Let's Make Fruit Wine Part 4

Welcome back! We are about to dive into the world of finishing your bottle of wine. If you are just joining us you may want to head back to Part 1 of our series on making your own fruit wine!

Shrink Caps

I know...you're looking at the great wine you just produced and that plain bottle just isn’t doing all your hard work any justice.  What can we do about it?

Let’s get creative and finish it off properly!  First, let’s hide that cork with a beautiful shrink wrap. They are very easy to use and add the perfect finishing touch.  All you need are the shrink caps (foil covers), a shrink cap tool, your wine and boiling water.  Really, that's it!

We have gorgeous gold shrink caps at Make Your Own!

Now let’s get started.  Bring a 1 quart pot of water to a boil.  You don’t want or need a hard boil; just a steady rolling boil is good.  Place your cap on top of your bottle and hold it in place using your shrink cap tool. Quickly dip the top of the bottle in the water and pull it out. (If you don’t have a good grip on the cap it will not shrink in a smooth manner.) Dry your bottle and you’re done!

Another alternative to the boiling water method is to use a hair dryer or a heat gun. This method will also shrink your caps, but it takes only seconds with a direct heat source. Place your shrink cap over your bottle top and hit it with the heat source from the top down until the cap has shrunk down. This method can take a bit of practice.

Labeling Your Wine Bottles

Was that the Merlot or the Cab?  Red is red, so how will you tell them apart?  You could do a taste test but you may not get the one you wanted, so let’s make labels.  It’s not hard, really!  You need a label making program or templates, labels, and a computer with a printer.  There is a great website that lets you make free labels: freelabelmaker.com and Avery.com has the labels.  You can also get the labels at any office supply store.  What you are looking for are 3 ½ x 5 shipping labels. They come 4 to a sheet and have the adhesive already on them.  Avery.com has 2 of them listed, item numbers – 5168 and 8168. 

Once you have your labels, go to the label maker website and pick your wine label design.  A .pdf file will open with the design in it.  Simply add the text you want.  You only fill out the first label; it will automatically add the text to all the labels for you.  Just print, peel and stick them to your wine bottles.  Now your wine bottle is perfect and it has a professional look that fits your homebrewed wine!  And the best part is – You make it your own!

Up Next: Making your own Gourmet Hot Sauce

Let's Make Fruit Wine Part 3

Welcome Back! If you are just joining us you may want to head back to Part 1 of our series on making fruit wine!

So what are you going to do when your wine has fermented out?  Bottle it of course! 

You will need some empty bottles and have a few options available.  You can:

v   Save and re-use any wine bottles you have at home. These will need to have the labels removed.  Some labels will come off easier than others. They can be soaked in warm soapy water, and then scraped off with a new razor blade. Most times letting them soak for 24 hours in soapy water will make the labels easy to remove. Sometimes additional products are needed like Goo Gone.

v    Come visit us for ready to use, re-usable bottles.  These bottles have been cleaned and labels have been removed for you.

v   Come visit us for brand new bottles.

Now that you have your bottles, you need to make sure they are clean and sterilized.  I run my bottles through the dishwasher. If there is something in the bottle that has not come out, a bottle brush with stiff bristles on the end should help to remove the remaining sediment. After they have cooled they need to be santizied.  Dissolve 1 tablespoon of potassium metabisulfite in 1 gallon of warm water and dump into your sink filling by the gallon until it is at least half full. Dip bottles into the santizing solution and let drip dry upside down.  If you don’t want to sanitize in the sink you can use the 5 gallon primary fermentation bucket. You will also need to sterilize your siphon, tubing and EZflo bottle filler using the same solution.

Now onto bottling, place your siphon hose with the EZflo bottle filler in your bottle and the siphon in your carboy.  Begin to siphon.  Keep an eye on your bottle and when the bottle is full, pull up your bottle filler.  This will stop the flow of wine.  Sometimes, when the bottle filler is removed I find that there is more space than I like in my bottle so I touch the tip of the bottle filler to the side of the bottle (which releases a small amount of wine) and bring the level of wine in the bottle up.  Continue filling all your bottles until your carboy is empty. 

Let’s talk corkers! 

There are two options; first is a hand held corker.  You really need two people to use this, if you don’t want to risk knocking your bottle over.  One person will hold the bottle while the second person puts the cork into the corker, holds it over the bottle opening and pulls the arms down. This forces the cork into the bottle.

