Reviewed: May 6, 2012

For such a simple recipe, I am wonderfully impressed with the results! I will be making this again, for sure! I used frozen apple cider. I also used only 3 cups of sugar, dissolved in boiled water. It's still quite sweet, and it's quite strong...somewhat like a dessert wine, not quite as sweet. I did wait the six weeks, and it was worth it!

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1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

rebeccahelen

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Miller, South Dakota, USA

Reviewed: Nov. 12, 2011

good basic wine recipe except for the amount of sugar. It is excessive. I would use a maximum of 3 cups in the future for better results

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6 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Tara

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Oct. 13, 2011

I used this recipe and ordered a professional grade cork and airlock from midwest supplies ($1.85+SH). After fermentation, the resulting liquid was very strong with a yeasty aftertaste. I mixed the wine with one can of like Welches white grape juice concentrate and it was more than drinkable. Very high alcohol content!

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8 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

stevenlb

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 13, 2011

The recipe is excellent! the calculator for different quantities does not work properly.

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6 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

tedstorm

Reviewed: Sep. 16, 2011

Helpful maybe?, I am not an expert and it has been some time since I did this: Wash the balloon. When the balloon deflates the wine has stopped working and added time may screw the flavor and maybe turn to vinegar, earlier may taste yeasty. [actually the higher alcohol content kills the fungus making the alcohol, no longer giving off gas and the balloon goes down] Most rubber balloons have very small holes and will deflate over a short time, good ones may take a long time, so pricking small holes resolves this or your wine will sit too a long time with a big balloon and not working, but spoiling. You just need to know when it stops working, that is the purpose of the balloon idea. Timing is quite important, and sealing it in another clean bottle or refrigerating it after it is ready keeps it longer. If you do not clean and sterilize your jug you may get contaminates that may give it a bad flavor or affect the working process.

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17 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Highball

Reviewed: Sep. 5, 2011

I think this wine is gonna be a great wine and good tasteing. I Rate it 5 stars .

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

skipperblackie18

Reviewed: Aug. 15, 2011

I used the Welch's white grape juice concentrate. At first I thought it tasted cheap but after two weeks in the bottle the taste is comparable to mid range chardonnay.

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9 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

hareron

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Bronx, New York, USA

Living In: Purdys, New York, USA

Reviewed: Jul. 17, 2011

I thought this recipe was actually good. Instead of a balloon I used a recieving blanket to cover my jugs and after a week the wine was delicious. Going to let it sit for a few more weeks tho.

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

gadget

Reviewed: Jul. 1, 2011

I'm new to wine making. The first two 1-gallon batches I made were fresh strawberry and mango. Both of them came out perfectly. Then I tried this recipe to the exact. I used this formula to make four 1-gallon batches, two Welch white grapes and two Welch red grapes. Three came out perfect and one is a bit slow. I just bottled them today and they looked fantastic. They taste very good and strong too. I used RedStar montrachet yeast. I started a new 5-gallon batch with 10 cans of Welch red grape juice with RedStar champagne yeast this time. It's been a week now. Will see if it's going to taste stronger. The starting SG is a bit higher (1.126). The one gallon batches I started out using the milk jug with air-locks though. I didn't use the balloons. After 4 weeks, I racked them into 1 gallon carboy. I used sparkaloid to clear the wines. They taste just as perfect without using the agent but I just want to make them clear to look nice in the bottles.

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7 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

ThienThy

Reviewed: May 29, 2011

I don't drink. But I decided to make some of my own wine for my 21st birthday. I did white grape, and apple raspberry. The white grape came out wonderful! Nice and sweet and the perfect amount of bubbles. I let my family try it and they accused me of buying bottled wine and sneaking it into my containers! I did read the other reviews and siphoned and filtered off the 'bottom of the barrel' crappy stuff. The result was a very strong, albeit good tasting wine. Will make again.

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4 users found this review helpful