My husband and I enjoy making homemade wine out of blackberries, muscadines, and other fruits/berries. I'm not much of a wine-drinker myself, but Robert and several friends and family members enjoy it occasionally. We often give out bottles at Christmas.
Here are some photos of our most recent batch, muscadine/scuppernong, started 10/16/05. It'll be ready on 11/13/05 (28 days later). It's very fascinating to watch, and surprisingly easy to make. (In fact, it's only got 4 ingredients!) If anyone is interested in the recipe, just let me know. (Please indicate that you are of legal drinking age.) This wine usually turns out with a higher alcohol content than store-bought wine. The wine itself isn't for sale -- sorry.
Above: The ingredients are thoroughly mixed and placed into a 5-gallon jug. The jug is sealed with a rubber glove.
Above: Close-up photo of the muscadines and other ingredients.
Above: At first, some of the berries float, and some sink.
Above: The rubber glove is starting to expand as the fermentation process starts. This happens within just a few minutes of sealing the jug.
Above: The glove gets bigger!
Above: And bigger!
Above: The fruit on the bottom gets carried to the top by air bubbles.
Above: The glove expands as more and more fruit works its way to the top.
Above: You can see the bubbling action in this photo.
Above: The glove gets even larger!
Above: Oops -- the fruit mixture expanded too much and got into the glove. Normally that wouldn't be too big a deal, but Robert felt the glove might break (he'd had these for awhile and they were starting to lose elasticity). So he swapped it for a blue heavy-duty glove instead.
Above: The new blue glove starts to expand. The fruit mixture has started turning purple!
Above: Approximately 8 hours later. The glove has expanded to the point where it's as large as the 5-gallon jug!
Want to see it bubbling? Click here to watch a video clip! (Warning to dial-up folks: It's almost 7MB.) Excuse the kitten meowing in the background. He didn't understand why I was focusing my camera on something other than him! LOL! ;-)
Above: About 12 hours (total) after sealing the jug. It's hard to believe the glove can expand this much, and it'll likely get even bigger! All the fruit has worked its way to the top.
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