I don't drink wine but I do use it in some of the things I cook. I also have used it to make jellies. More important to me then wine is vinegar. I use vinegar alot and not just for cooking. Vinegar is used in preserving and pickling foods, medicines and tinctures, for cleaning and disinfecting, to help cleanse wounds, deodorizing and many other ways. It is not recommended that homemade vinegar be used for canning because it may not be at 5% acidity. I buy and store the proper vinegar for canning but if a time comes when I can't buy vinegar then I will use my own vinegar to preserve food if I have to. Vinegar has a long and interesting history.
In order to make vinegar, you first have to have wine. Wine is made from any fruit and sugar. As I understand the process, the wine yeasts "eat" the sugar and begin to ferment. As it ferments, the sugars are converted to alcohol. If you stop the process when it is finished then what you have is wine. You can bottle it and call it done OR you can let it proceed making and eventually what you will have is vinegar. The mother of vinegar is a beneficial bacteria that works somewhat like the wine yeast. But the wine yeast eats the sugars converting them to alcohol while the mother bacteria feeds on the alcohol and turns it to vinegar.
When I make wines and vinegars, I don't use a very scientific process or any special equipment at all. I usually use the scraps from the fruits when I'm canning. If I can or dehydrate apples, pears or peaches, I save the peels and cores for making vinegar. It's a very simple process and I found it in a little country wine book that I bought in the thrift store that was written in the 40s.
I place the saved peels and cores from whatever fruit I'm working with in a stainless steel pot and add enough water to just cover them. If I'm using berries then I crush the whole berries a bit and cover them with water. You can use any fruit. Bring the fruit to a low boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Allow the liquid to cool and then strain it through a clean cloth. The spent fruit can now be fed to the chickens or pigs if you have them or added to the compost pile.
Measure the amount of liquid you end up with. For each quart of fruit juice you will add one cup of sugar. If you don't get exactly a quart for part of the juice you can add water to make up the difference or you can use a half cup of sugar for a half quart of juice (or pint). The amount of sugar used isn't necessarily cut and dry. More sugar will make a wine higher in alcohol but too much can also stop fermentation. The more you make the better you will get at judging how much to add. Remember fruit contains natural sugars of its own. Stir the sugar into the juice and return it to the stove. Heat the mixture on low just until the sugar is completely dissolved but don't boil. Now pour the sweetened juice into sterilized jars. I use half gallon mason jars but you can use gallon or quart sized if that is what you have.
Now, many people tell you that you have to add wine yeast and put an air lock on your jar. I don't do either. There are natural yeasts in every kitchen and on the fruits themselves. Yes, you can buy the proper yeast at a wine making supply company but I have never had a wine that didn't make itself without the added yeast. The wine will pick up its own yeasts from your kitchen if you loosely cover the jar. I just put a sterilized canning lid and ring on the jar but I don't tighten it down. I leave it loose enough to allow air transfer but tight enough to keep fruit flies and dust out. Some people insist you need an airlock but I have never used one. You can use one if you like.
Next label the jars with type of fruit and date. Sit the jars out of the way and out of the light in a place that has a temperature between 60 and 75 degrees. Now all you have to do is wait. The jars should begin to ferment. You will see and hear bubbles as it ferments away. It can take about a month to six weeks to finish but it will stop bubbling when you have wine. You will be able to smell and taste the alcohol. At that point you can bottle and and cork the wine.
If you want it to turn to vinegar then you need to remove the flat canning lid and replace it with a piece of cheesecloth. Screw the band back on the jar over the cheese cloth. I leave it like that for a couple of days and then put the canning lid loosely back on because it should have had plenty of time to begin its journey to creating vinegar. The jar will form a mother and begin to change to wine. If you like, you can add a mother manually but I have never had to do that. Now I take the jar with the lid and sit it somewhere out of the way. I usually just forget about it for a while. In a month or more you should be able to smell the wine and get the distinct smell of vinegar. At no time in the whole process should the wine or vinegar smell offensive. The longer you leave it the more acid it will become and all the alcohol will be gone. I have left it for up to six months. When it reaches the stage where you like the vinegar then it is ready. I usually strain most of the mother out and pour the vinegar into pint jars, put on lids and bands and put in a water bath canner for 20 minutes. Then label and store the vinegar. You don't have to can the vinegar or remove the mother if you don't want to but I feel better doing it for long term storage especially since you may have a good variety of vinegars that you have made. You can save the mother that you strain out for adding to new batches of vinegar but do not can it because the process will kill the live bacteria.
Now you have your own homemade vinegars in many fruity flavors for cooking and flavoring foods. It can also be used for so many other things as well as the health benefits. My way is not at all scientific but I have never had a failed batch. If you decide to give it a try then I think you will be pleased as well. I suspect that the first vinegars thousands of years ago were made by accident. There is no reason that it has to be difficult when you make it on purpose.
Southern Wood Elf