Home Made Wine

[jitagon]

I'm going to attempt some home made wines, having been encouraged by a website called 'wine from rare fruit' - well mangos, papaya etc are rare in California, where the website is based. Thing's been putting me off a bit is the 'rarity' of demijons here. I once made some ginger beer here in a bin bag! Very drinkable - and very potent. Anyone here had a go at some wine, and what did you substitute for the demijons?

[issanpaul]

I once made some ginger beer here in a bin bag!

[jaideeguy]

please share the process......sounds like fun

[subseasteve]

G'day,

What is this Demijon your talking about? I make wine and beer, I have made wine out of everything you could imagine, I found the nicest one I made was jackfruit, but there is a very important trick to making jackfruit wine because it has a certain amount of natural rubber oil. Horrible shit hurts your skin gives you rash and kills the yeast but when done right it is beautifull. Mango steen wine is nice too.

[Naam]

G'day,

What is this Demijon your talking about? I make wine and beer, I have made wine out of everything you could imagine, I found the nicest one I made was jackfruit, but there is a very important trick to making jackfruit wine because it has a certain amount of natural rubber oil. Horrible shit hurts your skin gives you rash and kills the yeast but when done right it is beautifull. Mango steen wine is nice too.

a glass container, volume 8-10 liters.

[subseasteve]

Oh yea for wine I just use those 20 L water battles that you get from the little truck for a few baht, dont even bother cleaning them coz clean already I use the water in those too, I never use fining chemicals or cleaning agents. When I am drinking my beer I always rinse the bottle as soon as I empty it into a jug, so I hardly ever wash them either, if it is dirty then it simply wouldnt work out.

With the 20L water bottles I dont bother with a breather and all that shit, I just cover it with glad wrap, (clear film) and prick a tiny hole in it to let the gas escape. I only use a bubble breather if I am making beer or sparkling wine.

[jitagon]

Oh yea for wine I just use those 20 L water battles that you get from the little truck for a few baht, dont even bother cleaning them coz clean already I use the water in those too, I never use fining chemicals or cleaning agents. When I am drinking my beer I always rinse the bottle as soon as I empty it into a jug, so I hardly ever wash them either, if it is dirty then it simply wouldnt work out.

With the 20L water bottles I dont bother with a breather and all that shit, I just cover it with glad wrap, (clear film) and prick a tiny hole in it to let the gas escape. I only use a bubble breather if I am making beer or sparkling wine.

Thanks for that! Great idea. The jackfruit wine sounds interesting, as does the mangosteen (lot of deseeding though, could do it on a particularly wet and boring afternoon). Sounds as though you like the drier wines too and something with a bit of a kick. Would be grateful for the tip on the jackfruit. Thanks

[Cuban]

Ideas for red wines please.

[jaideeguy]

I made a batch of red wine back home using a mail order kit that used dried burgandy gapes and it came out quite drinkable. Just rehydrate the raisins and you have grapes to make the wine.

Thanks for the reminder, I may do it again because the wine here is soo expensive and cheap wine just doesn't do it for me.

[NHJ]

isn't there a bacteria that will grow into brewed alcohol and make you blind?

i remember we talked about this 10 years ago with one of my teacher in biology lessons.

edit it's not a bacteria, if the sugar is producing methanol and not ethanol, you'll become blind.

Edited September 4, 2008 by NHJ

[Naam]

isn't there a bacteria that will grow into brewed alcohol and make you blind?

i remember we talked about this 10 years ago with one of my teacher in biology lessons.

edit it's not a bacteria, if the sugar is producing methanol and not ethanol, you'll become blind.

it's not a bacteria. but during the fermenting process it can happen that a different and poisonous kind of alcohol develops which can cause not only blindness but death. for more information google ethyl and methyl alcohol.

[Naam]

Oh yea for wine I just use those 20 L water battles that you get from the little truck for a few baht, dont even bother cleaning them coz clean already I use the water in those too, I never use fining chemicals or cleaning agents. When I am drinking my beer I always rinse the bottle as soon as I empty it into a jug, so I hardly ever wash them either, if it is dirty then it simply wouldnt work out.

With the 20L water bottles I dont bother with a breather and all that shit, I just cover it with glad wrap, (clear film) and prick a tiny hole in it to let the gas escape. I only use a bubble breather if I am making beer or sparkling wine.

that can cause excessive oxigenisation which spoils the taste considerably. the elegant way to avoid ambient air entering the container is putting a condom over the bottle neck and watch it slowly blow up i am speaking based on experience living for years in Saudi Arabia where i knew some experts who made excellent wine. i have since a couple of years wine yeast (different types) never found the time for some experiments. moreover, one can't find pure unpasteurised grape juice in Thailand except home made by buying grapes. making wine is quite interesting and the "young" sparkling wine with a low alcohol content which develops after a fermenting period of only 5-6 days is very refreshing over crushed ice.

edited for additonal advice: use a fresh condom, not a used one

Edited September 4, 2008 by Naam

[jitagon]

I think I read a post some time ago where someone had made some wine from apple juice, the kind they sell in cartons in Central? Would this be a less potent version of applejack? Applejack and raisinjack need a still. Don't think I could be bothered to go to those lengths, no matter how I like a drink

[jitagon]

Just did a search and found a previous thread on home made hooch which threw up this link. Need some guinea pigs, so please let me know if any of you go blind

http://www.expats.org.uk/features/alcohol/index.html

Edited September 4, 2008 by jitagon

[danfred]

I recently bought some yeast for the bread machine and a day later I was pleasantly surprised to find my Thai family making pineapple wine. It was not that potent since they only allowed it to age about 3-4 days. Too sweet for my taste.

