DonH
Well-Known Member
Get yourself a food grade plastic 6 gallon bucket. A 5 Gallon glass carboy. Some siphon hose. And a hydrometer is great to have. They don't cost much and you can get them at homebrewing stores. Also a fermentation lock. The hydrometer will tell you how much sugar is in the liquid which will tell you how much alcohol the final product will have. If you want sweet wine, and your yeast ferments out to, say, 15% alcohol, then if you start out with enough sugar for 18% alcohol it will end up sweet. For fruit wine a good rule of thumb is 5 pounds of fruit per gallon. It's best to use wine yeast instead of bread yeast. Champagne yeast is a good all-purpose yeast.
Off the top of my head: Mash up the fruit, add water, sugar in the plastic bucket and it's a good idea to mix in sulfites (like potassium metabisulfite) which you can get in wine or beermaking stores and let it sit overnight. That kills the wild yeasts. Then add the yeast. You can cover with a clean towel or something. For the first few days (primary fermentation), you want air to get in but not wild yeasts and bacteria. Next step after three to five days, is to strain out all the fruit pulp in a press or in a cloth bag. Actually you might be able to use tobacco seed bags for this. Then put the strained liquid in the 5 or 6 gallon jar (carboy) and put in the fermentation lock. You may want to have an extra gallon fermenting to top off after racking. What is racking? As it ferments you will get a bunch of dead yeast cells and fruit pulp at the bottom of the carboy. Racking is siphoning off the clearer liquid off the sediment. Do this about three times starting once the secondary fermentation slows down, then again in three months and again in another three months. Wait a couple months and bottle. If you can cure tobacco you can definitely do this. Like tobacco, you can always go nuts and buy more equipment and additives and pH testers and, and...
Off the top of my head: Mash up the fruit, add water, sugar in the plastic bucket and it's a good idea to mix in sulfites (like potassium metabisulfite) which you can get in wine or beermaking stores and let it sit overnight. That kills the wild yeasts. Then add the yeast. You can cover with a clean towel or something. For the first few days (primary fermentation), you want air to get in but not wild yeasts and bacteria. Next step after three to five days, is to strain out all the fruit pulp in a press or in a cloth bag. Actually you might be able to use tobacco seed bags for this. Then put the strained liquid in the 5 or 6 gallon jar (carboy) and put in the fermentation lock. You may want to have an extra gallon fermenting to top off after racking. What is racking? As it ferments you will get a bunch of dead yeast cells and fruit pulp at the bottom of the carboy. Racking is siphoning off the clearer liquid off the sediment. Do this about three times starting once the secondary fermentation slows down, then again in three months and again in another three months. Wait a couple months and bottle. If you can cure tobacco you can definitely do this. Like tobacco, you can always go nuts and buy more equipment and additives and pH testers and, and...
