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Home Made Wines

A method for fermenting and clarifying wine using liquor, sugar, and optional finings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Home Made Wines

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skim the liquor and drain it through a sieve.

  2. Return the drippings to the fermenting tub until no more yeast rises.

Ferment

  1. Add 3 lbs. of sugar for each gallon of liquor in a cask.

  2. Reserve about ½ gallon of liquor to top up during fermentation.

  3. Let it ferment for about two weeks.

Fine and rest

  1. Fine the wine with gelatine or ale finings if desired.

  2. Let it rest for two months before drinking.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Liquor
The fermentable base that yeast converts into alcohol.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Gelatine
Binds suspended particles so they settle, helping the finished wine clear.

The step that matters

Topping up during fermentation. Fermenting gives off gas and the liquid level drops, leaving air at the surface. Topping up with the reserved liquor keeps the cask full, limiting oxidation and spoilage organisms.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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