How to Make Wine: 7 Easy Steps to Making Homemade Wine

How to make wine in 7 easy steps. With our wine making instructions you will soon be making your own homemade wines. We also give you some wine making tips, and wine making recipes to make sure that your homemade wine will come out right, every time.

HOW TO MAKE WINE: The Process

One can make country wines out of just about anything; elderberries, potatoes, damsons, strawberries, pears, parsnips and parsley, even beans and pumpkins! We hope you enjoy our country wine making overview and hope that you will be tempted to make your own country wines this summer with our wine recipes we have for you.

However, enough talking and let's get down to the business of how to make wine:

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 1:

Wash, peel and chop the fruit, vegetables or herbs of your choice.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 2:

Water needs to be added to your fruit, vegetables or herbs in the first step. But depending what you are using will depend on whether you add cold water, boiling water or whether they need to be boiled on top of the cooker. Vegetables are usually simmered in water until tender, and fruit is steeped in a large container of boiling water, covered and left until fruit is mushy.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 3:

The ingredients are then placed in an open bucket for a couple of days, depending on the type of wine you are making. The ingredients being of course your fruit, vegetables or herbs, water, sugar and yeast. Pips and skins will surface during that time, usually after 3 days. As soon as they start to appear, scoop them up and discard. Stir your mixture daily.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 4:

In the next stage ensure that the mixture is strained using either a sieve or a muslin cloth and the liquid placed in a fermentation jar. This is an important stage as the liquid will start to ferment, and the temperature that it does so must be constant; an optimal temperature is 21°C-27°C (70°F-80°F) to keep the fermentation process going.

The other important action at this stage is to fit the air lock in the jar. Failing to do this will allow oxygen to come into contact with the mixture, turning your hard work into vinegar. Half-fill the airlock with distilled water to which is added a quarter of a campden tablet.

The mixture will be in the jar for a number of weeks, time varying depending on what you are using.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 5:

Remove the sediment as it collects in the bottom of the jar; known as lees.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 6:

Decant the wine into smaller bottles that hold 2 litres in each. Make sure that the bottles are stopped with special fermentation corks that have a hole in the middle to allow a second fermentation process to take place.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 7:

Store these 2 litre bottles in a cool, dark place for 6 months without any disturbance.

HOW TO MAKE WINE - Step 8:

After 6 months the wine should be ready to drink and can also be decanted into smaller bottles and corked for drinking at a later stage.

Always choose top-grade unblemished fruit, vegetables and herbs for your wine making.

Flowers or leaves of herbs should be strippedfrom the plant, placed in a container and bruised with the back of a wooden spoon before boiling water is added to them.

Once your mixture is transferred into the fermentor, shake the fermentor vigorously to get plenty of oxygen into solution. This will help the fermentation process, and is the only time oxygen should be introduced into the brewing process.

Before adding the yeast, make sure the temperature of your mixture is between 70-80°F. Too cold and the yeast will take too long to begin fermentation, too hot and the yeast can be killed.

Softer fruit like strawberries and blackberries will take less time to steep than hard fruit like apples.

HOW TO MAKE WINE: Wine Making Recipes

Here are some tried and tested country wine recipes made by farmers' wives in the English countryside. The beauty of these wine recipes is that you can make them at home with no specialized equipment.

Put 1 gallon of sliced crab apples into a gallon of water, and let them soak for a fortnight. Strain and add 3 lbs Demerara sugar to each gallon of liquor. Stir well and frequently until fermentation takes place, which should be in a day or a day and a half. Leave for 3 days, and then put wine into cask or jar. Lay muslin over the opening until the hissing noise has ceased. Then cork tightly, and bottle after 3 months. This wine improves with keeping

WINE MAKING RECIPES: Blackberry Wine

Place alternate layers of ripe blackberries and sugar in wide-mouthed jars. Allow to stand for 3 weeks. Then strain off the liquid and bottle; adding a couple of raisins to each bottle. Cork lightly at first and later more tightly. Nothing could be less expensive and the wine will keep in good condition for a year, having a flavour like that of good port.

WINE MAKING RECIPES: Dandelion Wine

3 quarts dandelion flowers

1 gallon water

3 lbs. sugar

The rind and pulp of 2 lemons and 1 orange

1 oz wine yeast

1 lb raisins

The flowers must be freshly gathered and removed from their stalks. Place in a large bowl. Bring the water to the boil, pour over the dandelions, and leave for 3 days, stirring each day. Cover the bowl with muslin. After the third day, add the sugar and rinds only of the lemons and orange. Turn all into a pan and boil for 1 hour. Put back into the bowl and add the pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand till cool, then put in the wine yeast.

Let it remain covered for 3 days. Now strain and bottle. The bottles should be not quite filled, and the raisins should be divided equally among them. Do not cork tightly until fermentation ceases. If this wine is made in May or June and your homemade wine will be good to drink by Christmas.

Do you have a Country Wine Recipe or Story to Share?

Do you have a great country wine recipe or story to share? Feel free to share it here. We hope that you will share your stories or recipes with all of us, so that others may benefit.