Homemade wine

rimfirenut · 09-20-2009, 08:03 PM

Just got done with some wine making, 10 gallons of red and 5 gallons of white, whew.. lots of work since we pick the grapes, hand sort them and all that good stuff.. Just wondering if anyone else makes homemade wine, if so what is your recipe's??? how long do you let it go? how much yeast do you use and of course do you ad more sugar, some tell me they use no sugar for grape wine. Anyway cant wait till its done, MMMMM,MMMMM, GOOD....

hay1 · 09-22-2009, 05:56 AM

I used to make wine many years ago. I used blackberries or wild grapes. made the wine in a small crock. just mashed the fruit and added one pkg of yeast and about 1/2 bag of sugar. covered the crock and let it set for several weeks. when done, just put it in fruit jars and stored in the pantry for later use. mmm good. maybe someday i'll get to make another batch. i did not use any of the modern day fancy equipment for making it, just simple way like my grandpappy showed me. the wine can even be distilled to make a type of brandy. and it's very good.

SwedeSteve · 09-23-2009, 11:06 AM

We used to make wine in a 5gal water bottle. We called it gorilla juce. Pretty strong stuff !!

Dakoma · 09-23-2009, 12:29 PM

Made Wine out of wild grapes(possom grapes) and the prickley pear fruit(cactus Fruit) in a 10 gal. crock,got the local bartender to save bottles for me and when the wine was ready a pinch of sugar and the plastic corks were wired down,a pit was dug and prepared with straw in the bottom 6",one layer of bottles and a layer of straw.About 4 layers and 4 to 6" of dirt and that is where it stayed about 6 months until needed.Just scrape back a little dirt and reach into the straw pull out a bottle ,shure would surprise whoever saw you pull a bottle out of the ground and it would pop a cork and verry good and potent,if you cant find wild grapes use rasins and prickly pear fruit.Sugar and a little yeast is needed and with rasins you must add water to make up for the lack of juice or some bottles of juicey juice,make shure your pit is dug in a well shaded area.

GlennM · 09-23-2009, 12:36 PM

Wine makers for years... the Wife and I make wine from wild (thorny) blackberries. Have also made peach, various grape (mostly concord), plum, apple, pear, elderberry, and persimmon wine. Our blackberry came in 2nd place among 135 other wines in a tasting contest a few years ago. Generally make 6 gallon batches, rack each several times, be sure you use a stabilizer and clarifier before bottling, and be patient. We generally don't bottle until the wine's been sitting for nearly a year. Currently have 18 gallons cooking from this year's blackberries. Friends & family we give it to have NO idea how many bloody scratches we get, ticks and chiggers we fight, and the work that's involved in making a good wine. But when someone smiles after taking a sip, that's all the appreciation that's necessary to make it all worthwhile.

tarza · 09-23-2009, 04:11 PM

i picked 5 gal of grapes off the neighbors vine here in iowa and thought what the heck i'll tryto make some wine i used 10lbs of sugar hand washed & sorted all the grapes could'nt figure out what to put it in so i used the fish aquarium with 3 packets of yeast waited 3 months and bottled it //cant drink more than 3 glasses.makes it hard to walk

rimfirenut · 09-23-2009, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarza

i picked 5 gal of grapes off the neighbors vine here in iowa and thought what the heck i'll tryto make some wine i used 10lbs of sugar hand washed & sorted all the grapes could'nt figure out what to put it in so i used the fish aquarium with 3 packets of yeast waited 3 months and bottled it //cant drink more than 3 glasses.makes it hard to walk

WOW, 3 packs of yeast hey, I used 2 packs of wine makers yeast per 5 gallons and 10 cups of sugar per 5 gallons. Are you sure you didn't make wineski.....or poor mans whiskey..

Dakoma · 09-24-2009, 01:13 AM

Can stainless steel containers be used for wine?Was wondering, have a water distiller for distilling water and thought of with the use of a reostat to controll temperature might make some rasin wine and distill the alcohol off of it,the distiller apears to be 2 gallon in size and of all stainless steel.

rimfirenut · 09-24-2009, 08:09 AM

I would say you could use stainless steel as long as it is sterilized, most all the major wine manufacturers use stainless, I have never used it before, I still use 5 gallon plastic water bottles and glass also. Raisin sounds delicious, my neighbor makes dandelion wine out of the flowers and that is very good...

