Home Made Wine Recipes (2024)

Home made wine recipes galore!! That is what this page is about. You will find in this area of my website lots of home made wine recipes.

The thing I want to get across to you though is that all homemade wine recipes have similar components. Kind of like a cookie recipe... you have your basics like flour and eggs and milk but you can jazz up your cookies by adding chocolate chips or oatmeal or chocolate... I love chocolate!

Wine recipes are the same... you pretty much have the basic ingredients and/or steps and then... you jazz it up depending on the fruit or vegetable or flower you want to use.

Vegetable wines? Flower wines?? Are you kidding me? Nope... I kid you not..

I will go over this information here and then you can check out the individual recipes and feel free to tweak them as you see fit. I would love to hear all about your favorite recipes... drop me a line and I will share them with my readers!

Okay...

What am I going to make my wine out of?!?

What type of home made wine do I want to make??? What do I have an abundance of...?

After you have decided on the type of wine you want to make... maybe your strawberry patch is overflowing...

Or maybe you walk out into your back yard and realize you have a silly amount of plums growing at the edge of your yard like I did... I didn't even know I HAD plum trees... It was a wonderful surprise!!

They didn't grow back last year though... maybe they are on an every other year cycle?? Anyone know anything about plum trees?

Anyway... you have an abundance of... something... and that will be your main ingredient for your home made wine recipe.

Now what do I put in?

Your second main ingredient is going to be a sugar...

this can be regular sugar... honey...

brown sugar... I have heard of people using stevia... experiment with different sweeteners with different main ingredients and see what you like...

But I don't like sweet wine!

Okay... great... now what?

Your third main ingredient for your home made wine recipe is going to be water. Again...

the main ingredient that you choose for your wine recipe may already have enough water... but if it doesn't... or if it is a particularly acidic item... like lemons... then you will want to add enough water to dilute the acid levels...

Okay... but I have gross tasting well water... will that be okay?

Well... what I have to say about that... is that if you don't like the taste of your water then you probably won't like the taste of your wine made with your water...

Great!! I have water... now what?

Of course acid is also an important ingredient for your home made wine recipe...

so if you do not have enough acid or if you have diluted your mixture too much then you will want to add some acid back in.

What?? I dilulted my wine so I don't have too much acid and now I have to add some back in?

Yes...

If you do not have enough acid your wine will taste flat... too much acid and it will taste bitter... so you will want to make sure you have boned up on your tight rope walking skills...

For you chemistry majors this part will be fun... for the rest of us... keep good notes so if things don't turn out you know what you did... and most importantly if your wine turned out fantastically you will be able to do it again!

Fine... take the acid out... put it back in... now what?

The next ingredient for your home made wine recipe is going to be nutrients.

These will help the yeast to grow and be healthy. And healthy yeast is good yeast... There are lots of different ones on the market.

Okay... wine yeast is on the list... now what?

And last but certainly not least... you will add yeast. You have just created a happy and healthy environment for your yeast go grow in... great job!

This is not the normal yeast you use to bake bread... but the same company that makes your bread yeast also makes wine yeast. So make sure you are using "wine yeast". You won't find this at your regular store... you will have to get it at a local wine making shop or on the internet.

There are several companies that make wine yeast and there are several different types of wine yeast and each one will give your wine a different taste. Give each a try to see which one you like.

It is the yeast that turns the sugar in your wine into alcohol... so it is a very important ingredient.

That's it? That is all of the ingredients in wine?

These are pretty much the standard ingredients for a home made wine recipe. There are obviously going to be other ingredients that you can play around with to make your own "signature" home made wine... just like there are many ingredients that you can add to your basic cookie recipe. Experimentation can be extremely fun... and tasty!

Okay.... now that you have a better understanding of what goes into a basic home made wine recipe... lets take a look at some home made wine recipes I have collected over the years...

Wait... how do I know how much alcohol is in my wine?!?

Great question! The best way is to take the starting specific gravity (S.G.), and subtract it from the finishing specific gravity and divide this by 7.36, So, as an example if your starting S.G. is 1080 - (finishing S.G.) 990 = 90 divided by 7.36 =12.23% ABV (Alcohol By Volume).

The other option is to use a Vinometer. This is a simple device you can pour a small sample of wine into which will give an ABV reading. It's pretty easy to use.

Okay... so on to the recipes... Have a recipe of your own that you would like to submit? I would LOVE to include your home made wine recipes on my site!!

Have A Great Home Made Wine Recipe?

Do you have a great home made wine recipe? Did your wine recipe win an award? Is your home made wine the talk of the neighborhood?? Then share it!

Fruit Wine Recipes!!

Apple Wine Recipes - Love a good Apple Wine? Got a bunch of apples you don't know what to do with? Try your hand at making your own Apple Wine.

