The garden was a wash, pun intended, from all the rain this year. However the wet summer produced a bumper crop of wild grapes. This is just a fraction of what I harvested.

Here is a simple and good tasting recipe. I increase the sugar to 8 cups to make a sweet wine.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart mashed fruit
• 3 quarts water
• 6 cups sugar
• yeast

Preparation:

Dissolve sugar in water put mashed fruit in with water and sprinkle yeast on top. Do not stir till the next day then stir every day for a week. Strain off liquid and place in a container with an air lock of some type for 6 weeks to allow fermentation to complete itself. Strain off again and bottle; cap lightly for 3 days to allow for any more fermentation to cease. Cap and store in a cool place. This recipe works with muscadines, blackberries, even apples…..makes a good tasting old fashion type wine with less alcohol than the vodka mixture.

This is the website that I found it on.  http://southernfood.about.com/od/beveragesanddrin/r/bl80919f.htm

Here are all the ingredients in the stainless pot.

Sitting on the counter covered. I use a hand towel held in place with a rubber band. This keeps unwanted stuff out like wild yeast, dust and bugs but also allows it to breath. It will sit on the counter for a week getting stired every day.

At the end of the week I siphon the liquid off into the old apple cyder jugs keeping as much of the solids out as possible. Then I place the airlock and stoppers I bought from Midwest Supply on the jugs. Now it is just a waiting game. About 6 weeks or when ever the bubbling stops I can again siphon off the wine into jars to be stored in the basement. Do not tighten the lids for the first couple of days. Just snug them up and after about 3 days tighten them down. This allows any gasses to escape if needed and prevents busted jars and a big mess.

Here is a close up of the air lock and you can see the tiny bubles rising up the side of the jug.