Tag Archive | "Home"

Making Wine from Home Using Juice from Concentrate


There are many people who love to make wine at home but they do not want to go to all of the trouble to process the needed fruit. You will be pleased to know that you do not have to use fresh fruit to make wine at home. You can also use juice concentrate to make wine that is very tasty.
Making wine from concentrate is a fairly easy process. You will need to get the fruit of your choice, sugar, yeast, balloons, and glass bottles. Tinted glass is best but if you do not have tinted glass there are other steps you can take using clear glass. A gallon jug is best and preferably one that has a small neck. Wide mouth jars are more difficult to handle and do not work as well.
You will need to prepare the concentrate by using the directions found on the package. For every gallon of juice you will want to add a couple of cups of sugar. If you prefer you wine to be less sweet you can cut the added sugar in half. After you have thoroughly mixed the sugar into the juice you will want to add two envelopes of yeast for every gallon of juice. This too should also be well stirred and mixed.
Once you have this mixture thoroughly mixed, you will then be ready to pour it into your glass bottles. Make sure that all of the bottles you use are thoroughly sterilized. Always leave a few inches at the top of the bottle for headspace. Take a balloon and stretch over the top of the bottle. Then place the bottle in a dark place where there is little to no light. It should also be fairly cool since heat can cause the mixture to turn sour. You will then leave the mixture undisturbed. You can track the progress of the fermentation process by watching the balloon. The balloon will start to inflate while the yeast is working. Once the wine is completed the balloon will deflate.
Once this process is complete you will then need to siphon the liquid from the bottle and place into sterilized serving bottles. Place a filter of some type over the end of the siphon hose to keep from siphoning the sediment that has settled in the bottom of the bottles. A simple filter can be made from surgical gauze.
Making wine from juice concentrate is a great way for the home wine maker to enjoy a great tasting glass of homemade wine without a lot of fuss. Grape juice is the most popular type of concentrate but there are other juice concentrates that can be used. Some stores will carry dark grape and white grape juice. The dark variety tends to be richer and sweeter while the white juice has a slightly tarter taste that is lighter.
If you are planning an occasion to drink your homemade wine you will need to allow approximately one month for the fermentation process. There is no way to rush the process so always remember to give yourself enough time.

Posted in Winemaking TipsComments (0)

Pressing Grapes at Home vs Kits and Juiced Grapes


Harvesting grapes is a tradition that is as old as mankind. Grapes are used for many different things but the most popular are wine and jelly. The harvest is usually early fall but there are some grapes that will mature late fall. The late fall grapes tend to make some of the best and sweetest wine.
Picking grapes is often a tedious process where the grapes are picked in bunches and handled carefully to avoid bruising. Most pickers will have buckets and scissors that are used to cut the grape bunches off the vine. After all of the grapes are picked they are often taken to a pressing area where they will be processed for their final destination.
When grapes are pressed they are placed into a presser that takes the grapes and smashes them into small pieces. In years passed this method was done by workers using their bare feet to stomp the grapes to extract the juice. Some places in the world still use this old tradition but for sanitary reasons most places now use a grape presser to extract the pulp and the juice. Often the workers will line the bottom of a grape press with sackcloth to make sure they get all of the juice extracted without all of the seeds and pulp getting into the juice.
There are many different types of grape pressers but they all achieve the same thing. The ultimate goal is to get as much of the juice out of the grape as possible.
Juiced grapes are very similar to those that are pressed. The home winemaker probably will not own a very elaborate grape press because of the expense involved. The press is usually found in wineries where large quantities of grapes are pressed. The home juicer may use something as simple as a potato masher to get the juice out of the grapes. There are also home pressers that will extract the juice and leave the pulp, seeds, and skin behind. These are usually cranked by hand and can become quite tedious if there is a large quantity of grapes to be juiced. It is a great way for the home winemaker to get the most amount of juice out of the grapes.
Pressing grapes at home will allow you to get the full benefit of the pressed juice without all of the additives that come in a kit. Kits are a great way for somebody to get started and learn what they are doing but kits are rarely natural and have additives and preservatives that are not found in juiced grapes at home. When you juice your own grapes you have complete control of the ingredients you put into the juice.
Winemaking is a fun hobby and offers some great benefits for the home winemaker. By making your wine at home you will have a healthy alternative to the processed wines that are found in stores. Most people also agree that wine made at home just tastes better than wine bought from a vendor.

