How to Make Homemade Wine in a Month

You love wine and you've always wanted to try wine making, but you don't want to invest a lot of time or money in a first project. With this simple wine recipe, using common household ingredients, within a month or so you can be sipping your own homemade vintage.

Things You'll Need

• Frozen concentrated grape juice
• Sugar
• Wine yeast (purchase online on homebrewing Web sites or winemaking supply stores)
• Gallon container, such as a milk jug
• Balloon
• Measuring cup
• Rubber band
• Pin
• Funnel

Instructions

Making homemade wine

1. Thaw three cans of grape juice concentrate and pour into the gallon jug. Add six cans of tap water or bottled spring water. Do not use distilled water. Put the cap on the jug and shake vigorously to get the juice and water well mixed. The air that's in the jug will mix in the juice water mixture, as well, creating a little bit of foam on top.

2. Using the funnel, carefully add half a cup of sugar to the juice mixture. Do this right after you have mixed the juice and water together. Put the cap back on the jug and shake again until the sugar has dissolved. Make sure that none of the sugar has settled at the bottom of the jug by looking at the bottom of the jug from below. If you spot sugar crystals, shake some more.

3. Pour one cup of warm water into a bowl and sprinkle the wine yeast on it. Allow the yeast to sit and soak up the water. When it has sunk to the bottom and is soaked, add three tablespoons sugar and stir. Allow to sit and foam. An inch of foam or so is normal; don't be alarmed. Once the yeast has foamed, pour the yeast mixture into the juice mixture, cap and shake vigorously to mix again.

4. Put three to five holes in the top of the balloon with the pin. These will allow the excess gasses to escape during fermentation. Once the holes are placed, put the balloon snugly over the opening of the open jug without the jug cap. Secure the balloon to the jug with a rubber band or duct tape. Push the balloon into the opening of the jug so that it hangs down inside.

5. Place the jug in a warm place where it won't be disturbed. Leave it alone for at least two weeks. While it is sitting, fermentation will begin. When the wine is fermenting, the balloon will expand to the outside of the jug. You may also see bubbles rising in the juice or hear hissing sounds. In two weeks or so, the balloon will deflate. This means that primary fermentation is done. Transfer the wine to another container without getting any of the residue at the bottom of the jug. A clean glass container is best, and it must have a lid. Allow the wine to sit for at least two weeks to develop the flavor. You now have the equivalent of two decently drinkable bottles of wine.

Tips & Warnings

• White grape juice or cranberry grape juice, which must be 100 percent juice, can be used for different flavors.

• Everything must be very clean before you begin winemaking. Bad yeasts can grow right along with your good wine yeast.

Resources

• Source for buying wine yeast