A few days before the holiday, my husband clears space in the brew room, while I design our recipe. For our Christmas day brew, we try to do something holiday themed, both to remind us of our “holiday”, and so that the final wine will be something appropriately themed for future holiday consumption. You know, being labeled as “Christmas wine”!

The first year of this tradition was when we designed the recipe for “Cuties” Mead, which has since gone on to become a favorite not only with us, but with other homebrewers. Cheers, guys!

As I’d mentioned last Christmas, our 2010 Christmas Wine was a cranberry-Cuties wine. Oh MAN, did it ever turn out amazing! 1 year to the day we brewed it, we were serving this up at a friend’s “orphan’s Christmas” Dr Who marathon. (Having moved our traditional holiday brew day up 1 day to accommodate such a worthy event!).

This turns out a gorgeous light red, fruity wine. The Cuties oranges work beautifully with the cranberries, and the result is a smooth, festive libation. We really love the use of “crack oranges” to flavor our holiday brews… and they certainly didn’t disappoint in this recipe. Don’t wait til next Christmas to put a batch of this on – those Cuties oranges are at peak season for another month or so!

If you haven’t attempted making wine before, don’t be intimidated! Check out our primer to home brewing, it starts here, with parts 2 and 3 here and here. Just a small handful of entries, and you’ll be good to go!

Cranberry-Clementine Wine Recipe

Ingredients
13 x 10 oz fresh cranberries
1 case worth of “Cuties” orange peels (about 20 oranges worth!)
5 gallons spring water
15 lbs white sugar
4 lbs golden raisins
2.5 tsp Acid blend
2 tsp pectic enzyme
6 tsp yeast nutrient
1 packet Red Star “Montrachet” yeast
Potassium sorbate or other wine stabilizer

Equipment:
7.5 gallon pot (or bigger)
1 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket and lid
1 or 2 6.5 gallon glass carboys & stoppers
1 air lock
Siphon, siphon tubing.

Chop cranberries, set aside

In large stock pot – we used a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer – combine orange peels, water, and sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add chopped cranberries, stir and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient. Stir well, turn off heat. Cover with a lid, allow to cool to room temperature – overnight.

Place raisins and yeast in a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket. Use sanitized equipment to rack the liquid out of the cooking pot, and into the fermenting bucket. Using sanitized equipment – take a gravity reading. Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)

If you’d like, use sanitized equipment to add some of the remaining cranberry-orange pulp to the fermenting bucket, if it will fit. (Totally optional!).

Cover with sanitized lid and air lock. Within 48 hours, you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you’re good to go! Let sit for about a week, stirring (sanitized paddle!) every couple of days or so.

After a week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for 2 months or so.

Using sanitized equipment, rack the wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. (At this point, we added 2 lbs sugar for added sweetness. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.

Rack one more time, leave it for another 3 months or so.

When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling.

Follow the instructions on your selected type of wine stabilizer to stop fermentation. For potassium sorbate, this needs to be done 2-3 days before bottling.

Using sanitized equipment, take a final gravity reading, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork. (We like to use these for corking our homemade wine. Easy to use – no special equipment needed! – easy to uncork, and – should you have any wine left in your bottle after serving (pfft!), the “cork” is easily replaced for temporary storage!).

I’m not going to lie – the wine you bottle is going to be a little harsh. Drinkable, but definitely unrefined. Put the bottles into the cases they came in and forget about them for at least a few months– you’ll have a much tastier wine at the end of the wait!

Our wine was smooth and tasty to drink 1 year to the date we made it, and has been a tasty hostess gift this holiday season!

For one, by the time you’re ready to add the yeast to get the product started… well, you’re working with a liquid that just looks revolting. Muddy brown-grey dishwater looking stuff. You add the yeast, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. Then, the yeast starts acting on it. Oh BOY does it ever! I’ve never seen such violent fermentation before! It really was a sight to behold. One day, you walk by your carboys, and you think “Hrm. My orange mead looks really yellow for some reason”… and then you realize that you’re looking at your banana wine. All of a sudden, that ugly, milky looking mixture clarified at some point. It left you with a gorgeous, brilliantly golden yellow and crystal clear wine.

… and it tastes like heavily banana-flavored Everclear! Yes, we’ve termed our banana wine “Banana Jet Fuel” for good reason – it comes in at a whopping 20% ABV!