[Khun Ngo]

G'day,

What is this Demijon your talking about? I make wine and beer, I have made wine out of everything you could imagine, I found the nicest one I made was jackfruit, but there is a very important trick to making jackfruit wine because it has a certain amount of natural rubber oil. Horrible shit hurts your skin gives you rash and kills the yeast but when done right it is beautifull. Mango steen wine is nice too.

I'd like to make beer too.

Where can I find barley-malt and hopes in Bkk?

[Jack100]

I found making wine from grapes , at home , very easy in a ' non alcoholic'

Middle East coutnry where I once worked . Is there a farm somewhere on the

outskirts of Pattaya where you can buy grapes for home wine making ? I would

need about 10 boxes of say 5 kilos each box . ?

Thanks,

Jack

[husskydog]

Anyone tried these..............http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wine-making-KIT-Make-Cider-Beer-home-brewing-machine-mr-/250634308186?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5af80a5a...............thanks

[gotlost]

I found making wine from grapes , at home , very easy in a ' non alcoholic'

Middle East coutnry where I once worked . Is there a farm somewhere on the

outskirts of Pattaya where you can buy grapes for home wine making ? I would

need about 10 boxes of say 5 kilos each box . ?

Thanks,

Jack

I was probably in that same country and the home made beer and wine was some serious nasty and arse kicking shyt.

[IMA_FARANG]

I used to make wine in what was probably that same "middle eastern country where alchohol isn't permitted" that other posters have talked about.

I used those glass (20 liter?) containers used in office water coolers...or if they aren't available plastic containers will also work.

It's important to use grape juice without preservatives added if it is possible to find such. There used to be a Swiss made grape juice called "OVA"...both in white grape and red grape juices. It was more expensive, but I got much better results with the juice without preservatives or additives.

I used that plastic tubing that they used in hospitals for IV's (like they use to drip fluids into patients). It's just about the right size and flexible enough to coil easily. Rubber stoppers to fit the glass/plastic bottle top snugly. Drill or poke a hole just big enough for the plastic tubing to go through the stopper. Push the plastic hose through, and seal around it with either rubber cement or candle wax to make the assembly air-tight. The rubber stopper should fit snugly, to keep any foriegn bacteria or such out of the mix once it is fermenting. Run about 3 to 5 feet (as required) into a open bottle of water. make sure the tip of the plastic hose from your brewing mix is entirely under water. As the mix starts fermenting the CO2 will bubble out slowly through the water bottle. It will create a postive pressure that keeps any stray air from entering into the brew mix. Since the rubber stopper seals the top of the glass/rubber container no air can enter your brew mix. The number of bubbles will build up as the fermentation gets stronger, then gradually die down. When the rate is down to no more than one bubble a minute (as an example) the fermentation is done.

Then you can carefully siphon off the wine from the glass/plastic container. Use filter paper (like you can buy in science or chemistry supply stores...often they sell such filters for schools) to filter the residue from the wine. Be careful, go slowly, and try to avoid disturbing the residue in the container any more than you can. Siphon off the wine into the same juice bottles you had the grape juice in when you bought it. Cap them. Let them sit in a warm, but not too hot, place for at least two weeks. Much of the sediment will settle to the bottom of the juice bottles. Then carefully siphon off the liqued, trying to not to disturb that sediment in the juice bottles any more than you have to into plastic water bottles. Put it into the fridge, let it cool for while, and you're ready to drink it.

It sounds like an involved procedure...but once you've done it a couple of times...you'll have the knack of it. It's really not that hard.

We used to make a sweet wine. There weren't that many females available in that country....and those that were willing to come to a guy's party were always cautious. Our sweet wine tasted a lot like grape juice at first...so the girls thought,"This stuff is harmless...no worry..I'll have another glass". Usually about the 3rd glass the alchohol started to kick in. Enough said.

I've tried making apple wine from apple juice also. Apple tends to have a lot of sediment, and takes a long time to clear. I made a batch of apple wine, and it was too cloudly to drink. I statshed it away, and forgot about it. About two months later I happened to take a bottle out and look at it. It was almost crystal clear, but with just a faint apple color to it! I sampled it and it was great. But apple takes much longer for the sediment to clear than grape wine...so you should plan on probably two months settling time.

One more thing...how much sugar you put into the grape juice...you'll have to learn that basically by trial and error. Your first few batches may be too sweet for you. Try less sugar next time. Eventually you'll get it pretty close to what you like.

As for yeast...brewers yeast or bakers yeast both work well. As long as the yeast is dry and fresh (living) it will do it's job converting that sugar to alchohol. Beginners usually worry to much about what kind of yeast to use and how much yeast to add. My experience was that the yeast basically took care of itself. The yeast justs eats that sugar and makes it into alchohol.

[turnpike]

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

lots of recipes here, and info.