How to Make Wine - Free!

Wine kits cost $60 to $150. Sure you get 25 bottles of wine and that's a pretty good bargain.

But is there a way to make wine free?

Yes there is and this article will tell you exactly how to do it.

Here's a short list of the things you would normally have to buy with your hard earned money: fruits or juices, bottles, corks, chemicals, equipment (carboys, primarys, siphon tubing, racking canes, etc).

The truth is that if you are really on a shoestring budget, you can make your own wine almost totally free.

First - you can get free fruit. Where? Try this: go to your local grocery store and have a visit with the produce manager. Explain to him or her that you are an accomplished home winemaker. Ask them what they do with their over ripe fruit.

Here's what they will say: we throw it away.

The funny thing is that the fruit they throw away is ripe fruit. It's fruit with a lot of sugar content. That is exactly the kind of fruit we want to make wine with.

When stores get fruit shipped in, it is unripe. They have to harvest the fruit before it gets ripe so that it slowly ripens on it's trip to your grocery store. But even when it arrives, it still isn't ripe.

After it sits in the store for about a week, it really gets ripe, the sugar content goes up, and they just throw it away. Don't let them do this!

I recently go 60 pounds of grapes and cherries absolutely free just by asking for it. You can, too. Ripe fruit is a terrible thing to waste. And - it's free!

The second way to get even closer to absolutely free winemaking is by not buying wine bottles. You probably have bars or restaurants in your area that serve wine. Just go ask them to save the bottles for you.

If you ask them to save them, be sure and go by and pick them up or they won't save them again for you. The best day for them to save them is Friday and Friday night. Then you can go by mid-day on Saturday and pick them up. Remember to sterilize them as soon as you get them home or you could have a moldy mess within a few days.

Next, go by a fast food restaurant and ask them to save you 2 or 3 "pickle buckets". Almost all of the fast food chains by pickles in 5 gallon buckets. These are "food grade" buckets - exactly what you need for your primary fermenter.

Once you get them home, you will need to put a weak chlorine solution in them and let them sit overnight. Then use oxyclean or some other non-abrasive cleaner to fully get them cleaned out.

No one likes wine that tastes like pickles. Also, those buckets were full of vinegar - a natural enemy to home winemakers. Make sure you clean and sterilize them extremely well before you use them for winemaking.

Thats three of the most costly items you will need to make your own wine. Now you know how to get them free. Happy Winemaking!