GlennM · 09-25-2009, 08:37 AM

Will post my recipe for the blackberry as long as you send me your first bottle.

It can also be used for doing other berries.

rimfirenut · 09-25-2009, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennM

Will post my recipe for the blackberry as long as you send me your first bottle.

It can also be used for doing other berries.

You drive a hard bargain Glenn, but it might be doable...

Whootsinator · 09-25-2009, 09:52 PM

So what's the legal side of making your own wine? As long as you don't sell or distribute it, no tax stamp? Or is there a tax stamp no matter what and you HAVE to report making any alcohol?

rimfirenut · 09-25-2009, 10:14 PM

In the U.S. we are allowed to make up to 200 gallons of beer or wine or both combined to equal 200 gallons.. no reporting necessary.. can't sell it but you can give it to friends, just watch out, you will suddenly have a LOT of friends when word gets out....

Whootsinator · 09-26-2009, 09:47 PM

200 gallons is a lot of beer and wine... In what time period? Per year? Or per batch?

rimfirenut · 09-27-2009, 08:37 AM

200 gallons per year..

Dookiebutt · 09-27-2009, 09:03 AM

We have made wine for years. I make some individually and some in a small group. We won a gold for a Cabernet this year. That wine also took "best of show". You can make wine out of all kinds of stuff. A little cleanliness and some chemistry is all you need to make good wine. After reading some of the posts here, I may try a batch of cactus pear wine.

Sav .250 · 09-27-2009, 09:13 AM

Lucky for me I had a neighbor who was a master at making Dandelion wine.

That was some serious wine. By that I mean..................good!

Dakoma · 09-29-2009, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rimfirenut

I would say you could use stainless steel as long as it is sterilized, most all the major wine manufacturers use stainless, I have never used it before, I still use 5 gallon plastic water bottles and glass also. Raisin sounds delicious, my neighbor makes dandelion wine out of the flowers and that is very good...

When I lived in Wisconsin the neighbor used to make Rubarb wine,never tasted any but as a kid Dad grew it and Mom made rubarb pie,never cared for it but wine might change my mind.

Shwane · 10-03-2009, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwedeSteve

We used to make wine in a 5gal water bottle. We called it gorilla juce. Pretty strong stuff !!

Me too. I called it hootch. Heres the recipe if I remember right

choice fruit- 3 gallons
7lbs sugar
1 pack of yeast
2 gallons of water
and 2 weeks

Deersniper · 10-03-2009, 06:37 PM

I've got a batch of Elderberry wine coming up soon, just in time for the outbreak. Great for colds, and flu.

09-20-2009, 08:03 PM	#1
rimfirenut Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: michigan Posts: 560	Homemade wine Just got done with some wine making, 10 gallons of red and 5 gallons of white, whew.. lots of work since we pick the grapes, hand sort them and all that good stuff.. Just wondering if anyone else makes homemade wine, if so what is your recipe's??? how long do you let it go? how much yeast do you use and of course do you ad more sugar, some tell me they use no sugar for grape wine. Anyway cant wait till its done, MMMMM,MMMMM, GOOD....

09-23-2009, 11:06 AM	#3
SwedeSteve Suspected Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Anchortown, Alaska Posts: 23,545 Images: 1	We used to make wine in a 5gal water bottle. We called it gorilla juce. Pretty strong stuff !! __________________ Thank God we don't get as much Government as we pay for! -Will Rogers

09-23-2009, 12:29 PM	#4
Dakoma Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Southeast Tennessee Posts: 1,135	Made Wine out of wild grapes(possom grapes) and the prickley pear fruit(cactus Fruit) in a 10 gal. crock,got the local bartender to save bottles for me and when the wine was ready a pinch of sugar and the plastic corks were wired down,a pit was dug and prepared with straw in the bottom 6",one layer of bottles and a layer of straw.About 4 layers and 4 to 6" of dirt and that is where it stayed about 6 months until needed.Just scrape back a little dirt and reach into the straw pull out a bottle ,shure would surprise whoever saw you pull a bottle out of the ground and it would pop a cork and verry good and potent,if you cant find wild grapes use rasins and prickly pear fruit.Sugar and a little yeast is needed and with rasins you must add water to make up for the lack of juice or some bottles of juicey juice,make shure your pit is dug in a well shaded area. Last edited by Dakoma; 09-23-2009 at 12:35 PM.

