Adventures in Ultra Budget Wines

[MattWI]

With two kids at home and every spare penny going to daycare or saving for a new garage, winemaking went on hold for many months. The itch has recently resurfaced, and swmbo and I are now experimenting with wines we can do dirt cheap with good results. What follows below will be a bit of a journal in our adventures in Ultra Budget winemaking.

Last spring I put in blueberry and blackberry bushes - and this sprint I will experiment with indoor grown fruits, but I am a couple years out to get good harvests this way.

All wines are chemical'd according to their proper style. All sugar is simple white from Aldi for $2 per 4 lbs. Genrally I use 2 lbs per gal but I am targeting an OG so I add some of that to the must before K-Meta. I do not count the cost of chemicals or yeast, but instead estimate $1-2 per batch

Wine 1 - Great Value Grape Concentrate Wine
3 cans per gallon at $0.79 per can plus sugar to 1.09. Think I made 2 gallons.

Price - about $6

Yield - 2 gal

Results - ugh. I think i could have stripped paint with this. I am sure that was more due to improper nutrients (was temporarily without a hydrometer as i dropped it after my OG reading so bubbles, sediment, and clarity were my guiding posts) but this one will not be repeated. I salvaged this a bit by mixing it with a young dry Gooseberry wine for thanksgiving, but I also dumped several glasses that went mostly untouched, and the Gooseberry wine was NOT cheap. Sigh.

Wine 2 - mixed fruit bonanza
4 cans Aldi blueberries @ $1.79 per can
2 cans Aldi plums @ $1.79 per can
20 Oz raisins @ $2.29
3 pints blackberries @ $.79 per pint (this price is what triggered the wine)
6 cans Old Orchard Blueberry/Pomegranate concentrate @ $.99 ea
Sugar to 12% PA

Price - about $30

Yield - 5 gal

Results - this is in secondary right now at just under 1.000 - early taste testing has been very promising. I made a similar batch with more berries and no plums last year and it was phenomenal - the bottles I meant to age were victim to a going away party from my previous job. More spendy than I planned, but still just over the $1 per bottle mark, and I am hoping to set some aside as Xmas presents.

Wine 2.5 - Cool 2nd Runnings
Fruit bag from #2 + 2 cans dark sweet cherries @ $.99 ea plus two more pints of blackberries @ $.79 ea, a can of apple juice concentrate and sugar to 10% PA

Price - about $6
Yield - 2.25 gal

Resylts - Meh - this will get blended into something as the canned fruit just doesn't retain enough flavor to make for good second runnings wines. Or freeze concentrated. I had the cherries leftover from Xmas so I wasn't too worried about the end result. The AJ concentrate was added when I racked off the fruit because it was already clearing and tasted like water, so this is still bubbling in carboys + a large jar.

#3 - Tropical Rose
3 cans Aldi plums $1.79 ea
4 cans Aldi crushed pineapple @ $.99 ea
20 Oz raisins at $2.29
4 cans AJ concentrate at $.99 ea
64 Oz Apple juice (BOGO sale so it was free for this)
Sugar to 1.09

Price - about $23

Yield - hoping 5 gal, but pineapple sediment claims a lot of liquid victims. I made 5.5 and think I will be very lucky to get 5 gallons of clear wine.

Results - too early to tell. I used the yeast cake from #2 on this (Pasteur Red) and it is just blowing thru this wine. I thought ahead and pulled about 3 quarts of this into a separate container which is fermenting with Pasteur Champaigne, and that will get blended back in when I pull the fruit bag. Started this yesterday, and half of it will probably go into a Mister Beer keg and chilled for EAA this summer as we have people over for the airshows.


Has anyone else (using fruit they bought vs cultivated) hit the $1 or less per bottle mark with something they REALLY enjoyed? Please do share! This summer I am hoping to get lucky at farmers markers to get cheap fresh fruit by the flat, and frozen fruit always seems to get really cheap here in late summer in the big bags from local farms if you aren't picky about the type.

 

[cintipam]

Hi Matt

I'm not sure where you live but I have both blueberries and gooseberries and the gooseberries outproduce bb's at least 4 to 1. If you plant them, I would recommend Tixia due to size of berry, flavor, and also quite important the thorns are fewer and most quite soft. Second choice is Hinnomaki red for both flavor and production, but they are smaller and the thorns are awful. Requires lots of early season pruning to make plants pickable without seriously injuring yourself.

The flavor of those 2 are quite different so can combine in many ways with other fruits. I also love Black Velvet, but it is smaller berried and not as productive tho the flavor is outstanding.

