Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anybody into making wine?

I have been, though not lately, for the past 22 years. Heres my basic guide lines.

Wine Making 101

Anybody ever make wine? I was talking to Jerm about his bum wine and it got me thinking. It's been a long time since I did it, but I used to make both wine and beer. In fact I was still making wine when I got on this forum.

I learned in Kuwait while working there. Stick a bunch of Chemical Plant workers in a Muslim country where many of the locals were making it in their basements and you gotta know what will happen. I got the yeast and other essentials from Defalcos in Houston when I would come home. Then I'd put them in my pockets and walk through customs. No problem back then. However, that was pre 911 and they almost never patted you down unless they figured you were a big risk or they got a tip.

We could buy grape juice and sugar, two main ingredients at the local Sultan Center Grocery Store.

List of ingredients:

Yeast
Yeast Nutrient
citrus powder or one lime or lemon
one bottle camden tablets (sulfite)
sugar
Rauches Grape Juice(It came in quart bottles with a permanently attached plastic cup with a rubber gasket
(We used the bottles the grape juice came in to bottle the finished product.)
bottle of liquid yeast neutralizer


List of Equipment
Syphon hose and syphon
One primary ferminter (10 gallon plastic [Food Grade] trash can with lid, preferably never used or brand new.)\
One large long handle spoon
one ceramic bowl
At least two 5 or 6 gallon Carboys at least two 5 gallon water jugs like on a water cooler
at least one air lock (Can be bought on line or at a brew shop)
One bung plug with hole in the center for air lock and proper diameter to fit the carboys-water jugs.
One wine hydrometer
one wine thermometer
flask or tube flask for checking wine Specific Gravity

Procedure:

Clean all quipment with bleach and water. You don't need much bleach. The object here isn't sterilization. You want to sanitize or kill most of the wild bacteria. If you have a dominate culture of good bacteria (wine yeast) it will overide the bad stuff. So you sanitize equipment and your yeast should dominate and take over the show. I soak all vessels, pots, pans, Hydrometers, thermometers, anything that will touch the unfermented wort, in a cup of bleach for every 5 gallons of water for about 30 minutes just before using them. Then rinse in clean, t , tap water and allow to dry for a brief time. You don't want to leave them out too long before using, there can be wild rouge yeast in the air.

Have available the amounts of grape juice recommended below because throughout the process you will lose some liquid. So a little more is better.
(For 5 gallon batch of wine have 23 quarts of grape juice available)
(For a six gallon batch have 27 bottles available)
Pour about 20 bottles of grape juice(for five gallons) (24 bottles for 6 gallons) in primary fermenter. Then in a clean 2 quart pan using a quart or so of grape juice heated to no hotter than 139 degrees F (Note here don’t allow this sugared wirt to get hotter than 140 degrees F because it will carmelize the sugars and carmelized sugars don’t ferment) stir in about a third of the sugar, about two pounds, in the bowl with the heated grape juice and stir til this is liquefied. Then pour this in the primary fermenter, and repeat the process until you have liquified all of the sugar allotted for this batch. When you have liquefied all the sugar allotted this batch add about 8 to 10 crushed Camden tablets. This should within 24 hours kill any foreign rouge bacteria or yeast if any are in the wirt and the sulfite should neutralize within 48 hours to the point that it will not kill the yeast when pitched. Cover unfermented wirt with a clean towel while the Camden (Sulfites) work until ready to pitch yeast.

12 hours before pitching yeast:
In the sanitized ceramic bowl add clean room temp. water and two packets dry yeast or vile of liquid yeast. Add a table spoon or two of yeast nutrient, a table spoon sugar, a squeeze of lemon or lime or a citrus tablet crushed. Cover with a clean cloth and put it up in a clean dark environment. Within 12 hours the yeast will culture and grow. When it is ready to be pitched it will be foamed up and there will be many times more yeast cells ready to start fermenting.

After the Camden has worked on the wort for 24 hours and cleansed it of unwanted yeast and bacteria it’s time to pitch the yeast. The sulfites are neutralized and it’s ready to ferment. It’s time to get started. Throw in the yeast, and let it work. After covering the fermenter leave it covered and in a cool, dark place.

In 15-24 hours there should be a violent fermentation ongoing. After sanitizing the long handle large spoon tie it to the side of the primary fermenter and leave in the wort while fermenting. The handle should be long enough to use the spoon to stir the wort at least three times a day without touching the wort with your hand.

Let the wirt-wine in the primary work for for 3 or 4 days until the fermentation slows down where it can be transferred into a secondary fermenter (Glass Carboy) and air locked. Syphon over into a secondary fermenter, being careful not to stir up the lees(sediment) leaving the lees behind in the primary fermenter and air lock the secondary. As you do this put a little clean water in the air lock.This keeps air from going backwards into the fermenter. Let ferment for 21 days. After 21 days and there is no sign of fermentation transfer the wine into a clean Carboy and add four crushed Camden Tablets, again air locking the carboy. Try not to shake the jug when doing this. This is known as finishing and clarification. Let the wine settle for two weeks without shaking the fermenter, keeping the fermenter from shaking and stirring up the lees on the bottom. After another two weeks siphon over again to another clean jug, add more Camden and let sit in another clean carboy. Add more crushed Camden and let stand for another two weeks. Then let stand until you think it is perfectly clear. This may take four to six months.

At this point it may be time to sweeten the wine but you can’t do that until you kill fermentation so you need to add wine stabilizer. This will kill the yeast in the wine stopping all fermentation. Once this is done you can add sugar to the wine and it will not restart fermentation. After adding stabilizer let it sit for another two to four weeks and siphon over again because when the yeast dies it will go to the bottom as sediment. You may need to do this a couple of times. Then you can add sugar to taste and bottle.

Bottling is simple but you want to keep things sanitary. Wash your bottles in a bleach solution and rinse well, repeating if they’ve been used before. Rinse well to insure all is clean, Then syphon over into a clean jug and pour into a clean funnel into the bottles and cork. If you used Rauches Grape Juice it comes with a plastic plug with rubber gasket and wire hinge lock. Most of us reuse these bottles.

Take your time and do it right and you’ll have some great wine.


This is a pretty basic standard homemade wine recipe that with experience and further knowledge can be expanded on and improved. Have fun and don't drink up all the profits.

Rufus is the guy you want to talk to!

Sounds familiar. I have made lots of batches of wine. From peaches we picked, made 10 gallons a year for 4 years, plus made 50 gallons of scuppernong wine, made a bunch of wine from kits. Fun.

I used to make peach wine often.

gave it up after I had to repaint the ceiling in my utility room

😄😄💥

blowed my airlocks off my carboys twice. A nasty sticky, stinky mess.

I used to make strawberry, peach and elderberry for about 20 years. I Still have some glass carboys. Maybe I’ll start again when I retire.

Hurricane got peaches and grapes here last year. Normally make 25-50 gallons of peach strawberry and muscadine

i make shine and wine. the old lady said no more wine.

Just a splash..

Bottling 60 cases of Cabernet tomorrow. It's been in French oak for the past 2+ years. Fruit I trucked in from Walla Walla. Will need a couple of years in the cellar before it starts getting good.
Next will be a barrel or so of Malbec from the same source I'll bottle this spring.
I make 1 to 3 varietals each year and share with friends.

Pinot Noir


Cabernet Sauvignon

I'd just eat those blue berries until I puked. lol

Rooster,
You'd be saving yourself a lot of time and money that way!

I need to make new friends