The second option is a floor corker.  This is what I use and it is great!  This can be done by one person.  You simply put the bottle on the corker’s pedestal, drop a cork in the opening on the corker and pull the arm down.  This forces the cork into your bottle.  You can also adjust the depth of the cork, if you need too.

Up Next: Part 4 - Shrink Wrap Tops & Labels

Let's Make Fruit Wine Part 2

Welcome Back!! If you are just joining us you may want to head back to Part 1 of our series on making fruit wine!

Now, onto Part 2 of Let's Make Fruit Wine!

After about a week, remove the mesh bag with your pineapple mix and let it drain into your bucket.  I don't squeeze my bag because I don't want the extra sediment in my juice.  Check your PA to make sure it is below 3 to 4 percent, if not then let it continue for another week. 

When it is ready, rack your juice into a 1 gallon glass container, add your bung and airlock.  Remember to clean and sterilize all your equipment before you use it.  You should rack your wine about 3 times in six months.  Let it go until it ferments out and is clear. 

I'll let you know when I taste test it, if I am going to sweeten it or not before bottling.  Once bottled you should let it set for 6 to 12 months.  I plan on opening my first bottle in early spring!  What a great way to welcome in the new season!

Have fun!

Up Next: Part 3 - Bottling Your Wine

Let's Make Fruit Wine

I’ve been making wine for years but was intrigued by making fresh fruit wine.  My first batch was a Blueberry Watermelon wine.  This time I’m trying Pineapple. 

I used our 5 gallon bucket for the primary fermentation, Wine Makers Jump Start kit  and our mesh straining bag.

I used 2 fresh pineapples that were about 2 lbs each. To get started you will also need:
3 ½ quarts water
2 lbs sugar
2 Campden tablets

Add the sugar and water to a stock pot and boil.  While waiting, clean the bucket and lid and sterilize them.  I used Potassium Metabisulfite but you can also use B-Brite.  Place your mesh bag into your clean and sterilized bucket. I cut the top and bottom off my pineapple, and then trimmed down the sides taking off most of the skin.  I found that using my blender and making a chunky mix was easier than using a potato masher to try and crush the fruit. Pour the chunky mixture into the mesh bag in the bucket along with a one crushed Campden tablet.  All the extra juice I had from cutting the pineapple was also added.

Add the water to the pineapple in the bucket and as long as it is cooled you can add:

½ teaspoon acid blend
¼ teaspoon tannin
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 Campden tablet 

Put the lid on the bucket but remember to vent it.  If you have a large vent, cover that with cheese cloth to keep the fruit flies out.  After about 12 hours add 1/2 teaspoon Pectic Enzyme and 24 hours after that add the yeast.  Everyday I gently swirled the bucket to mix it.

I am going to taste test the Blueberry Watermelon this fall and try making apple wine!  The batches of fruit wine I have been making are 1 gallon each.  We have a 1 gallon kit here.

To be continued next week...

Soap Making 101

Every year I look for new things to give friends and family members as gifts not only at Christmastime, but also other occasions or just because. This is how I discovered the art of making my own soap!

Making soap has been one of the most fun and rewarding activities that I've ever done. I haven't tried any recipes with lye yet, but I'm hoping to accomplish that this coming holiday season. Instead, this blog post will focus on melt and pour soap making. It's a very simple activity that you can personalize in almost limitless ways.

The most recent batch of soap I made contained natural citrus scents and fresh herbs gathered from my garden. I used a 1/2 round bar soap mold and clear glycerin soap base (Click Here to view the soap base).

The first batch I made contained lavender I collected and dried from my garden. I added the dried lavender to my food processor along with a few teaspoons of water to create a puree. Then I mixed it into the melted soap base along with a few drops of color. It turned out beautiful and smelled heavenly.

The second batch I made contained lemon and orange peel. I simply peeled a lemon and orange (I added the fruit to a fresh pitcher of water for my consumption while I was making soap) placed them into my food processor and blended until they were fine particles. Then I added them to my melted soap base along with some color. Again the soap smelled amazing and turned out great!

I ended up giving some to my neighbor, my parents and in-laws and sending some to work with my husband for his co-workers. I still have a bar sitting on my bathroom sink that my son is slowly but surely diminishing! The entire process took less time than making the 10-15 minute drive to the mall and purchasing soap. It is so easy and is a gift that comes from the heart!