No worries though – let your finished wine age for about a year after bottling, and you’ll be rewarded with a smooth, flavorful wine that packs a punch! The harsh “Everclear” flavor will age right out.

Banana wine is very easy – and very CHEAP – to make. Also, it finishes a unique color, which will make a beautiful addition to your wine rack – or gift.

If you haven’t attempted making wine before, don’t be intimidated! Check out our primer to home brewing, it starts here, with parts 2 and 3 here and here. Just a small handful of entries, and you’ll be good to go!

Homemade Banana Wine Recipe

Ingredients:
21 lbs of RIPE bananas, sliced into thin rings
5 gallons water (You won’t use it all)
15-20 lbs white and/or brown sugar (We used white)
6 tsp acid blend
5 tsp pectinase
1.25 tsp wine tannin
6 tsp yeast nutrient
4 lbs golden raisins
1 packets of wine yeast (We like Red Star “Champagne” for this recipe)
Potassium sorbate or other wine stabilizer

Equipment:
7.5 gallon pot (or bigger)
1 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket and lid
1 or 2 6.5 gallon glass carboys & stoppers
1 air lock
Siphon, siphon tubing.

In large stock pot – we used a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer – combine bananas, sugar, and about 4 gallons of water. Heat to almost boiling, mashing and stirring until sugar is dissolved. Continue to heat for about 45 minutes – never allowing it to come to a boil – stirring every few minutes. Remove from heat, add acid blend, pectinase, tannin, and yeast nutrient. Stir well.

Place raisins in a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket. Carefully strain hot banana liquid into the fermenting bucket, over top of the raisins. Top with water to 6 gallons, and add a few scoops of the banana mush. Cover with sanitized lid and air lock, allow to cool to room temperature (overnight).

The next morning, give the mixture a quick stir with a sanitized paddle, and – using sanitized equipment – take a gravity reading. Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)

Sprinkle yeast into fermenter, cover with sanitized cover and air lock. Within 48 hours, you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you’re good to go!

Let sit for about a week, stirring (sanitized paddle!) Every couple of days or so. It will get black on top. It’ll look awful… and your whole brewing area / basement / garage will smell like banana bread!

After a week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. (At this point, we ran the raisins and remaining pulp through a juicer and added it to the carboy, but that’s entirely optional. Will give the wine extra body if you do it!)

Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for a month or so.

Using sanitized equipment, rack the banana wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. (At this point, we added 4 lbs sugar for added sweetness. It probably also upped the final ABV!). Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.

By this point, you’ll find that your wine has clarified, and looks NOTHING like it did when it started. Enjoy your handiwork. Rack one more time, leave it for another 3 months or so. When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling. Follow the instructions on your selected type of wine stabilizer to stop fermentation. For potassium sorbate, this needs to be done 2-3 days before bottling.

Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork. (We like to use these for corking our homemade wine. Easy to use – no special equipment needed! – easy to uncork, and – should you have any wine left in your bottle after serving (pfft!), the “cork” is easily replaced for temporary storage!).

I’m not going to lie – the wine you bottle is going to be pretty harsh. Drinkable, but definitely banana flavored fire water. Put the bottles into the cases they came in and forget about them for a year (or two!) – you’ll have a much tastier wine at the end of the wait!

I got a little sidetracked. Whoops. In my defense, there’s been SO much going on here in the way of repairs. Getting my husband to photograph anything … well, it’s got to be a lower priority, what with winter coming!

So, let’s go with something super easy – iced tea liqueur!

You’ve probably seen a bunch of iced tea liqueurs on the market in the past two years: Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka, Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, Burnett’s Sweet Tea Vodka, Sweet Carolina Sweet Tea Vodka, Barton Long Island Iced Tea Liqueur, etc. 2009 marked the real explosion of “Sweet tea” flavored liqueurs on liquor store shelves.

For what mass produced offerings, they’re not bad. Expensive for what they are, but they get the job done. Homemade sweet iced tea liqueurs not only taste a million times better, they allow you to have a lot of control over the flavors, and are only a fraction of the cost of the retail versions. Also, they are so ridiculously easy to make, I’m almost embarrassed to post a recipe! While the infusion time needed for this liqueur is much, much shorter than any of the others, it really benefits from aging. If you’re looking to do a batch for holiday gifts, you’ll want to start it soonish.

