted. Siphon off the wine as the liquid clears into bottles. The fermenting process should take 3 - 4 weeks and then your home brewed wine is ready to drink! Remember wines are constantly reacting to the sugars and yeast and may improve with age.
Wine Making Kits
You may be thinking "surely I'll need tons of fruit to make wine?" but you would be wrong. Most wine making kits come with all the fruit included and all you need to add is sugar and water and wait a few weeks. You'll also need something to bottle it in and some basic home brewing equipment (see above). There's a whole range of kits available from fruit wines to brew it yourself Cabernet Sauvignon!
Whilst the initial outlay for equipment may be fairly expensive you will then be able to make as much wine as you require. Most wine making kits come in 6 bottle sizes and cost around £8 plus yeast, sugar and citric acid, which works out at well under £2 a bottle. If you're using fruit or vegetables from the garden your cost per bottle may be considerably less!
Equipment and Kit Suppliers