Homemade wine... Do you? What is your favorite?

[ThreeGlovers]

MissPrissy,

Actually its pretty much the same with all my wine. fruit, sugar, yeast and time.

With jalapeno I would use about a pint of peppers give or take depending on preference. add some fruit to give it some body. Whatever you have access to at the time, strawberry, apple, cherry, plums, ect. I like to use as much fruit as I can to get juice, meaning adding very little extra water to fill your ferment jug. Many recipes I've seen add too much water in my opinion. sugar, yeast. Thats pretty much it. I always let mine ferment out quite a bit longer than many people do, up to 6-9 months. maybe it dosen't matter flavor wise I don't know it works for me. (I bottled a batch too early once...kinda made champane...bottles blowing their top...One big mess to clean up)

Any more questions just let me know.

Bo

 

[MissPrissy]

Thanks, Bo! I will keep you in mind when my peppers are ready for harvesting.

 

[Yogiman]

I don't have any wine recipes nor do I know how to make wine. Tried it many years ago. Made lots of vinegar! lol
What I wanted to share is this. I worked with an elderly gentleman many moons ago that made some fine wines. He told us that it was made from cantalope. Talk about some fine nectar, it was. He also made another one that he told us was made from potato pealings.
Has anyone ever heard of these or makes them?

 

[nightshade]

Bo- I know what you mean about letting it sit alittle longer then most. We do the same. I think it tastes better, maybe it's just me. A few years back hubby forgot a few glass jugs of peach in the unheated garage over winter. They had been strained once was all. Needless to say when he found them and the most they had froze was alittle slush around the edges. The center liquid was scooped out and bottled imeditly. I didn't care for how "dry" tasting it was, but it was indeed some wicked stuff.

I will have to try cantalope this year if i get a nice big crop. I love to eat the too much to sacrfice them for wine, thats what has been cutting our production down lately. Me eatting the fruit and just not enough time. Jalapeno also sounds like a "must try" this year.

Do you do a quart of peppers to a quart of fruit per gal frementing jug? Or alittle more for that size jug?

 

[ThreeGlovers]

Nightshade,

That sounds about ok to me. I find its more about "feel" than anything else. I follow no real recipe, just "wing it" and so far more successes than failures.



Bo

 

[chickenannie]

I am thrilled... I just found a delightful little 5-acre vineyard locally that supplies grapes for home wine hobbyists! They have a store on the property that has all the equipment, corks, yeasts, books, etc, and the woman was so helpful. I thought I'd have to order off the internet, but she gave me good info and showed me exactly what I needed (which didn't cost half as much). We should all have hometown wineshops, bakeries, and carpenters....

 

[Scrambled Egg]

You'll have to post about how that turns out..never thougth to check out the local winneries...North Carolina is using more and more tobacco land for grape growing so our local winnery list is ever-expanding...great idea, thanks for sharing

 

[chickenannie]

This 5-acre winery has about 10 kinds of grapes. They do all the work, except for harvesting. It's a self-harvest vineyard, so you can even go and pick your own grapes.

 

[banter]

I want to make dandelion wine this year. I've never made wine before (but I drink allot of it lol!). A friend of mine's father made it he was Polish) and it came out not unlike champagne!
Could it be the type of yeast he used? He is dead now, so I'll never be able to get his recipe.
Anyone have a clue?

 

[chickenannie]

Here's the recipe I used -- the wine came out great! It's unbelievably simple. I waited 3 months to drink mine. I tell everyone I've bottled "2 weeks of Spring".

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1970-09-01/Dandelion-Wine.aspx