My paw paws also give my great results. They taste like a cross of melon, peach, bit of mango and banana, so also combine well with lots of other fruits.

Cheapest wine I ever made was from many many containers of Ocean Spray white cranberry juice that was about to expire, so was cheap cheap cheap. I combined with limeade concentrate and produced something that tasted quite a bit like a margarita. Cost was under $1 a bottle.

Ask where you shop most if they offer clearance prices when products are nearing the sell by date. Most stores will give you clear guidelines, but most also stress that they will not ever sell anything already expired as that would be illegal.

There is another thread about making wine from juice from the dollar tree. I've purchased quite a bit of the Mango juice and plan to add apple juice concentrate. Final cost should be about $1.50 a bottle.

Pam in cinti

 

[cintipam]

Forgot to add that I have never found canned fruit to be anywhere as tasty as fresh or frozen. I also have tart cherry trees and they are wonderful. Before I planted them I tried canned pie cherries and almost didn't plant the trees they were so tasteless. Also tho I love dried fruit to eat, I don't think it adds much to wine.

If I am experimenting and don't like the taste or it seems bland I always add frozen juice concentrate in a flavor that will complement the existing fruit. I do this early after racking to secondary and the existing yeast usually does just fine finishing our the extra sugar. I've even made wine from just frozen concentrate that many friends really loved. That was half cranberry, half apple 4 containers per gallon. Use 71B yeast to knock down the malic acid and make it drinkable more quickly. At a year, that wine was fabulous.

Pam in cinti

 

[MattWI]

Love the Gooseberry idea - I am in WI and have very clay-rich soil, but there are some Gooseberry varieties that thrive indoors. I am drinking Gooseberry wine right now - nice and light and effervescent. Good stuff.

I much prefer fresh and frozen fruit and will switch back to proper berry wines once we have restocked the cellar. This is the country wine equivalent of the occasional boxed wine - Great for parties or for when you know you will be having a few glasses.

Love the Jumex idea - mangos will hit their best price up here in a couple months, and some mango and papaya nectar will definitely flavor up what can otherwise be a light and semi flabby wine.

 

[NorCal]

It takes me 15 lbs of fresh grapes to yield a gallon. At $.75 per lb, that's $11.25 per gallon or $2.25 per bottle. I think it's good and my only result so far is first place at a local fair. There is no comparison to dragons blood that I've made.

 

[Double Daylo]

Dragon blood is down to .80/bottle not including corks. I make 11 gallons at a time. Stupid cheap to make, super easy to make at that, very delicious and easy to drink. And you can drink it quickly.

 

[MattWI]

Thanks for sharing. Right now my brew buckets get double duty between beer and wine - I need to find a bigger primary to make some mega batches like that (or just make two batches at a time, I guess).

I have a ton of Mr Beer kegs from someone that tried and gave up making beer. I might need to press those into service for some Dragons Blood. Seems like the Graff of wine (stupid easy, cheap, yummy, and super adaptable).

 

[MattWI]

Post removed by writer

 

[sour_grapes]

Early sampling was super watery, thin, and pretty tasteless so I decided to try freeze concentrating.

Just FYI, freeze concentration is not legal for a home winemaker in the US, and, as such, is not allowed to be discussed on this forum per the rules of the forum's hosts.

See:

Rules and regs: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/faq.php?faq=rules#faq_rulesandregulations

Some relevant threads:

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=578642#post578642

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43555

 

[kevinlfifer]

Dollar tree wine
here is the tread link I did not post the recipe. So here it is.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51117

18 qts of Jumex Peach (bought direct from Dollar Tree on line.
4 lbs sugar
1 TBS nutient
1 TBS benonite
1.5 tsp peptic enzyme
Yeast EC-1118 (you need low floc, as there is a lot of pulp in the nectar.)
It ferments like mad. Really fast, it looks like the bucket is boiling.

*** I would add 1/2 bottle (16 oz) of reconstituted lemon juice for acidity next time instead of topping with SP. I would top with any dry white wine.

When this was done, I tried it as a dry white wine and it was very good. No tanin added.

I have back-sweetened most of it and added K-sorbate. I also topped off with SP (1 qt) to add a little acid bite, other wise is was very soft.

Cost for 4 gal ended @$20 for juice, sugar and yeast - $1/btl

https://www.dollartree.com/Jumex-Peach-Nectar-33-8-oz-/p314193/index.pro

 

[MattWI]

Definitely need to try the Jumex wines once I have more carboy space.