Homemade Sweet Iced Tea Liqueur Recipe

3 cups decent quality vodka*
5-6 tea bags of your choice **
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 lemon, optional. ***

Remove any paper tags from the tea bags, place into one large clean Mason jar, or divide among 2 medium sized jars, capping the jar(s) tightly.

Give the jar(s) a gentle shake every few hours, check the flavor at about the 8 hour mark. Flavor should be a little stronger than you’d like the finished product to be, as it will be diluted before you’re finished.

If additional flavor is needed, allow to steep up to 2 days. Feel free to add more tea bags – just don’t leave the mixture to steep TOO long, or you’ll end up with bitter tannin flavors.

Once desired flavor strength is achieved:

Strain vodka through a fine mesh strainer & discard the tea bags. For a more clarified drink, strain the infusion once more, this time through a coffee filter – or two. Be patient, the effort is worth it!

Next, make simple syrup.

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool before using.

Stir about 1 1/2 cups of the syrup into the strained infusion. Once fully combined, taste. Adjust ingredients for desired sweetness – I like doing a 1:1 ratio of syrup to infused vodka. Once you are happy with the sweetness, carefully pour your liqueur into a clean bottle.

After bottling, you should let it age for at least a week in a cool, dark place before drinking it – IF you have that kind of patience! Aging results in a smoother, more mellow flavor.

* With regards to the vodka, we go fairly cheap with it. For more robust flavors, any difference in quality of vodka – using more expensive brands – is totally lost. Save the upgrades in base vodka for more subtle liqueurs!

*** If you want a lemon iced tea, carefully peel the lemon, making sure not to leave any of the white pith on the peels. Add peels to the infusion *after* the tea bags are removed, allow to infuse for about a week. Taste for doneness. If you’d like more lemon flavor, allow to infuse until it’s just right before moving on to the simple syrup step.

Enjoy making liqueurs? You should check out my first cookbook, The Spirited Baker! The first chapter takes a “Choose your own Adventure” approach to teaching how to create virtually any type of liqueur imaginable!

Learn to infuse various spirits with any flavor of your choice. From there, use any of a number of flavored syrups – recipes included! – to sweeten your infused spirit, creating a liqueur.

Liqueurs can then be combined with a few simple ingredients to create a cream liqueur – or even a chocolate cream liqueur! The possibilities are not only endless, they are delicious and thrifty!

One one hand… I really hate the commercialization of certain holidays, and how THAT results in stuff like Halloween displays in Menards… in August. Christmas displays in September. It gets earlier and earlier every year. Also, really… The holiday season stresses me out. It means doing my grocery shopping at 5 am, to avoid the crowds and horrible bell-ringer-induced headaches. People body checking each other in order to get the perfect gift or the last box of cocoa on the shelf. Just.. yeah. I digress…

On the other hand, I love giving handmade gifts. There’s something really satisfying about putting the finishing touches on the presentation of your own handiwork, and seeing the joy on the recipients’ face. It’s something personal small-batch, unique, and… not pulled off a shelf at the last minute. You know. Special.

Thing is, a lot of hand made gifts require planning ahead. It does no one any good for me to give Christmas gift ideas in December, when they take 3 months to make. As my friend Karen pointed out yesterday, she always gets a laugh when newspapers publish recipes for making your own corned beef ON St Patty’s Day.

So.. I’m sorry. I know it’s the beginning of September, and I hate thinking “Holiday” this early just as much as anyone. In the interest of helping you give some awesome gifts this year, however, I’m going to write a series of blog entries on homemade holiday gifts. Now.

Some will take only a couple weeks to make, others may take a couple months of wait time. Many are ingredient dependent, and best to start NOW. What’s the point of posting a recipe for fresh blueberry liqueur in mid December, for instance? Also, most liqueurs taste better (smoother) with a bit of aging,

So, for the next week or two, let’s talk liqueur making.

Liqueur makes an awesome gift, especially when it makes use of seasonally available produce, herbs, etc. On a cold December night, is anything better than getting a whiff or a sip of summers’ bounty?

This recipe was inspired by Fragoli liqueur, a beautiful little libation I was recently introduced to via Twitter. It’s an imported sweet wild strawberry liqueur. Tasty in its own right, but what makes it really special – and pretty – is all of the little wild strawberries floating at the top of each bottle!

