Fruits, flowers and vegetables that have been grown at home can all be used to make homemade wine. Although it may be a daunting task, making wine at home is quite easy and cost effective. There are only a few simple rules to follow, and within no time at all you can be enjoying a glass or two of delicious home made wine.

Seven simple steps for making your own wine at home

1. Selection and preparation of fruit or vegetables
2. Extraction of juice
3. Addition of sugar, yeast and nutrient
4. Fermentation
5. Racking off into jars
6. Clearing as necessary
7. Bottling and storing

Step 1: How to select fruit or vegetables for wine making

Fruit should be at its best, and should be ripe, sound and clean. Discard any fruit that has blemishes, as wine cannot be made from decayed, diseased or bad fruit. Potatoes, parsnips and beetroot all make an excellent wine, even if they have been stored for a while, whereas turnip wine should be made from young turnips.

Step 2: How to extract juice to make homemade wine

Soft fruits such as blackberries, raspberries and strawberries should be broken up between the fingers, medium stiff fruits such as plums should have their stones removed, and the fruit should be cut into half inch pieces (1.25 cm). Stiff fruits like apples should be cut into three quarter inch pieces (2 cm).

Top Tip: There is no need to peel or core apples.

As much juice as possible should be extracted from the fruit, which is quite difficult to do when using freshly picked fruit, as the pectin content is high, and it is advisable to soak the fruit in cold water beforehand, as this breaks down the pectin content.

Place the broken fruit into a polythene, glass or wide mouthed earthenware jar, and add hot water (60-70°C), according to the recipe you are following. Stir thoroughly. Fit a cork or bung with a fermentation lock attached (follow manufacturers instructions) and place the jar in a fairly warm position (10 - 16°C) for three days. Stir the jar at least once a day. Once finished, pass the pulp and juice through a fine nylon sieve. The juice is now ready for the next step.

Vegetables should be scrubbed clean, any any diseased parts should be removed. Cut vegetables into half inch pieces, cubes or slices and then boil slowly. The vegetables should be soft but not mushy. Boil the vegetables in a saucepan without a lid, and replenish with more hot water from the kettle if needed. Strain and push the veg through a course sieve at first, and then through a fine sieve, this produces a liquid vegetable extract which is now ready for fermenting.

Step 3: How to make the mixture for formenting:

Adding sugar

White castor sugar (either refined beet or cane) is the most suitable for making wine, as it dissolves easier. Granulated sugar or honey can be used if desired. Demerera sugar or brown sugar can be used, but this gives the wine a brown or golden colour, never use brown sugars to make delicately flavoured wines. Inverted sugar can also be used, which can speed up the fermentaion process.

Add the sugar gradually and stir until it has thoroughly dissolved. The usual quantity of sugar is 2lb (1 kg) of sugar to each gallon (8 pints) of fruit or vegetable juice for a dry wine, 2½ lb of sugar per gallon for a medium wine, and 3½ to 4 lb for a sweet wine.

Top Tip: When making sweet, heavy wines, it is best to add the sugar gradually in three parts, leaving three days between each addition.

Adding yeast for fermentation

It is far better to use proper wine yeasts when making homemade wine, as it offers a better bouquet, and a higher concentration of alcohol than if you use a bakers yeast. The most popular wine making yeasts include; burgundy, champagne, claret, graves, hock, madeira, port, sauterne, sherry and all purpose yeasts. Make sure that you choose the right yeast for your wine, and if in doubt, choose the all purpose option. Always follow the manufacturers instructions before use.

It is important to heat the 'must' to between 18 to 21°C before stirring in the yeast, otherwise fermentation may not take place properly. Yeast needs warmth to be activated. Test the temperature with a liquid thermometer.

Adding yeast nutrient and acid to homemade wine

A yeast nutrient is a chemical food which provides the necessary acids to make your wine. Adding yeast nutrients helps the wine to be clearer, it also gets rid of undesirable by-products in the wine and assists in the vigorous growth of the yeast. Yeast nutrients can be bought in a ready made form which already contain citric acid. Always use in accordance with the manufacturers instructions.

Step 4: Fermentation

This is one of the most important parts of the wine making process.

Top Tip: Sterilise all equipment before use.

Pour the mixture into a sterilised glass, stoneware or plastic jars, which are large enough to hold between 1 to 5 gallons. Demi-johns (also known as Demi jars) are ideal for this. Fill jars until the mixture reaches the shoulders of the jar (or four fifths full). Seal the top with a holed bung and attach a plastic fermentation lock. Half fill the lock with previously boiled, cooled water to act as a seal. This water lock is extremely important, as it allows the carbon dioxide to escape from the fermenting liquid, and at the same time prevents contaminated air from entering the bottle. If air is allowed in, your wine may become sour and have a vinegary taste.

