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. 