As much as we love Fragoli, one of my first thoughts was “Hrm… this would be FABULOUS as a blueberry liqueur!”. And.. here we are. Oh, it’s delicious!

This recipe makes about 6 cups of finished liqueur, perfect to bottle in either 2 750 ml bottles, or 4 375 ml bottles. To bottle it as pictured – “Fragoli-style”:

- The day before bottling, soak a pint of blueberries in vodka overnight. Remove any smashed or mushy blueberries before covering with vodka. Refrigerate.

- Immediately before bottling, strain the blueberries. Carefully add the smaller berries to the clean bottles BEFORE bottling the liqueur.

- Pour liqueur over the berries, leaving only an inch or so of head room. Cap as desired.

Homemade Blueberry Liqueur Recipe

3 cups Vodka*
1 pint fresh blueberries

2 cups sugar
2 cups water

Blitz vodka and blueberries together in a blender until blueberries are pretty well disintegrated.

Pour mixture into one large clean Mason jar, or divide among 2 medium sized jars, capping the jar(s) tightly. Give the jar(s) a quick shake once a day or so for 2 weeks.

At the two week point, taste for doneness. If your infusion lacks flavor even after steeping for a couple of weeks,just add some more blueberries (pureed), and continue infusing until it’s just right!

Once desired flavor strength is achieved:

Strain spirit through a fine mesh strainer & discard the fruit. For a more clarified drink, strain the smaller bits out by running the infusion through a coffee filter – or two. Be patient, the effort is worth it!

Next, make simple syrup.

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool before using.

Stir about 1 1/2 cups of the syrup into the strained infusion. Once fully combined, taste. Adjust ingredients for desired sweetness – I like doing a 1:1 ratio of syrup to infused vodka. Once you are happy with the sweetness, carefully pour your liqueur into a clean bottle.

After bottling, you should let it age for about a week in a cool, dark place before drinking it – IF you have that kind of patience! Aging results in a smoother, more mellow flavor.

* With regards to the vodka, we go cheap with it – usually the 1.75L “Taaka” vodka for $12 or so! For more robust flavors like blueberry, any difference in quality of vodka – using more expensive brands – is totally lost. Save the upgrades in base vodka for more subtle liqueurs!

Now, this is for a few reasons. For one, we’re frugal. We’re also not people-people, for the most part, and tend to stay away from (usually) noisy bars. The third reason has only really become an issue since I moved to Minnesota – it’s HARD to get what I want!

You see, I love martini cocktails, which have been my drink of choice since… jeez, turning legal (age 18, back home!). I developed even more of an appreciation for them during my training at the Toronto Institute of Bartending, and well… that’s my style. I’m not a beer drinker, and I’m not all that fond of commercial wines.

Also, as I may have mentioned in previous posts… I like my drinks to verge on “diabetes in a glass”. Save the “dry”, please. My absolute favorite is the Candy Apple Martini – my recipe for it follows!

So… what’s the problem?

Here’s the thing.. It seems that “martini cocktails” are a regional thing… and not popular here in Minnesota. Also, terminology gets in the way… so here’s a little lesson.

Martini:: Strictly speaking, a martini IS a cocktail (2 or more spirits/etc mixed), just not a “martini cocktail”. What constitutes a proper martini can cause heated debates among connoisseur and pedants, but generally consists of vodka and vermouth. NOT my thing!

Martinis have been around since 1763, when a German composer by the name of Martini liked to drink a mixture of dutch gin mixed with a dry white wine. The drink has a long and evolved history since that point, with many bits of the minutiae hotly debated.

Martinis / Traditional Martinis / Classic Martinis are approximately 2 oz of spirits, served in a shallow martini glass. While they may be accented by a splash of bitters, or other flavorings (olive juice, for example), there aren’t any liqueurs or mixes incorporated. Also, the only garnish for these drinks tends to go IN the drink – cocktail onions, olives, lemon peel. You would not see sugar rims, umbrellas, etc in a classic martini.

Flavored Martini: : A flavored martini is served the same as a classic martini – approximately 2 oz of alcohol, poured into the same shallow martini glass – however, it’s not straight spirits as a traditional martini is. Generally speaking, you would find 1 oz of vodka, and 1-2 oz of a flavored liqueur. Some examples would be:

Appletini – 1 oz vodka, 1 oz Sour Apple Pucker
Chocolate Martini – 1 oz vodka, 1 oz creme de cacao

Flavored vodkas may be used (say, vanilla vodka in that chocolate martini!), but there is not really any “mix” used, short of maybe a squeeze or splash of juice.

