Nice light red-like wine (cheap !!)

[yesheadjon]

Hello, this is my first time on the forum so hello again,

In the autumn I made some elderberry wine from the fresh berries and my wife really likes it. It is still fairly young but is a nice light red wine. I have since made some apple wine (with orange and lemon) and some pear wine both from teh fruit but she is not too keen. Obviously the elderberry was very cheap as the berries are free.

So, my question is....does anyone have a recipe for a nice light red that is fairly cheap to make? I can't think of any fruit or berries in season at the moment that would be very cheap. I want to make 5 gallons.

On a similar note, plums are relatively cheap at the moment, could I make a wine from cartons of red grape jiuce and fresh plums? If so could anyone fashion me a recipe I could try?

Many thanks

Jon

[Hilary B]

I made some wine from blue plums a year or so back. When bottled it was a bit harsh, but improved a lot with maturing. Maybe with grape juice included it would have been nicer anyway (probably I reckon). That was a proper 'claretty' colour. Even using bought cartons of juice, it is pretty cheap at 1 litre to a gallon of wine, plus a bag of sugar. Comes to about £2 for 6 bottles........ A friend of mine from years back reckoned to make a gallon a week of 'juice wine' mostly orange juice, so that they could have a bottle of wine with evening meal every night. Cheapest 1 litre carton, 1kg sugar, yeast nutrient, make up to a gallon and add yeast. Takes about 2 weeks fermenting (if you can keep ideal temperature) 2 weeks to clear, and 2 weeks in bottle. Only time I tried it, it took twice that long, and we had so many 'real' wines on the go just then that it was not worth it. Mya try again sometime, it worked well enough....

[yesheadjon]

I made some wine from blue plums a year or so back. When bottled it was a bit harsh, but improved a lot with maturing. Maybe with grape juice included it would have been nicer anyway (probably I reckon). That was a proper 'claretty' colour. Even using bought cartons of juice, it is pretty cheap at 1 litre to a gallon of wine, plus a bag of sugar. Comes to about £2 for 6 bottles........ A friend of mine from years back reckoned to make a gallon a week of 'juice wine' mostly orange juice, so that they could have a bottle of wine with evening meal every night. Cheapest 1 litre carton, 1kg sugar, yeast nutrient, make up to a gallon and add yeast. Takes about 2 weeks fermenting (if you can keep ideal temperature) 2 weeks to clear, and 2 weeks in bottle. Only time I tried it, it took twice that long, and we had so many 'real' wines on the go just then that it was not worth it. Mya try again sometime, it worked well enough....

Are you sure about the amounts of juice? All of the recipes that I have found on the net tell you to use between 3 and 4 litres of juice per gallon, which is why I thought it would be pricey. The wine I made from carton juice (apple, pineapple and grapefruit) used 3 litres per gallon, but grape juice is more expensive !!!

Perhaps I will try 1 gallon and see

Thanks for the reply

Jon

[Hilary B]

If you use fresh fruit, you use about 3lbs to the gallon. A litre of juice is equivalent to about 2½lbs fruit, if you REALLY make an effort to get all the flavour from the fruit. If you used 4 litres of juice (grape juice in particular), you would hardly need any sugar, because there are only 4½litres to a gallon! It must be 'pure juice' not 'juice drink' (although, 'made from concentrate' is fine). I don't know where you got recipes with several litres of juice to make a gallon o wine, but I hope they didn't include TOO much sugar........

[yesheadjon]

If you use fresh fruit, you use about 3lbs to the gallon. A litre of juice is equivalent to about 2½lbs fruit, if you REALLY make an effort to get all the flavour from the fruit. If you used 4 litres of juice (grape juice in particular), you would hardly need any sugar, because there are only 4½litres to a gallon! It must be 'pure juice' not 'juice drink' (although, 'made from concentrate' is fine). I don't know where you got recipes with several litres of juice to make a gallon o wine, but I hope they didn't include TOO much sugar........

