Has anyone made their own wine? where do I start?

[Amitolamummy]

I want to make my own, mainly because it is so expensive, but have no clue where to start or what costs I would be looking at.
Can anyone help me please?

We're on our third demijohn
I bought a kit for the first two and the third is from scratch (elderflower)

Best visit or phone a home brew shop. My local one is very happy to chat and give advice. You can also buy online.

The kits worked out about £2 a bottle and it was luvverly.

We got a corking machine (from the sale bin £3) but you can use screw tops that you have recycled. Fun saving them up! You need to sterilise everything before you start but the initial equipment is probably £12

Thanks, £12 doesn't sound bad at all! and I will enjoy saving the bottles up haha. I imagine I can google home brew shops and find something local? Mmm I love elderflower so will be trying that if I ever learn what to do. I would feel far less guilty drinking it if I had made it myself much cheaper

If you like red wine then a Barolo grape kit is lovely

Many years ago I made elderberry wine which was very good indeed.

I brew my own mead, which is basically honey wine. It's very easy and cheap - and you don't really need any specialist equipment either; you can make a batch of mead with a 4-pint milk bottle, a couple of jars of honey, a sachet of dried active yeast and a balloon!

Ohhh me I've just started today I can't wait to see if it's a good one

A friend and I have just started making our own wine. We had a go at elderflower champagne in the summer and it was fantastic! We have a batch of pear wine on the go and tasted it today. To our surprise it really tasted like wine! It did involve buying a couple of demijohns and an airlock and bung but other than that was quite simple to make. Supposed to leave for six months but we think it will be ready sooner. We also made a great cider drink which would be good at Christmas. It was really easy too. The recipes are on our blog www.postcardsfromthehedge.co.uk (not .com!) if you want to have a go. Next we are going to try rosehip wine. Picked lots of rosehips today. Would love to make some mead, ArkadyRose... can you share your recipe?

We've made various non-grape wines (elderflower, rhubarb, plum, pear and blackberry) as well as red and white (haven't yet tasted the pear or grape wines as I'm pregnant!) Really watch your sterilisation, don't let the wine ferment too long, get a hygrometer to check sugar/alcohol balance. Take notes so you can learn for next time. And don't give up if your first batch tastes like paint stripper... The rhubarb, our first, was far too strong but our second batch, elderflower, was delicious!