How many wine makers do we have here?

[kuntrygirl]

Update on my wines:

Fig is getting better and better the longer it sets
Japanese plum is also getting better and better
My thick peach/nectarine wine is being used to mix with either Fig or Japanese Plum when I decided I want a 1/2 cup. It is POTENT!!!
Grape wine will be ready on Wednesday but I will allow it to set more.
Muscadine (2) 5 gallon batches won't be ready for a while
Muscadine (1) 1 gallon bucket (quick recipe) will be ready on the 9-20-2013.
Muscadine (1) 1 gallon bucket won't be ready for a few months.

I want to start on some tea wine but I think I have too much wine going right now. :/

 

[outlander]

So you use your vinegars to put on your salads? What else do you use them for?

Homemade BBQ sauces, marinades, sauce reductions, sprinkled on beans n cornbread, pie crust, to ferment chicken feed and add to their water. Also, strange as it may sound...I drink it myself. Diluted and with a lot of ice it's purt'near as refreshing as a cold beer on a hot day

I cannot make pickles or can with it, as it's not strong enough. Though, if I freeze distill it I could probably get it to 5%.

...and I see that you are making fig wine. Do you have your own trees?

 

[wekiva bird]

Homemade BBQ sauces, marinades, sauce reductions, sprinkled on beans n cornbread, pie crust, to ferment chicken feed and add to their water. Also, strange as it may sound...I drink it myself. Diluted and with a lot of ice it's purt'near as refreshing as a cold beer on a hot day

I cannot make pickles or can with it, as it's not strong enough. Though, if I freeze distill it I could probably get it to 5%.

...and I see that you are making fig wine. Do you have your own trees?

sounds good.

 

[wekiva bird]

Update on my wines:

Fig is getting better and better the longer it sets
Japanese plum is also getting better and better
My thick peach/nectarine wine is being used to mix with either Fig or Japanese Plum when I decided I want a 1/2 cup. It is POTENT!!!

Grape wine will be ready on Wednesday but I will allow it to set more.
Muscadine (2) 5 gallon batches won't be ready for a while
Muscadine (1) 1 gallon bucket (quick recipe) will be ready on the 9-20-2013.
Muscadine (1) 1 gallon bucket won't be ready for a few months.

I want to start on some tea wine but I think I have too much wine going right now.

I think we need a bigger house to do all of our hobbies.

 

[kuntrygirl]

So you use your vinegars to put on your salads? What else do you use them for?

Homemade BBQ sauces, marinades, sauce reductions, sprinkled on beans n cornbread, pie crust, to ferment chicken feed and add to their water. Also, strange as it may sound...I drink it myself. Diluted and with a lot of ice it's purt'near as refreshing as a cold beer on a hot day

I cannot make pickles or can with it, as it's not strong enough. Though, if I freeze distill it I could probably get it to 5%.

...and I see that you are making fig wine. Do you have your own trees?

I just planted a lot of trees including figs but they won't have any fruit until next year or year after next. However, I know so many people that have figs, they are always so generous to let me go to their house and to pic what I want. I think I still have about 10 gallons of figs in the freezer for next batch of wine or for next year.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Hi guys!

I love wine. Like really LOVE wine.
And I have tried 3 times to make it. And each time was an epic fail!!!
I bought the whole kit thing the first time with all the stuff I need.
Then I bought a wine kit that came with started grapes and what not and I even messed that up.
Pretty disappointing!

 

[Totalcolour]

Hi guys!

I love wine. Like really LOVE wine.
And I have tried 3 times to make it. And each time was an epic fail!!!
I bought the whole kit thing the first time with all the stuff I need.
Then I bought a wine kit that came with started grapes and what not and I even messed that up.
Pretty disappointing!

Hi, I saw you on the Frugal thread! Don't give up on the wine. Last year I got hold of peaches for 10 cents a pound, and made 20 gallons. It was fabulous, and was so cheap. This year paying 79 cents a pound, but still a good price. 3 lbs per gallon, five bottles per gallon so under 50 cents a bottle! you just can't beat it.

 

[kuntrygirl]

 
Hi guys!

I love wine.  Like really LOVE wine.
And I have tried 3 times to make it.  And each time was an epic fail!!!
I bought the whole kit thing the first time with all the stuff I need.
Then I bought a wine kit that came with started grapes and what not and I even messed that up.
Pretty disappointing!

Hi, I saw you on the Frugal thread! Don't give up on the wine. Last year I got hold of peaches for 10 cents a pound, and made 20 gallons. It was fabulous, and was so cheap. This year paying 79 cents a pound, but still a good price. 3 lbs per gallon, five bottles per gallon so under 50 cents a bottle! you just can't beat it.

