Brew Your Own Cheap Wine

Preface: I’ve never done this before, and i’m totally inexperienced about brewing. I did a little bit of research online and found this was the easiest and cheapest way to brew wine, which seems like the easiest of all alcoholic drinks to make. Follow these directions at your own risk

Like the title says, this method of brewing is not expensive (cost me roughly $12. This will make me 2-3 gallons of wine. maybe more), but the returns aren’t for connoisseurs. This is for cheap-asses, college kids, and 15 yr olds who can’t buy anything themselves. If you do it right, it’s enjoyable, cheap, easy to do, and most importantly, alcoholic. Plus, it only takes a maximum of 2 weeks to fully ferment!!!

Step 1:
Buy ingredients. Get the cheap stuff. It doesn’t matter what YETI ONE GALLON quality it is because it’s hobo-wine.
I made a gallon jug of this. The recipe calls for:

2 cans of juice concentrate (room temp) I chose welch’s concorde grape. You should be able to use any type of concentrate like strawberry, kiwi-whatever etc. Two juice concentrates makes 1 gallon.

  • 2-3 cups of sugar
  • water
  • water container (I used a water jug that was 60 cents at the store, plus I got to use the water)
  • Active Dry yeast
  • bleach
  • funnel
  • rubber band
  • balloon

 

Step 2:
Sterilize everything you’re going to use to keep the fermenting wine in. You don’t want unwanted bacteria growing in your wine, it ruins it. Bleach out your funnel and your jug. Rinse well, and wash with dish soap. Air dry.

Step 3:
Go ahead and bring your water to a near boil. What I did was let the water boil just for a bit to kill anything in it (just in case), and then I took it off the heat and let it cool. I heated mine in separate pots because I didn’t have any large enough to hold it all.

Step 4:

While you’re waiting for your water to heat, go ahead and add your room temperature juice concentrate to the clean, dry jug. Use the funnel if you need it.

Step 5:
As the hot water cools, dissolve 2-3 cups of sugar in the water. Most recipies I’ve read say 2 is fine, but i added 3 so the yeast had enough nutrients and so that the wine would be sweeter. Stir while pouring.

Step 6:
Activate the yeast. Follow the instructions on the back of the packet. For me, I added 1 teaspoon of sugar into a separate bowl along with 1/4 cup of water at 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the yeast to the concoction and stir briefly. Let sit for 10 minutes. The yeast should be very frothy now.

Step 7:
Pour the dissolved sugar-water into the jug that’s holding the juice concentrate. Your juice/sugarwater might be warm. Cool it off a little by placing the jug in the sink and fill the sink with cool water. When you introduce your yeast to their syrupy mix, it can’t be too hot or it will kill the yeast and ruin your project. I waited until the jug was just warm to the touch. 80-90 degrees i estimate.