We have a complete soap making kit at Make Your Own that has everything you need to get started. ( Click Here to view the kit) We also have a wide variety of scents, colors and soap molds. ( Click Here to view our entire soap making inventory)

I hope you try your hand at soap making! I'm so glad I did! If you do decide to try it out - post your recipes, tips or tricks below in the comments sections!! I'm always looking for new stuff to add to my soap or new recipes to try!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on all things happening at Make Your Own!

Up Next: Making Fruit Wine

Don't throw out that old wine...make vinegar!!

In the past year we here at Make Your Own went on a mission to figure out what to do with leftover wine. Aside from dumping it down the drain and reusing the bottle for our next batch of wine there really wasn't too much we could find that would be suitable for 'old' wine.

Then we discovered the art of making your own vinegar! It's literally the simplest thing I've done to date that produces the most flavorful product with little to no effort!

First, you start with some vinegar culture, which is often referred to as the Mother Culture. You can find cultures for just about any vinegar you'd like to make. Here we focus on red and white wine vinegar, but I have seen cultures out there for cider vinegar, malt vinegar, etc.

Once you have your cultures you need to find a wide mouth glass jar. You can use a gallon jar or a smaller pickle type jar, but it has to be wide mouth so the oxygen can convert the wine to vinegar. Once you have your jar you add the culture and your wine. Cover it with cheese cloth and let it sit in a warm area. In as little as four weeks you have converted your wine to vinegar!

When we first started making our own vinegar here in the store we tried many different methods. The instructions that came with the culture we ordered stated that the vinegar had to be placed in an area that remained between 80 and 90 degrees consistently. That made me frown and scratch my head. Where in the heck can you find a place in your home that's consistently 80 to 90 degrees? I ignored that part of the instructions and still yielded great results.

We first tested making the vinegar in gallon jars. Once the conversion was complete I took some home and ate it on salad and used it in many dishes. After we successfully kept that batch going we switched to smaller jars, which yields a much more concentrated vinegar. It's still delicious, but you have to add some water to dilute it. All in all we tried several ways to 'screw the vinegar up', but after everything we did the vinegar kept on brewing with delicious results.

 

In the kit we sell at Make Your Own at Home we provide you with the equipment to make up to 1 gallon each of white and red wine vinegar. Click here to view the kit We include smaller jars for conversion as well as cultures and cheese cloth. A detailed instruction leaflet comes with it as well as some recipes for your 'made-at-home' vinegar! We even include a little booklet with vinegar tips and tricks!

Making your own vinegar is not only easy it's tasty! Add some fancy inexpensive bottles and fresh herbs and you've got some great homemade gifts as well!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on everything happening at Make Your Own!

Next up: Making soap...easy as 1...2...3

You can make your own soda pop?

Really? You can make your own soda pop right at home?

The answer is YES! You can make your own soda pop and it's so easy! When Make Your Own opened we focused on kits we could produce here in house for our customers. We researched and researched some more then we tested and tested some more until we came up with recipes that had the best flavor and were easy to follow!

Currently, we have 2 different types of kits. One is a Root Beer and Birch Beer kit and the other is a Soda Pop kit that makes Orange and Strawberry soda. You can find them on our site! Click Here

When we started testing recipes we were astounded by how much sugar is actually in soda pop! In our recipes there are 2 cups of sugar per gallon of soda. Now, in order to carbonate the beverage naturally you need a small amount (6-8 Tablespoons per gallon) of sugar. In some commercially produced soda beverages there is a lot more than 2 cups per gallon of sugar.

If you're looking for a kit that reminds you of the Root Beer you had when you were a kid-then by all means use the 2 cups of sugar per gallon of soda because it really does yield great tasting results! It's great as a treat, but that leaves a large portion of the population that can not consume that much sugar (or prefer not to) without a recipe to follow. I started delving into sugar substitutes. What I found was both shocking and exciting.

Obviously, the news lately has focused on how bad artificial sweeteners are. So when I started my testing and research I steered clear of the artificial sugars. In my search I did discover Stevia though. Stevia is a sugar substitute that's all natural and comes from a plant. In most forms it looks like sugar and it also performs like sugar, but it's much sweeter with no calories or carbohydrates!

This was an amazing discovery for me! I found that making a gallon of soda pop with just 6-8 Tablespoons of sugar produced a very yucky tasting soda, but it was carbonated. Now...add in the Stevia after you've carbonated your soda and you have a great tasting, low calorie beverage that you won't feel guilty drinking!