I agree. Don't give up on the wine.

I learned how to make wine from an old man and there was only 4 ingredients to the recipe (fruit, water, sugar, bread yeast). And the wine was pretty good. But since then, I have read, researched and researched some more and I have been making wine using other ingredients that I have read about online. It's so much fun.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Hi, I saw you on the Frugal thread! Don't give up on the wine. Last year I got hold of peaches for 10 cents a pound, and made 20 gallons. It was fabulous, and was so cheap. This year paying 79 cents a pound, but still a good price. 3 lbs per gallon, five bottles per gallon so under 50 cents a bottle! you just can't beat it.

Hi!!!

I've pretty much spent all my time on the NC thread and the occassional hatch-a-long so I'm trying to branch out into my other interests. This is such a wonderful site!
Wow, I wouldn't even know where to start from fresh peaches.
I literally bought the box kit that has EVERYTHING included and still couldn't get wine!!!
I'm one of those people that is a fantastic cook, but a horrific baker (since cooking you can eye it out and throw things in and baking is like specific measurements and timing and science). I was starting to fear wine making was the same thing, and I'd never get it!
I bet the fresh peach wine was amazing!!!
I need to look into how to do this fresh.
Because the expensive kit was not working for me!!!!

 

[Totalcolour]

I need to look into how to do this fresh.
Because the expensive kit was not working for me!!!!

OK - here goes with Tutorial #1

I use 3 lbs of fruit per gallon of wine - more can be too strong flavoured, less too weak.

I pit the fruit and then freeze it (freezing helps to break down the cells and release the juice.)

5 gallons of peach wine (apricot, plum, nectarine)
​

15 lbs fruit (after being pitted)
1.89 gms Potassium metabisulfite (of 5 Campden tabs)
1TBS Citric acid (or add a couple of oranges, cut up)
1/2 tsp tannin (powder)
Pectic Enzyme per instructions on packet
1/4 tsp per gallon super food (yeast nutrient)
2 lbs sugar per gallon of water (this is an approximation - when you have all the equipment you can measure more accurately)

Thaw out the fruit (it only has to be frozen overnight) and put everything but the yeast in a bucket. Add sugar and hot water up to five gallons. Stir it up, cover and leave it for 24 hours.


1 packet of yeast (I use Red Star "Cotes des Blancs for peach wine)

Use a little of the must (juice from the bucket) diluted with water, about 1 part juice to four parts water and dissolve the yeast in it. After about 20 minutes, pitch it into the must. Stir, and then put on the lid with an airlock.

After another 24 hours, you should see bubbles in the airlock and it will be making this funny blipping noise.

After about 4-6 days, remove the lid and remove the big "cap" of fruit that has collected on the top. Strain it to get all the juice out, and then throw it away. You will now have less than 5 gallons so you can top it up a bit, but not too much or it can foam and overflow. You can transfer it to a glass or plastic carboy, Add an airlock and leave it until it stops bubbling. This can take anywhere from 12 - 30 days! Also, light can affect it, so I keep mine in a dark place or cover it with a towel)

Once it has stopped bubbling, it is wine! But, it's probably cloudy, so you need to let it sit. A deposit (lees) will collect on the bottom of the carboy. You will need to carefully siphon the wine off into another container and throw away the lees. You can add more water to the top now. Let it sit some more until there is another sediment on the bottom, and once again siphon it off. If you used the correct amount of Pectic Enzyme, the wine should become sparklingly clear. When it is, it is ready for bottling. If it is still cloudy, just keep on siphoning it until it becomes clear or there is no longer a deposit on the bottom.

This will be a dry wine. If you want a sweet wine, you can add sugar to taste, but make sure you add sorbitol to prevent another fermentation in the bottle (it can make the bottles explode). Or, you can bottle as is, and sweeten when you open the bottle for drinking, or you could use a not fermentable sweetener like Splenda.

When you bottle this, you should add more Campden tabs (I use a small amount 0nly 2-3 tabs per 5 gallons). This will help to prevent oxidation in the bottle. Of course if you are going to drink it quickly, you may not want to do this part.

Some people prefer to keep wines in gallon containers - this is good since the larger container helps preserve the wine better. I do this sometimes, and then when we have quests, I simply pour the wine into a nice decanter to present at the table.


Although these instructions make it sound like a lot of work, it really isn't. Once it's in the bucket, it's mostly just waiting. I can pit all my peaches in less than 15 minutes, and the rest is easy. The other way to go is to use frozen juice that you simply dilute. If you do this, you must dilute the juice much more than if you were going to drink it or the wine will be too strongly flavored.