Blackberry Wine Recipes - Wine made with blackberries is truly devine... in my opinion. Take a walk in the woods and pick some blackberries. Then come home and give making some blackberry wine a try.

Raspberry Wine Recipes - Raspberry wines are soooo delicious!! No recipe collection is complete with out having Raspberry Wine as part of their home made wine recipes collection! Try your hand at making the perfect batch!

Dandelion Wine - Yes... this is a real wine... and quite delicious believe it or not... take some time to pick what some consider weeds and give it a shot!

Jelly Wine - Looking for something new in home made wine recipes? How about giving this type of wine a shot? Make some wine out of your favorit jelly or jam.

Mead - How about some honey wine? Give this traditional wine a try... even if some say it isn't wine...

Plum Wine Recipe - Looking for something to do with those plum trees that are bulging with fruit? Try your had at a very fruity plum wine recipe!

Welch's Wine - Well... it isn't really "Welch's" wine... but you can make it from frozen Welch's juice... or other frozen juices as well... If you have never given wine making a try this is a great way to get your feet wet... no grape stomping... I promise!

Cherry Wine - Looking for a LUSCIOUS cherry wine recipe? Look no further. Give this one a try and let me know what you think.

Strawberry Wine - Love strawberry wine? Me too!!! Give these recipes a shot. Strawberries are very forgiving so if you are just starting out on making wine with fruit this is a great place to start!

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FAQs

How to make a simple wine at home? ›

Buy a 64 oz bottle jug of grape juice or white grape juice, open the jug and remove 16 oz., leaving 48 oz. Pour 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the jug and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast. Tighten the cap and shake well for 2–3 minutes. Loosten the cap so air can circulate and store in a warm dark place for 3 weeks.

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How do you make wine yeast at home? ›

Boil 1 cup of orange juice and 3 cups of water.

Cool the mixture. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient.
Place the starter into a clean glass gallon or ½ gallon container that can accept a fermentation lock. Add yeast and and attach a fermentation lock.

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How long will homemade wine last? ›

In general, properly stored homemade wine can last for several years, but it is best consumed within 1-2 years for optimal quality and flavor. To store homemade wine properly, it is important to follow these steps: Store the wine in a cool, dark place: Ideal temperatures for wine storage are between 45-65°F (7-18°C).

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How much alcohol can homemade wine have? ›

Myth: Homemade wine is potent. Fact: Most wine contains from 10 to 12 percent alcohol and that is what you'll get when you use a wine kit. However fermented alcoholic beverages can reach a maximum of about 20 percent alcohol by volume (and that is with some difficulty).

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What kills yeast in homemade wine? ›

4) Adding Alcohol

The most basic form is to add a distilled spirit to the wine such as brandy, whisky, or flavor-neutral ones. How this works is by killing the yeast through alcohol. On average, wine yeasts have an alcohol tolerance of about 18% ABV meaning that level of alcohol starts to become toxic to yeast.

Can you put too much yeast in homemade wine? ›

Probably not much—there's only so much sugar in the grapes for the yeast to convert, and that limits how much work there is for yeast to do. The extra, hungry yeasts without any sugar to consume will end up dying and settling to the bottom along with the rest of the lees and sediment.

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What is the best yeast for homemade wine? ›

Saccharomyces bayanus. A low foaming, vigorous and fast fermenter good for both reds and whites. It is also ideal for ciders and sparkling wines.

What can go wrong with homemade wine? ›

This is a guide to correct some of the common problems in winemaking.

Temperature is too high or low.
Sugar level is too high.
Alcohol level is too high.
Lack of oxygen.
Lack of nutrients.
pH is too low.
Volatile acidity (VA) is too high.
Low yeast count.

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Is it cheaper to make your own wine? ›

Making your own wine is much cheaper than buying bottles from the grocery or liquor store. Once you cover the upfront costs of all the supplies and equipment you'll need to get started, making additional batches can cost as low as $3.00 per bottle. That's a deal!

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Is my homemade wine safe to drink? ›

Homemade wine is entirely safe. All you are doing is fermenting juice. The worst that could happen is that it will taste bad if you leave it too long. Because you aren't distilling the wine, you aren't making any methanol, just ethanol.

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Does homemade wine taste better with age? ›

The shorter the amount of time you let your wine age, the more intense the flavor profile will be. So, if you're looking to produce a smooth or delicate flavor profile, you'll want the bottle to age longer. Some people are OK with only aging a bottle of wine for two weeks, while some prefer six months to a year.

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Can you drink homemade wine right after fermentation? ›

How soon can you drink homemade wine? Assuming everything is going right with your ferment, you can drink your wine at any point. The longer you leave it, the more sugar the yeast will turn into alcohol until one of two things happens; either the sugar runs out, or the the amount of alcohol kills the yeast.