Mankind has been making wine and other alcoholic beverages for thousands of years. There are time honored traditions and methods which require the utmost care and patient persistence to achieve the perfect brew. So, I’m not going to do any of that nonsense. Ain’t nobody got time or money for that!

Wine can be made from just about any vegetable or fruit, that’s where we get vodka (fermented and distilled potatoes) and wine (fermented grapes or other fruit). If you are lucky enough to have some fruit trees in your back yard, you can juice your own for free or buy it from the store. If you don’t want to spend an extra 2-4 hours juicing, cleaning your juicer, and juicing again, you can just buy the juice when it goes on clearance, like I did (but make sure that it doesn’t have any preservatives or lots of extra ingredients that can interfere with the yeast).

Here is the complete item list and cost guesstimates for an el-cheapo starter kit:

1. 3 x food grade, 5 gallon water jugs ($6 each)

2. 2 x 3/4 pvc water valves ($ 3 each)

3. 1 x simple ball valve ($2)

4. 2 x 3/4-1/2″ inner diameter brass hose adapters ($7 each)

5. 1 clear plastic hose ($0.50 per foot)

6. Yeast ($1.50 each)

7. Yeast nutrient ($1.50 each)

8. 4lbs of sugar ($3 each)

9. Juice/Fruit ($12 – $30)

Start up Items subtotal = $62 (minimum for the first batch)

Once you clean out your primary and secondary fermenters, you can re-use them and for each new batch, you buy 1 container and 1 simple ball valve ($9 total). OR you can just drink down 4 gallons of the good stuff and re-use that container!

4 gallons of apple juice (or any juice for that matter) can run as low as $12 on clearance. With a bottle of wine holding 750 ml, that means you’ll be making 20 bottles of wine in one batch! So for the price of one nice bottle, you’ll get 20 mediocre ones.

So watch the video below and see part 1!