Homemade Wine

The title of this post is real--this recipe is for homemade wine. Mom told me that when all us kids were young, Mom and Dad did not keep alcohol around the house, except for an occasional batch of this wine. I am sure that all my siblings remember the Dad making this wine. It is hard to forget the gallon jug with a balloon on top sitting around for weeks. When we lived on Lincoln, Dad would usually put the jug in the basement near the washer and dryer.

This wine takes time to make, about three weeks. When I made a batch for this post, I used a half-gallon jug because I wanted to use a glass jug and that size is what I had on hand. I simply halved the recipe. You could use any type of jug, such as a milk jug. The wine itself was not bad, and maybe even good. MDS asked me whether it was a merlot or a cabernet, but I told him it was concord. As in concord frozen grape juice concentrate. There is no French appellation for this wine. In researching tips on homemade wine, I read that any flavor frozen juice concentrate could be used. Next time, I will try peach juice frozen concentrate. Also, I used just regular yeast and it turned out fine. But, there are different types of yeast meant for winemaking that allegedly yield better wine. The wine tasted fine to me and was pretty sweet, so I did not need to add extra sugar. All in all, homemade wine was a success.

Homemade Wine

• 2 12-oz. cans of frozen grape juice concentrate, thawed
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. dry yeast dissolved 
• water
• gallon jug
• balloon

Pour the juice concentrate and sugar into a gallon jug. Add the yeast to one cup warm water (about 115 degrees) with a spoonful of sugar. After the yeast has foamed, add the yeast mix to the gallon jug. Fill the jug with water. Make a pinhole in the tip of a balloon and place the balloon over the spout of the jug. The balloon will inflate a bit as the yeast works. When the balloon deflates (about three weeks), the wine is ready.

The sediment will sink to the bottom. Pour the clear wine out and remove the sediment. You could also pour the wine through a filter (I used a coffee filter and sieve). You may add an additional cup of sugar to sweeten to taste. Enjoy!