My blackberry/blueberry/plum wine is in secondary and clearing. Thiefed a tiny bit last night and it will definitely not be a young drinker. Great color and body, though.

Pineapple/Plum is racked to secondary and has lost all of its plum color and is a light gold. Early testing is very promising, but I got a ton of pineapple sediment as I was trying to readjust the bag as it was draining. Hoping time + cool temps will eliminate the need for any other extraordinary measures to clear it.

Second runnings wine from the red is almost totally clear. Super thin, so it will really only be good to blend back into the parent wine to top up, or to get my pineapple wine back to a blush-ish color.

 

[jensmith]

Most of my wines cost me up to $10 per five galleons to make. That includes corks. .40 cents per bottle. Tops! Of corse my fruit is "free". I love living on a farm

 

[MattWI]

Yeah, I pit in blueberry and blackberry bushes last year, and I am really hoping I get even a couple lbs per year. Thinking elderberry or currant will be next, and I need to go visit my neighbor who has a mulberry tree.

Roundy had Old Orchard juice concentrate on sale 10/$10 and 25% off the 40 oz bags of frozen fruit. So I started what will hopefully be a summer drinker. 10 cans of Apple Strawberry Kiwi concnetrate, 5 lbs of frozen strawberries (mashed to a paste in primary), 3 lbs of bananas i alreadybhad in my freezer (simmered - more for body than anything), and sugar to 1.09 for about 5.5 gallons of must. Just debating if I pitch 1118 or 71b 1122. I love the efficiency of 1118, but im thinking the 1122 might leave a little residual sweetness and more of the nose from the strawberry and banana. Right now the must is a beautiful blood red - hoping to get even a faint pink when it's all clear. Even with adding extra tannins I have not had much luck keeping any color from strawberries.

Final price - $25 for 5 gallons. Not a cheap wine by any means compared to the Jumex stuff, but still around that magical buck a bottle price.

 

[MattWI]

Pitched yeast (71b 1122) on 3/7 late afternoon at 1.09 SG. I didn't start getting signs of active fermentation till very late in the evening on 3/8. I can now actually HEAR it fermenting in the next room and is already at about 1.04. Primary temp reads at 72, and I get a good 2" of foam when I aerate.

Planned on pulling the fruit on Sunday and letting it go to close to dry before racking to secondary but if this keeps up I may be racking to secondary already this weekend.

 

[MattWI]

Just checked my mixed fruit bonanza - it had been sitting pretty at about .995 for what feels like forever (I racked it to secondary when I started this thread) and it is STILL bubbling. I had Thiefed a glass to test a couple weeks ago and topped it up with the second runnings wine, which must have had some sugar left in it. I guess this will be a fall and winter wine.

 

[MattWI]

Pitched yeast (71b 1122) on 3/7 late afternoon at 1.09 SG. I didn't start getting signs of active fermentation till very late in the evening on 3/8. I can now actually HEAR it fermenting in the next room and is already at about 1.04. Primary temp reads at 72, and I get a good 2" of foam when I aerate.

Planned on pulling the fruit on Sunday and letting it go to close to dry before racking to secondary but if this keeps up I may be racking to secondary already this weekend.

Strawberry is at 1.02 and is still very actively fermenting. It was dropping about .01 per 12 hours but is actually speeding up slightly. Thinking it will be totally dry by Sunday. The fermenter temp is still holding steady at 72, and the room it's in is about 68. When I aerated this morning (8:00 AM, just over 1.03 SG) the foam I whipped up almost went over my brew bucket! I have had violent fermentation with pineapple, but that even pales to this. I am in a different room and can still hear it fizzing!

Color, as expected, is mostly gone. It will probably finish a pale pink or straw color, but as long as I get ANY strawberry taste or nose I will call it a success.

 

[MattWI]

Strawberry wine update - racked last night into secondary with an SG right under 1.00. 5.5 gallons of must got me about 4.75 gallons of mostly clear wine, along with a 2L bottle of really cloudy wine (clearing in the fridge so I can top up) and a quart jar that, when I chilled it, got me 5 oz to taste test. The color is very thin, but taste is pretty good. It is more straw color than anything else, and it retained the strawberry flavor, along with a bit of the kiwi from the concentrate I used. Though it still isn't true strawberry wine, it is by far my best attempt at it to date. The jar sample was totally clear with just a tiny hint of degassing still to occur. I plan on racking again in 6 weeks or so and will see what happens from there.

