Making Honey Wine
 Custom Search Making honey wine needs a good honey wine recipe of which there are many. However, you have probably reached this page because you wish to know how to make honey wine. Instead of grapes which are usually the basis of most wines the main wine making ingredients here will be of course honey. Most beekeepers who enjoy the raw honey their honey bees produce do often make wine from their honey also. They are proud of their products and will often submit them to competitions. The photograph above was taken at the National Honey Show in England; it is part of a huge display of honey wine which must have been pretty hard for the judges when it came to announcing the winner! Making honey wine is I am assured a very enjoyable experience and drinking it even more so. It is even possible for honey to help with getting rid of a hangover if you drink too much of it, although I am told this is pretty powerful stuff so its best to go a bit easy! Some will add other flavorings such as cinnamon or even ginger which are wonderful spices and others will add fruit such as strawberries, raspberries and even apples for an extra kick in their own honey wine recipe. The ingredients for this honey wine recipe are very basic and you can adjust your own flavorings to suit you. You will need for 10 liters: Honey (your own choice) 2.5 kilos Water: when mixed with the honey to make a volume of 10 liters 2 teaspoons of Super Wine Yeast (this saves mixing up yeast into a paste) 2 teaspoons of citric acid Flavorings of your choice (ESSENTIAL ITEMS) A large aluminum or steel pan A large plastic bucket with a lid A big 10 liter glass bottle with a water lock A large and a small funnel A 1.5 meter length piece of transparent plastic tube A corking tool (for putting the corks on a bottle) A few clean and sterilized wine bottles and some corks (NOT ESSENTIAL BUT A GOOD IDEA) A one liter jug Kitchen scales A skimmer, a strainer, a sieve (preferably nylon) and a clean cloth x 2 A hydrometer (this measures the gravity of liquids) A tall glass measuring cylinder no shorter than your hydrometer And the final fun part…..your very own designed labels Now you have everything you need for making honey wine. # 1. Mix the honey and water into you large pan stirring constantly over a low heat until it comes to the boil, keep stirring this for a while longer. #2. Using your skimmer remove any foam that has risen to the top. #3. Very carefully secure your cloth over the top of your plastic bucket and pour your honey wine mixture over it, this will catch any remnants of foam for you. #4. Now add your super wine yeast and citric acid giving it a really good old stir. Over the next few days you must stir your honey wine each day and will notice rather a lot of foam as fermentation is taking place, please don’t worry about this. You must be careful here not to indirectly contaminate your wine and should cover the bucket with a clean cloth and a lid. After a few days you will notice the fermentation will slow down this is the time to use your funnel to pour your wine into your 10 liter glass bottle. Top the bottle up with some cooled boiled water leaving a small space in case more foam forms inside. Close the bottle tightly with your “water lock”. You will notice a few bubbles in this for a while, do not worry. Over the next few weeks you will notice your honey wine becoming clearer. During this stage you can use your hydrometer to check fermentation. It should read between .995 and .998 on the Specific Gravity scale. However be very careful as each time you open the bottle you run the risk of contamination. Once all the “honey sugar” has been used and the yeast has stopped working you will see there is a deposit of yeast lying on the bottom of the bottle. Now you will use your plastic tube to siphon the wine into another 10 liter glass bottle being very careful not to touch or disturb the yeast deposit. You will need to repeat this stage over a few weeks until your honey wine is completely clear; it’s well worth the wait! At last, the fun part now is the time to bottle your wine. The wine bottles must be completely sterile. You could use sterilizing liquids or tablets dissolved in water such as the kind used for babies bottles. Using your smaller funnel pour your wine into each one and push in your cork. Ask someone to help you through each stage especially this one as you wouldn’t want to spill any after all this time! Label each bottle with your own artistic creation and store for at least a few months before drinking…….oh come on you didn’t think you could drink it yet did you! Whilst you are patiently waiting for your honey wine to become ready to drink, you could start on another batch which will be ready to drink after you have consumed the first bottles. Experiment with your honey wine recipe each time, there are many kinds of honey and many kinds of alternatives to what you prefer to add for flavour. Because you now know how to make honey wine, there will be no stopping you now will there! There are many ways to make honey wine and I have found some great links for you to help you further with a honey wine recipe. Please enjoy and let me know how you get on. Top of Page Please use my Site Map for Easy Navigation Further information for Making Honey Wine
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