While the glass is the same, the presentation can be more fun – glass rims can be dipped in sugar, cocoa, crushed up candy canes… whatever. Garnishes are more likely to be on the outside of the cocktail (rim), than on the inside – apple slices, lemon wheels, pineapple wedges, whatever you want.

Many of the aforementioned pedants turn up their nose at the idea of flavored martinis actually counting as martinis… but, whatever. I’m not getting into that argument!

Martini Cocktails: Martini cocktails go a step further than flavored martinis, and incorporate 2-4 oz of mix – fruit juices, bar lime/sweet and sour, fruit purees, etc.

A more voluminous drink, these will be more in the 4-7 oz range, and are served in a large martini glass, or “martini cocktail glass”*.

I prefer martini cocktails to both traditional and flavored martinis, because I am not a fan of alcohol on its own – I like it as an ingredient that works together with others for a lighter, usually fruity drink. The other styles of martini are a little too harsh for me – I DO drink like a girl!

So, many of the bars I have been to in MN not only haven’t got large martini glasses, they’ve never heard of them. When you order a “Candy Apple Martini”, you’re apt to get something that’s missing the mix (cranberry juice, in this case!) entirely. Some places are nice about offering to make them – if they have the ingredients, that is – but I hate feeling high maintenance.

This weekend, the bartender cordially indulged my request, but carried on like I have NO idea what I’m talking about, etc. Sorry mister.. but YES, pineapple juice DOES belong in a French Martini!

Now, the weird thing is that I KNOW Cosmopolitans – a martini cocktail- are/were popular here, as a result of Sex and the City. Did they make they with no cranberry juice or something? Is Minnesota’s lack of true martini cocktails just a Minnesota/midwest thing, or are they tough to come by across the country? I don’t know! Tell me how this works in your area!

In the meantime, check out my favorite martini cocktail: The Candy Apple Martini!

A disclaimer: This is my own recipe for Candy Apple Martinis, the way I like them. They cary slightly from what I was taught: 1 oz unflavored vodka, 1/2 oz Sour Puss Apple, 1/2 oz Butter Ripple schnapps, 3-4 oz cranberry juice. Hey, it’s my blog, I’ll mess with recipes if I want to!

Candy Apple Martini Cocktail

1 oz apple flavored vodka**
1 oz sour apple pucker
1 oz butterscotch schnapps
4 oz cranberry juice

Measure ingredients into a shaker. Add a handful of ice, shake a few times, strain into a martini cocktail glass (~8 oz size). Garnish with apple slices, if desired.

*For the purposes of this blog entry, we picked up appropriately shaped/sized glasses at IKEA for about $3 each

** You can substitute “99 Apples”, if you’re feeling gangster! Haha!

Mint Wine.

I’m not kidding. It sounds a bit odd, and you’ll question the outcome at various stages along the way. Looking at our notes, we actually wrote “Don’t bother making again” in the notes! A year after starting the wine, however, we’re really glad we made it. This is a light, sweet, unique wine.. great served chilled. If you have some patience, you’ll be glad you stuck it out. This wine ferments lightly and sloooowly.

Other than that, mint is easy to make, and SUPER cheap if you – like a lot of people I know – have a patch of mint that’s bent on taking over your yard. A great summer project! If you haven’t attempted making wine before, don’t be intimidated! Check out our primer to home brewing, it starts here, with parts 2 and 3 here and here. Just a small handful of entries, and you’ll be good to go!

Ready?

Homemade Mint Wine Recipe

5 cups mint, washed and packed
1 gallon water
3 lbs granulated white sugar
1/4 tsp wine tannin
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 packet Red Star “Champagne” brewing/wine yeast

Place mint in a large pot, add as much water as will fit in the pot (while still allowing for mashing!). Bring to a boil, remove from heat, steep for an hour.

Strain out mint leaves, pressing well. Reserve leaves. Add sugar to mint water, bring to a boil once again, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, cover with sanitized pot lid.

Once mixture has cooled to room temperature, add wine tanning, acid blend and yeast nutrient. Using a sanitized funnel, transfer cooled mixture to a sanitized 1 gallon carboy.

