Wine · DryAbout this recipe
Homemade red grape wine recipe from fresh grapes, one demijohn from about 6kg. For garden vines and greenhouse gluts, with sugar because British grapes need it.
Ingredients
red grapes6 kg
sugar900 g
pectic enzyme1 tsp
campden tablet1
yeast nutrient1 tsp
sachet Lalvin RC-2121
Method
1
Strip the grapes from the stalks and crush by hand in a sterilised bucket, without breaking the pips
2
Add the crushed campden tablet and pectic enzyme, cover and leave 24 hours
3
Stir in the sugar until dissolved
4
Add the yeast and nutrient
5
Ferment on the skins 5 to 7 days, pushing the cap down daily
6
Strain and press the pulp into a demijohn, topping up with a little water if short
7
Fit an airlock and ferment out for 2 to 5 weeks
8
Rack off the sediment
9
Age at least 9 months, a year is better
Tools for this brew: scale it to your batch size, work out ABV from your readings, or correct a warm hydrometer reading. All free.
Brewer's notes
This is the one for a garden or greenhouse vine. British grapes rarely ripen sweet enough for wine on their own, hence the sugar. Taste a grape, if it makes you wince budget the full amount. Crush by hand and ferment on the skins, that is where the colour and tannin live, but do not break the pips, they turn it bitter. RC-212 is a proper red wine yeast. This is real wine, so give it a year if you can bear to.
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