I've just started to make my own wine (Homebrew) and was wondering how many other people have ever made some?

Question

If you have then what fruit / veg / flowers have you made your wine from?

I've started a Red Grape Wine, a Pear Wine and a Strawberry Wine.

Answer 1

I make what is called "The Drink of Kings," the oldest known fermented beverage, mead.

Mead, also known as honeywine, is made from honey, water, and yeast. The yeast ferments the sugar in the honey, and you end up with a drink that was first made about ten thousand years ago, in present day Iraq. In the early days, they were not aware of yeast, but it is all around us, so they just probably left some honey out in the rain, it fermented naturally, they drank it, and thought it was a gift from the gods!

Different varieties of honey give different flavors to mead, but not necessarily what you might think. For instance, mead made from orange blossom honey, does not taste like oranges. My favorite honey to use is basswood honey. It imparts a minty flavor, with a hint of bubble gum. Wildflower honey can vary a great deal from apiary to apiary, and from year to year. Trial and error are often your best judges.
Meads can be dry, or sweet, sparkling or flat, and anything in between. Alcohol content of mead can be anywhere from five to twenty-five percent (10 to 50 proof)

One variety of mead that is my personal favorite is Cyser. Cyser is made with apple cider, instead of water, thus imparting more sugars for the yeast to convert into alcohol. After fermenting for about a year or so, my cyser has a beautiful copper color, a wonderful apple and honey aroma, and tastes like a sweet apple, with syrup. At anywhere from sixteen to eighteen percent alcohol, it does the trick in the winter in calming and warming a body after a long day. I drink it at room temperature, or chilled, depending on my mood, and the time of year.

All in all, mead is an excellent place to start for a simple homebrew experience. Very little equipment is needed, and a good product can be made, provided you have the patience. Believe me, your patience will be rewarded, as will your experimentation with different herbs, spices, and other adjuncts that you might care to add. I have had good luck with ginger, strawberries, peaches, and of course apple cider. Try it sometime.

Answer 2

Yep, made loads. have about 400 bottles in the cellar right now.

fruit wines are great - plum, strawberry, blueberry, apple. Also try rubarb, wheat, barley, nettle. the list is endless. for some you are relying on the sugar in the fruit, for others you have to add sugar and are replying n the product for the flavour.

All good fun. There are some recipe books that are very good - one by a hubby and wife whos surname is "turner", title of the book escapes me but its something like "country wines" - very straightforward book. But once you get going and know how to prepare the fruit and measure and control the sugar/alcohol and fermentation you don't need receipes.

Don't overdo the sugar or alcohol content. many homemade wines are to sweet and hide the flavour.

hic, hic

Answer 3

I've made a fair bit as well as beer and cider. I'm currently drinking a cracking blackberry wine from home grown fruits I started last autumn. My apple and grape turned out quite well too. I've got a real taste for 'turbo cider' too at this time of year so am fermenting a lot of supermarket apple juice in demijohns to turn into lovely sparkling cider!
For a quick wine try Rice and Raisin, it's great stuff :)

Answer 4

I used to make a lot of wine, but now I stick to kits. Made rice, potato, dandelion, raisin, apricot, plum and carrot wine, oh yes and ginger.

Some of it was better than others. The dandelion was quite bitter, and the carrot tasted like one of those spirits that could easily substitute for meths! The fruits were the best from my point of view, but I don't like dry wines anyway. Good Luck. Rocco's mead sounds wonderful.

Answer 5

I regularly make goosegog, elderberry and blackcurrant wines. Sometime I might try others like Apricote and strawberry, if I can get hold of cheap fruit!

I'm diabetic, and have to be careful what I drink. At least when I make my own I have a good idea of what's gone into it!

Answer 6

I've used plums apples, grapes and all sorts of fruit i have even used rice and got some really nice Saki type wine.

Answer 7

I've made wine from juice kits, all from grape. The juice has originated from California, Italy and Chile.

I've also made fruit-flavored meads. I've done this with apples, cherries, plums, kiwis, straberries, cantelope, durians and others.

Answer 8

I have used pure cherry juice to make some *** kicking vino and you can use any type of natural juices, except prune or figs. If you use prune or fig juice, don't make any plans to stray from your home for about three days, you'll be busy in the outhouse.

I have also used potatoes, trying to make my own version of Vodka, but never developed the high alcohol content that Vodka has, but no harm in trying, right?

Answer 9

Me and my sister made fermented orange juice when we were about 12 and 15. We put the juice in a bucket with the sugar, added the yeast, left it in a corner for a week, and hoped for the best.

I filtered it, but it was sour as anything. So I added more sugar. To my surprise it went crazy and frothed up everywhere. I never knew why.

My sister ended up sharing the hooch with her friends. They reckoned it got them alittle bit piddly..

Answer 10

I can never think of homebrewed wine without thinking of banana which a friend made very fragrant and very powerful.