Making Wine

For those of us who want cheap Alcohol without the hassle of showing an ID:

NOTE: Attempt this only at your own risk. I have a feeling you may go blind (the other cause).

The most dangerous thing about making your own booze is contamination of harmful bacteria which could give you some nasty food poisoning. — aa

Actually, Arlen- There are no known human pathogens that will grow in beer or wine- so you wont get food poisoning from homebrewing—ELF

You can also give rice-ahol a try or brewing your own beer

Ingredients:

• 1 Can frozen juice concentrate (defrosted)
  

• 1 Packet Yeast (wine yeast. Please don't use bread yeast or beer yeast. They don't produce enough alcohol, and they give off other compounds that interfere. If for some reason you don't want to be bothered with wine yeast, make beer.)
  

• 1 Cup Sugar
  

• Juice (preferably matching that of the concentrate)

Okay, so here's the deal. Get some sort of container for your wine, perhaps juice jugs, or anything that can be decently sealed up. I don't suggest using a bucket.

Next, mix in all the ingredients and stir 'em up, real good like.

Cover the top of the container (and really, the best is a jug) with plastic wrap and a rubber band. You want to keep all of the oxygen out, but you want excess carbon dioxide to escape. Sealing it airtight is not a good plan, unless you are trying to carbonate the wine.

Wait two weeks for fermentation, then strain out the yeast and chill! In my experience, the best batches have also stayed in the fridge for a few days to settle. Also, the best flavors that I've enjoyed are Cranberry and Cran-Raspberry, so I would suggest going with those. You can try your own, but just keep in mind that it could end in disaster. Trust me, don't try apple.

Note: It's a good idea to put it somewhere like the garage or hall closet... after a few days your brew will exude the smell of fermentation!!

(More on this later... I have to make sure of the sugar/juice amounts)

AndrewBanta makes a killer hot wine of sorts, it's like cider and delicious, he should post his secret ways...—MichelleAccurso

Ah, correct you are Ms. Accurso. What he makes is called: Hot Mulled Wine. I use a Cabernet Sauvignon. You could buy pre-packaged mulling spices. However, I opt to make my own mulling spices from scratch. Ingredients are as follows:

• whole allspice
  

• whole clove
  

• fresh orange zest
  

• brown sugar
  

• cinnamon sticks

Put the whole mess in crock-pot and cook on a lower setting for approx. 6 to 8 hours, I spice to taste. I tend to use a bit of purified water, since the wine can become a bit pungent. I recommend adding only half the bottle at first so you don't cook all the alcohol out of the wine.

I had a friend who made wine in gas containers that he bought at the AM/PM. They are huge and sealable. Also, for sweeter wine, you can try making it out of Kool Aid and adding the yeast to that and don't let it ferment too long. It will be less alcoholic, but sweeter to the taste, so it can be a trade off. When I worked for a winery, we used cold settling to get the yeast out of solution. A coffee filter should help to get rid of the yeast after that. A bit of shaking can also help make your wine better to stir up your yeast. That nasty smell (rotten egg-ish) comes from the yeast, so don't breathe deeply, it stinks. —RohiniJasavala

This is a pretty sad page considering the fine enology program at UCD. If you want a real class about this, see Classic UC Davis Courses. Anyway, here are some points to be aware of:

• It's highly unlikely that you will make anything that will cause blindness. This is a tale from the times of prohibition, when bootleggers would sometimes use old car radiators in their distillation process (ethylene glycol anyone?), as well as a variety of other toxic chemicals. Bad news. There's also a bit of Methanol produced in fermentation, but the concentration is ridiculously low. If you're not distilling the beverage (increasing the Alcohol concentration through removal of water), then there's no problem. Even if you were to distill, it wouldn't be too tough to get rid of the Methanol.
  

• For the sake of sanitation and peace of mind, don't ferment in non-food-grade containers (e.g. gas cans). This just has "bad idea" written all over it.
  

• When you're ready to really get started making something, head on over to a brew shop. I'd recommend The Original Homebrew Outlet in Sacramento. They have all the supplies you need to get started with wine OR beer at very reasonable prices (~$100 for super-deluxe beer equipment kit). They also have a very helpful and knowledgeable staff. At the very least, you can get a food grade bucket to put your frozen juice in..(yuck)
  

• I've never been carded in a brew shop. And I've been to quite a few in California and Washington. The ingredients aren't regulated, the staff doesn't care how old you are (unless you're 12 or something... college-age is fine), and they're usually very nice people.
  

• If you're interested in distillation, check http://www.homedistiller.org, http://www.brewhaus.com, and then http://www.moonshine-still.com/. The last has two very nice distillation apparatus designs. Illegal in the states, but what's to stop you from reading up on it?
  

2008-06-22 15:46:15   I found recently that the Purple Pearl Winery will provide customers with the fixin's for winemaking. This place has always been a wonderful winery in my opinion, as the proprietors are always helpful and fun to talk to. Check 'em out! —JoePomidor