Make Wine with... Fizz

Why does a bottle of wine cost so much?

You'll be disappointed to know that it really only costs a few euro a bottle for wine regardless of whether it's still or fizzy. There are a few rare exceptions where the volume of wine produced is restricted such as chianti but on the whole the price is largely overheads, profit and of course government profit or 'tax'.

If you wanted to get the same value yourself you can invest some time and make it yourself and it's a lot easier than you may think.

Homebrew wine kits have come a very long way since I first made them 30 years ago. For the past few years we've made wines from around the world that taste great, look like bottled wine, have easy to follow instructions and most importantly all make highly drinkable wine in 1 to 5 weeks!

Working out which is Homebrew and which is shop bought from a taste test is not easy.

The Kit

A basic equipment kit for making 30 bottle wine kits will cost around €75 for a 5 gallon plastic barrel and a demijohn, a pump and some steriliser powder. There’s a huge variety of grape juice to chose from starting from €30 for a 30 bottle kit and you'll get all the essential yeast and chemicals to complete the brew.

There are smaller 6 bottle equipment kits from €25 with juice around €25 but if you do the maths you might as well make 30 bottles for €100 compared to 6 bottles for €50. There's a good chance you'll make good wine.

Creating

You do need to have a reasonably warm location to make wine but it's not very involved other cleaning and sterilising everything at the start then mixing the initial ingredients.

The process is completely painless, there's a subtle smell of grapes and you'll hear the 'bubble' noise as it creates alcohol for a week but otherwise there's nothing to actually do.

Adding some chemicals to stop further fermentation and clear the wine, a few more days of waiting and then bottling at the end is probably the most involved part. You can either recycle your old wine bottles, buy new with corks or cover caps but if you’re not gifting them to others simply use 2 ltr plastic water bottles.

Soda Stream

If you're going to buy a Soda Stream shop around since they've tripled in price since the 80's. Some second hand seller might not know the value and most parts can be replaced by the manufacturer.

New gas canisters require an initial refundable deposit plus the price to exchange them for a refill. They're expensive and so it's not economical to make soft drinks. You will get an amazed 'look' from every single shop assistant if you tell them what you're going to make with it.

How does it work?

There is a bit of trial and error to discover the technique since wine is 'thicker' than water and needs an awful lot of gas. If you do try it then use short bursts with a minute pause between each gassing. Rushing too fast will give you a soaking when you take the bottle out since it'll erupt just like champagne does!

Once you've discovered the technique the outcome is FIZZY wine without the hassle of brewing champagne styles.

Bottling

If you keep it in the plastic Soda Stream bottle it doesn't get very cold in the fridge or ice bucket ......and it doesn't look impressive in front of guests either!Go slowly transfering to another bottle.

The Homebrew Supplies

There is a shop in Dublin but given that the equipment is bulky and 5lts of grape juice is heavy I have it delivered. There are only a few retailers online to supply equipment and ingredients and I've used these (and I have no connection with them).

www.homebrewwest.ie

www.thehomebrewcompany.ie