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Make your own wine homemade Cheap

11K views 62 replies 23 participants last post by  jdode 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello, I figured I would write an article on what I know as to add to this amazing community.

NOTE: (Sorry if I wrote this in the wrong section, if it needs to be moved let me know)

I'm going to outline how to make homemade wine, with and without yeast on hand and without using up your food supply using only water, sugar or sugar containing substances and yeast.

This can also produce vinegar if done incorrectly but that can still be used as a disinfectant/stomach wash.

This wine could be distilled to make grain alcohol for many uses.


Prep/supplies:
(note I am trying to write this formula for the least amount of ingredients possible. in a survival setting you won't want to waste anything that could be used elsewhere.)

-A container (1 gallon for this recipe)
-A pound of sugar
-A packet of bakers yeast (I will go over not needing yeast as well)
-A balloon (optional but provides higher rate of success)
-Water about 3/4ths of the gallon jug full
-Kool aid powder for flavor (Without this it still works but tastes like sugar and yeast lol)
(optional tools)
-A clear plastic hose (used to remove dead yeast or "Dregs" for a better tasting wine)


The science behind wine making:
Yeast eats sugar and produces Alcohol and CO2 as waste.
this continues until the amount of alcohol is enough to kill the yeast and the process completes. Yeast is a strong bacteria and is good at fighting off competitors so wine making is remarkably easy to do.

Making wine with yeast on hand:

First sterilize all of your materials with boiling water including the jug you will be using.

Second, add clean room temperature water to the jug about 3/4ths of the container full (this is to leave room for the foam and CO2 given off by the yeast.)

Third, Add your packet of yeast to the container and add a half a cup of sugar as well.

Next, put the lid on the container and Shake Well! you should shake for 15 minutes and cause it to be a solution.

After this take the balloon and pop a small hole in it with a needle, this is a poor mans airlock which will prevent air to enter and therefore reduces bacteria that will fight for control of the container.

Finally, Place the container in a warm dark location, perhaps a pantry or basement or closet. In a week or two it will be ready to drink. Remember to add kool aid for taste.


IMPORTANT: You should add 1/4th of a cup of sugar to this wine a day for the first few days to ensure the yeast has enough food but don't over do it as it can cause the yeast to die from shock.

NOTES:

-After a day you should hear bubbling like soda does in a glass. This is the sound of CO2 being released meaning the yeast is doing it's job.

-Dregs are safe to drink and will not hurt you, they look like a brown paste. Not to tasty but you won't get sick.

-This wine is safe to drink as long as it doesn't smell rotten or like vinegar.

-if it sells like vinegar it was exposed to bacteria and you will have to start again.

-If you want a better wine you can let it ferment longer (the longer the better)
and use a hose to siphon the wine into another container while trying not to transfer the dregs. each time you do this it will make the wine clearer. without this step it will be cloudy and brownish (safe to drink but not to fancy looking for sure.)

-DO NOT bottle this in a glass bottle until the yeast is all dead. it will cause the wine bottle to explode from CO2 pressure. If you want you can kill off the yeast by sugar shocking it.

Without yeast follow the above steps just instead of adding yeast:

Take a half a cup of fruit and let it be exposed to air in indirect sunlight for 3 days, it will mold, scrape the mold off and put the fruit into the wine. yeast is in the air and will get onto this fruit. this is still safe because yeast will fight off other bacteria's This is how people did it before yeast was produced artificially.

Also certain (all?) grapes have natural yeast which can be used.

I wouldn't recommend the Without yeast method unless its a SHTF scenario and yeast isn't easy to obtain.


Thanks for reading hopefully it was useful to some of you. If you follow these steps you will have a good pass time drink for the Apocalypse and a great trade good for the other wasteland dwellers of that time.

PS this tastes a lot better cold but is decent warm.

Thanks again!
Bloodocean7.
 
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#3 ·
Good question, I like the watermelon and blue or grape flavor for it. I tried alot of them and all are decent but certain ones are alot smoother.

You can also use off brand lemonade powder packets from walmart it's around 10 cents and has no sugar added so it probably would last a very long time in storage. and the taste is pretty good for the price. :)
 
#8 ·
Always use plastic as the CO2 can cause glass to break during fermentation.

Also since you are adding the kool aid after the fermentation is finished it would not effect the wine. however if added before it finishes it may kill your yeast depending on how much you use.

As a general guideline just add flavorings when your ready to drink it and stir well (you can drink the wine while the yeast is still alive it will not harm you.)

Edit: As for sugared or aspertame it should not effect it either way. but I use sugarless because it can store for a very long time and ants won't try to get into your stock pile of packets.
 
#20 ·
As for sugared or aspertame it should not effect it either way. but I use sugarless because it can store for a very long time and ants won't try to get into your stock pile of packets.
Certain sweeteners will not feed the yeast. Splenda is a prime example of such. Your must will taste very sweet, but the yeast will starve. I only use pure sugar.

The yeast processes the sugars i.e they pee alcohol and fart carbon dioxide. As the yeast grows, multiplies and then EATS sugar levels drop accordingly.

Lavlin EC1118 yeast is about $1.68 a packet at my local brew supply place and can be repitched for use in multiple batches (4 maybe 5). It can live in higher alcoholic environments resulting in a much stronger drink than when using bread yeast.
 