If you weren’t able to get a full gallon of mint “tea” out of the first batch, cover reserved mint leaves (or fresh ones, if you have plenty to spare!) with more water, and repeat – without adding any more sugar or additives. Use fresh mint/water mixture to top up the liquid in the carboy, until it’s almost full.

Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading. Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)

Sprinkle yeast into (fully cooled!) carboy, cover with sanitized air lock. Let sit, undisturbed, overnight.

Within 48 hours, you should notice a little fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you’re good to go! Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for a month or two.

Using sanitized equipment, rack the clarified wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized 1 gallon carboy. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.

Repeat racking process every few months. By 1 year in, your wine should be very clear, and VERY tasty!

When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling:

Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading*, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork. (We like to use these for corking our homemade wine. Easy to use – no special equipment needed! – easy to uncork, and – should you have any wine left in your bottle after serving (pfft!), the “cork” is easily replaced for temporary storage!)

You know, one of these days, I’m gonna make a calendar of all of these “days”, and keep them in mind ahead of time. Sounds like a much better plan than ending up distracted at the last minute!

Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a homemade wine recipe. Watermelon wine is not only tasty, it’s easy to make and a unique choice for summer imbibing. Also, we’re a little overdue on putting on this summer’s batch. What can I say, the tornado screwed with our summer brewing schedule when it turned our lives upside down!

If you haven’t attempted making wine before, don’t be intimidated! Check out our primer to home brewing, it starts here, with parts 2 and 3 here and here. Just a small handful of entries, and you’ll be good to go!

This recipe uses few ingredients, but it’s important to make them the right ones. Most importantly:

Watermelon: Use red, ripe watermelon WITH seeds. Seedless watermelon may be easier, but it doesn’t taste as robust/good. You CAN ferment it if you like, it just won’t be as nice.

Sugar: White sugar. Brown sugar will overpower the delicate taste of the watermelon.

The ABV on this wine comes out to around 19%, and the color can be anywhere from straw colored to a pretty pale pink. It’s a sweet wine, perfect for dessert. It’s lovely when served chilled on a hot summer day… just be careful, it will knock you on your butt if you’re not careful. The sweetness hides its potency!

Two recipe- specific words of advice:

1. Chopping the watermelon is messy business. I recommend putting a cutting board in a baking sheet (the kind with rim/short walls), and cutting it up in there. Periodically dump the accumulated juice into the pot.

2. This is very much a seasonal wine, and it will NOT turn out anywhere near as good if you make it with winter produce. We made the mistake of only putting on 1 gallon the first time, and 5 next time. This year, we’ll likely make 10 gallons – plan accordingly! Watermelon wine makes a great gift. Also, as we’re finding out… it makes a great tip for contractors that take care of you!

How to Make Homemade Watermelon Wine

1 large, ripe watermelon
3 lbs granulated white sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 packet Red Star “Champagne” brewing/wine yeast

Slice up watermelon, discarding rind. Chop watermelon flesh into 1″ cubes, placing into a large pot. Once all watermelon flesh and juice is collected in the pot, heat over medium, stirring and mashing frequently, until watermelon flesh has broken down into liquid. Remove from heat.

Measure about 3.5 L / 14-15 cups / 120 oz of juice, reserve any remaining. In large pot, combine measured watermelon juice (straining the seeds out as you measure!) with the sugar. Heat to almost boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, cover with sanitized pot lid.

Once mixture has cooled to room temperature, add acid blend and yeast nutrient.

Using a sanitized funnel, transfer cooled mixture to a sanitized 1 gallon carboy, until carboy is almost full.

Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading. It should be in around the 1.16 area. Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)

Sprinkle yeast into carboy, cover with sanitized air lock. Let sit, undisturbed, overnight.

Within 24 hours, you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you’re good to go! Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for a month or two.

Using sanitized equipment, rack the clarified wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized 1 gallon carboy. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months. r

Repeat racking process. Leave wine alone for a month or two. By 6 months in, your wine should be very clear, and VERY tasty!

When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling:

Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading*, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork. (We like to use these for corking our homemade wine. Easy to use – no special equipment needed! – easy to uncork, and – should you have any wine left in your bottle after serving (pfft!), the “cork” is easily replaced for temporary storage!)

Enjoy.. and start planning for next year’s batch(es)!

* Our final gravity reading on this comes out to about 1.012