The Beginners Guide to homebrew winemaking

The master vinificators present to you a minimalist's guide to homebrew winemaking. Following this method you should be able to produce a gallon of perfectly acceptable homemade homebrew wine with the minimum of effort, hassle or cash.

We start at the beginning.

What to make it from.

In short, anything. For ideas and inspirations, you could consult the ingredients link. However, since this is the beginner's guide, I would suggest something readily available, eg apples, blackberries or whatever's in season.

Done that? Good. Now you must go out and spend some money.

What to make it with.

Arm yourself with a fiver (this ought to be plenty) and go off to one of the shops. You will need...

• A demijohn.
• An airlock and a bored bung.
• Siphon tube.
• 6 Corks. (Plastic ones are far less hassle and recommended.)
• Some wine yeast.

Also make sure you have the following avalible. This may entail another shopping trip.

• A bucket or similar.
• A sieve.
• A couple of packets of sugar.
• Six empty wine bottles.
• A kettle.

It is highly advisable to (prehaps not essenstial) go and buy the following.

• Cleaning and sterilising compound
• Yeast nutrient.
• Wine finings.
• Campden tablets.

When you are suitably armed, and you have secured the use of the kitchen for the next hour you are ready to proceed.

Before you continue however, a word must be said about sterilising. It is vital that you read this link, because we can't be bothered to keep reminding you.

Stage 1

1. Check that you have everything.
2. Put the kettle on to boil.
3. Bung the ingredient into the bucket.
4. Depending on the nature of the ingredient some mashing/chopping may be required.
5. Pour the the now boiling water into the bucket.
6. Stir for a bit.
7. Bung in a pack of sugar. ie 1 kilo.
8. Stir some more.
9. Leave the mixture until it is merely lukewarm. If you are the impatient type you could add a pint or two of cold water.
10. Add a teaspoon of yeast and yeast nutrient (if you elected to buy some).
11. Cover the bucket with something (eg a tea towel), and leave to stew for a couple of days.

Stage 2

1. Sieve the mixture. Dispose of the gunk in any way you see fit. Pour the liquid into the demijohn.
2. Add water to the demijohn until it is pretty full.
3. Add bung and airlock.(You did remember to put some water in the airlock didn't you?) Leave for around six weeks.
4. Use every means at your disposal to stop yourself drinking the wine during this period.

Stage 3

1. Hopefully by now the wine will have completed fermenting and the airlock will have stopped making that annoying blop noise.
2. If you invested in some campden tablets now is the time to crush and add one.
3. Next day you can add some wine stopper if you bought some.
4. Next day siphon the wine off the gunk into something else. eg the bucket. Stir in some wine finings, return to the demijohn, (you did remember to get rid of the gunk didn't you?). This is called `racking'.
5. Put the airlock back in and leave the demijohn in a cool dark place for a week or so. Large amounts of willpower will prevent the wine getting drunk during this period.
6. The wine should now be looking fairly clear. Rack the wine once more.
7. If the wine still looks murky, bung in some more finings and leave. Rack after another week. Keep this up until you can't bear it any more.
8. All that remains now is to pour/siphon the wine into bottles, cork and label. If you elected to buy cork corks, you may have difficulty - an additional fiver will get you a gadget to make this task easier (ie possible).
9. Store the bottles in a cool dark place. Plastic corked bottles must be left upright. Cork corked bottles should be laid on their sides.
10. Leave the wine to mature for as long as you can manage. Typical maturing times for the the first brew range between 5 seconds and 2 weeks.
11. Drink and enjoy.

If you found that pleasing, read the rest of the site. If you hated it, go and visit an off license.