Making Your Own Country Wines

During any celebration, a nice bottle of wine will always be customary for the occasion. Many of us spend quite a bit of money in acquiring decent vino, keeping these bottles chilled in our kitchen’s just in case we need it for a special event. What if we told you that you can actually make your own wine without having to have your own multi-million dollar vineyard? Yes you heard right. Wine making is possible right in the convenience of your own home. Here is what you will need:

You must have at least one large bucket that has a sealable lid, two demijohns, a length of tubing, rubber corks for the demijohns and an air-trap. Other articles you will require you will likely find already present in your kitchen such as wooden spoons, measuring jugs, potato mashers, and preferably but not necessarily a hydrometer and a hard plastic tube with a bund.

For ingredients you will have to go to a specialist brew shop. Get a sachet of yeast and a tub of Sodium Metabisulphite for sterilizing purposes.   Yeast nutrient and Pectolase will also be appropriate for this same purpose. You may substitute a mug of strong black tea or lemon juice with recipes that require Tannin or Citric acid respectively.  Here is a quick Strawberry Wine recipe that makes six bottles. Note that this is a British recipe, and at every stage, you need to disinfect the equipment being used, with Sodium Metabisulphite.

To make Strawberry Wine for the first stage mash strawberries in a bucket and add sugar. Pour over boiling water and leave 24 hours. Next, strain the liquid into demijohn with a sieve, putting strawberry pulp into large pan and pour cold water over the strawberry pulp, allowing it to sit for about an hour. Pour the strawberry liquid from demijohn back into bucket and strain liquid in pan into bucket, discarding strawberry pulp.  Add yeast, nutrient, pectolase and tannin and leave for around 5 days, stirring it twice a day. Pour liquid into demijohn and fit a rubber bung and air trap. Leave this for 2 months.

After that period, siphon the liquid from the demijohn into a second demijohn, while avoiding the sediment. Fill the gap in the second demijohn with syrup made from a ratio of 1 pint water to 6 oz sugar. Leave this again for approximately 4 months.  Bottle to your liking and leave alone until a year from collecting ingredients. Bottoms up! This seems like a long time, but rest assured, once you sip the first drink, you will be very happy!

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