Section 2 of 4 - Prev - Next
All sections - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

- hydrometer
- J-tube and plastic tubing
- J-tube holder for carboy
- basic instructions

- You should also get a 20 litre (5 USG) food grade plastic jug to
carry distilled water if you make kits. It may also be used to carry
juice if you purchase it straight from a market press.

- If you are using fruit and preparing it at home, you may require a
fruit press.

- One 1-gallon (4 litre) glass jug to hold your sulphite solution

- Bottle sanitizer -- used for sanitizing bottles, is pump activated,
as in by hand (put the bottle over the nozzle, and push down.)
 - optional if you use the dishwasher and the water is HOT! (65C (150F)
   or HOTTER!) (use sanitizing cycle)

Needed sooner or later (especially if you make a lot of wine), but
optional:

- Wine filter set AND glass carboy
- These can often be rented -- don't buy it until a) You're really
hooked on winemaking (~3 batches) and b) You find you make a lot of
wine and would save money by purchasing the system.

- Floor corker (often can be rented)

Optional, but very strongly recommended:

- Jet spray water bottle washer AND tap adapter -- better than a brush

- J-tube holder for carboys -- makes it easier to siphon off the wine
by making things less awkward and keeping your hands from tiring (may
come with the set)

Optional, but very useful:

- Large plastic box(es) for storage of your equipment.

- Hand held bottle corker. It's mainly useful if you make small bottles
or little wine. It is a pain in the wrist to use for large scale
bottling.

- Several extra airlocks and bungs, and extra gallon jugs to take up
the wine that the carboy won't take.

G09. SUCROSE VS. CORN SUGAR

Both will ferment equally well in your wine, and usually may be used
interchangeably, though in different amounts.

For those of you with really distinguishing palates, sucrose (table
sugar) will give a beverage a fruity character; corn sugar, a malty
character.

3/4 unit of sucrose equals 1 unit of corn sugar; therefore if your
recipe calls for 1 unit of sugar, you should use 1 1/3 units corn sugar.

G10. KITS VS. GRAPES OR FRUIT

Kits vary in quality, usually according to price: The more expensive it
is, the better the quality.

When buying kits, don't buy a cheap one just to minimize your financial
risk. Cheap wine kits might resemble watery grape juice with fire in
them (while some are really good). An expensive kit uses the same
principles, but the product is usually far superior. Experiment; often,
paying a premium pays off. Look for a kit that has a lot of concentrate.
The ideal would be a concentrate that has 16 litres (3.5 imp. gal.; 4.25
USG) of concentrate. The next best would be about 10 kg (22 lbs).

Some people swear by kits, while others by fresh juice. As a steady
rule, high quality wine that lasts for decades is made from high
quality fresh juice from fruit that was grown and picked under optimum
conditions.

That being said, there are good kits of great quality that can beat
some fresh juice wines, but usually only the more expensive kits vs.
average fruit.

Experiment and decide for yourself what you want. What YOU like as a
final product is the most important factor, as well as the commitment
you wish to make.

G11. WHAT ARE THE USUAL SIZES USED IN HOME WINEMAKING?

The US and Britain (and some of the Commonwealth) use the Imperial
system (though Britain & the Commonwealth also uses the metric system),
but the measurements of each system are not necessarily equal to those
of the other. As a rule, the whole world except the US uses the Metric
system.

Some information found here was found in Alan Marshall's FAQ on sizes,
which can be found at:

ftp.stanford.edu in /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/rfdb/beer-capacity.faq

Bottle: 750 mL, 1/5 USG, 1/6 imp. gal.
Barrel: 36 imp. gal. (UK barrel), 30 and 6/11 USG (US barrel)
* note that there are various other standard and non-standard barrel
  sizes.
Carboy: 5 imp. gal., 6.5 USG or occasionally 4.2 imp. gal, 5 USG
Demijohn: 25 to 64 litres, 5.6 to 14.2 imp. gal, 6.6 to 16.9 USG
1 Imp. gal (160 Imp fl oz) = 4.546 litres
1 US gal (128 US fl oz) = 3.785 litres
Magnum: 1.5 litres, 2/5 USG, 1/3 imp. gal.

The usual primary fermentor used by home winemakers holds 6.5 imp. gal.
(7.74 USG; 29.25 litres) and the secondary fermentor is a carboy.
However, there are various other sizes, such as 5 USG, as well as
various other sizes that are convenient to the individual.

Bottles:

[I need proper conversions. Am I right with the imperial?]

