- Hillbilly Wine

Hillbilly Wine
My first fermentation experiment was something I came across online called “hillbilly wine.” I also found it (variations of it) listed as balloon wine, prison wine, and Welch’s concentrate wine. Its simplicity and turn-around time were it's main selling points.

Equipment used: 1 gallon cleaned and sanitized plastic orange juice (or similar) container, balloon with pin holes

Ingredients used: 3 cans of frozen generic grocery store fruit-punch concentrate, 3 cups of regular ‘ol sugar, water to fill jug, Fleischman’s dry baking yeast (normal, not turbo or fast-rise)

Steps: 1. Thaw concentrate 2. Add sugar, concentrate and water to jug. 3. Put yeast in a cup (about 1/3 full) of warm (barely warm to touch) water with a teaspoon of sugar—wait ten minutes for yeast to hydrate. 4. Put lid on jug and shake vigorously to oxygenate for initial yeast process. 5. Add yeast liquid from cup to jug. 6. Shake jug vigorously to mix yeast into solution and further oxygenate. 7. Fit balloon (put a few pinholes in it first) over mouth of jug. Do not allow air to access the wine after this point. The initial yeast process requires oxygen, but thereafeter oxygen is detrimenal to the process. 8. Wait. Typically most sources say a month. Some say three days. I tried it after three weeks.

Results: Tasted pretty good, though too sweet and had a noticeable aftertaste from the bread yeast.

Suggestions: Use less sugar. I saw numerous recipes calling for between 1-4 cups of sugar. I used 3, and it was a good bit too sweet. Use a wine yeast instead of baker’s yeast. I've since had great results with Lalvin 1116--its noted for reliability, high alcohol yields, and retaining fruitiness.

Notes: I would call this one a success. Applying the above modifications would likely make it a winner. As it was, regardless of the sweetness and yeast aftertaste, this wine tasted surprisingly pleasant and had good buzz potential. I would liken it to a (flat) wine cooler, or maybe a little sweeter than Mad Dog. If left to age for another month or so, it may have rounded out a bit better.