Posted in Winemaking TipsComments (0)

Homemade Wine and how it is Better for Your Health


There are a lot of people who enjoy a great glass of wine with their evening meal. Others like to sip a glass of wine just before bedtime to help them fall asleep faster. Drinking wine is a great way to enjoy the health benefits associated with the extract found in the wine.
Making homemade wine is a fun hobby for many. The homemade variety is also better for your health than store bought because you control the ingredients. By using fresh, wholesome ingredients you homemade wine is much better for you than what you buy in the store. It is also much cheaper to make wine at home.
Making wine at home is not difficult as long as you have a few basic instructions. Chances are that you already have many of the needed supplies to get you started. If you want you can purchase a kit from local merchants or from the internet. A kit is really not necessary and will probably cost you more money than you would spend with just using items you have around your home.
Homemade grape wine is very healthy when you drink it in moderation. Fresh grapes contain antioxidants that help rid the body of harmful free radicals. The concentration of grapes in the wine adds a powerful punch of these antioxidants. By using fresh organic grapes you will be assured that you are not putting additives and chemicals into the wine. Wine that is professionally made has a lot of additives to enhance the taste and to preserve the freshness. These additives take away from the healthy benefits that are associated with wine.
The key to drinking wine for health benefits it to limit the amount of wine you consume on a daily basis. A couple of glasses are recommended to get the desired health benefits. The benefits include promoting heart health and blood enrichment.
The best wine for health benefits is grape wine but you can also get health benefits from other fruit wines as well. Cranberry wine is great for those who like a wine that is a little tart and is not quite as sweet as grape. Cranberry juice is also a known flush for kidneys. People who suffer from frequent urinary tract infections can benefit from wine made from cranberries. Many places have fresh cranberries that have not been treated with chemicals. Organic cranberries may cost a little more but the benefit is worth it.
If you want to save money you should always buy fruits that are in season. They are cheaper at this time and they are also fresher and have a better taste. If you want to have wine the year round you might consider making several batches while the fruit of choice is in season. The great thing about wine, after it is processed it will get better with age.
Homemade wine will always be better for you than professional made wines because you control the ingredients you use and you have the choice of the fruit. Once you start making your own you will probably never want to go back to the store to buy wine again.

Posted in Winemaking 101Comments (0)

What Equipment is Needed for Home Wine Making?


If you want to make wine in your home you will need certain equipment to help you get the job done. Most people do not have all of the items in their home that is needed to make wine. Certain items are more important than others but here we will take a look at some of the most important equipment needed for home wine making.
You will need a bucket that is clean and sturdy. Using an old bucket that has had who knows what in it will not be in your best interest. You can find five gallon buckets that will do the job just fine. Find one that is dedicated only to making beer or wine and don’t use it for any other project. You will also want to find one with a lid that fits tightly. Just because you have a five gallon size doesn’t mean you have to always make five gallons of wine. The bucket will work well for just one gallon also.
You will always want to keep your equipment sterilized. Find a good chemical sterilizer that will kill all of the bacteria and germs. The best sterilizers are those that dissolve in water. Always make sure you rinse the equipment thoroughly since you will not want any residue left behind after sterilization. Don’t try to just get by with soap and water because bacteria left behind can totally ruin your whole batch of wine or beer.
A funnel and a strainer are both essential. A large funnel is better because it will help cut down on spills. When you need to transfer large amounts of liquid a large funnel comes in handy. For straining, there are several things that can be used but some people think muslin is best. There are other types of cloth that are also suitable but it needs to be a cloth that has a loose weave so that it will not allow the liquid to build up in it.
The next things you will need are the gallon glass jars where the final fermentation will take place. The normal gallon jugs will not work for certain types of wine so it is better to purchase demijohns that are made specifically for wine making. Tinted glass will not change the taste of the wine like clear glass will. Demijohns are also very easy to clean and keep sterile. Tinted glass is always the glass of choice for the home wine maker.
As you may know, you will have to transfer the fermenting wine from one vessel to another so you will want to have a siphon. This is usually a piece of plastic tubing that can be used to drain the liquid from one glass vessel to another. It is best if there is a filter of sorts on the end so that sediment will not get transferred from the bottom of the vessel.
All of these items can be purchased from a merchant who specializes in home brewing but if you do not have a merchant of that type near you there are plenty of on-line sources where you can order them.

