The the thread was dropping so I thought I should create a new one to get Bunnyman's attention.

Lyra,

Yesterday I was given (under the counter at a cafe where I know the staff well) an espresso cup full of homemade "hooch." 90 proof I was told. It was delicious and tasted perhaps of herbs but I have no idea what was in it, only that it was made by a Greek friend named Gus.

This got me thinking. As you know I have a son and friend on a boat in the South Pacific. They are on a pretty tight budget and food and libations are astonishingly expensive. They occasionally splurge for some boxed wine and they are sometimes fed by locals in exchange for capable help but often they live on beans, rice, and any fish they catch. So alcohol is an infrequent treat.

I was online with the Captain last night and I suggested they try making some homemade wine. They have access to an abundant supply of fresh mangoes and other fruit. I looked up directions for making homemade mango wine and they were fussy, purist, a bit arcane and required a year of aging and ingredients available in a wine store. Well, that won't do! So I looked up "jail house wine." That produced this:

"Find any kind of cheap juice. I like cranberry. The way I do it is boil a few cups of sugar mixed with water until it becomes a syrup. I add this to about two gallons of cranberry juice. It sounds too sweet, but it evens out the sour taste from the cranberry. Then I'll take a cup of the juice, warm it up slightly in the mircowave, throw in a packet of yeast and let it sit until it gets a nice head on it. Then I throw that into the rest of the juice, mix it up real good and let set for about a month in a tight container with a small airhole so gas can vent. When the yeast activates, it eats the sugar as food, and the byproduct is alcohol. Its far from a fine wine, but its pretty simple. Its a loose recipe, so it may take some tinkering to get it the way you like it. And remember, the more yeast, the more alcohol. If you can get ahold of some bread yeast over there, that'll do the job, but leaves a slight "bready" flavor if you use too much.

Juice+sugar+yeast+time=hooch"

Crude but probably effective. There must be some middle ground. I doubt they can find wine yeast or other wine store specific ingredients but can surely find bread yeast and sugar and juice and other things in a grocery store on Bora Bora. Got any recipes or guidance?

What do you suggest to substitute for some of the wine store specific items in this recipe?

Mango is a sweet and tasteful fruit that anyone would enjoy. And like every other fruit that contains at least 10 per cent sugar, mangoes can be turned into wine. Now, there are various ways to ferment mango wines, one of which is discussed below. By following these instructions, you can produce your own mango wine with a wonderful aroma and smooth taste.

These are the necessary ingredients you will need in making your own mango wine:

3-4 lbs of freshly peeled mangoes

2 1/2 lbs of sugar

7 1/4 pts of water

1 1/2 tsp acid blend

2 Campden tablets

1/2 tsp pectic enzyme

1 tsp yeast nutrients

1/4 tsp tannin

1 tsp Wine Yeast

Process:

Boil the water.

While boiling the water, prepare the mangoes by peeling , slicing and dicing it. Liquefy the fruit using a blender. If there is no blender available, you can put the mangoes inside a straining bag, place it inside the fermenting bucket, then mash the mangoes using a potato masher.

When the water boils, add the sugar to the water. Stir the hot water to make it absorb more sugar. Once all the sugar has been dissolved the liquid substance will become syrupy.

Let it cool a bit, then pour the liquid on the mashed mango inside the fermentor.

Add the tannin, acid blend, Campden tablets and the yeast nutrients together with the mixture in the fermentor.

Cover the fermentor and leave it at room temperature for 24 hours. Then add the pectic enzyme. Leave it again for 12 hours.

Add the wine yeast. Let yeast do its work for 10 days.

Squeeze the straining bag 2-3 times a day for ten days. On the tenth day, squeeze the straining bag till dry, then discard the bag and the pulp. Let everything settle overnight.

Siphon the concoction to the secondary fermentor. Minimize the transfer of lees from the primary to the secondary.

Air lock the secondary and leave it for 30 days.

Rack the wine every two months for six months or until wine has no more lees.

Bottle and Age.

A few reminders with the process of making the homemade mango wine:

*

Always keep your equipment sanitized. To avoid spoilage of the wine, keep everything clean.

*

Use only freshly picked fruits and use only mangoes with the right ripeness. Avoid using over ripe mangoes since they tend to change the taste of the mango wine you are producing.

Here is a link that might be useful: This looks like good info.