Make your own wine!

Whether you consume an adult beverage or not is of no importance here.  What is of importance is that you can easily make your own alcohol for your own consumption or barter.  Barter, being that you can make it and trade it for goods and services in the event the need arises.  It is very simple to make with readily available items.  The recipe I used to make my first batch of "Homemade Wine" came from allrecipes.com .  Here is the link to the Homemade Wine Recipe that I specifically used for this project.  Apart from NOT using citrus concentrate, I think all of the other ingredients are fine to use store brand items etc. I personally used concord grape concentrate.   There are a lot of great suggestions when it comes to homemade wine making and I picked one of them that I agree completely with as it pertains to this recipe in particular.  Here it is:

The cork (a #6 cork fits a one gallon jug) and airlock is a very small price to pay for not having to deal with using a balloon and rubber band every time you go to make your wine, plus it is what professional home winemakers use themselves.  Mixing an extra can of concentrate into the mixture definitely makes it taste better.

 To be safe and not use an old milk jug that might not be completely clean,  I went ahead and bought a gallon of sterile distilled water and dumped the water out in a pitcher to use for later when I mixed it back in the jug.  After every thing was mixed up and put in the jug, I put the balloon and rubber band on the top and put it in my closet.   After about 2 weeks, what you see on the left is the wine fermenting nicely.  There are some people that say poke a needle hole in the top of the balloon, but I did not do that. 

After about 4 weeks in the balloon is beginning to deflate and in another week or two it will be completed.  At that point it is very important to filter the mixture in the jug to make sure you get all the yeast and any left over sugar out of the mixture before drinking.  Once you have filtered the mix you can taste it and add an additional can of concentrate if it is too strong of a taste.  And that's all there is to making homemade wine!!  Cheap and easy!  Give it a shot!  Just remember that if it doesn't taste right the first time, keep on experimenting until you have your own recipe and process that works for you and you turn out a great wine every time!
Happy Wine Making!!







Chris