Has anyone ever brewed their own wine?

Isn't it legal to brew some for personal consumption?..

Is it difficult? How strong is it? How did it turn out?

And it can be kick ass if you do it right :party:

dandelion wine, but she used metal pots, which apparently is a no-no. I didn't try it, but my folks didn't seem to like it. *g*

He had a license to make up to 200 gallons a year for personal use - he could give it away, but could not sell it. For each of us three kids, he put up a batch of champaign when we started our freshman years in high school, and uncorked it the night we graduated.

How did it taste?

Dad started making wine in the Mid-50s, so by the time I graduated in 1971, he was very good at it. I remember going with him down to the train yards under the Polasky Skyway to buy boxes of grapes righ off the trains from California. Of course, this was before the Grape Boycott in the Late '60s.

(I grew up in NJ.)

I made some tasty cherry wine w/ this kit:

http://www.wonderwine.com/

It's great stuff..

Just follow the directions. I've made a couple of dozen batches over the past year, and I ain't dead yet! :)

I've also made wine from our backyard plums and grapes. In fact, I'm in the middle of starting a new batch of backyard grape wine right now. (Took up too much room in the freezer.) Best thing to do is to google wine recipes, pick one, and give it a shot. There are so many methods out there, just go for it and don't take it too seriously.

To answer your questions, I think legality differs from state to state, but you're usually allowed to have five gallons for personal consumption; it's as difficult as you want to make it; My plum wine must be twice as strong as commercial wine, but as for the kits, it's on par with commercial. How did it turn out? I've only been disappointed with one kit I bought at the supermarket. If you're doing a kit, buy one from a specialty store.

I'm still a novice, been at it for about a year, but if you have any questions, PM me and I'll try to help.

In the meantime, enjoy!

ON EDIT: Aging your wine will do wonders. Save a few bottles from each batch for a year or two down the road.

We had bottles of it in the closet collecting dust. You know...like fruitcake. So I guess that answers your question.

Sorry, another question. :)

in my 20s, I lived in the back of a house owned by an elderly couple from Italy. They had every square inch of soil cultivated in the tiny backyard, including grape trellises over the driveway. In September, when it was a full moon (or so my ex claimed), they would make wine on the brick BBQ in a galvanized tub.

A couple of times, they offered some to us in a recycled liquor bottle. It came with a warning: "It's strong. You may want to drink it with soda. We use Coca-Cola."

to mix and match his stuff with others and it still could melt paint.

out of vodka and some kind of flavoring. Extremely yellow.