Winemaking

[MorbidAwe]

Looking for fellow home winemakers out there? I'm getting ready to make a couple batches of Welches Grape Juice wine pretty soon. It's cheap, quick and tasty.

[LillyCat]

We do a little bit of wine making, but nothing fancy.

We've made a lot of the cheap Welches stuff it sounds like you are about to get started on. Also some other fruit juice wines when we've had easy access to free cheap fruit or juice. Right now we have a batch of prickly pear wine that is almost ready. It's not what i expected, but pretty tasty and not a bad way to use up a bushel of free prickly pears from texas. We've even made REALLY cheap "prison wine" before out of just sugar, wine yeast, and water. Strong, but not bad after being racked up a few times- great mixed with juice or crystal light actually.

Now that I live in the south, I am very eager to try making some muscadine great wine. i saw muscadine great juice at the grocery store, but it was almost $5 a bottle.

What else do you make MorbidAwe?

[MorbidAwe]

OH, I just LOVE muscadine wine! Muscadine grapes can be pretty pricey, even at the local farmer's market. Last year I made blackberry wine (they grow wild around here), then I went and bottled it too soon, what a mess! I always like to think about really branching out (no pun intended) into making herb wine ot maybe even carrot wine, they SAY it's supposed to be pretty good. My best batch of wine was a lovely strawberry/blueberry wine, sweet and alcoholic!

[MorbidAwe]

LillyCat, I have also thought of trying the sugar wine/prison wine, but was worried it might be unpalatable, thanks for the advice!

[LillyCat]

the sugar wine isn't that tasty, but is decent if racked a few times and mixed with strongly flavored things- crystal light powder, cherry juice, lemonade, etc..

i've made it with cheap bread yeast (i think it came out to about $0.50/ gallon!), but it is much better with actual wine yeast.

as far as fun fruit wines- i've done peach, mango, and a berry/grape blend. all were good, but not great. i need more practice with ph adjusment and yeast selection, i think.

[MorbidAwe]

I'm no wine wizard, either! I've read a few books, bought the supplies, but still can't even use a hydrometer! Plus, I always seem to want to make the wine sweeter and more alcoholic than the recipe calls for. (Tee-hee-hee) So far it's not working out too well for me, though, lol! I can make an awesome juice wine, though! Herb wines look real easy (relatively speaking) so I look forward to trying that. Now that the weather is getting warmer, looks like it's time to get my winemaking stuff out, again!

[MorbidAwe]

i've made it with cheap bread yeast (i think it came out to about $0.50/ gallon!), but it is much better with actual wine yeast.

as far as fun fruit wines- i've done peach, mango, and a berry/grape blend. all were good, but not great. i need more practice with ph adjusment and yeast selection, i think.

Wow, that's cool that you could even use bread yeast! We have a place relatively near that sells wine yeast, so I've never thought of trying it. Ph adjustment is a hard thing for me, too!

[Maggie Mae]

I want to try it, we have a few places that sell home brewing / wine making equipment, books, ingredients. But I'm thinking it will just be a novelty thing, as I can't stand sweet, sugary wines, and fruit is expensive here.

[MorbidAwe]

When you make your own wine, it can be a dry or sweet at you want. I recommend starting with a simple, forgiving wine. You don't have to invest in any serious supplies, other than maybe some sturdy balloons.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7788601_make-wi ... trate.html

[LillyCat]

i just started a batch of white grape juice and red grape juice wines. same bottles, same recipe, same location for fermentation, etc. i'm very curious to see the differences. i've made them each separately before, but never side by side.

MorbidAwe- have you ever added freshly mashed red or concord grapes to a batch of welches juice wine? i thought about trying that to see if it would help develop better tannins and a more complex flavor.

[SteampunkLovelace]

I love making wine! I just started a batch of watermelon wine. I don't do anything fancy, like bottle it, I usually just leave it in a bucket in the kitchen.