Volume Vol.  Vol. Name
       imp.   US
 375ml 13.2 oz. 12.7 oz. fillette
 750ml 26.4 oz. 25.4 oz. bottle (fifth)
1000ml 35.2 oz. 33.8 oz. litre
1500ml 52.8 oz. 50.7 oz. magnum
2250ml 79.2 oz. 76.1 oz. tappit
3000ml 105.6 oz. 101.5 oz. double magnum
4500ml 158.4 oz. 152.2 oz. jeroboam
6000ml 211.2 oz. 202.9 oz. imperial

Others:

1 imp. fl. oz = 28.4 ml
  1 imp. pint = 20 imp. fl. oz
 1 imp. quart = 40 imp. fl. oz
1 imp. gallon = 160 imp. fl. oz
 1 US fl. oz. = 29.57 ml
    1 US pint = 16 US fl. oz.
   1 US quart = 32 US fl. oz.
        1 USG = 128 US fl. oz.

Note: The Imp. and US systems use different values for fluid ounces but
in both systems it refers to a VOLUME measurement, not a weight.

Weight Equivalents:

1 oz (avoirdupois) = 28.35 g
1 lb (avoirdupois) = 16 oz = 453.6 g
1 US oz. = 0.0625 lbs = 1 imp. oz
1 lb = 16 US oz. = 16 imp. oz

Note: The Imp. and US systems use the same value for ounces referring to
weight (i.e. avoirdupois).

G12. BARRELS

Why bother with a barrel?

Oak adds a compelling complexity to wine. You should make sure the kind
of wine you want to make is well suited for oak, since it is more
expensive and trouble. For example, just about any high tannin red wine
will benefit. Many whites such as chardonnay or sauvignon blanc will
also. However, riesling should be left alone. Oak barrels also have an
aesthetic quality that other materials can't match.

If you wish to oak your wine but can't afford a barrel (or don't have
the space), use oak chips, powder or sticks. Be very careful not to add
too much or leave them in the wine too long as the surface to liquid
ratio is quite high and therefore oaking is very quick. Sometimes this
may only be equal to the time it takes to ferment your wine, depending
on how oaky you like your wine and how much you put in. It is
recommended that you closely follow a wine oaked in this fashion by
tasting often.

An easy way to add oak flavor wine to just the degree that pleases your
taste is to take a regular wine bottle, fill it half full of oak chips
and add Vodka to fill the bottle. Let it set for a month or two. Drain
off the liquid and keep it to flavour your wine. Experiment, using a
tablespoon per gallon; if this is insufficient, keep adding a teaspoon
until you reach the desired result.

New and Used Barrels

Look in a commercial listings phone book for oak barrels, barrel
coopers, wine suppliers or the like. Check a wine trade flyer or
magazine. You can also contact a winery and ask for their source or ask
to purchase one of their used barrels.

A trade advertising flyer may carry advertisements for used barrels.
Often famous wineries will advertise in them. These are generally for
full sized barrels. Purchase only from a reputable source. Some people
have had bad experiences with used barrels; if you purchase one,
"Caveat Emptor -- Buyer Beware".

Oak barrels are generally good for two or three years as a source of
oak in and of itself. At that point, you can either keep it as a
neutral barrel, or you can have a cooper take it apart, scrape it down
to fresh wood, and re-toast the barrel, at which point it's good for
more.

{A friend of mine purchased some old whiskey barrels for his home
winemaking. Unfortunately, the first batch came out tasting more like a
whiskey than a wine. The colour was strange, too. In any case, he's
asked me if I know anything about "getting the whiskey out of the
barrels" so that he can start producing wine in them.}

Unfortunately, even if you shave and retoast the barrel you will ALWAYS
have a whiskey flavour in the wine. If you want this flavour (which is
interesting in a zinfandel) then you SHOULD shave and retoast to avoid
over 'whiskeying' the wine. If you don't want the whiskey flavour then
don't use the barrel. It will never come out.

A good way to help minimize this 'whiskeying' would be to soak the
barrel with fresh water and sulphite a few times.

Barrel Care

Usually empty unused barrels can be stored indefinitely. Once filled
with wine, the barrels must either be always full or specially treated
when emptied. The recipe for storing solution (for a 180 litre; 40
imp.gal; 50-60 USG) is about 100g (1/4 lb) citric acid crystals, 100g
(1/4 lb) sodium or potassium metabisulphite and enough water to fill
the barrel. Then bung it tight.

Considering the possible loss of tannin by leaching to the above
conditioner, others do the following with their barrels when empty:

- wash out the barrel thoroughly
- let it dry for one week without bung stopper
- burn a sulphur stick in barrel with stopper applied

This should take care of the barrel for one year. There is a
possibility that the staves will warp using this method, so be careful.
You should also refill with storage solution several weeks before
reuse.

A new barrel should be filled with water for a week or so before
filling with wine as a new barrel will often leak. For leaks there are
three things to do:

A) wait a few days. Swelling will stop a lot of leaks.
B) if it still leaks between staves, pound the hoops towards the middle
of the barrel to tighten the pressure.
C) if your leak is from a defect in the wood such as a small hole,
whittle a small plug out of a piece of oak and jam it into the hole.

