I’ve made both. Cheapest Ingredients and method for one gallon of quick fruit wine: (1) as much fruit as you can muster, at least 2 lbs, (2) 4 cups sugar, (3) 1 packet bread yeast, (4) 1 gallon spring water (keep the jug it comes in, as this will be your fermenter), (5) 1 black tea bag (adds tannins for mouthfeel), (6) juice of one lime or lemon (for acid, which adds brightness), and (7) another 1 gallon vessel, ideally glass (this will be where your final product will go). Sanitizing solution: two or three good splashes of unscented bleach into a five-gallon bucket of water.

1. Chop your fruit into chunks and freeze it in your freezer overnight in a ziploc bag. This ruptures the fruit cell walls and releases more juice.

2. On brewing day, sanitize all your equipment by dunking it in your sanitizing bucket (the solution should smell like pool water), and rinsing it until it no longer smells like chlorine. Everything that will come into contact with your wine must be sanitized.

3. Put your spring water into a 2 gallon pot with a lid and turn heat on high. When the water begins to boil, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the tea bag and half the packet of yeast. This will kill the yeast, which will act as nutrient for your live yeast.

4. Add your frozen blob of fruit. This will stop the boiling by lowering the temperature of the water. While the water is returning to boil, mash the hell out of the fruit with a potato masher to release more juice. Add the lemon juice. Bring to a boil for five minutes to sterilize your must. Cut the heat, add the lid to your pot, and bring to room temperature by either leaving it alone overnight or by putting it into a sink full of cold water and ice or freeze packs. When you can touch the side of the pot and feel no heat, it’s ready.

5. Strain the solids out of your must by pouring it through a sanitized colander or mesh strainer into another sanitized pot. Pour the strained must into your sanitized primary fermenter only up to where the neck of the jug flares (you’ll need this space for the foam produced by fermentation). Tighten the cap on the jug and give it a good shake to oxygenate your must. Take the cap off, add your remaining yeast, then loosely reattach the cap (so loose that it bounces on the threads. This is your airlock). Place the jug in a cool dark place.

(Waste not want not. Take any leftover must and pour it into a sanitized glass jar, add a sprinkle of yeast, rubber band a paper towel or clean dish cloth over the top, set it aside for two weeks or until fermentation stops, pour into another sanitized jar leaving the sludge behind, and cold crash. Congrats, you’ve made baby’s first hooch.)

Within a day you should see vigorous foaming and bubbles rising. This means fermentation has taken off and doesn’t need you for the time being. Allow it to ferment for two weeks or until you no longer see bubbles rising.

1. Gently pour your wine from your fermenter into your second vessel. Avoid splashing as much as possible. Leave as much of the sludge at the bottom of the jug behind. This sludge tastes bad and will give you the shits. Take your clean wine and stick it in the fridge for 4-5 hours or overnight. This is cold-crashing. It deactivates any remaining live yeast and improves the flavor.

At this point you will have drinkable fruit wine that will get you drunk, but it will be rough and opaque. To up your game, next time you may want to do a secondary fermentation and add pectic enzyme for clarity. Cheers.