I started my last "cheap" wine for a while last night. Very no frills - 5 cans of Old Orchard Blueberry/Pomegranate concentrate and 2 lbs of sugar for a 2 gallon batch, pitched with RC 212. I figure this should clear in time to be available to top up my other red when I rack it in April or May. I am considering flavoring a few bottles with vanilla and the rest with a few dried chili peppers to see what happens. At $7 for two gallons I don't think I have much to lose. Unless I want to start filling growlers or airlocking 1.5 L bottles I am out of carboys and fermenting vessels until something else gets bottled or i can get my hands on more Rossi bottles. All said, this was more than 20 gal of wine I've started in the last 4 months, and with other household projects piling up I think I need to set this stuff aside and revisit in the late spring.

 

[cintipam]

Hi Matt

I think you made the right choice with the 71B yeast in the Strawberry Kiwi Apple wine. I made the same wine and it held on to a sharp taste till aged 1 full year. That is what malic acid does, tastes very sharp and young till it finally mellows. 71B eats up a lot of malic so will make the wine ready to drink sooner.

I've made quite a few diff wines using Old Orchard and other brands of concentrates. Generally most folks use 4 cans per gallon. I see you did 5 cans for 2 gallons on the berry mix. While that is a stronger flavored concentrate I still think you will find the final wine too thin. If you can get even one more can into the wine now I think you'll be much happier later. It will work fine as a top up wine, but for top up you might want to hold off on vanilla or chili peppers.

BTW I'm betting gooseberries will work outside for you if you have any somewhat protected areas. Or mulch heavily for winter. Right now my honeyberries are just starting to bloom. I ate a few last year and they are very similar to blueberries. I have 4 varieties, my current fave is Blue Velvet.

Pam in cinti

 

[wineforfun]

Making wine from Old Orchard is a staple of mine when not messing with making red wine.
All are based off of this:
Starting SG 1.095-1.100
Water
Sugar
Real Lemon juice
Nutrient
EC-1118

Step more nutrient in around 1.050-1.060
Ferment down to 1.020'ish and add Real Lime juice

Ferment dry, usually around .994-.996

Rack to carboys and add SuperKleer.
Clear after 1 week.
Rack onto Old Orchard at this time and add kmeta and sorbate.

I use Blueberry/Pomegranate, Strawberry/Kiwi, Cranberry, Mango/Passionfruit, etc.

In the end you end up with a variety of fruit flavors with a hint of lime.

Very easy drinkers and ready in a short amount of time at a very minimal cost.

 

[MattWI]

Hi Matt

I think you made the right choice with the 71B yeast in the Strawberry Kiwi Apple wine. I made the same wine and it held on to a sharp taste till aged 1 full year. That is what malic acid does, tastes very sharp and young till it finally mellows. 71B eats up a lot of malic so will make the wine ready to drink sooner.

I've made quite a few diff wines using Old Orchard and other brands of concentrates. Generally most folks use 4 cans per gallon. I see you did 5 cans for 2 gallons on the berry mix. While that is a stronger flavored concentrate I still think you will find the final wine too thin. If you can get even one more can into the wine now I think you'll be much happier later. It will work fine as a top up wine, but for top up you might want to hold off on vanilla or chili peppers.

BTW I'm betting gooseberries will work outside for you if you have any somewhat protected areas. Or mulch heavily for winter. Right now my honeyberries are just starting to bloom. I ate a few last year and they are very similar to blueberries. I have 4 varieties, my current fave is Blue Velvet.

Pam in cinti

Thanks Pam. I am more inclined to carbonate and sweeten as a wine cooler than to add more fermentables at this point. I will save my chili pepper experiment for my other "big" blush/red that is still very, very slowly clearing.

being on a corner lot, my yard is not well set up for much growing unless I want to cut into the little "play" space I have for the kids. I recently pulled out some huge bushes in my front yard, and am strongly considering putting in something there, but it needs to be more of a bush than a tree as I don't want it disturbing my foundation. It is on the west side of my house, so something that can thrive in low/medium light is the ticket. The south wall of my house is where my tomatoes go each year, and my tiny backyard has my blueberry bushes I put in last year. The east side of my house (side yard) is almost fully shaded from a beautiful old oak on the edge of my lot.

I read a great article on growing grapes indoors and am considering that or potted fruit trees that can be indoor/outdoor for my office (which gets light from the east, west and south via big picture windows).

In the meantime, I have three thriving farmers markets, the ability to buy food service sized containers of frozen fruit, and a few commercial growers that sell misshapen fruit by the flat. I just need to get a jump on one of them this year