Reviewed: Aug. 20, 2010

Great intro recipe for starters into brewing your own wine at home! Some additional tips because there are some things that you arent told: 1. Use more cans of concentrate and less sugar for a stronger flavored wine (3 cans and 1/2 cup sugar or 2 cans and 2 1/2 cups of sugar) 2. Siphon off after 2 weeks of starting to get the wine on the lees (dead yeast) so the wine wont taste as funky...if you leave it on the dead yeast for 5 weeks it will be super musty-flavored 3. Use Hawaiin punch jug and drill hole in top and hot glue a 1/4" tube from Lowes (about 2ft is 20 cents) and run tube to a jar/bottle of water. Keep submerged in water so air cant spoil wine and you dont have to worry about rubber balloon taste, etc.. 4. a 5 gram packet of wine yeast makes 5 gallons. Im trying a batch right now just using 1 gram of yeast per gallon. See next step of how to prep yeast to ensure survival. Using 1 gram should cut musty bread flavor of wine, even if using bread yeast. (packets of bread yeast are usually 7 grams) 5. Prep yeast by rehydrating and feeding. Put amount of yeast in lukewarm water and let it rehydrate and foam then feed it a teaspoon or 2 of sugar so it can begin multiplying the yeast count and start on its job. Then add it to the wine mixture of juice and sugar Hope this helps the newcomers a bit more! Thanks for the original recipe!

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Reviewer:

berries

Reviewed: May 27, 2010

I make five gallons at a time. Good stuff. I've heard you should add potassium sorbate at the end of 30 days to stop fermentation so it is more drinkable.

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13 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

vinman13662

Reviewed: Apr. 14, 2010

A fairly easy recipe with pleasing results. As has been mentioned in previous reviews, this can be used in cooking recipes also.

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6 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

MakingGreatWine.com

Reviewed: Mar. 30, 2010

Okay, I just made this for the first time. It aged for 5 weeks. It is really good, beautiful color, but a little cloudy. I am drinking some now, it is really strong. I'm from Louisiana where drinking starts young, and trust me, this stuff is strong! I like it!

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Reviewer:

frozenbunny

Reviewed: Mar. 4, 2010

This is a super easy way to get into home brewing. I have made beer for years and this was the first attempt at wine making. First things first you definatley want to pour the wine into a container and get rid of the gunk at the bottom. In addition I make 5 gallon batches, when im done i like to mix in another frozen mix to sweeten it up. I also add potassium sorbet to keep it from fermenting, which is available at any home brew store or home brew online store. Again this does not taste great but it does the job for me and my college friends.

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Reviewer:

mabbore

Reviewed: Feb. 6, 2010

Definitly probabyl to much sugar unless you like it SWEET SWEET!!!! And get rid of the jugs and ballons, i just use a gallon glass jugs with airlocks!!! You can pick up a cheap set on ebay!!! Its where i got mine and ive used it over and over to make this and similar wine recipes!!! You will even get two 1 Gallon Glass Jugs with your kit!

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13 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

dbsdisposal1

Reviewed: Dec. 10, 2009

great recipe, this is my 4th batch. one thing i learned is to dissolve the yeast in a cup of warm water before adding to the mix. dissolving the sugar as one commented and doing the same with the yeast gives a more even mixture. i move my batch after 3 weeks to a second jug leaving the sediment on the bottom, then i leave that for another 3 weeks and bam!!!!!!!!!! thanks for the recipe. i call this last one 6 week hooch.. people cant believe it was made out of frozen concentrate. lol

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Reviewer:

huntr

Reviewed: Dec. 4, 2009

I made this wine for the first time exactly as stated. It turned out alright, but was a bit too bitter. I found that the reason the taste was so off, was because there was no way for the gases to escape. I have made a few small changes, that made the wine phenomenal! First, dissolve the sugar in water before it is added to the jug, and I use 2 juice concentrates instead of one, it gives more flavour. before placing your balloon on, use a small needle or sewing pin to poke a few hole in the top of the balloon. This will let the gases out, but it wont let the air in. After your wine has fermented, use a funnel and some kind of strainer (I use nylon stocking, their about a dollar at most stores) and strain the wine into wine bottles, or another gallon jug. After that, the wine is done, and tastes great! For a richer flavor though, let it sit in it's new container for about a week longer, and the wine is PERFECT! Enjoy. :-)

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Reviewer:

HealthyWithSoy

Reviewed: Nov. 7, 2009

I boiled the water and then added the sugar so it dissolved comepletely. I added the yeast to the liquid when it was still slightly warm, and it was ready to drink in about 9 days. All of the yeast settled to the bottom of the gallon jug, and the wine became clear. I used the Hodgson Mill yeast (8.75g). This stuff is strong, and it creeps up on you. Before I knew it, I had drank about on third of it because it tastes so good. I was very drunk and extremely hungover the next day.

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Reviewer:

ThomasM

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: San Bernardino, California, USA

Reviewed: Sep. 26, 2009

DECENT RECIPE FOR BEGINNERS, BUT DONT GIVE UP SO EASILY! FIND A SHOP LOCALLY THAT SELLS BREWING SUPPLIES. DITCH THE BALLONS, RUBBER BANDS, PLASTIC JUGS AND BREAD YEAST. IT'LL COST @ FOUR BUCKS TO BUY A DRILLED RUBBER STOPPER, A PLASTIC AERATOR AND YEAST MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR WINE. SPEND ANOTHER FOUR BUCKS ON CAMPDEN TABLETS AND POTASSIUM SORBATE AND THEN MAKE YOUR WINE. KEEP IN MIND YOU'LL BASICALLY BE MAKING A LOW DOSE RUBBING ALCOHOL WITH A LITLLE FLAVOR. IF YOU EXPECT A $200 BOTTLE OF WINE BY SPENDING EIGHT BUCKS AND 20 MINUTES, YOU'LL HAVE MORE SUCCESS WATCHING BOB VILA ONCE AND OPENING YOUR OWN CABINET SHOP. DO A LITTLE RESEARCH, SPEND A FEW BUCKS, BE PATIENT, EXPERIMENT IN SMALL BATCHES, DRINK YOUR RESULTS AND MODIFY. WRITE EVERY SINGLE DETAIL IN A NOTEBOOK, KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STEPS AND YOUR WINE WILL IMPROVE WITH EVERY BATCH. PATIENCE AND SANITATION ARE A MUST. IF YOU PICK UP A PAINTBRUSH FOR THE FIRST TIME AND EXPECT THE MONA LISA, FIND ANOTHER HOBBY. RESEARCH, TIME AND PATIENCE WILL BE REWARDED. GOOD LUCK!

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