broke and first attempt to make homemade wine

[m00nd0g]

i know some of u will frown on the way i made my homemade wine, but i got the idea from a youtube'r i am subscribed to.

i have a few half gallon mason jars and i have access to apples, peaches, nectarines, strawberrys, plums, and blackberries.

i filled each of my 6 half gallon mason jars halfway up with the fruit i was using per jar and filled it up with boiling water that had cooled for a lil bit (5 cups of sugar per gal of water).

i have them sitting in my closet with the lids halfway tightened and plan on tightening them after they quit bubbling and plan to let them sit till xmas.

i know this isn't the most ideal way, but can i get drinkable wine doing it this way with those 6 fruits?

 

[olusteebus]

A friend of mine made wine a similar way and it was very good.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi M00nd0g, Could the heat of the near boiling water have killed those yeasts that were in the fruit. Is there any fermentation taking place at this time?

 

[NorCal]

No nutrient, yeast or plans to rack? I'll be following your progress.

You could follow the Dragon Blood process with your fruit and get a drinkable product in 4 weeks or so. It does call for some yeast energizer, nutrient, S02, Sorbate, but in total it is only a few bucks. I think the per bottle cost were <$1.

 

[m00nd0g]

it let it cool to touch, but it was still very warm when i poured the water in.

i bottled it about 8 or 9 hours ago, and there are no bubbles when i woke up this morning...have i already screwed it up? i plan on one day going all out in my wine making, but this is just how i have to do it this time around.

 

[sour_grapes]

i bottled it about 8 or 9 hours ago, and there are no bubbles when i woke up this morning...have i already screwed it up?

Too early to say.

Adding wine yeast would be a big step in the right direction. Are you saying you are too broke to buy wine yeast? (This is an honest question, not a value judgement.)

 

[m00nd0g]

id have to order it online....i could maybe spend a lil bit of money but wouldn't it be to late by the time it gets shipped to me? im really straped so when i say a lil bit of money, i literally mean it.

 

[sour_grapes]

Yeah, the yeast is cheap, but the shipping will kill you. Do you live in a remote area? Most places in the US and Canada have a local home brewing store (LHBS) these days.... Hell, if you live in the US and you give me your address by private message, I will send you half a dozen packages of EC-1118 yeast. (May be too late for this batch, but perhaps you could use them later.)

 

[jdmyers]

Ive been broke myself . but, if you get a list of things you need and start looking at yard sales /craiglist/ estate sales, etc. it wont be ling before you've got some of the basic equipment to be hooked on wine making. One tip go to your local grocery store the icing they use at the bakery comes in 1 , 3, and 5 gal food grade buckets which they throw away. the will give them to you if you ask now you got free primary fermenters

 

[m00nd0g]

thats really nice of u to offer, but if its too late it would just be wasteful for me to accept it from u, sour grapes. if it goes bad, it goes bad. i dont have any money in it so it will just be a lesson learned. im still gonna try it and i hope it starts bubbling soon.

 

[warmuthj]

If u have a grocery store buy some bread yeast. Do not use the fast acting. It is under one dollar hydrate it and add some to each jar. Just a suggestion.

 

[Thig]

I was going to suggest the same thing, bread yeast might be better than nothing and it is cheap.

 

[m00nd0g]

if i were to throw out what i did and restart, how much wine yeast should i put per half gallon bottle? again, im doing half gallon bottles that are half filled with fruit and i add water that was boiled with 5 cups of sugar per gallon. i appreciate all the help from everyone, btw.

 

[cintipam]

You don't need to throw it out. Just add the yeast. If it goes bad, meaning gets stinky and nasty, then throw it out. but when making wine we often leave stuff for a day or two between steps like pectin, kmeta and adding yeast. So add the yeast and see if it will start to work for you. no loss either way.

Pam in cinti

 

[m00nd0g]

how much wine yeast should i add to each 1/2 gallon bottle?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

m00nd0g

This hobby can be as cheap or expensive as your budget allows you to. My recommendation would be the following
wine yeast
hydrometer
carboy
airlock and bung
sugar

Most of the above - you can find great deals on craigslist or garage sales \
where do you live ? I have some extras if you live close enough ?

Next - you can always find friends or family that has fruit trees and or go to the grocery store and talk to the produce manager about saving his old fruit prior to throwing it out and barter with some of the wine you made from it.

I hope this helps - ?

 

[NorCal]

how much wine yeast should i add to each 1/2 gallon bottle?

I would hydrate it per the instruction and divide evenly. A little packet of yeast I use is good for 6 gallons.

 

[cintipam]

m00nd0g I've never used bread yeast on wine, so it's hard for me to say how much to use. I would make a starter, meaning take about a cup warm water, mix in a few tablespoons of sugar, then sprinkle dry yeast on top (I'd say make sure you use enough yeast to make a solid layer of yeast with a few little small mounds of dry yeast here and there). Cover it, put it aside for 1/2 hour then check it. It should be foamy and smell yeasty. Give it a good mix to be sure yeast in incorporated thru the fluid, then add a tablespoon or two to each 1/2 gallon container by just dropping that yeast on top. Don't stir it into the juice yet. If nothing happens in 24 hours, repeat process. Again, I use bread use for bread all the time, but have no idea how quickly it should work in wine. Once you get any response from the yeast give juice a little stir, wait 12 hours stir again. Hopefully it will be foamy on top, if so you'll need to continue stirring 2x daily to mix oxygen in until fermentation slows way down, then leave lids not tight and wait another 5 days or so to finish on it's own.

Just winging it here trying to help.

Pam in cinti

 

[cintipam]

Just saw you have wine yeast. Actually I'd do it the same way since it is really hard to divide up that dry yeast into even piles. Making a starter gives yeast a head start on reproducing so it's easier to get an effective dose into each 1/2 gall. If you have more than say 5 gallons total I'd still use 2 pkgs of yeast to be safe.

Good Luck!

Pam in cinti

 

[m00nd0g]

appreciate the comments....ill keep yall updated on how my lil ghetto setup goes....