Puritan Pub

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth. . .And wine that maketh glad the heart of man. . . . –Psalm 104:14-15.

I am hardly an expert on winemaking, but I have been making wine out of homegrown fruit for more than 25 years.

I am often asked, “is it legal?” Yes, it is. Federal regulations allow a household of one adult to produce 100 gallons and a household of two or more adults to produce 200 gallons without restriction or tax. (27 CFR 24.75). Just don’t try to sell it. I’ve never made more than about fifteen gallons, myself.

Although some purists may protest, wine is nothing more than fermented fruit juice. The primary concern is that the fruit juice should have enough sugar to bring the alcohol content to approximately 10% or more. This helps preserve the wine and allows for decent aging. Most fruit juices require additional sugar to be added. Fully ripened grapes, however, usually have enough natural sugar to reach this level. From my small vineyard I could produce perhaps 15 gallons of wine, but we eat half of the grapes as they become ripe. I also make wine from apples, blackberries, raspberries, and other fruits found in our backyard.

People can spend a lot of money purchasing fancy equipment, special flavorings or fruit extracts, or even “wine kits.” My approach is more humble. The basic equipment one may use for wine making costs less than $30, especially if you use old Carlo Rossi jugs for your secondary fermenting containers. A $5 hydrometer, for measuring sugar and alcohol content, is essential. Vinyl tubes, airlocks, corks, and plastic buckets are needed. Cleanliness is important too. I clean all equipment in a chlorine-bleach solution and then rinse several times with boiling water.

The steps, in very basic form, are these: First, place juice of appropriate sweetness (checked with the hydrometer) into the primary fermenter. (This is a fancy name for a food-grade plastic bucket). Add a properly mixed dose of wine yeast (sold for around 50 cents at wine supply stores), cover loosely so that carbon dioxide can escape. After a couple of days, the juice should be quite foamy. At this point it has some alcohol already formed and is fermenting well. If it isn’t, you probably should throw it away and start over.

Next, you strain out the pulp and transfer the liquid to the secondary fermenters (the Carlo Rossi jugs). A funnel with cheese cloth or a siphon with a clear vinyl plastic hose works well for this. The secondary fermenter needs to accept a cork with an air lock. (These cost a dollar or two at the local wine supply store). The airlock allows the carbon dioxide to escape while preventing oxygen from entering the jug. Without it you will get vinegar.

After this, you wait until it stops bubbling. It might take several weeks depending on the sugar content and temperature. From time to time, you may rack the wine. This means to siphon off the liquid into another jug while leaving the residue (lees) behind. You don’t want to do this too often because it can stop the fermentation. On the other hand, you don’t want to neglect this because the lees give a “yeasty” flavor to the wine. This is where art and lucky providence come in.

Once it has stopped fermenting, there are several things you can do. I often do the simple: put it in bottles (after testing with the hydrometer to determine alcohol content). The danger here is that it might still be slowly fermenting, resulting in a fizzy wine that could explode the bottle. I’ve never had this happen, but I have had some remarkable sparkling wines.

Otherwise, you can add sulfites to stop fermenting, preserve the status quo, and then bottle. Sometimes people add different enzymes or settling compounds to clear the wine. I always add pectase to apple-based wines because apples have a lot of pectin and pectin makes wine cloudy.

Of course, you could drink the wine immediately. Most people, after doing a few batches, opt to age it a bit. Aging really does improve wine. Even a month or two will make a harsh wine more mellow. After six months to a year, it is quite good. Beyond that you are getting into the rarified realm of wine masters. They know that some wines benefit from age and others degrade. There is much more to this than I could describe here.

What I’ve set out is very basic. More helpful details can be found on the internet. Here is one comprehensive and useful site. There are recipes, techniques, suggestions, and other help for winemakers of all levels of experience. The more complex winemakers spend a great deal of time concerned with nutrient balance, temperature, and a host of other variables. The input and care required to make a sublime wine as opposed to a pretty good wine can be very substantial. But even a simple, pretty good wine that you have labored over from your own fruit has its rewards.

As the old preacher and son of David said:

Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Winemaking is a fun and inexpensive way to do something different with your backyard fruit. And, in due moderation, it makes the heart glad.

–R.V.Bottomly