The Grapes of Wrath

Wine. Too much f a good thing is wonderful. That is why Big Daddy and I decided to start making our own home brews. We had talking and contemplated and planned, but then I got Big Daddy for my Secret Santa at my dad's house. I had no idea what to get him so I figured I would search 'booze' on Amazon. This is when I stumbled across a product called E-Z Caps (buy the 6 caps for $14.99) that claimed they could make wine using an empty two liter soda bottle, sugar, yeast, fruit juice and their special cap. That sounded like something right up my alley (and I figured Big Daddy MIGHT like it, too, since I was shopping for him). I was totally right.

Yesterday was the day that we decided to start our first batch of wine. The concept was pretty simple:

1. Get an empty two liter soda bottle and clean it out.
2. Dump the sugar into the bottle. You can use anywhere from one to two cups depending on how sweet you want your wine to be. Sugar is also food for the yeast. The more sugar, the more food the yeast will have and the longer the wine will ferment. The longer it ferments, the more alcohol content it will have. Alcohol content is good.
3. Heat the juice until it is approximately 70 degrees. This will help dissolve the sugar and it's the prime temperature to start yeast activity. Too warm, the yeast die. Too cold, they get sleepy and lazy and don't do their job like they should.
4. Add the juice to the bottle until the bottle is about 90% full. Shake the hell out of it until the sugar is dissolved.
5. Next you'll want to add the yeast. IF YOUR JUICE IS FOAMY AFTER SHAKING, DO NOT ADD THE YEAST UNTIL IT CALMS DOWN. You can add anywhere from 1/16 to 1/8 tsp of yeast. Because we weren't really sure how much to use, we went with 1/8 tsp. DO NOT shake after adding the yeast.
6. Screw on the E-Z Cap and set the bottle somewhere warm. We chose the top shelf in Nutt's closet because it's the warmest room in the house and we want out booze ASAP.

That's about it. Do that and let it ferment for 7-14 days. If you open it after 7 days, you will have a sweeter wine with less of an alcohol content. If you wait the full 14 days, you will have a drier wine that will get you shitfaced. When it's all done fermenting, pop it in the fridge for two or three days so it can clarify and you'll have your very own homemade hooch. After that, you can strain it to get rid of the sediment in the bottom of the two liter bottle and then bottle it. I'm not sure about storing it outside of a refrigerator and I will post more on that once I've gone through the experience.

So in about and hours time, Big Daddy and I had six bottles mixed, capped and stuffed in our kid's closet. In total it cost about $15 (not including the $12 kit that you use to make over 100 liters of wine). I am very curious to see how it turns out and I will post more blogs along the way so everyone knows if these magic little caps are worth buying.

Until then, here is a little bit more info (and pictures) about the recipes and techniques that we used on each bottle:

$12 on Amazon = 6 two liters of wine. Sadly, they are no longer available on Amazon and must be ordered through the company website. Link is above. Order the 6 cap pack for $14.99.

The Apple Wine. We used 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp yeast and Nature's Nectar 100% Apple Juice.

When we made the Apple Wine (above), we didn't follow the instructions, per se. We added the sugar and yeast and then dumped the juice into the bottle and shook it all up. We also did not heat the juice. Oops. I'm pretty sure we probably killed the yeast and I don't know if this one is going to ferment. If we don't see anything in a few days, we will add more yeast and see what happens.

FOLLOW UP: This was the last bottle that we drank (6 in a weekend...I think we have a problem). We let it ferment for 9 days and it clarified (in the shed because there is no room in our fridge) for 3 days. It was pretty good. It was semi-sweet and sparkling but smelled kind of like rotten fruit. Nothing unbelievably special but it rocked on alcohol content (meaning it got me VERY shitfaced). So apparently, it doesn't matter if you shake the juice after you've added the yeast because it will still make a really potent wine. This may have even helped but I don't have the confidence to try it again in case it make the wine yucky. 

White Grape Peach Wine. We used 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp yeast and Welch's 100% White Grape Peach juice.

For the second wine, we forgot to heat the juice. We mixed the wine and sugar and then added the yeast and capped it. I think it will be okay because we put it in Nutt's closet right away and it has to be at least 70 degrees (if not a little warmer) in there.

FOLLOW UP: This is the wine that we chose to share with out family. It turned out on the sweet side and also sparkling.  I thought this was one of the dryer wines, although still sweet, that we made so it was one of my favorites. My dad enjoyed it thoroughly. Out of all of the wine, I definitely want to make this one again. We let this one ferment for 9 days and clarified it in the shed for 2 days. When we drank it, my dad made a comment that he noticed that we didn't care about all of the sediment floating in our wine. I do care (kind of) but it didn't really change the taste so whatever.

Grape Wine. We used 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp yeast and Nature's Nectar 100% Grape Juice w/ No Added Sugar

We remembered to heat the grape juice and followed instructions about adding the sugar. After Big Daddy shook it up, it got really foamy and frothy. He added the yeast before it calmed down and the yeast wound up sticking to the inside of the cap. After the frothing went away, the yeast was all clumped up on the top of the juice. I'm not sure if it is going to ferment so we'll keep you posted.

Berry Burst Wine. We used 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp yeast and Nature's Nectar Berry Burst 100% Juice.

Big Daddy was worried about how thin the Berry Burst juice looked. He also didn't know if it was too sweet to add one full cup of sugar. I told him to suck it up and enjoy it. The worst thing that will happen is that we'll have a sweet wine. I'm the one that thinks sweet wine is gross, not him. This one was made according to directions.

Blueberry Wine. We used 1 1/2 c sugar, 1/8 tsp yeast and Ocean Spray Blueberry Juice Cocktail.

This is the wine that I'm REALLY excited about. We added an extra half cup of sugar (the sign on the bottle is wrong) because the juice is tart to begin with and I didn't want a wine that was so dry that it tasted like sour blueberries. I think it still may come out a bit tart and we may have to try it after ten days and stop the fermentation process before it gets gross. This one was made according to directions.

Cherry Wine. We used 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp yeast and Juicy Juice 100% Cherry Juice.

This is another one that I'm excited about trying. It's on the sweeter side (like the Berry Burst) so I think it will be a little on the sweeter side. I just adore the cherry juice even if it's not alcoholic and I'm sure it will turn out great. This one was made according to directions.

Our first batch of hooch.

Apple, White Grape Peach and Grape wines

Berry Burst, Blueberry and Cherry wines