How to Make Wine at Home

You can make 5 gallons of wine at home with a few ingredients and some basic winemaking supplies. The varieties of grapes, fruits and any other additional ingredients determine the type of wine you make. Start your wine making venture with a standard recipe, and then work your way up to the more complicated varieties.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Winemaking kit (most kits contain everything you need to make wine)
• Favorite wine recipe
• Produce prepared according to your recipe
• Sodium or potassium bisulfite powder
• Cheesecloth
• Yeast specifically for winemaking
• Water

1. Find a good basic recipe for your first wine making experience. Use one that has been tried and proven. The wrong recipe can produce a batch of cloudy, vinegary wine. You'll also need a wine making kit (see Resources below).

2. Prepare the produce you've chosen for your wine. Remove all large pits. Cut up large fruit, crack the skin on small fruit, chop small ingredients (such as raisins) and bruise all other forms of produce you'll be using. Almost any kind of fruit can be used to make wine. Once you become familiar with the process, you may want to experiment to produce different types of wine.

3. Stir together all of the winemaking ingredients except for the yeast into a primary fermenter. Collect all of the produce pulp in the fermentation bag, submerging it into the wine making mixture.

4. Add water to the primary fermenter container, bringing it up to 5 gallons and then add sodium or potassium bisulfite powder or tablets according to the directions on the label. Don't add the yeast yet. These tablets kill mold and bacteria but will also kill yeast if added too soon.

5. Cover the fermenter with several layers of cheesecloth and let it rest for 24 hours. The sulfur gas produced by the bisulfite sterilizes the juice and dissipates after 24 hours. After that point it's safe to add the yeast by sprinkling it over the juice's surface. Cover the juice with a clean cloth and let it ferment for 5 to 7 days. If everything is working right, fermentation should begin within 24 hours.

6. Remove the fermentation bag, squeeze out the excess juice and then dispose of the contents. Siphon the wine into the secondary container in such a way that you leave as much sediment behind as possible. Add water if necessary to get the fluid level back to the original 5 gallons.

7. Place an air-lock device on the secondary container, fill it halfway with water and let the juice ferment for 4 to 6 weeks, until it's completely clear. Siphon the wine again, leaving all of the sediment behind. Stir in bisulfite according to your recipe and then bottle your wine.

Tips & Warnings

• You may want to use a hydrometer to see if fermentation is complete. Look for a specific gravity reading between 0.990 and 0.998.
• Keep fermentation temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees F. If it's too cool fermentation may be stalled, and if it's too warm the flavor of the wine may be off.
• Maintain sanitary conditions when you're making wine at home. Clean all equipment thoroughly and use potassium or sodium bisulfite tablets according to their directions to sanitize the brew.
• Avoid over processing your produce. Don't use a blender or food processor because adding too much of the skin and seeds can make the wine too bitter.

Resources

• Buy 'The Home Winemaker's Companion' at Amazon.com.
• Buy a winemaking kit at Amazon.com.
• Find recipes and wine making supplies at E.C. Kraus.

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