Recipes for Homemade wine

Below are several recipes for different wines to make at home. Be sure to research the equipment and ingredients needed and follow the instructions carefully. Winemaking is a simple but involved process. All your equipment should be clean and sanitized in order to avoid contamination and an inferior wine.

Dandelion Wine

• 3 qt. dandelion flowers
• 1 lb golden raisins
• 1 gallon water
• 3 lbs granulated sugar
• 2 lemons
• 1 orange
• Yeast and nutrient
Pick the flowers just before starting, so they're fresh. You do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be trimmed of any stalk. Put the flowers in a large bowl. Set aside 1 pint of water and bring the remainder to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the dandelion flowers and cover tightly with cloth or plastic wrap. Leave for two days, stirring twice daily. Do not exceed this time. Pour flowers and water in large pot and bring to a low boil. Add the sugar and the peels (peel thin and avoid any white pits) of the lemons and orange. Boil for one hour, and then pour into a crock or plastic pail. Add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand until cool (70-75 degrees F.). Add yeast and yeast nutrient, cover, and put in a warm place for three days. Strain and pour into a secondary fermentation vessel (bottle or jug). Add the raisins and fit a fermentation trap to the vessel. Strain and rack after wine clears, adding reserved the reserved pint of water if you are required to top it off. Leave until fermentation ceases completely, (this will be obvious when no more foam or bubbling is apparent. Set aside 2 months then pour the liquid into the bottle. This wine must age six months in the bottle before tasting, but will improve remarkably if allowed a year.
Blackberry wine (medium bodied)
• 4 lb. blackberries
• 2-1/4 lb. granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
• 1/2 tsp. acid blend
• Crushed Campden tablet
• 7 pts. Water
• Wine yeast and nutrient
Pick fully ripe, best quality berries. Wash thoroughly and place in a cheesecloth. Mash and squeeze out all juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie jelly-bag and place in primary fermentation vessel with all ingredients except yeast. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and set aside 5 days, stirring daily. Strain juice from jelly-bag and siphon off sediments into secondary fermentation vessel or dark glass (some people wrap clear glass with brown paper bags), adding water to bring to the top, and fit airlock. Place in cool (60-65 degrees F.) dark place for three weeks. Rack, allow another two months to finish the process, then rack again and bottle in dark glass. Allow a year to mature. [Adapted from Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook]
Grape Wine
• 7-1/2 pts grape juice
• Granulated sugar to taste
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablet
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 sachet Red Star Montrachet or Premier Curvee wine yeast
Using the hydrometer, check specific gravity of juice and adjust to 1.088 by adding sugar (if too low) or water (if too high) or additional juice (if just right). Put juice in primary. Add Campden tablet (finely crushed and dissolved in some of the juice), cover primary with sanitized cloth, and set aside for 10-12 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover the primary, and set aside another 8- 10 hours. Stir in yeast nutrient and add activated yeast. Recover primary. When specific gravity drops to 1.015 or lower, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel and attach airlock. Wait until all fermentation ceases and airlock is still for two weeks, then rack into clean secondary, top up and refit airlock. Wait additional 4-6 weeks and add another finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablet and 1/2 teaspoon potassium sorbate to clean secondary, rack wine onto it, top up and refit airlock. Wait 30 days; sweeten to taste, and bottle. Wait two months before tasting.
Peach and Raisin Wine
• 3 lbs of peaches
• 1/2 cup chopped raisins
• 2-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
• 1 large lemon
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 qt boiling water
• 1 crushed Campden tablet
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast
Wash peaches in cool water. Do not peel. Slice thinly into primary, discarding the pits. Mash the peaches and add chopped raisins and half the sugar. Pour in the boiling water and stir to dissolve sugar. Cover primary with sterile cloth and set-aside until it reaches room temperature; add cool water to equal one gallon. Add juice of large lemon and crushed Campden tablet. Recover and set aside 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme and set aside another 12 hours. Stir in yeast nutrient and sprinkle yeast on top. Allow to ferment 5 days, stirring twice daily. Pour this concoction into a finely meshed strainer, squeezing firmly to extract juice. Add remainder of sugar; stir well to dissolve, and then pour into secondary without topping and fit airlock. At this point top off when fermentation stops. Rack every three weeks until wine clears. Allow another two weeks, rack final time and bottle. This can be drunk right away, but will mellow considerably in six months. [Adapted from Dorothy Alatorre's Home Wines of North America]