Standard Fruit wine Recipe
Thorough and Secure method
Ingredients for 1 Gallon.
1) -1-3kg of the fruit or mix of fruit you wish to make into wine. E.G. Plum, Strawberries,
Cherries.
2) -Sugar between 0.7kg to 1.5kg, dependant on how strong you wish it to be (for a full body
and better flavour use Grape concentrate- Decide which grape concentrate you should use
dependent on what the fruit determines, either a robust red or white).
3) -Citric Acid or Acid Mix 5-10 grams.
4) -Whole Sachet of Appropriate Winemaking yeast (Suggested strains: For lighter wines
Vintner’s Harvest SN9, CL23, BV7. For deeper red wines use Vintner’s Harvest R56, MA33,
Young’s Bordeaux or Burgundy) Better yeast gives better wine.
5) -Yeast Nutrient (1 tsp
6) -Campden Tablets (1 per Gallon, Unless using the hot water extraction method)
7) -Pectolase. 1 tsp if steeping fruit in cold water, 2 tsp if steeping fruit in hot water.
Equipment –All you will need for complete control over your Brew.
1) Lidded bucket –Ideal for preparing a ‘must in’ and for serving some fermentation purposes.
Choose a size depending on what scale you wish to brew. Bear in mind you should attempt
to reduce air space when putting must or wine in a fermentation vessel to reduce the
chance of infection. Sizes are 5, 10, 15, 23, and 32 litre buckets.
http://www.brewstore.co.uk/fermenting-equipment-187-c.asp
2) Demijohns- 2 are ideal in order to provide extra space for transferring ‘racking’ in order to
clear and mature your wine. If you wish to brew on a larger scale, purchase a large
fermentation bucket with a drilled lid for an airlock
3) Airlock- Allows co2 to pass out the fermentation vessel during fermentation while
preventing oxygen and microbes in the air getting in. Requires a grommet or bung to bit to a
vessel and complete the protective seal.
4) Spoon-This helps when dissolving any extra sugar in warm water or agitating fruit or flowers
to extract stronger flavour or more sugars. The spoon also aerates the wort, introducing
oxygen which the yeast initially uses to begin fermentation.
5) Hydrometer-Vital for checking when fermentation is completed. A means of working out the
ABV/ alcoholic content of the beer, and many other diagnosis uses.
6) Siphon tubing with u-bend. Allows clean and simple transfer of liquid between fermentation
vessels and into barrel or bottles while leaving sediment in the fermentation bucket.
7) Stick on thermometer. Gives rough guidance on fermentation temperatures for greater
control and diagnosis of problems.
8) Muslin cloth or Straining bag- very handy for separating the majority of fruit pulp and
detritus from the extracted juices. Not for the use of filtering wine.
9) Steriliser- A consumable essential. Kills off any bugs on your equipment before you make
your wine, to ensure your success this must be used.
10) Bottles- 8x75cl or 12x50cl per gallon. Swing top for fizzy wine, normal wine bottles for flat
wine.
Method
1) Sterilise the fermenting bin with your equipment then rinse.
2) Prepare ‘must’ by steeping the fruit to extract sugars and flavour.
Cold Water extraction for lighter fruit wines -Steep fruit in 1-2 litres of cold water. Add
Campden Tablets (Sodium Metabisulphate) to reduce micro-organisms that are often a
source of infection, 1 per gallon up to 3 gallons, and then reduce usage to avoid introducing
off flavours of sulpher. Leave for 24 hours for reaction to take effect. Add acid and
pectolase.
Hot Water extraction for fuller bodied fruit wines –Pour boiling water over the fruit to cover.
Seal container and leave for 24 hours until cooled. Add Acid and Pectolase.
3) Dissolve sugar or grape concentrate in hot water then add to the must (this step can be
performed at the same time as steeping the fruit is using the hot water extraction method).
If you wish to know the potential for your final alcohol take a hydrometer reading. If you get
a sense for how to read a hydrometer you can work out how strong your brew will be and if
you need to add more sugar to make it stronger or more water to make it less strong. Most
hydrometers usually include a guide to roughly indicate the strength of your brew.
http://brewstore.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/taking-a-hydrometer-reading-and-
calculating-the-alcohol-content-1.pdf .
4) This is the stage where you add yeast.
a) If you wish to have an accurate reading on your hydrometer, separate the fruit pulp from
the extracted juices, Add yeast and Yeast nutrient to the juices and leave to ferment for 5-7
days.
b) If you wish to get more efficiency from your fruit and do not mind about knowing your
final alcoholic content you can add the yeast and nutrient to the ‘must’ with the pulp and
leave to ferment for 5-7 days.
5) Check the brew with the hydrometer. It will tell you how much sugar is left to ferment. This
is important for avoiding over-carbonation or popping bottles. Take readings over a 24 hour
period. If there is a change in the readings (e.g it dropped from 1.005 to 1.004) it is still
fermenting. If the readings remain the same and are at the low end of the hydrometer (close
to or beneath 1.000), it is ready to transfer off the yeast into a second bin.
6) Leave for a few days for the yeast to fall out of solution and for the wine to clear. If you wish
to speed this up, add finings.
7) Here we can diverge between making flat or fizzy wine.
Flat Wine Sparkling Wine
If you wish to make Flat wine you can If you wish to make Sparkling wine,
add stabilisers like potassium sorbate (Elderflower Champagne), siphon
and campden tablets. These ensure carefully into swing top bottles
the yeast will not ferment anymore designed for taking carbonation
and reduce the chance of any sparkle (purchased from home-brew shops).
occurring. Siphon wine into sterilised Add 1 teaspoon of standard
and rinsed standard wine bottles granulated sugar per 75 cl bottle. This
which will require a cork, or store in ferments producing co2 which is
the swing top bottles. Store upright in trapped in the bottle. Allow some
a cool place and chill before drinking. time for the co2 to go into solution to
give the sparkle to the elderflower
wine. Store upright.
N.B. – Many recipes and sources recommend siphoning into bottles before fermentation is complete
to provide the fizz. This allows less control over how much CO2 is in the bottle and can lead to over-
carbonation, popping bottles, as well as too much yeast in the bottle. The above method is
recommended to avoid such irregularities.