Place the jars in a warm place with a temperature of between 18 to 25°C. Heat pads can be purchased if storing your jars in a shed or cupboard. Fermentation will be very vigorous for the frst five days, and will then slow down. After 5 days, turn the temperature down to between 16 and 18°C . Make sure that the temperature is kept constant, especially at night time, as serious fluctuations may harm your wine making process.

Fermentaion will now carry on for a further 3 to 6 weeks for dry or medium wines, or between 7 to 12 weeks for sweet wines. Examine your wine regularly to see when fermentation has almost ceased.

Top Tip: To make sparkling wine, simply syphon off into bottles just before fermentation is completed. Make sure to wire down the corks to prevent them from popping.

Step 4: Racking off into jars

Racking off is the process of removing the newly made wine from the deposit of dead yeast and sediments (known as lees) at the bottom of the fermenting jar. This can be done by carefully pouring off the wine by hand, without disturbing the deposits, but it is far better to use a syphon (also spelt siphon). Place one end of a 4 foot long tube about half way down the wine in the jar, and peg the tube to the side of the jar's mouth to keep it in place. Place another pre-sterilised clean jar below the level of the full one. Suck on the lower end of the tubing to draw the wine through the tube, and once running freely, syphon the wine into the mouth of the lower jar. As you syphon out your wine, lower the end of the tube in the top jar, but do not disturb the lees if at all possible, or else you will have to wait for it to settle again. Also, do not take the tube out of the liquid or the vacuum will be lost, and it would be necessary to suck the wine through again.

As soon as the wine has been syphoned off, remove the syphoning tube from the top bottle, so as not to disturb the lees. The new jar should be filled to shoulder level, and a clean, sterilised fermentation lock should again be put into place. Move the racked off wine into a cool area and wait for any sediment to settle at the bottom of the jar. After a period of between 2 to 4 weeks, start the racking off process again, and leave again for another three to five weeks. The racking off process can be done three or four times. The more times you do it, the clearer your wine will be. Once all the sediment has disappeared, and there are no air bubbles going through the fermentation lock, the wine is ready for bottling.

How to use artificial clearers

Some wines clear perfectly without the aid of an artificial clearing agent (or fines, as it is more commonly known). Wines made from blackcurrants, elderberry or orange are usually clear in about 8 weeks, whereas parsnip, marigold and wheat wines can take over 26 weeks to clear. This is the stage where patience is a virtue! The longer you leave your wine to clear, the better it will look and taste.

What causes wine to go cloudy?

The likely causes of cloudy wine are:

• Overboiling the vegetables
• Lack of yeast nutrient
• Absence of a fermentation lock
• Infection of wild, air borne yeasts
• Delayed or careless racking off
• Incomplete fermentation at the time of bottling
• Storage in a warm cupboard

If your wine does not become crystal clear after 8 months, it can be cleared by "fining", to remove the tiny suspended solids floating in the wine. Finings can be bought from reputable shops that sell wine making equipment, and used as per the manufacturers instructions.

It is possible to test your wine at any stage and to make any adjustments you think necessary.

Step 7: Racking off wine into bottles and storage

When you are satisfied that your wine is at it's clearest, rack it off again, using the syphoning system into ordinary wine bottles, taking care not to dusturb any lees that are lying at the bottom of the demi jar. Fill each bottle to within three quarters of an inch (2 cm) of the bottom of the cork. Always use new corks, which should be cleaned and sterilised before use. Soak the corks beforehand in sterile cold water (cooled, boiled water with miltons added) to soften them. Drive the cork right into the opening of the bottle, so that it is level, and inline with the neck. Wipe the outside of the bottle with a clean cloth and leave to dry. Always fix a label to the bottle, giving the date and the variety of wine made. Add any other information that you may think useful. Store the bottles on their sides, preferably in a wine rack, in a cool, dark place at about 7 to 14°C.

Maturing homemade wine

Never be in a hurry to drink home-made wines. Of course you will want to taste it straight away, so use one fresh bottle as and when you please, but do try to save some bottles so they can mature. Newly made wines are drinkable, but a matured wine wil be more mellow, and have a far better taste and aroma. Store light, dry wines with a low alcohol content for at least nine months if possible, and heavier, sweeter wines with a higher alcohol content for at least twelve months.

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