How to Make Cheap Wine

Want wine but don't want to break the bank in this tough economy? Learn how to turn concentrated grape juice, water, sugar, yeast, and a little bit of patience into vino...

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Concentrated grape juice (2 cans)
• water
• two 1 gallon containers
• Sugar
• Yeast (1 small packet... can be found at any grocery store in the baking aisle)
• 1 ballon
• A cheesecloth or similiar type of strainer
• A clean hose
• a little patience and an open mind.

1. After you have gathered all your materials the first step is thoroughly washing and sanitizing your container. To do this simply throw it in the dishwasher at a high temperature setting, or if you don't have one you can wash it out with some mild detergent, flush several times with hot tap water until the container is clear of any soap and then flush again with boiling water.

2. Alright... getting down to business:
   
   Add your 2 cans of grape juice concentrate at room temperature(try to find one without any preservatives like Welches in order to achieve better fermentation), 2 cups of sugar, and enough water to nearly fill the container (leaving an inch at the top is not a bad idea)

3. Put the lid back onto the container and give it a good shake to mix up the ingredients

4. Next slowly add the packet of yeast by sprinkling it in and it... you will want to take a little time with this so it won't clump up too much

5. Once the yeast is in the mixture you will want to place a ballon over the top of the container and proced to put tiny holes at the top and sides of the balloon (10 pinholes should be plenty...)
   
   What this does is allow the carbon dioxide emitted during the fermentation process to escape the container and, at the same time, keeps oxygen from entering the container

6. Keep an eye on your transforming wine... right from the beginning you should notice bubbles rising to the top of the container and the balloon expanding. This means that the fermentation process is working

7. Keep the container out of directly sunlight and in moderate temperature if possible in order to assist the fermentation process.

8. Once the wine stops bubbling and no longer looks cloudy (2 to 3 weeks, or sometimes longer) take your hose and siphon the wine to your second container by placing the second container lower the primary container and sucking on the hose until the water starts to flow. Once it does start to flow, place it in the second container. This step will separate some of the byproduct produced during fermentation from the wine because it is heavier an will remain mostly on the bottom of the first container.

9. After a few days, transfer the wine from the second container back to the first (which you should hopefully have cleaned and sanitized again after the previous step) using a cheese cloth or a similiar type of material to strain the wine of any extra byproduct that remains

10. Enjoy your wine...
    
    Hopefully this was a fun and educational experience!

[onepoint]

on 12/11/2008 I've made wine using Langers Cran-raspberry juice - YUMMM!!! Very good. It's a nice variation. You can try all sorts of juices, steer clear of citrus juices, tho'.

[westarborguy]

on 12/8/2008 Write something more interesting. Just kidding, you did a nice job! Try to focus harder on putting pictures and keywords that will get attention and then put it on on search sites. Good luck buddy.

[dkmode2682]

on 12/8/2008 How do you get people to view your articles?