Virtually anything can be fermented. I happen to like fruit, other people might ferment their peas, just so they can offer a glass of "my pee wine" to their friends! The following recipes have all been tried and tested over the past 14 years or so - we no longer drink wine and the last wine was made in 2017 as we started to switch towards the simplicity of liqueurs.
Put your cleaned fruit into a bucket, cover in boiling water and add a crushed campden tablet and leave overnight
The following day add sugar until you reach an SG of 1.080
Add other ingredients such as citric acid, pectic enzyme, TronOzymol and
Pitch in the yeast to ferment
After a few days, strain out the fruit pulp and add more sugar until the SG is up back around 1.020 and ferment again for a few days
Strain and funnel the liquid into a demijohn, add more sugar, add airlock and ferment for 3 months until there's little to no activity
Bottling is simply a case of syphoning the liquid off the sediment, filtering through a coffee filter and bottling it ... then waiting for 3 months or more before tasting
Gooseberry Wine
This green gooseberry wine recipe is simple, but as is often the case, even if you do everything else right, putting in too much sugar, or it failing to clear are occasional, but not insurmountable problems.
Gooseberry wine differs from most wine making methods in that you spend a week stirring the skins to release the flavour. Then once you've strained the pulp out, you're then warming the sugar in your gooseberry juice until it dissolves - Don't use too much sugar immediately, 2.5 Lbs is enough at this stage. My rule is of thumb is as always, only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
When the mix is in the demijohn, you can always top up with sugar syrup or even honey to get up to 1.085 if the SG is low.
Gooseberry Wine w Plum & Blackberry
This green gooseberry wine recipe is simple but the idea is to get all the flavour out of the crushed gooseberries and skins, strain the pulp and then mix with the sugar and warm the liquid until it's dissolved and then add the other ingredients and then ferment.
It's a different method from most wine recipes, in that once you've strained the juice, you're then warming the sugar in your gooseberry juice until it dissolves - Don't use too much sugar immediately, 2.5 Lbs is enough at this stage. When I put 2 Lbs of sugar in I ended up at 1.070 but my gooseberries were very ripe and sweet with natural sugars - You might not be so lucky. My rule is of thumb is as always, only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
When the mix is in the demijohn, you can always top up with sugar syrup or even honey to get up to 1.085 if the SG is low.
Green Gage and Elderflower Wine
This Green Gage and Elderflower wine recipe requires planning in that you need to make an elderflower cordial and keep it in a plastic bottle in the freezer until the plums are ready.
After 4-5 days, I would recommend straining the must gently, don't squeeze the bag as plums tend to create a lot of sediment and this pulp will slip through easily if you squeeze.
Careful how much sugar you add. Use a hydrometer and stop when you get to between 1.080 and 1.085. This will be enough to give you a very respectable 12% dry white wine.
I love green gages, people love plums and buy common varieties like Victoria because they're easy to look after but very few look at damsons or green gages which are far more fun. I have a Merryweather Damson and a Denniston's Superb Gage as well as plums and part of the enjoyment is that Gages age quicker in the bottle than plums ... which is great if you start to crave a taste before the year or so is up :D
Haw Berry Wine
I made this haw berry wine recipe up because a friend recommended the flavour while eating them. Actually making a haw berry wine came about simply because I had a hedge full so it was a fast picking session. I think it was an hour or so to collect just over 3 Lbs.
There's nothing unusual about making this wine, it's completely straightforward. The only thing that surprised me was the amount of sludge I removed on the first rack.
Careful when you add sugar - My rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%. I added some local honey from Lamyatt to bring the SG up.
Kiwi Fruit Wine
There's nothing unusual about following this kiwi fruit wine recipe, it's completely straightforward. The most difficult part of this for people in the UK is getting hold of Kiwi Fruit ... I suggest the bargain bins in Supermarkets for the cheapest deals near the end of the season. I can honestly say that this kiwi fruit wine is beautiful, but I'd encourage you to be adventurous with the recipe. Add other fruit if kiwi fruit is too expensive or try honey instead of sugar, or maybe some cinnamon & cloves for a honey mead kiwi fruit wine recipe.
Careful when you add sugar - My rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%
This one was a fun wine, totally unexpected and topped up with water because for this wine I wanted to keep it's flavour close to authentic and clean ... I could have topped up with a little Green Gooseberry, because when all is said and done, kiwi fruits are just huge gooseberries, but I decided to keep it realively unblended for the one off taste of a kiwi fruit wine.
Loganberry and Tayberry Wine
Even though I wrote this as a Loganberry and Tayberry wine recipe the berries here are interchangeable. I mean let's face it, you're going to be lucky to find a loganberry or a tayberry unless you're growing them, then 1.5 Lbs won't be a huge part of your crop ... though my tayberry won't be producing any more than half a Lb for another couple of years. Basically, if you can find one of these berries, then make the rest up with some frozen supermarket berries. I picked most of my berries at Chosen Hill Farm in Chew Magna, Somerset during those years.
There's nothing unusual about making this wine recipe, it's completely straightforward if you read the winemaking introduction or know how to prepare berries for wine making.
A rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
Medlar Wine
I wrote this medlar wine recipe as I was wine making. All I knew was that I'd been eyeing up the medlar for months and I was looking forward to trying them out. As always, I urge you to experiment, make the medlar wine with half honey half sugar or use raisins instead of the strong tea or add a little spice mix for a winter drink.
A rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
I made 2 gallons, but added honey to the one and sugar to the other. You could make either or use Red grape juice instead of white for a warmer amber colour.
Pear Wine
This is a basic pear wine recipe, read my own records below to see some variations - Never be afraid to experiment, add some berries or spices.
There's nothing unusual about making this wine recipe, one odd ingredient, a Vit-C pill to prevent the flesh from turning brown. Be adventurous with this wine recipe, especially using honey or raisins or berries to alter the colour.
My rule is of thumb is as always, only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12% when the hydrometer reads dry (0.990 - 0.995).
Plum Wine w Blackberry
This is another house special wine blend. Any flavour or colour can be added to a basic recipe - if like me your fridge is full of half bottles of fermented wines that were left over from the transfer to the demijohn, then the sky's the limit!
Drip strain the must though muslin, squeezing will take longer to clear and plum wine takes a long time to mature too, so unless you want to wait 18 months, drip strain :)
Add your half bottles of wines from the fridge and ferment until there's no activity taking place.
A rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
Plum Wine w Blackberry & Elderberry
You could recreate this by making half gallon of plum and a half gallon of blackberry and elderberry and blend them together after the fact like I did, but you could in fact recreate this as is, if you save some plums until September in the freezer.
This particular plum wine recipe with blackberry & elderberry would look like this:
A rule of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
Plum Wine w Raspberry & Blackcurrant
You could recreate this wine by making half gallons of plum, raspberry and blackcurrant and blend them as I did, but you could in fact recreate this by storing the pieces in a freezer.
Be adventurous with this wine recipe, especially using honey or raisins or change the berries or currants or buy some frozen from the store.
A rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12% when the hydrometer reaches 0.990.
Quince Wine
This quince wine recipe is hard work without a pulper. Considering the rarity of mature quince trees it's worth using a kitchen multichef to grate them up before boiling and if you have a quince tree in the vicinity, try making some quince jelly too. They are both remarkable. Quince jelly is the original marmalade before we had access to oranges.
This quince wine recipe smells amazing already.
A rule is of thumb is as always: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
I have my own Quince tree in the garden but it's too young to get fruity with the bees so I tap my friend down at the Rectory who has one of the best producing quince trees in Somerset, (even though I only know 2 others), but he also has the most majestic looking medlar, which must be a couple of hundred years old and the fruit actually ripens on the branch because of the position for the sun. That was rare in Shakespearian times it must be pretty unique in the UK these days :)
I got to the Quince late, I knew they were ripe but had so much to do in the cattery I couldn't leave to pick the windfalls before they were cleared away so I was 20 foot up on a ladder for this wine.
Raspberry and Red Currant Wine
This raspberry and red currant wine recipe is easy. It clears so fast, matures so quickly and shines so brightly it's worth making as much as you can. With the raisins and grape juice the wine will develop more depth to the body colour and stay unmistakably fruity.
As a rule of thumb: Only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.
Raspberry Wine
This raspberry wine recipe is easy. It clears so fast, matures so quickly and shines so brightly it's worth making as much as you can, but I'd say the same for Red Currant Wine too. They both appear similar and both are thin but unmistakably fruity.
This is one of Katriona's favourite fruits. Hopefully, it'll make a great wine, not too thin and bringing the flavour to the glass ... I found a really nice PYO field of Raspberries a couple of days ago in Sparkford, drove over and picked my own 4.5 Lbs of Raspberries. The game here will be to make 1.5 Gallons of Raspberry wine and then add the remaining fermented wines from the fridge thereby gaining a gallon of dry Raspberry wine and another mixed berry version. I poured 10 pints of boiling violently into the 2 gall fermentation bucket to rid the Raspberries of any non-fruit materials. Before bed I mashed the raspberries to a pulp and hammered 1.5 Campden tablets into dust and added that. I watched the slight bleaching before stirring the powder in and replaced the lid.
Lovely morning, sunrise, late as usual coming 'round the mountain while I added 2 teaspoons of Pectolase to last night's bucket. I gave the cell smashing chemical over 12 hours to do it's business before sprinkling in some Bordeaux yeast + 1.5 tsp of yeast nutrients.
Splitting the must: Strained the pulp out through sieve then a 2nd time through the fine muslin bag and set up two demiohns to ferment to a finish.
Raspberry Wine (2)
I've made quite a few gallons of raspberry wine, some are thin and light, this one is the most viscous and another I bottled another too soon which continued to ferment very slightly in the bottle and produced an absolutely beautiful slightly sparkling wine.
We're lucky enough to have a PYO farm nearby, it's just an hour or two's pick for a gallon of wine. I picked over 5 Lbs in a nice mix of perfectly ripe Tulameen, Glen Ample & Tadmore Raspberries at Vale of Camelot and had enough left over to freeze and sprinkle in porridge for a while.
My rule is of thumb is as always, only add as much sugar as you need to reach an SG of say 1.080 - 1.085 and that will almost guarantee a dry ferment at 12%.