Posted in Winemaking 101Comments (0)

The Fun in Winemaking Contests


People who engage in home winemaking, usually fall into two distinct categories. Some of these people are the hobbyists who just like making wine part time and derive joy in having other people experience the wonderful creation that they have made. These people love to share their wine among family as well as friends. For such people it is nothing more than a hobby that they enjoy.

However, there are other people. These people take this hobby a little more seriously than the others. They don’t make wine solely for the sake of enjoyment and they are after perfection. Their wine is shared with friends and family but the primary purpose is to get the general feeling of the wine and to know how good it tastes. These people take their winemaking very seriously and they are proud about their creations and not just the process it entails. Their focus is on creating the wine with the best flavor possible, winemaking is a whole lot more to them that such a simple hobby and though it isn’t an occupation, it is very nearly an obsession.

These sorts of people are the serious winemakers who challenge other people like themselves in serious contests on a countrywide basis. Every year from seasons like spring to fall, wine fairs are held in the country and allow entrance to different people just as long as their wines fall into the group of wines which awards are being given for. Every category has certain requirements which should be met. A small entrance fee may also be required to enter such ventures.

A number of wine contests stipulate that the wine should be bottled in bottles that have no label attached. Instead of labels, the entry tags will be what are used instead. Different contests will allow a different number of bottles to be entered into specific categories. Limits will be set however for anywhere from one to five bottles. The person who is entering the competition will be permitted to select from a number of different categories and each contest will have different rules which concern the number of bottles which may be entered by a single person. Sometimes they will want the entrants to belong to specific clubs or associations, before they can enter such competitions. Some events have less stringent rules and will simply allow anyone who has made a good bottle of wine enter into the competition. At the end of the competition winners in each category will be matched against each other so the best of the lot can be decided. At this stage everybody wants to be the one who wins.

Certain categories in wine contests will include dry wine in white, red, fruit, novelty, and rose or blended variants. These same variants may also apply to sweet wines. Categories will also exist for sparkling wines as well as dessert wines. Both sweet and dry wines should have the necessary amounts of each flavor. Dessert wines may be required to have a certain percentage of alcohol before they qualify. The rules depend on who is hosting the competition.

Posted in Winemaking TipsComments (0)

What Recent Advancements Allow For A Better Home Winemaking Experience?


In spite of the common belief, winemaking is a very simple process that can be done anywhere with the most ordinary ingredients. This art has come to us, the modern man, though ages and ages of wisdom and experience. In ancient times, winemaking was simple, fast and the result was exceptional. In modern days, there are a lot of ways to make wine, some simple on the lines our ancestors, and some as complicated as you would like them.

Thankfully, home made wines have become a fad the world over and with the pleasure of making wine at home, the demand for better ingredients, automation and fast maturity of the wine have grown by leaps and bounds.

The modernization has not, as expected, improved in any way the process of wine making. You can still the best wines in the traditional way at home, with the ingredients that you can pick from the shelf of your kitchen. However, the hi-tech’s contribution has been to fast forward the maturity time of the wine. This development has made it possible for people to have their wine, almost immediately after it has been bottled and dispatched to the market. Many love this development because the patience of a human being is not the same today, that had been some hundred years ago.

The second great achievement and gift of science-technology to the making of wine is that the grapes quality has become much better, and much more uniform in taste. Hence, the wine’s flavor is fast to develop and better to taste.

What the modern could not do, was to improve in any way the art of wine making. The basic wine making art remains the same.

