How to Make Wine at Home

Find the necessary tools. Besides the ingredients to make wine, you also need some basic tools to make sure the wine is not invaded by insects or bacteria during the aging process. Since this is home-made wine, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy specialized tools. You will only need the following tools:

• Crock pot or glass jar about 7.6 liters. You can find them at thrift stores, but often old pots can still have the smell of pickles or sauerkraut, which will spoil the wine. ^[1] )
• Small antique glass bottle about 3.8 liters
• Air stopper
• Small plastic tube for wine extraction
• Clean bottle of wine with cork or screw cap
• Campden tablets (optional)

Fruit selection. Wine can be made from any fruit, but grapes and berries are still commonly used. You should choose fresh fruit, not crushed to make the wine delicious. It is best to choose organic fruit without chemicals because no one wants to drink alcohol contaminated with chemicals. If you can, pick them yourself or buy them from the garden. There are a few shops that also sell grapes specifically made for home wine to those living far from the vineyard.

Wash the fruit. Cut off the stems and leaves, clean the dirt that is still on the fruit. Wash the fruit thoroughly and put it in a jar. You can peel the fruit before mashing it. However, often the good taste of wine is thanks to the skin, so if the skin is removed, the wine will be pale.

• Some people won’t wash the fruit before mashing it. Because there are natural yeasts on the fruit skins, you can make wine with the yeast on the fruit skins along with the air. However, washing the fruit and controlling the amount of yeast will help you get a batch of wine with the right taste. Natural fermentation can make wine go rancid. If you want to try, you can make two batches of wine, one using natural yeast, the other using regular yeast to see which one you prefer.

Crush fruit. Use a potato masher or use your hands to mash and squeeze the fruit. Grind and squeeze continuously until the amount of water in the jar is about 4cm high. If you don’t have enough fruit and juice to fill the jar, you can add more water. Then give a Campden pill to produce sulfur dioxide that kills natural yeast and bacteria. ^[2] If you choose to ferment with natural yeast, this step is not required.

• You can pour 2 cups of hot water into the jar instead of taking Campden tablets.
• Using tap water can affect the taste of wine because it contains impurities. It is best to use filtered or spring water. ^[3]

Add honey. Honey is good for yeast and makes wine taste sweet. The amount of honey you use will affect the sweetness of the wine. If you want the wine to be sweeter, add more honey. If you don’t want it to be sweet, add 2 cups of honey. Besides, you should also adjust the amount of honey depending on the type of fruit you use to make wine. For example, if grapes are high in sugar, you don’t need to add a lot of honey. Berries or other fruits that are low in sugar will require more honey.

• You can add sugar or brown sugar instead of honey if desired.
• In addition, you can add honey after tasting and finding the wine is not sweet enough.

Add yeast. If you’re using prepackaged yeast, simply pour it into the jar and stir with a long-handled spoon. This mixture of sugar, honey and pressed fruit is called “Must”.

• But if you choose to use natural yeast, you can skip this step.