looking for a first but easy to make wine

[Kier]

I like sweet and fruity, low or no alcohol , this would be my first attempt and I don't want to wait years for a result , I have gooseberrys/ blackberrys / rubarb (lots) and other fruit in the freezer but understand a lot of fruit is needed so may not have enough

not sure about cordials as the amount of sugar involved

, planning on elder flower champagne later, collecting plastic bottles for that now

looking ahead there are some glass demijohns selling today localy 12 dusty looking, at 99p at the moment only 12hrs to make up my mind

any suggestions

[Kirk]

Could try gooseberry.
Would need about 3 lbs of gooseberry's.
Do you have anything like a hydrometer - it is a very useful item.

Last lot I made was more or less:
Gallon of slightly warm water, ***
3lbs gooseberry's
Yeast nutrient,
Wine yeast,
Sugar - get a 1kg bag and a bit more.

***Instead of just water buy a litre of white grape juice, or say pear juice, it adds to the body of the final wine. Most supermarkets sell a selection. For gooseberry a "white" juice is preferred.

Make a yeast starter - little warm water, 2 teaspoons sugar, yeast, mix wait for it to start bubbling.
Basically the rest put in a bucket, add sugar last and add sugar to get a specific gravity of 1080.
Add yeast starter and cover.
Should start to ferment within 12 hours then stir twice daily.
After 5 - 7 days filter through a seive into a DJ, add air lock and leave to complete.

When I made mine I added half the fruit then the other half near completion of fermentation in the bucket, at about 1020 on the hydrometer.

Problem is it will be dry, the yeast will eat all the sugar, alcohol will be about 10%.

Blackberry wine can take a time to mature and rhubarb can be acidic and need chalk to get the pH right. So I have ignored them.

If wanted you could try pineapple or apple.
If pineapple then get a couple of inexpensive ones at a supermarket, if apple then a bag of budget ones. My pineapple was with 2 smallish pineapples the second went in towards the end.

I tend now to start the first ferment (bucket) with half the fruit then add the rest towards the end. That is why the hydrometer is useful.

You could get a sweeter gooseberry from above with a hydrometer, you check the specific gravity and at say 1.000 or 1.005 you stop the ferment (in the DJ) by adding campden tablets. You then kill the yeast with potassium sorbate. Then clear and bottle. That way a little of the sugar remaind for the sweeter result.

If you buy the DJ's get at least 2 and preferably 3, you tend to syphon from one DJ to another. Also you can store the wine in a DJ so really getting say 3 is good and if you intend to store in a DJ then more then 3, 5 sounds nice.

[Kleftiwallah]

I would wait for the plum, damson or elderberry season. These all make crackin' wines, but beware, home made wines are high in alcohol, well mine are anyway. Cheers, Tony.

[muddled]

Rhubarb is easy peasy and sweet, not sure about the alcohol content though....varies rather a lot.

Dandelion wine is heavenly.
Tastes a bit like the smell of new mown grass....light and refreshing and easy to make. Gathering and sorting the petals is tedious though and best done by a group of friends, gossiping as they go, on a warm sunny morning in May.

[Kier]

is the alcohol made by the yeast and sugar is there a way to measure it, thing is im alergic to more than 1 or 2 % , or am I wasting my time, im sure I would gain friends but just looking to make a drink to enjoy

[Hazel at the Hill]

Hi Kier - yes, you start with a sugary fruity mixture and add yeast which converts the sugar to make carbon dioxide (the bubbles through the airlock on a demijohn) and alcohol. You can measure alcohol content of your home made wine by dividing the difference between the start and end SG readings by 7.36)

The thing is, that wine has to have a reasonable alcohol content for it to keep (without googling, I think that it shouldn't be less than 8-9%) which for you rules most homebrews out - as you suggest, cordials my be your best way forward. I've not made any, but other grapes will be along to advise, I'm sure.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Or, if you make a traditional country brew (rhubarb, goosegog etc) which will come out at - say - 12% or so, serve it to your friends as it is, but make it into a spritzer for you with a great slug on lemonade and ice. Can't think of anything nicer on a summer evening.

[Kirk]

You "measure" the alcohol by taking the Starting Specific Gravity and the final Specific Gravity.
If you start at 1.110 and end at 0.995 then you have a difference of 0.115.

Usually this is referred to as 115 and then you divide by 7.4 (actually think it is 7.35 but there seems to be a couple of values). This gives 115/7.4 = 15.5.

So your wine has 15.5% alcohol in it. That seems high??

0.995 is usually where a wine/yeast stops when it has eaten and converted all the sugar, so it is then dry.

So if you stopped the wine at 1.010, you get 100/7.4 = 13.5% and as the value is still above 0.995 there is some sugar remaining and so the wine is sweeter.

Would check the 7.4 value if you want to be more precise, as I said I have read 7.35 but also others, but they are all around that area in value. I often just use 7.5.

You can make a low alcohol wine and a "sweet" one by starting at 1.080, ending at 1.010 making 70 difference, so 9.5% alcohol and there is still some sugar in the wine at the end. You do need a hydrometer and you also need to measure the SG twice a day.

7.36 seems to be common, although one site that says this has a spreadsheet that uses 7.37.
It is a bit of an approximation as temperature is not accounted for and neither is the exchange of sugar to alcohol - as in what effect does the alcohol impart to the reading.

Another site (Brewers Friend) seem to use a value of 7.6, so a little "varied".

[ohbeary]

Kier, if you have an allergy to alcohol the answer is very clear, do not drink it, if your allergy is real I sympathise but if as some of my customers claim to have allergy's to this and that, and then order things with some of it in!.... I may suspect their integrity.... simples Ya!

[Kier]

Kier, if you have an allergy to alcohol the answer is very clear, do not drink it, if your allergy is real I sympathise but if as some of my customers claim to have allergy's to this and that, and then order things with some of it in!.... I may suspect their integrity.... simples Ya!

yes I do have an allergy , I was thinking I might be able to make a very low or no alcohol wine , but sadly not, every now and then I try to find something different to drink , mostly its water and weak black tea , if I cant see the bottom of the cup its too strong, some wines taste really good and I (use to) love coke but cant touch them , dairy is another problem

[Kirk]

Sounds like you need a good book on cordials and similar.
Unfortunately cannot suggest anything, I have one but the results have not impressed but then again there is a very high chance that the problem is me. Also it is not a dedicated cordial recipe/method book.

Many yeasrs back at BT they used to have an alcohol free wine they had available. So many years I cannot recall whose but it was good, tasted fine with a meal at christmas.