Winemaking at home is much easier than a lot of people believe. Really, if you can make soup, you can make wine. Granted, there are a number of things that can go wrong with the wine making process, but as long as you are diligent and mindful of sanitizing your equipment, you have little to worry about.
Making delicious wine can be another matter entirely. Wine connoisseurs take into account a number of different variables in what they believe makes a great wine. Making wine that lives up to these heady standards can be difficult, especially if you are unsure of what methods to use.
So, how do we do this without breaking the bank? There are a number of ways to get great ingredients for wine at a very low cost to you. Here are a few ideas and suggestions to get you started:
Winemaking Kits
Most wine supply stores and wine making websites will have a number of different kits available to make wine with.
These kits often contain all of the ingredients you need to make a tasty batch of wine. These kits come with detailed instructions on how to prepare your wine, as well as explanations of the additives and other ingredients used in them. If you are new to winemaking, then this is probably the easiest and most cost effective way to go.
Farmer's Markets
If you are wanting to make fruit wine, and you are not wanting to make wine from a kit, then going to your local farmer's market is a great way to procure the fruit you need in the quantities required to make a large batch of wine. There are lots of benefits to going to a farmer's market. You pay low costs for what you get, because you are buying directly from the farmers.
The fruit you get is more than likely free of the harmful chemicals and preservatives that get sprayed on produce at the grocery store. It is easier to find organically grown fruit. Best of all, you will be actively supporting your local economy.
Local Wine Supply Stores
This is another great way to support the local economy. There are, more than likely, many home winemakers in your area. Tracking down a local wine supply store will definitely help your wallet, as buying from these stores eliminates the need to pay for shipping and other costs associated with ordering from a website. Also, shopping at a local store allows you to find some great deals from time to time, and you will probably be able to get free advice and suggestions on what types of ingredients and equipment that will work best for you.
Ingredients and additives
There are a LOT of different additives and other ingredients that you can add to your wine. If you know what they do, it may be possible to find a suitable substitution. For instance, if your recipe calls for an acid blend, you might be able to suffice with adding a couple tablespoons of lemon juice. If your recipe has tannins added to it, then perhaps you'd rather add raisins or some strongly brewed black tea, instead of adding the commercially available tannins. There are countless things you can do.
I hope that these suggestions will take away some of the worry you may have that wine making at home is expensive. If you do some research, and ask around for advice, then you really don't need to break the bank in order to make some great wine. Winemaking at home is a little site that I put together for those making wine on a budget. Take a look and see what ideas you can come up with. Remember, Winemaking is supposed to be FUN, so enjoy yourself!
Discover the Secrets To Making Great Wine: Successful Wine Making
A Fruit Wine Recipe to Tempt Your Palate and Make Your Heart Rejoice By Jesse Robinson
Here is free Wine recipes to wow your friends and loved ones with, or even share with just that one special someone on a romantic picnic of bread, fruit, cheese, chocolate and wine. These recipes assume you have an adequate knowledge of wine making. Let's get started with a nice Blackberry wine recipe...
Makes one gallon - you will need:
5 Pints Water1 49 oz. Can Blackberry Puree 1-3/4 lbs. Sugar1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme 1/2 tsp Acid Blend1 tsp Yeast Nutrient1 Pkg Wine Yeast*
*Recommended; Lavlin 71B-1122 or Red Star Cote de Blanc
Make certain that your hydrometer and acid tester are readily available. As is the case with all wild fruits, the acid and sugar content can vary greatly from year to year, and even from place to place from which they were taken. This blackberry wine recipe is a general one to use, which you may have to adjust according to taste. This is especially true if you start with fresh blackberries...
Directions;
2. Take a reading of the specific gravity with your hydrometer. Your "must" (that which is in the primary fermentation container) should have a Specific Gravity of 1.090 to 1.100. If it's a bit low, add sugar to it, in order to raise the specific gravity. Generally speaking, 4 ounces of sugar will raise the S.G. about 10 points in 1 gallon of water, or in other words, from 1.080 to 1.090.
3. Make a yeast starter by hydrating the yeast with warm water and add to the must.
4. Cover the primary fermenting container with something that will allow it to breathe (preferably an airlock to allow air to go out, but not go in).
5. Stir daily until the specific gravity reaches 1.030 (in around 5-7 days).
6. Transfer into a clean secondary fermentation container, siphoning out the juice and leaving behind any sediment.
7. When specific gravity reaches 1.000 (in generally around 2-4 weeks), the fermentation has completed. Siphon this off into a clean glass container, leaving behind all of the sediment. Re-attach airlock.
8. Transfer it all into another clean fermentation container. Add stabilizing agents and reattach airlock.
9. Allow to sit for 4 weeks to clear and stabilize.
10. When the wine is clear and stable, it is ready to be bottled.
For a sweeter wine, dissolve 2-4 tablespoons sugar into 1/4 cup warm water and add to wine after stabilizing with 1/2 teaspoon Potassium Sorbate, prior to bottling your blackberry wine.
If you'd like to learn more in-depth information on homemade wine making, grab some more free wine recipes, learn some wine tasting tips or want to build a wine cellar, please feel free to drop on by my website on wine making for an informative read on these and other wine making related topics.
=>Still need to learn the basics of successful wine making or improve your general knowledge, grab a copy of our winemaking guide here: Successful Winemaking. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jesse_Robinson ---- http://EzineArticles.com/?Free-Wine-Recipes-to-Tempt-Your-Palate-and-Make-Your-Heart-Rejoice&id=2432361
Cooking With Betty - Episode 2 - Blackberry Wine Cake
Apple wine is an excellent choice to start with in making homemade fruit wines. Apples come in so many different varieties and flavors that with a little experimentation outcomes can be amazing.
While this Recipe calls for the simplest starting - frozen apple juice, you can substitute - your favorite apple juice brand, and, of course, you can press or have pressed the apples of your choice (recommended).
Your wine mix is merely 2 containers of frozen apple juice (thawed) and 4 cups of sugar, more or less to taste, with about 2-1/2 quarts of water.
As with most easy wine recipes, you boil the sugar in about a quart of the water until it is dissolved, and add this to the apple juice.
Next add about 6 teaspoons of acid blend, a campden tablet (a sulphur-based product that is used primarily in wine, cider and beer making to kill certain bacteria and to inhibit the growth of most wild yeast), a quarter teaspoon of grape tannin, a half teaspoon of pectic enzyme, and a package of wine yeast.
You then prepare it as you would any other wine.
Apple juice is a great starting base for other fruit wines. You can experiment with it by mixing the apple juice with other fruit juices.
Half apple juice and half grape juice is good; cherry or blackberry juice also works well. Try different fruits that are in season...
You can also adjust this Simple Apple Wine Recipe by eliminating the apple altogether and using half grape juice and half grapefruit juice, etc. to get you going into many other fruit wines.
For the most palatable fruit wine, generally speaking, when using mixed fruits is to strike a balance. ir the best homemade wine you don't want to use all tart fruits or all sweet fruits.
A simple trick to to choosing fruit combination is to think of the colors of the fruit, and use two from different colors. For instance, grape and apple, banana and cherry, and so on. These types of mixtures usually make the best fruit wine recipes for homemade wines.
For more about cooking with apples, check out: Apple-recipes.org