So I would suggest checking out either of our kits and make a batch of soda for yourself!! The kits come complete with everything you need aside from empty soda bottles and water! They produce great tasting soda and are simple to follow. Simple enough that the whole family can be involved in the soda making process!!

Up next:
Making your own gourmet vinegar at home! It's DELISH!!!

Let's Make Cheese!

So, we took a little longer than 2 weeks to update, but the cheese making process turned out to be a little more challenging than we first thought. Just a minor setback that we solved, but the end product was delish! I'm going to hand it off to Donna who has recently become our resident cheese maker! She made two batches of mozzarella cheese. She has not attempted the ricotta yet, but that will be sometime in the future I can assure you! Without further ado....Donna:

(Don't forget to check our site for all of your cheese making needs: Make Your Own at Home )

*waves* Hi! I'm Donna and I love to bake and cook, so when we received a Mozzarella & Ricotta Cheese Making Kit in the store, I just had to try it!  Everyone loves cheese, especially mozzarella cheese!  I admit it was a bit intimidating, could I really make cheese and what would it taste like?  I was up for the challenge!

The most important ingredient and biggest factor in making cheese is your milk.  I used grocery store bought, whole milk that was not ultra pasteurized.  Unfortunately, it did not form the curds.  It looked like something stringy. Not to give up, I tried it again and here are my tips:

v Do NOT use any milk that says ‘ultra pasteurized’.  It simply will not work.

v If you have whole milk that is processed locally and shipped to your store, that’s the milk to get!  Don’t go for the store brand because it has the best price – you need the freshest milk you can get.    

v What did not come with the kit is something called “calcium chloride” and I recommend getting it if you plan on using store bought milk. (Yes, we do sell it at Make Your Own! Calcium Chloride )

v Don’t be tempted to peek into your pot while the curds are forming. Be patient and wait until the time is up.

For the second batch I added the calcium chloride. 

When I first checked my curds, I gently pushed down on the edge to see if I had a separation of curds and whey. Wow! What a difference!  I had curds!  Check my curd pictures.  The first one is the curd cut in cubes and the second I moved them around so you can see them better.  It was so exciting to see that I actually had CURDS!  

I followed the rest of the directions without a hitch and the cheese was amazing!  I think it tasted better cold but I understand that some people like it warm.  It’s up to you, give it a try and see what you think.

Keep in mind this is not store bought cheese so it will not look like that brick of cheese.  You form it to how you want it.  I just left it in chunk form and we ate pieces from it.  One final note, this is fresh cheese - which means that there are no preservatives in it, so keep that in mind - unless you eat it as fast as we did!

Got a question?  Leave it in the comments section below! Until next time!!

Thanks Donna!! Be sure to check out our site for a variety of Cheese Kits and Cheese Making Supplies!

Up Next: Making your own Root Beer and Soda Pop

Doing it Yourself!

Hi folks! Welcome to our brand new blog coming straight to you from Make Your Own! My name is Jessica and I run a small retail store in Lockport, NY specializing in the fine art of doing it yourself! We are appropriately called Make Your Own while our website is Make Your Own at Home

It's no secret that the American economy isn't at its peak. Financial outlooks from many professionals are bleak at best. There really isn't a better time to start the ancient art of learning to make your own at home. The word 'own' encompasses many things, but here we will be discussing mainly food, drink and some household items that you can easily make from home. 

We as Americans have lost our way in keeping up with family traditions and passing on our knowledge and recipes to the younger generation. I was lucky enough to grow up in a home where my mother stayed home and lovingly prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner for us everyday. She was thrifty and frugal and passed many of her tips and secrets onto me. 

Personally, this economy and the gas prices have scared the living daylights out of me. I've recently focused on getting back to my roots and dragging out my old cookbooks and household books to save money and pass as much onto my son as I can. Most recently, I've embarked on the cheese making process. Surprisingly it's quite easy and can be fun! 

In closing I'd like to welcome you to our blog. Feel free to follow us or subscribe to our posts! We will be posting hopefully once every two weeks at the least. Each time we'll discuss a new kit or item that we've recently tried out. Questions? Comments? Feel free to leave them here and we'll answer the best that we can! In the meantime check out our website Make Your Own at Home

Thanks for reading! 

Jessica

General Manager

Make Your Own

Up next: Making Mozzarella & Ricotta cheeses! Stay tuned!