  1. >Extract the pulp of the grapes by soaking and then crushing and pressing
  2. >Add your helping ingredients, i.e. yeast, sugar, etc and leave for fermentation for an initial period of about one week
  3. >After 7-10 days take the liquid and strain it of the grape skins and other ingredients also allow the liquid to ferment further, while being careful to maintain the temperature at 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit.
  4. >Wait till the fermentation totally stops (you will know when the bubbling of the liquid ceases completely)
  5. >Strain the liquid again through very fine cheese cotton cloth and let it ferment again – this time for the secondary fermentation. You can repeat this step once or twice at intervals of one or two months
  6. >Bottle the resulting liquid and cork them tightly. The bottles will need to be left standing for about five days, after which these should be stored at an angle at 55F for 6-24 months. For white wines, aging should not exceed 12 months.
  7. >Sample the wine; if you find it matured, enjoy it. If not, let it age for about six months to one year more.

This is the basic process and no matter what twists and turns you add to it, the process remains this much. The complications that you read in different recipes are most of the times unnecessary and avoidable. Stick to the ancient style of wine-making and you can do no wrong.

Posted in Winemaking 101Comments (0)

What Are The Basic Tools And Supplies I Need To Make Wine At Home?


In this world where inflation is the order of the day, and salaries are stagnant making the ends meet, even with only the basic amenities, has become a great challenge. The problem gets compounded when you find yourself crave for a few small pleasure that have now moved out of your reach – such as a good glass of wine occasionally.

People tend to get frustrated when they are unable to have a little enjoyment every once in a while. And when they do, their productivity goes down; their interaction quality gets down, and so on which catapults the person into depression. To cut a long story short, it is better to find ways of indulging in yourself every now and then, to prevent the possibility of depression. Many times, just a good glass of wine with a good hot meal can do wonders.

Wine is expensive, true. However, there are many ways in which anyone can make quite good wine right at home with ingredients that are already there on the kitchen shelf. That means, you can make good wine at no additional expense to you, no fancy tools, etc.

The basic tools you will need to make wine at home are simple too. You will need a container where you could measure a gallon of liquid. Then, you will need a normal cup to measure sugar. You will need a container with cover where you will have to agitate the mixture to mix it well. It has to be covered or you will not be able to shake it vigorously and hence the quality of your home-made wine will suffer.

You will need a water heater, where you will warm a bit of water to dissolve the yeast (or hydrate it). This could be done in a cup also.

Next you will a few balloons – actually you will need only one, but sometimes the balloon bursts and you will need to replace it fast, so it is always good to have 2-3 extra ones on hand. Since the balloon will need to be fixed very tightly to the mount of the container, it is good if you also have some twine or a good rubber band to fix it. It so happens that the fermentation will push the balloon off the container sometimes.

Once the wine is done (you will know that process is over when the balloon that was tied at the mouth of the container deflates) you will need to take out the wine through a strainer into another container. The strainer should be extra-extra fine since anything else will allow the residue pass through giving you a murky wine. The wine should be totally crystal clear and for that purpose the best tool would be a clean piece of cheese cloth.

Once the wine has been strained thoroughly and has absolutely no dregs in it, your wine is ready for consumption. Before doing so, you would need to store in appropriate containers. Hence, you will need some nice bottles (there are a lot of fancy bottles available at very competitive prices) to pour it in. These bottles should be sealed ideally with a cork. So, for each bottle you should have an appropriately sized cork to the bottle can be sealed for storage.

Storage, brings us to the next step of tool requirement. You can store wine in the fridge – this would be for immediate use – and on a specifically designed for this purpose, wine rack. A wine rack makes it possible to keep the wine bottle in a reclined position, which is the best way to store it. The longer it stays this way, the better the wine becomes. So, the quality of the wine stack should be such that it can be used for a long time.

All in all – these are the tools you will need to make your own wine at home.

