Wine making basics?

palmer_mike

Well-Known Member
Hi there,
hoping for some help, move onto a new (to us) home ,late last summer with a cherry tree on the garden.
we have a bit of a glut of cherries and I fancy trying to make some wine with them.

what is the bare minimum of equipment that I need to do this (and end up with something drinkable)?

also any hints and tips on method would be great.

all the best,
mike
 
Hi there,
hoping for some help, move onto a new (to us) home ,late last summer with a cherry tree on the garden.
we have a bit of a glut of cherries and I fancy trying to make some wine with them.

what is the bare minimum of equipment that I need to do this (and end up with something drinkable)?

also any hints and tips on method would be great.

all the best,
mike
Don't do it mate - not this year anyway!
Making wine from fruit is actually quite tricky if you haven't done any wine making. Best thing to do is to get a couple of kits first from a homebrew shop (there's one in Stowmarket) and learn the basics first. Once you've mastered that, then progress onto some basic fruit stuff. Stick with cherry pie this year!;)

MS
 
Once the fruit ripens you will be lucky to beat the birds to them unless you have a net over the tree.

We have 4 nice trees on our shoot but never manage to get more than a feed off them due to the birds, Elderflower is out now and that makes an interesting wine which is easy to make but the easiest wine I have made is made from cold tea, mixed with a lemon or two and some raisins. You will need 2 demijohns, 1 fermentation bucket, syphon tube, airlock, sterilising chemicals as all equipment has to be thoroughly sterilised, I use sodium metabisulphte for this and campden tablets for your finished wine. Wine also needs a constant temperature to ferment so you may also need a heater belt or you can just put the demijohn in the airing cupboard but put it in something as some wines tend to bubble over when fermenting.
A good homebrew shop will have kits readily available with nearly everything you need.


INGREDIENTS: TEA WINE RECIPE


4 pints / 1/2 gallon tea. When you make a pot of tea keep the tea which is leftover.
1 1/2 lbs / 680 grams sugar
1/2 lb / 225 gram chopped raisins
2 lemons
Wine yeast and nutrient


METHOD - WHAT TO DO


Put the warmed tea, sugar and lemon juice in a bucket and stir well. Add the chopped raisins and wine yeast and nutrient and cover and leave for five days. Strain into a demijohn and fit an airlock and leave to ferment.


When fermentation has ceased,(no more bubbles) rack the wine, (syphon) into a clean sterilised demijohn leaving all the sediment at the bottom of the fermenting demijohn and place in a cooler environment and leave for a further few months. Rack again if necessary and leave until the wine is clear and stable and then bottle.

This wine looks like whisky and has a lovely kick as it goes down.

Enjoy
 
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