Very Easy Quick and Dirty Fruit Wine Recipe

Don't be thrown off by the name. It's quick in that it takes 6 weeks from start to drinking. It's dirty in that you really should drink it within a year. I've pushed it to two, but since the yeast is still active, it will just continue to ferment and get stronger. If that happens, add sugar to taste.

If you are a real connoisseur of wine, then you'll probably hate this. Although you can try out batch #3. It's most like real wine, and real wine drinkers who've tried it have liked it. But if you're like me and dry wine makes you pucker and what you really want is fruit juice with a bite, then you'll really like this. Actually very few people who've tried it have not like it. So give it a go. What do you have to lose?

I'm posting my experiments just to give you an idea at how versatile this recipe can be. Try something new and different, and then post it to my comments. Eventually we will convert the world into making wine with their own local fruit!

I got the recipe from my husband's foster mother, Sheila. She had an acre of blueberry bushes in her back yard that grew the tastiest blueberries I've even had. She wrote the recipe on the back of a paper plate about 15 years ago, and there it stayed for years shoved into the back of my recipe book. I think I still have that paper plate. Where it came from before that, I don't know.


Blueberry Wine Recipe

1. 1 Qt. plus 2 handfuls ripe blueberries.
2. Wash, drain and mash.
3. Put in gallon jar. Do not use a jar larger than a gallon, and glass works best - you can buy the gallon iced tea jars during the spring and summer. Spigot or no spigot, makes no difference. Just make sure to remove the spigot and wash separately between batches.  
4. Add 3 lbs sugar in jar  (6 3/4 cups = 3 lbs;   2 1/4 cups = 1 lb. If you like it sweet you can reduce it to 5 3/4 cups, but less than that and you have dry wine)
5. Dissolve 1 package yeast in 1 cup warm water - if you are like me and buy yeast in bulk, 2 1/4 tsp is one pack.
6. Add 1/4 tsp sugar to yeast.
7. Wait a few minutes until frothy, add to jar.
8. Pour in cold water and mix thoroughly.
9. Fill to within 2" of top of jar.
10. Place clean cloth on top of jar and cover w/ saucer.
11. Leave in a cool place for 5 weeks. NO STIRRING! It may explode out of the jar. That's okay. Just clean up the mess and LEAVE IT ALONE!! 
12. Spoon off pulp, strain into another jar. Use cheesecloth or a sterilized (boiled in water) washcloth. Anything else will leave it too gritty or not filter. 
13. Leave 2 or 3 weeks. ( I never leave it for 2 to 3 weeks unless I have the stomach flu. I drink it right away.)
14. Siphon into bottles and cap. I use mason jars, but anything will do. Plastic or glass - it doesn't matter.

My Experimental Batches

• (#1 & 2 were normal) 
• #3 1 xtr handful berries, 2 lbs sug; 6 wks 1 d (very dry - more like "real" wine) 
• #4 2 quarts berries, 3 lbs sugar; 6 weeks (okay)
• #5 2 quarts 2 handfuls berries, 2 lbs sugar; 6 weeks 1 day (too much berry taste)
• #6 2 qts juice, 2 lbs sug; 8 weeks 3 days (not bad. A bit dry, but full of flavor)
• #7 regular; 8 weeks 4 days (more of a kick than normal)
• #8 2 qts 2 handfuls berries, reg sugar; 8 weeks 6 days
• #9 2 qts juice, 1 1/2 lbs sugar; 8 weeks 4 days (not good, like blueberry syrup gone bad!)
• #10 Reduced sugar to 6 cups – still tastes good and sweet
• #11 Reduce to 6 cups sugar, normal everything else, but sub blueberries to ½ blackberries, ½ raspberries. Very good. Like a spring morning!
• (Lord knows what happened to #12-13, either I lost them or forgot where I was and started at 15)
• #15: 2 ½ cups frozen blueberries in a quart jar, Filled rest of jar with “Just Cranberry” Juice. Blended in blender. 6 cups sugar. Thoughts: Wonderful!!!
• #16: Used frozen fruit measured in 2 cup glass container. 3 cups blueberries. 1 cup blackberries. Blended in blender with warm water. 6 cups sugar. Good, real good.
• #17: 2 cups Strawberries measured in glass measuring cup then transferred to quart jar. Smashed down, then filled with blueberries, plus 1 handful. Blended in blender with water. 5 ½ cups sugar. (needed to add more sugar after straining. I added sugar to taste - my taste, that is) 
• #18: Filled quart jar to bottom ring with blueberries. Filled rest of jar with grape juice. 5 3/4 cups sugar. (not bad)
• #19: 4 cups blended muscadine (measured after blending). 6 cups sugar. (As of today, it's still in the back of my cupboard waiting to be strained. It's been there 8 months, not 8 weeks. I'm a little afraid of it now)
• #20: All measured pre-blended. About 2½ cups muscadine. About ¼ cup blackberries (frozen). About ½ c raspberries (frozen). About 1 ½ cups blueberries (frozen). All blended very well. 6 cups sugar. (I'll call this one "Cleaning out My Freezer Wine," but alas, it too is still waiting to be strained.)

 Have fun making wine and post your results!!!