Well I'm giving it a go doing 5 gallon of red (15 ltrs red grape, 2.5kg sugar, water, pectolase, yeast nutrient and red wine yeast) so we'll see what happens. Also trying 5 gallons of rose (5 ltrs red grape and 10 of white) so in for a penny in for a pound !!!

BTW, for those who want to give it a go, Morrisons red and white pressed grape juice is only 86p a litre (much cheaper than Asda) and is on 3 for £2 at the moment which is real cheap

[stevemac]

yesheadjon

That is the going rate nowadays for red/white grape juice.Tesco/lidl/aldi's all sell for around this price.

Have a look at these sites for more ideas:

Home Winemaking and Home Beermaking Forum - Wine and Beer Recipes

Wine number 2 Red Table wine medium sweet - Wines at home

I have recently tried the "wurzels orange wine" from the first link and it is REALLY nice!

Once you sign up for the 2nd site you will see step by step pictures on how to make some wines.

Another type of wine to consider is "tinned fruit" wines.My wife loves the Tinned strawberry wine i make although this turns out to be more of a rose type.

Hope that helps

[finefencer]

cranberry wine is very nice, it has a sweetish..sharp taste, very light and bright and easy to make...
2 x 1lt cartons of juice
1 bag of sugar
yeast and neutriant
put all in a demijon, top up with cold water, fit airlock, and have one for me...

[C Murphy]

Hi Jon

Also fairly new to the forum but really pleased it was recommended to me!
Although not that seasonal at the moment, at the weekend I completed the second "racking off" of a blackberry wine I started about 4 weeks ago with blackberrys I had been saving in the freezer. Really pleased with the results and fits the bill as a light red. I haven't got the recipe at hand but could forward it if you want to plan ahead. Regards...

[girl47]

Hi Guys

Any ideas for making wine without the need for equipment ( have no demijon & really wouldnt know what to do with an airlock)? but, would love to have a go at making something alcoholic ( and cheap ).

Also, when it comes to the right time of year - can I freeze & use blackberrys & other hedgerow fruits ?

[SarzWix]

I'm not sure it's possible to make wine without a bit of equipment?! An airlock is used to stop bacteria from getting into the brew. The only alternative is a chunk of cotton wool stuffed into the neck of the demi-john, and that only works while the wine is fermenting hard...
You can pick up a lot of brewing equipment from Wilkinson's if you have one nearby?
Search Results at Wilkinson Plus

[HayleyB]

Wow, I have been truly enlightened by this thread, I never realised you could make 'proper' wine out of blackberries and so on

[Hilary B]

Hi Guys

Any ideas for making wine without the need for equipment ( have no demijon & really wouldnt know what to do with an airlock)? but, would love to have a go at making something alcoholic ( and cheap ).

Also, when it comes to the right time of year - can I freeze & use blackberrys & other hedgerow fruits ?

If you are prepared to risk a few disasters you can ferment wine in a bucket with a close-weave cloth tied over it, but it really is VERY risky!
You might get away with large (VERY large) glass jars (if you can get hold of any) and a balloon over the 'neck', letting the air out when the balloon expands too much and looks like it might explode.
If you get hold of a demijhn, but no airlock, the balloon trick is supposed to work OK, if you can get it to stay on. I've never tried to make wine without the most basic of 'proper kit' (demijohn and airlock), but I have done quite a lot of unsientific (but it still seems to work) winemaking.

[girl47]

Daft question.....but, will all the instructions come with a demijohn & airlock??

I really want to have go now..... Is a kit from wikinsons re-usable & will I find it easy to follow the instructions?....I am a complete novice!

And - if I pick & freeze blackberries & other hedgerow fruits - will I be able to freeze them & use them later?

[SarzWix]

The wine kits from Wilkos will come with instuctions. The demi-john is just a big glass jar, and the airlock is kind of the lid. You just put a bit of water in it, and it lets the gasses out of the fermenting wine, and stops bacteria from getting in. I think it'll make more sense when you see it

Yes, you can use frozen fruits to make wine. Best to get a wine-making book and follow a recipe to begin with, you can concoct your own when you're a bit more confident.

[girl47]

Thanks folks.......will have a go!