DIY Balloon Wine

Balloon wine, oh my. Where do I start.
Balloon wine, is generally not fine wine. But balloon wine can sure hit the spot on these hot summer days. And it is a good place to jump into wine making if it is something you are interested in, and it is pretty easy. I have made six batches, each one better than the one before it. You have complete control over your wine. Not only the flavor but the quality of the wine itself all depends on the decisions you make.

First off you need a large glass jug. I use one of the large Carlo Rossi jugs. It needs to be sterile, so I let it soak filled with fairly strong bleach water. I also sterilize my utensils.

Once rinsed out clean, I add three containers of concentrate grape juice. Here is one of the first decisions you need to make, what kind of juice do you want to use. I have used anything from Welches Concord, to a White Grape with Rasberry and Apple. You could mix and match if you wanted to. Or you could buy concentrated grape juice intended for wine making and step the quality of your wine up a little bit.

Now normally if you are making juice, you add three containers of water for each container of juice. When making wine, add two containers of water per container of juice. But don't add it just yet...

The next decision comes in the form of how sweet do you want your wine to be? This will determine how much sugar we will add. A cup of sugar will produce a very dry wine. I have used up to 3 cups and got a fairly sweet wine. You could use more if desired. I brought my six cups of water to a quick boil, for sanitation, and then added my sugar to the water, so it mixes a little easier as well. Then add this to your juice now in the jug.

Mix. You can stir or shake(with the lid on). Let it cool for a few minutes.

Add your yeast. I have used Fast Acting bread yeast, just one packet of Fleischmann's does the trick. Or you could get real wine yeast and again step up the quality of the wine quite a bit.

Now take a balloon that will fit over the opening of the jug, and don't inflate it, but poke a few holes through it with a needle. As the yeast converts the sugar to alcohol, aka, fermentation, Co2 is produced as a waste product. The gas will expand and cause your balloon to swell. The holes will let the Co2 out of the jug, and the internal pressure will keep oxygen from coming back in side. Or you can use a bung and an air lock and again step up the quality of the wine considerably.

Now store the wine in a warm dark place for a couple of weeks. Once the balloon starts to fall back over, the fermenting is done. Strain with a cheese cloth, or siphon the wine into a new jug. You could drink it now, or you could let it age for a while. I prefer to age mine a little. I have drank it as soon as two weeks later with much improvement. And I have let a jug age up to six months with a great improvement in flavor. You can age in the jug or you can bottle individually.

As you can see, you have many options and choices when it comes to making Balloon wine. The flavor and the quality is all up to you. Anyway you do it, have fun with it!