Posted in Winemaking 101Comments (0)

Wine Making At Home


fruitwinemaking.net ..Want to learn how to make your own wine at home. You can learn how today by visiting FruitwineMaking.net. FruitwineMaking.net offers simple step by step instruction tips and recipes from experienced fruit wine makers.
Video Rating: 2 / 5

Posted in VideosComments (1)

How to Make Wine – Making Wine at Home


www.makingwineeasy.com Making your own wine. Make your own wine at home using simple equipment and ingredients. Get access to a huge library of homemade wine tips, videos, articles and books.

2 . Making wine at home , Byala , Black Sea Coast , October 6th 2009 .

Picking grapes ourselfs , and making wine at home ……it feel’s great !!!! Mark and Greetje .
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Posted in VideosComments (2)

Home Winemaking One Barrel at a Time


Home winemakers are shown picking, crushing, pressing and bottling 1000 lb batches of wine, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvingnon, and Merlot at Mann Vinyards in Gilroy, CA.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

www.FreeGuideToSecrets.com Wine Making When it comes to revelry and merry making, one drink that is often seen as accompanying such enjoyment is wine. Wine is a very popular drink consumed by almost everyone particularly events that are very important to a person. Though seen by many as a drink only the rich can afford, wine today is consumed by almost everyone across all social categories. How Wine Is Made Wine is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting the juice extracted from grapes. Varieties of yeast are employed, which consume the natural sugar found in grape juice and convert them into alcohol. The result is a delectable drink that is a toast for so many occasions and for so many generations now. The process of wine making is known as vinification. This is a lengthy and delicate process that starts with selecting the right grapes to use in producing the liquor. Generally, vinification is divided into two types: production of still wine, which does not utilize the carbonation process, and sparkling wine, which makes use of the carbonation process. To learn more on how you can start making your own wine from the comfort of your own home, please visit: www.FreeGuideToSecrets.com

Posted in VideosComments (2)

Making Homemade Fruit Wine: Stir the Batch


Stirring the homemade fruit mash to make wine is important for fermentation. Learn how to stew the batch of organic wine at home in this free wine making video. Expert: Jeff Belli Bio: Jeff Belli heads his own business, Chi of Me, located in middle Tennessee. Coming from a family with a long tradition in gardening, Jeff is passionate about having a positive impact on Mother Earth. Filmmaker: Doug Craig
Video Rating: 2 / 5

Posted in VideosComments (0)

Making Wine at Home From Kits – Part 3+ – The Secondary Ferm


www.wandillawine.com The secondary fermenters under the stairs.

More on homemadewine.com where I’ve detailed specific equipment and supplies you’ll need for making wine at home. This video is of one batch of Cabernet I’d made at home and you get to meet my dad virtually who is enjoying the glass of finished product in this video! The bubbling, fermenting wine is called “must” and seems to sing and makes my kitchen smell incredible!
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Posted in VideosComments (1)

Home Wine Making Part 2 – Screw It #35 – SuppleWine.com


Home Wine Making Part 2 - Screw It #35 - SuppleWine.com

Part 2 of Mike attempting to make Cabernet Sauvignon with a home winemaking kit. Step-by-step process from the sterilizing of the equipment to the pitching of the yeast. More info at SuppleWine.com.

Home Winemaking HQ – www.homewinemakinghq.com

Posted in VideosComments (2)

Winemaking at home: Evde Şarap


Wine making at home: Evde Şarap Yapımı

Posted in VideosComments (5)

Picking Elderberries for Home Winemaking


Picking Elderberries for Home Winemaking in WV
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Posted in VideosComments (6)

Guide To Home Winemaking


Guide To Home Wine Making by Learn To Brew shows you how to produce quality wines in just a few short weeks with little cost and effort. This video guides you in an easily understood methodology for home wine making, helping you better understand the steps to wine making so that you can create the finest wine possible and learn to master the art of home wine making. Features: * Easy to Follow Instructions * Complete Wine Equipment List and Descriptions * Easy Reference Menu * Visual Aid to Winemaking * much more….
Video Rating: 1 / 5

Posted in VideosComments (4)

Subscription

Fill out the form below to signup to our blog newsletter and we'll drop you a line when new articles come up.

Our strict privacy policy keeps your email address 100% safe & secure.

Get Adobe Flash player