Alot of people are curious about dandelion wine. Some are completely unfamiliar with it and have never heard of it. Wine made from dandelions? A WEED? Their faces wrinkle up like they're being force-fed a pickled prune. For those of you who have tasted this back-home favorite, it's an experience you won't forget. It's a light, sweet wine with overtones of honey that's easy to drink, and compliments any food from fish to fresh fruit.
It's one of the sweetest and simplest homemade wines to make, although it's quite labor intensive. In many parts of the country, dandelions are very abundant so with this wine, there's no investment in pricey ingredients. When you're ready to get started and you've gathered the necessary goodies together, you can walk into your back yard with a shopping bag an pluck the main ingredient!
This recipe makes 6 gallons, which translates into thirty 750-ml bottles. You can make any quantity you like, but I make at least 6 gallons because I find that smaller batches disappear quickly. Once your friends and family discover how good it is, they'll have those 30 bottles gone before you know it.
If you're new to wine making, you'll want a starter kit from a wine & beer specialty store. It runs about $65 and includes:

- a 6 gallon glass carboy
- an 8 gallon primary fermentation bucket, with lid, pre-drilled for an airlock
- a plastic airlock
- plastic tubing for transferring the wine from the bucket to the glass carboy
- a bottling attachment for the tubing, which helps you fill bottles to the proper level
- a cantilever corking tool to cork your bottles after filling
- 30 corks
- a naked mermaid who will fulfill your every wish

Ok, joking about that last part. But still, at $65 or so, it's a great starter kit, and will save you from buying everything separately at a higher cost. And once you have the basic supplies, you can make homemade wine FOREVER without investing a pile of cash. I buy my supplies at a local place (in NY), but you can get the starter kit online. 
 The following goodies are available for a few bucks at wine & beer making specialty stores as well:
  
- 3 tsp. of Acid Blend 
- 1/4 tsp. of Tannin
- 1 packet of white wine yeast
- 1 bottle of Campden tablets
- 1 large mesh bag
Each item is only about $2-$3 each.

Also needed are:
- 2 ripe bananas 
- 1 lb. of white raisins (chopped)
- 2 1/2 lbs. white sugar
- 1 1/2 lbs. wildflower honey.  DO NOT use bucwheat honey, or your wine will taste like a mixture of dirt and cow-chit.

Before you begin, run the mesh bag, the bucket and lid, the airlock, and a large stirring spoon under very hot water (140F+) to help sterilize them.

   You'll need about 9 cups of dandelion petals per gallon of wine, so 54 cups total.  Believe me, it takes awhile to pluck 54 cups of dandelion petals. Choose a warm, dry, sunny day so that the level of nectar in the dandelion petals is high.  Pick a half shopping bag of dandelion heads at a time and take them inside immediately to pluck.  The best method I've found for plucking petals is to grasp the base of the pod between your thumb and forefinger (where the green meets the yellow), and squeeze like hell.  Then slowly pull the loosened petals free.  Pluck a 2-cup measuring cup full, dump it into the mesh bag, and refrigerate it until you have all the petals you need.  After a little practice, you can pluck 54 cups in about 3 hours.  So crank the tunes and pluck your heart out.
   When you have the 54 cups of petals, compact the petals tightly into the mesh bag, add the chopped raisins and sliced bananas, and tie it off with a piece of monofilament fishing line.  Be sure to run the line under VERY hot water first.  Place the bag in the bucket (primary fermenter) and pour 2 gallons of VERY HOT water over it. Add the sugar, the honey, the acid blend, the tannin, and a crushed Campden tablet.  Stir it all vigorously, while adding hot water to bring the level up to within 2 inches of the top of the bucket.  Use the large spoon to squish the mesh bag against the side of the bucket to aid in the extraction of the nectar and dandelion essence.  Don't add the yeast at this point; it needs to be room temperature when you add the yeast.
   Snap the lid on the bucket, fill the airlock about half full of water and insert it into the grommeted hole in the top of the bucket. ALWAYS be sure there is sufficient water in the airlock.  Place the bucket on a countertop or sturdy shelf about 3 feet off the floor.  Placing it there will make it easier to transfer your wine later.
    Now....take a break...you're done for today.  Grab a drink, call your friends and tell them how bad your fingers hurt, and how you'd like to strangle the doofus on HubPages who got you interested in making wine from weeds.
   After 24 hours, pop the lid off and give it a good stirring.  Remember to push the bag under the liquid and squeeze it with the spoon against the side of the bucket.  Let it settle down, then open the yeast packet, pour the yeast in, and stir it under.  Pop the top on again with the airlock in it.  After a few hours you'll notice the water bubbling in the airlock...this means that the fermentation process has begun.  The sugars in the liquid are being turned to alcohol, and the process gives off CO2 gas as a byproduct. 
   Each day, open the bucket, push the bag under the surface, stir it up, and squeeze the bag against the side.
   After a week, open the bucket and squeeze all the liquid you can from the bag, and discard it.  Close the bucket again.     After 2 more days, prepare your glass carboy, plastic tubing, and rubber carboy stopper by sterilizing them with hot water.  Place the glass carboy on the floor in front of the bucket.  Open the bucket carefully and insert one end of the tubing to within a few inches of the bottom.  Siphon the liquid from the bucket to the carboy, being careful not to siphon sediment from the bottom or suck up too many stray dandelion petals.  Slowly tilt the bucket as it gets low to get all the liquid without the sediment.
   Place the rubber carboy stopper in the glass carboy, replace the water in the airlock, and insert it into the top. Again, place it on a shelf or countertop about 3 feet off the floor, which will help with bottling later. If possible, tape an opaque covering (like cardboard) around the carboy to limit light penetration. 
   Now you can relax for 2 weeks. The bubbling should taper off in the airlock as time goes on.
   Next lesson?  Finishing and bottling your creation.  In the meantime, ask your friends and family to save their commercially-bought wine bottles for you to re-use.  Make sure they rinse them well after they're emptied out. This will save you a few bucks on bottles if you're on a budget.  Alternately, you can buy bottles for about $12/dozen at a wine making store.
   If you have questions about the process of wine making, email me Altasup@aol.com.
   Not only am I a booze-maker, but I'm a home inspector in NY as well.  If you wish, you can check out my services at http://www.altasup.com