Joy of Home Wine Making (14 page)

CIDER APPLE WINE

1 gallon fresh pressed cider or apple juice, no preservatives

1 quart water

1½ lbs. sugar or 2 lbs. honey

1 tsp. acid blend (½ tsp. if apples are tart)

¼ tsp. tannin

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

1 packet champagne wine yeast

Put aside 1 quart of the apple juice or cider to drink later. Put the water mixed with the sugar or honey on the stove to boil.

Now pour the hot sugar water over the apple cider. You can do this in a secondary container if you use a funnel and are careful. The cool cider will bring the temperature down quickly. Add the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient, but wait until the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet if you choose to. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, then merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA and write it down. It should be within a reasonable range (10 to 13 percent, depending on how sweet the cider was).

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast. Stir daily for about two
weeks. Check the PA. When it is down to 3 to 4 percent, rack the wine into another glass fermenter.

Rack at least twice during secondary fermentation. It might take a while to clear. Keep for at least six months. Serve chilled.

APRICOT OR PEACH WINE

Get the ripest fruit you can and wash it well. It should be soft and fragrant. Hard, underripe apricots or peaches are useless except for baseball practice. No need to peel the fruit, but remove the pits and any bruises. You can also use frozen peaches or apricots. Just put them, frozen, into the straining bag.

1 gallon water

2¼ lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. mild honey

3 lbs. ripe apricots or peaches

1½ tsp. acid blend OR juice and zest of 2 lemons

¼ tsp. tannin

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet champagne wine yeast

Put the water mixed with the sugar or honey on the stove to boil. Put the halved fruit into a nylon straining bag and put in the bottom of your primary fermenter. Wash your hands and crush the fruit as much as you can. It will be really gloppy. (Your hands will be gloppy, too. It’s good for the complexion.)

Now pour the hot sugar water over the fruit. If you prefer, you can chill and reserve half the water beforehand; if you’ve done so, you can pour it in now to bring the temperature down quickly. Add the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient, but wait till the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet if you choose to. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, then merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA and write it down. It might seem a bit high because of the pulp escaping the nylon bag.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast. Stir daily. After about one or two weeks remove the bag (don’t squeeze). After the sediment has settled down again, check the PA. If it is above 3 to 4
percent PA, let it go another week or so, then rack it into your glass fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock. You might have to make up the gallon with a little water to make up for the sediment.

Rack the wine at least twice during secondary fermentation. You don’t want any off flavors.

In six months, check the PA to see if it has fermented out. Taste it. You might want to sweeten it. Add some stabilizer and 2 to 4 ounces of sugar dissolved in water. Bottle, label, let it rest a year, then open and enjoy it. Serve chilled.

NOTE: You can probably use this recipe for fruits such as mango, loquat, and papaya. They aren’t much different in general flavor or water content than peaches or apricots. It’s best to peel mangos and papayas, but loquats don’t need peeling. Remove any seeds.

BODACIOUS BANANA

Use organically grown bananas for this wine, because the skin of nonorganic bananas has a lot of pesticide residue on it. You can use bananas that have been ripened and frozen. They keep well. Banana wine sounds a little funny, but it’s amazingly good and is a nice blending wine (I’ll explain later). Do not use plantains for this wine.

1 gallon water

3 lbs. very ripe (black but not rotten) bananas

2 lbs. sugar or 2¼ lbs. mild honey

3 tsp. acid blend OR juice of 3 large lemons

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

¼ tsp. tannin

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 packet champagne wine yeast

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

Put half the water on to boil. Wash and slice the bananas, skins and all. Put them in a nylon straining bag and simmer for half an hour in the water. Remove and reserve the nylon straining bag. Pour the liquid into the primary fermenter. Add the straining bag. Boil the sugar or honey with the rest of the water and skim if necessary.

Pour the hot sugar water over the contents of the primary fermenter. Add the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient, but wait until the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet if you choose to. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, then merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA and write it down. It might seem a bit high because of the pulp escaping the nylon bag. Don’t worry if it looks alarming.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast.

Stir daily. Check the PA. (What should it say?) After the froth has died down, you can put it into a secondary fermenter. You might have to top up the gallon with a little water to make up for the sediment. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine at least twice during secondary fermentation.

In six months, check the PA to see if it has fermented out. Taste the wine. You might want to sweeten it. Add some stabilizer and 2 to 4 ounces of sugar dissolved in water. Bottle, label, let it rest a year, then open and enjoy it. Serve chilled.

VICTORY BLACKBERRY