09-23-2009, 12:36 PM	#5
GlennM Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 356 Blog Entries: 1	Wine makers for years... the Wife and I make wine from wild (thorny) blackberries. Have also made peach, various grape (mostly concord), plum, apple, pear, elderberry, and persimmon wine. Our blackberry came in 2nd place among 135 other wines in a tasting contest a few years ago. Generally make 6 gallon batches, rack each several times, be sure you use a stabilizer and clarifier before bottling, and be patient. We generally don't bottle until the wine's been sitting for nearly a year. Currently have 18 gallons cooking from this year's blackberries. Friends & family we give it to have NO idea how many bloody scratches we get, ticks and chiggers we fight, and the work that's involved in making a good wine. But when someone smiles after taking a sip, that's all the appreciation that's necessary to make it all worthwhile. __________________ *The Cataclysm Scroll* is now available! www.gmillercompanies.com

09-25-2009, 08:37 AM	#10
GlennM Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 356 Blog Entries: 1	Will post my recipe for the blackberry as long as you send me your first bottle. It can also be used for doing other berries. __________________ *The Cataclysm Scroll* is now available! www.gmillercompanies.com

09-22-2009, 05:56 AM	#2
hay1 Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: republic of Texas Posts: 49	I used to make wine many years ago. I used blackberries or wild grapes. made the wine in a small crock. just mashed the fruit and added one pkg of yeast and about 1/2 bag of sugar. covered the crock and let it set for several weeks. when done, just put it in fruit jars and stored in the pantry for later use. mmm good. maybe someday i'll get to make another batch. i did not use any of the modern day fancy equipment for making it, just simple way like my grandpappy showed me. the wine can even be distilled to make a type of brandy. and it's very good.

09-23-2009, 04:11 PM	#6
tarza Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: iowa Posts: 54	i picked 5 gal of grapes off the neighbors vine here in iowa and thought what the heck i'll tryto make some wine i used 10lbs of sugar hand washed & sorted all the grapes could'nt figure out what to put it in so i used the fish aquarium with 3 packets of yeast waited 3 months and bottled it //cant drink more than 3 glasses.makes it hard to walk

09-24-2009, 01:13 AM	#8
Dakoma Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Southeast Tennessee Posts: 1,135	Can stainless steel containers be used for wine?Was wondering, have a water distiller for distilling water and thought of with the use of a reostat to controll temperature might make some rasin wine and distill the alcohol off of it,the distiller apears to be 2 gallon in size and of all stainless steel.

09-24-2009, 08:09 AM	#9
rimfirenut Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: michigan Posts: 560	I would say you could use stainless steel as long as it is sterilized, most all the major wine manufacturers use stainless, I have never used it before, I still use 5 gallon plastic water bottles and glass also. Raisin sounds delicious, my neighbor makes dandelion wine out of the flowers and that is very good...

09-25-2009, 09:52 PM	#12
Whootsinator Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 582	So what's the legal side of making your own wine? As long as you don't sell or distribute it, no tax stamp? Or is there a tax stamp no matter what and you HAVE to report making any alcohol?

09-25-2009, 10:14 PM	#13
rimfirenut Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: michigan Posts: 560	In the U.S. we are allowed to make up to 200 gallons of beer or wine or both combined to equal 200 gallons.. no reporting necessary.. can't sell it but you can give it to friends, just watch out, you will suddenly have a LOT of friends when word gets out....

09-26-2009, 09:47 PM	#14
Whootsinator Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 582	200 gallons is a lot of beer and wine... In what time period? Per year? Or per batch?

09-27-2009, 08:37 AM	#15
rimfirenut Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: michigan Posts: 560	200 gallons per year..

09-27-2009, 09:03 AM	#16
Dookiebutt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: America's North Coast Posts: 2,038	We have made wine for years. I make some individually and some in a small group. We won a gold for a Cabernet this year. That wine also took "best of show". You can make wine out of all kinds of stuff. A little cleanliness and some chemistry is all you need to make good wine. After reading some of the posts here, I may try a batch of cactus pear wine. __________________ The nerds will never understand the awesomeness of it.

09-27-2009, 09:13 AM	#17
Sav .250 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Central Fla. Posts: 559	Lucky for me I had a neighbor who was a master at making Dandelion wine. That was some serious wine. By that I mean..................good!

10-03-2009, 06:37 PM	#20
Deersniper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 3,608	I've got a batch of Elderberry wine coming up soon, just in time for the outbreak. Great for colds, and flu.