How to Make Home Made Wine With Flowers and Other Household Items

Home made wine is inexpensive to make, easy and gives a great sense of satisfaction. However you don't always need grapes to make wine. Beautiful tasting and flavorsome can also be made using flowers. This guide shows you how to make wine in your own home using flowers. You should be aware that not all flowers are suitable for making wine and some won't have a particularly pleasant taste. Some of the common flowers used for wine are roses, honeysuckle, hibiscus, lavender, chrysanthemum, lilac, marigold and daisies. 

Step 1 - Prepare the Flowers

Remove all leaves, stalks and stems from the flowers. You should make the wine solely from the flower heads and blossoms. Give the flowers a good wash so that you remove any dirt or insects that may be on them. Put the flowers into a large bowl and add the juice from the lemons and the raisins. 

Step 2 - Making the Wine

Bring 1/2 gallon of water to the boil and add the sugar to it. When the sugar has dissolved, pour the water over the flowers in the bowl. You will be able to smell the fragrance of the petals rising from the bowl. You should then add the yeast nutrient and Champagne yeast to the bowl. This will help the wine to ferment over time. You should also add the grape juice which will add to the flavors and the acid blend. Finally add another 1/2 gallon of water and leave the bowl until it has completely cooled. 

Step 3 - Beginning the Fermentation Process

Leave the liquid in the bowl for a week in a cool dark place. Give it a stir occasionally to mix the ingredients and help blend the flavors. This will start the essential fermentation process needed to make good wine. 

Step 4 - Decanting Your Wine

Decant the wine into a large jug using a siphon. This will stop any of the flowers and sediment that has formed in the bowl from going into the jug. You will then need to fully seal the jug so that it is air tight. Put the jug into a cool dark place and leave for a further 2 months. 

Step 5 - Second Decanting

The next stage is to again siphon your wine into another large jug. You will notice that it already smells strongly of yeast and flowers. Again be careful that you don't decant any of the sediment that will have formed in the bottom of the jug. Seal the jug and then put back into cool dark place for a further 4 months. 

Step 6 - Stabilizing and Bottling Your Wine

The final stage is to stabilize your wine. This means that you stop the fermentation process. You can do this by adding the Campden tablets and the potassium sorbate and leaving the wine for a further 2 weeks. At this stage you should also taste your wine and sweeten it as necessary. Finally siphon the wine into bottles and leave 6 months before drinking.