Looking for an easy, inexpensive recipe

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Samilyn

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I am VERY new at wine making and know very little about it. I have a wine kit in secondary stage, but I'd like to get something going in my primary fermenter. Does anyone have a fairly simple recipe that could be made somewhat inexpensively? Love the idea of using fresh fruits. I really like sweet reds wines. :b
 
Hi
I made a cranberry from wallmart frozen concentrate that turned out fantastic.
Here is the recipe. It is a one gallon recipe so if you want to make more just adjust.

2 cans (11.5) frozen cranberry concentrate.
1 can (11.5) concord grape concentrate.
4 cups of sugar.
2 tsp acid blend.
1 tsp pectic enzyme.
1 tsp yeast nutrient.
1 campden crushed.
water to make just over one gallon.
1 pkg yeast (montracet)

Mixed everything except yeast and let set for 24 hrs.
add yeast and let it work for 7 days. stirring daily for the first 4 days.
syphoned into secondary and left for 30 days.
syphoned again and let it clear before bottling.
back sweetened before bottling. :r
 
THANK YOU! How long is this good for? Does it get better with age or just spoil?
 
don't know my wife will not give any a chance to age HE HE:)
 
Any wine will get better with age for some time and then trail off due to numerous circumstances. Fruit wines will usually last around 3-5 years under most conditions and longer if good cellaring is available like steady temps with the right humidity. A good temp to store wine is between 55-65* and stable with around 65-70% humidity. The best thing keeping a wine healthy is the alc it contains, a higher abv will help a wine last the test of time but there are other factors also like the amount of S02 in the wine. This is why we add potassium meta (campden tablets) to our wine. Another factor is the balance of acids and tannins and Ph. Fruit wines arent to great when a high abv is present though as it masks the fruit flavor too much. This is why when making a fruit wine I strongly recommend not going much higher then a starting SG(specific gravity) of 1.090-1.095. That is enough alc to keep a wine for a decent time without masking the precious flavors of your fruit.
 
The kit I am making says that it is best to use within 6 months. If you want it for longer to add more sulphites, which I am trying to avoid doing. Thanks for the tips.
 
Just so you know, they write that so that you drink it and buy another. If you are drinking it cause you want to then thats OK but if you are drinking it cause they say it wont be good then you are being mislead. I have a few of the Mist style kits that I didnt up the sg on and they are almost 5 years old and still taste pretty darn good and i didnt add any extra sulfites back then either.
 
:)Thank you Wade E! I am glad to hear that. I was really very confused as to how it would go bad, but like I said, it's my first one.
 
Are you asking for promary or secondary fermentation. I wouldnt use it for either as you have to really sanitize it good as it can harbor bacteria in softer plastics. Go to a recycling center and get some glass wine jugs or buy them at a wine and beer supply store or if you can find some apple juice at the store in glass containers or if you like Carlo Rossi get yourself a 4 litre jug of that and drink it!
 
Not to mention milk jugs are far too flimsy. Any negative pressure will make it collapse, sucking in all the sanitizer in the airlock, and then leave you with a higher risk of infection.

Plus a 1 gallon jug is kind of a waste of your effort. It takes as much energy to make 1 gallon as 6 gallons.
My minimum batch size is 2.5-3 gallons, so I can at least end up with 1 case of beer, or a case of wine bottles filled.

Look in the recipes section too. Wade or someone posted a very straight forward 'frozen juice concentrate' recipe. just make sure your frozen juice is free of 'sorbate' preservatives. usualy there's just some ascorbic acid, if that.
 
What type of container do you use for a 2.5- 3 gallon batch? Thats for the tips!
 
you could try what i came up with
cant tell you how it comes out because it isnt done yet

5 of these from walmart http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10415325 substitute with the flavor of your choice just make sure its only juice and no preservatives ascorbic acid is fine to have in it ive read though its only vitamin c
a packet of yeast
figured out how much sugar to use going with what Luc had said in a post i read of about 200 grams per liter counting the sugar in the juice which in this case was 28 grams per bottle of juice
so 5 pounds of sugar(which might be a 1/2 cup or so over what i needed in hindsight)
squeeze the juice from a lemon in to the must
i also saved a little of the juice(probly almost half one of the jugs)to disolve the sugar in by heating it on the stove
and as in koda's recipe mix it all together except the yeast and let it sit a day then pitch the yeast and so on and so on
this will fill a 5 gallon primary bucket to a few inches from the top

this also isnt anything fancy and is pretty primitive also i didnt use wine yeast in mine

yet it is a simple cheap recipe
 
What type of container do you use for a 2.5- 3 gallon batch? Thats for the tips!

for primary I just use my 7gallon bucket.

for secondary, I have two 2.5 gallon carboys and one 3gallon carboy.

(plus two 5 gallon carboys :) )
 

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