Need wine recipe

[hillar]

Last month I tried to make sweet red wine at home. But it didn't come out that well.

Anyone knows the proper recipe for making wine? Please help.

[Darkginger]

What went wrong with your wine? If you only started making it last month, it won't be ready to drink yet - even the fastest wines take longer than a month to taste good - many take up to a year! How much wine are you trying to make? Are you making wine from grapes, or from some other fruit/vegetable? Have you tried using a kit? I've made both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from kits this year, and both have turned out really nicely.

If you give us some more information regarding how much wine, and the type of wine you're trying to make, I can give you more specific advice. In the meantime, make sure you sterilise all the equipment you use (contamination is the main cause of 'off' flavours). Wine is basically a fruit/vegetable base, with added sugar (not always necessary) and yeast. You can add body by including a source of tannin (tea, perhaps), depth of flavour with dried raisins, or oak chips...

Anyway, having said all that - the website that got me started is this one:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

There's literally hundreds of different wine recipes there, using all sorts of ingredients (I recommend the jalapeno!). Try one of them! Remember it'll take more than a few weeks to make wine - and good luck!

[hillar]

Thanks Darkginger for all your advice.

Actually I was following a 42 days grape wine recipe. But it tastes quite bitter. It would be better if you send me the step by step procedure for it. I know very little of these technicalities. Also tell me which yeast you are using and what about a hydrometer for checking the alcohol level of wine. Is it really required or not.

[NashvilleLife]

I've been looking for a website like that for a long time. Thanks for the advice darkginger.