If you love wine, you’ve probably thought about learning how to make homemade wine.
Many of us remember our parents making wine and perhaps for some it was not such a fond memory, especially when you were not old enough to drink wine as a child. Did you have to pick dandelions for your dad’s dandelion wine? If so, I can empathize with you because I can too. We lived in the country where dandelions grew abundantly and freely, unlike my suburban lawn today, where the sight of even one dandelion becomes the eyesore of the neighborhood.
Hopefully, your tastes in wine, like mine, have matured and reached new levels of wine appreciation, opting for the sophisticated flavors and aromas of red wine types like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel or those found in white wine types, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, or Moscato, none of which require us to pick dandelions if we want to enjoy our own winemaking.
Learn how to make homemade wine that tastes great!
You’re probably wondering if homemade wine will taste good, and it will help to know that there are award-winning homemade wines out there, and they’re fairly easy to make. Homemade wine can produce the same excellent complexity, flavor, and aroma of many vineyard wines.
The following information provides you with wine making supplies and instructions for making that award winning bottle of wine. The instructions are easy to follow, but making a good-tasting wine does require a bit of aging. Therefore, we must patiently wait for our wine to ferment properly, which can take 3-6 months or more. The wine will be ready for bottling after a month and could be drunk in another month, but longer could result in a better tasting wine, particularly with red wine.
I know it will be hard to wait, but it will be worth it! You can label your wine, naming it after yourself, your dog, a certain treat, or whatever else suits your tastes.
How to make homemade wine – Wine making kit
To learn how to make homemade wine, I think it’s best to start with a wine making kit. There are a number of websites that sell the kits. Many of the kits are quite nice, coming packed with reusable equipment, quality ingredients, and easy-to-follow wine-making instructions.
You could make homemade wine from scratch, without using a kit, but you would still need to buy some basic wine making supplies, fruit juice, wine yeast, sanitizers, etc. If you purchase a wine making kit, all the items you need to make wine at home are included.
How to make a simple homemade wine recipe – let’s get started!
For beginners, it’s best to start with a small batch of wine. We’ll be using the following simple recipe to make our wine, and it can be adjusted for dryness or sweetness to suit your tastes.
Ingredients for making wine
1 1/2 quarts (48 oz.) 100% grape juice: white, red, or blue grape juice* at room temperature between 65 and 75°F
1/2 packet dry yeast**
2 1/2 quarts cold water
3 1/4 cups sugar (for a sweeter wine add up to 5 cups of sugar)
*Make sure the juice does not contain potassium sorbate, as this will prevent the fermentation process from happening properly. However, we will add potassium sorbate later in the process to add stability to the wine. You can buy concentrated “wine grape” juice (ie the juice from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay grapes) from wine purveyors and that would really be the best juice to use. However, for a first try at how to make homemade wine, you may want to stick with frozen concentrate from the grocery store.
** You can get wine yeast from a winemaking supplier, but some winemakers use bread yeast. If you’re getting wine yeast, check the yeast’s packaging for the proper amount to use.
wine making supplies
As you learn how to make homemade wine, you’ll also learn that many wine-making supplies are reusable, which reduces the cost of making wine. You’ll need the following basic equipment and supplies, many of which you can find at an online wine supply store, along with books on how to make homemade wine.
Chlorinated detergent disinfectant
1 primary fermentation vessel with lid (a bottle, vat, or bucket that holds more than the carboy)
1-gallon carafe (a glass or plastic container used to hold acidic liquids, such as wine)
siphon tube
1 stopper and airlock (used in fermentation to allow carbon dioxide to escape from the carboy and protect the wine from outside dust or other contamination)
1 hydrometer (measures sugar, density and alcohol in wine)
Stabilizers: one packet of metabisulfite and one packet of potassium sorbate)
1 thermometer
Wine bottles and screw caps
How to make homemade wine step by step
How to make homemade wine Phase 1 – Initial fermentation
Steps:
Sanitize the main fermentation vessel – To avoid contamination and spoilage of the wine, don’t skip this very important step.
Place the juice, sugar and yeast in the sanitized primary fermentation vessel and mix gently but well with a wooden spoon or place the lid on it and shake it gently.
Fill the remaining space in the container with water, leaving 1/2″ at the top.
Using a hydrometer, measure gravity; you should get a reading between 1,070 and 1,080.
Place the lid on the primary fermenter.
Put the ferment in a place that maintains a temperature in the range of 65-75°F. Fermentation begins after 48 hours.
How to Make Homemade Wine Phase 2 – Second Fermentation
On the 7th day, transfer the wine to the carafe as follows:
Steps:
Sanitize the carboy and siphon materials: To avoid contamination and spoilage of the wine, don’t skip this very important step.
Using the siphon tube, draw the wine into the sanitized carboy without disturbing the sediment in the main fermentation vessel. You will want to keep any sediment in the main fermentation vessel. When siphoning, you will most likely see extra space (due to leftover sediment) in the carboy, but don’t fill it yet.
Using a hydrometer, measure gravity; you should get a reading of 1.010 or less.
Attach plug and airlock to cylinder (read airlock instructions for connection; fill halfway with water).
Leave the carafe in the fermentation area for 10 days.
How to Make Homemade Wine Phase 3 – Stabilization
On the 17th, measure the gravity of the wine again; you should get a reading of 0.996 or less. Recheck the gravity the next day to verify that the wine has a stable reading. Repeat this process until the wine has two consecutive days of stable gravity.
Stabilization:
Check the temperature of the wine to make sure it is between 65 and 75°F. If the temperature is below this range, the wine may take time to stabilize and may have high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). If the reading is not in the proper range, adjust the heat in the fermentation area or move the wine to an area with the proper temperature.
If the wine is not clear, it may be due to an excess of CO2. To adjust this, add stabilizers: 1 packet metabisulfite and 1 packet potassium sorbate to 1/2 cup cold water and mix until dissolved. Then add the mixture to the carboy, stirring vigorously for a couple of minutes to distribute the stabilizers and break down the CO2.
Add water to fill the carboy to within 2-5″ of the carboy neck.
Replace the airlock.
Let the wine clarify for 8 days.
How to Make Homemade Wine Phase 4 – Clarification and Bottling
On day 25 of your homemade wine making adventure, check the clarity of the wine.
Take a sample of wine into a glass and examine it in good lighting. If the liquid is not absolutely clear, leave it alone for 7 more days. Cloudy wine will not clear after bottling, so do not bottle the wine until it is completely clear.
When the wine is completely clear, siphon it into sanitized wine bottles, then seal the bottles with a screw cap.
If you use a screw cap, you can leave the bottles upright; if you use cork, you should leave the bottles upright for 3 days, and then lay them on their sides, raising them, as with a wine rack, to keep the cork moist; otherwise the cork will dry out and air will seep into the wine and contaminate it.
And now is where your patience will reward you. Now that you have learned how to make homemade wine, your delicious wine will greatly benefit from allowing it to become even more delicious by aging it in the bottle for at least 3 months!