#12 ·
Grapes, wild plums, and most berries have yeast on their skins. Using those fruits in your juice solution will provide natural yeast. Cultivation of yeast did not happen until the late 1600-1700s, but people have been drinking wine for thousands of years.

I make a pleasant white wine from apple juice, about 3 cups of sugar, and a half a package of champagne yeast. You can use regular bread yeast. A gallon of unfiltered apple juice yields about 3 1/2 quarts of white wine, just a little dryer than a moscato, but not as dry as a Chablis. Big difference is the cost is around $3.50 total instead of 7-10 dollars a bottle. 1 dollar or 10. Hmmm. Hard choice.

There are right at five 750 ml bottles to a gallon. I also discovered that you can buy an empty gallon bottle at the homebrew store for about six bucks, OR for around ten, the Earnest and Julio Gallo family will sell you the same bottle already filled with very old grape juice! You will have to figure out how to dispose of the product before you begin your home made wine project, but maybe you can think of a way?
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#37 ·
Grapes, wild plums, and most berries have yeast on their skins. Using those fruits in your juice solution will provide natural yeast. Cultivation of yeast did not happen until the late 1600-1700s, but people have been drinking wine for thousands of years.

I make a pleasant white wine from apple juice, about 3 cups of sugar, and a half a package of champagne yeast. You can use regular bread yeast. A gallon of unfiltered apple juice yields about 3 1/2 quarts of white wine, just a little dryer than a moscato, but not as dry as a Chablis. Big difference is the cost is around $3.50 total instead of 7-10 dollars a bottle. 1 dollar or 10. Hmmm. Hard choice.

There are right at five 750 ml bottles to a gallon. I also discovered that you can buy an empty gallon bottle at the homebrew store for about six bucks, OR for around ten, the Earnest and Julio Gallo family will sell you the same bottle already filled with very old grape juice! You will have to figure out how to dispose of the product before you begin your home made wine project, but maybe you can think of a way?
��
You could probably use the old grape juice to make port. I once let my red wine oxygenate too long after fermentation and it ended up tasting like port. It made excellent aus jus for roasts; just pour it over the roast and slide it in the oven. Best aus jus ever!

15 years ago, the local store would get the annual apple cider in gallon glass jugs. That's how I accumulated my wine making jugs. Anything bigger than a gallon and it was too hard for me to carry up the basement stairs. I can carry one in each hand and that's about it. A 5 gallon carboy would be too difficult for me to handle.

My very first year at wine making and I used an 8 gallon crock that I got from my dad. I made the mistake of using a water and bleach solution to clean it. I had about 5 gallons of very nice red wine vinegar. I'm using the last of it this year. I haven't used the crock since. Maybe, I should use it for kraut.... I'm afraid to put good grapes in it. Speaking of grapes, a Super Derecho came through in '09 and took out my 100 year old cynthianas... what a shame.

Speaking of wine, I forgot to rack some into bottles months ago. Looks like I'll have more cooking wine. :upsidedown:
 
#13 ·
Airlocks are cheap and reusable and if you plan on making wine after a shtf event they should be part of your preps.

When I make cider I add up to a whole pound of sugar at the beginning, that way I don't have to mess with it during active fermentation. I also warm my 'must' on the stove to between 104 and 109 degrees to jump start my yeast.

I would be wary of using anything moldy for fermentation, scraped off or not, the chance of contamination is too high (for me)
 
#14 ·
This is true, but this method is for an very easy and cheap method. it also uses very few resources you could otherwise use for other things and if you have no fruit on hand in say a fallout shelter or what have you.

This is considered a sort of "hobo wine" lol :)
 
#15 ·
I've been experimenting with making fuzzy apple juice. I like the sparkling apple juice they sell for high prices in fancy bottles.

I just add a tiny bit of bakers yeast to apple juice in a PLASTIC SOFT DRINK BOTTLE. Cap it tight and in about 24 hrs. it is ready. I started using beer bottles but I exploded too many of those. The plastic bottle lets you do a squeeze test to tell when it is ready.
 
#18 ·
Mead, now, that's the stuff. Costs more, but worth it. p3.5 lbs of honey per gallon.

I also made some using a pound of raisins per gallon. And you're right, Steve a couple of dozen raisins is good in any wine process.

I have always used glass, and never had any bottles break. I've had an airlock get clogged and the carbon dioxide blew the stopper out, and spewed wine all over the place. Kind of messy. I learned to leave more head space in the fermenting bottles.

It's also important to keep the temp between around 65° and 80°. If it gets much out of that range, you risk killing the yeast.
 
#25 ·
As far as a DIY air lock, you can use a length of plastic tubing into a mason jar of sterilized water (see attached)

You can also used crushed fruit instead of powders like kool aid. Anyone else here ever make Apple Jack?

http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-applejack
 

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#26 ·


I make my own wine, applejack, brandy & assorted distilled spirits.

Accumulating GLASS carboys, proper airlocks, a hydrometer & good quality yeast costs very little.

There are literally millions of recipes on-line for all sorts of home made alcohol.

It's best to take your time & make the highest quality wine or spirits you can.

Picture above is my 100 proof wild berry brandy.
 
#27 ·
The OP recipe is cheap enough these days because sugar is plentiful and inexpensive.

But refined sugar is one of the harder things to get when the food factories close.

For a SHTF recipe I'd recommend one that doesn't require a pound of sugar to get the job done. Fruit is the better choice.
 
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