Bleach and other cleaners not specifically labelled for wood barrel
cleaning shouldn't be used to clean your barrel as it could remain in
the wood and affect the wine you put in it. If the barrel is dirty,
then scrub it with water. One trick is to drop a length of chain inside
and shake the barrel around.

Don't reuse a barrel in which wine has turned to vinegar; it's
impossible to get rid of the vinegar bacteria from the wood. Use the
barrel as a planter in your yard.

It's generally not a good idea to mix wine types in a barrel, or white
and red wine. You'll taste the previous wine in the subsequent wine.

Barrels need regular topping off with wine to keep them full. Since a
barrel is porous, wine evaporates through the wood. Once a week for
topping off works fine; some wineries top off twice a week. Keeping the
humidity up in your winery cuts evaporative loss. Losing half a litre a
month is normal.

The stave with the hole in it ("bung stave") often cracks just at the
hole as this is the weakest part of the barrel. Either replace the
stave or seal the crack with melted wax.

Wipe the area around the bung hole often with a sulphite solution. This
is the area that gets seepage and spills, and the sulphite keeps this
area from being a source of spoilage.

Five gallon barrels are discouraged because of the high surface to
volume ratio. The wine can get too oaky relatively quickly. When using
a five gallon barrel, keep the wine in for a shorter period of time,
then blend it with wine from the same vintage that was not in the
barrel; the key is to not let it sit too long.

Toasting Level in Barrels

The level of toasting appropriate to a wine would be based on what kind
of oak taste you want to impart on your wine. Most reds can take higher
toast levels than whites. If you plan on using the barrel for whites, a
light toast level is appropriate for lighter, earlier maturing whites
and maybe medium toast for any fuller body whites to which you wish to
impart a bolder toasted taste. If you have a lighter bodied or
flavoured red wine, you should go with a lighter toast level to avoid
the toasting overwhelming the other flavours of the wine. The majority
of reds would fall into the medium toast range. Heavily toasted barrels
are rare. It is suggested that you speak with someone from your barrel
supplier who knows about different toast levels and can steer you in
the right direction.

The following information is about different kinds of French oak. It is
taken from a Practical Winery article from May 1987.

What kind of French oak to use depends on what kinds of oak flavours
you wish to impart, what level of charring is needed and, especially
which cooper to use. American oak manufacturers are notorious for
overly charring their barrels. They are used to the very heavy charring
requirements for whiskey, not the subtle needs for wine.)

This latter point was brought out at a class I atttended several years
ago at UC Davis on red wine production. Jill Davis (winemaker at Buena
Vista) brought 8 barrel samples. Each sample (cabernet sauvignon) was
the same vintage and vineyard and same kind of French oak and charring
levels. But each was from a different cooper. The differences were
astounding. (Since then I have only used Nevers from Sequin Moreau).

So please use the following as a guide only, not as dogma. And watch
those charring levels!

Limousin
(open grain)
Perfumes and colours the wine rapidly with little finesse. It is
aggressive and harsh with a sharp finish in the nose and on the palate.

Very Heavy Charring
Cognac, Brandy, Port, Sherry

Medium to slight heavy charring
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Carignane, Syrah

Medium light charring
Sauvignon Blanc

Nevers
(average grain)
Gives a vanilla flavor and balance to the wine. It is round on the nose
and on the palate and has a short finish.

Medium to medium heavy charring
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Carignane, Syrah, Pinot
Noir, Gamay

Medium light charring
Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay

Bourgogne
(average grain)
Gives a vanilla flavor and balance to the wine. It is round on the nose
and on the palate and has a short finish.

Medium to medium heavy charring
Pinot Noir, gamay

Medium light charring
Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay

Troncais
(Tight grain)
Releases its perfume slowly with finesse. It has a long finish in the
nose and one the palate and is more aggressive than Vosges.

Medium to medium heavy charring
Pinot Noir

Medium to medium light
Chardonnay, Pinot Gris

Allier
(Tight grain)
Releases its perfume slowly with finesse. It has a long finish in the
nose and one the palate and is more aggressive than Vosges.

Medium to medium heavy charring
Pinot Noir, gamay

Medium to medium light charring
Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc

Vosges
(Tight grain)
releases its perfumes slowly with finesse. It has a long and very
delicate finish on the nose and on the palate.

Medium to medium light charring
Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc

G13. SANITATION

Yeast tends to beat out most competitors because of its ability to live
in an alcoholic solution, while bacteria and fungi tend to die even at
low alcoholic percentages (though some can live almost as well.) It
also survives well because of its rapid reproduction rate compared to
other microorganisms.

However small infections can occur and spoil the odour and flavour of
wine. You're unlikely to get sick from these infections, since anything
bad will almost always SMELL bad too, and taste worse. To avoid this,
keep everything that comes in contact with your wine very clean. This
is especially critical when cleaning the fermenting vessel. You don't
need to sterilize, as it is impossible to keep things sterile. A
solution of bleach water (one capful per gallon) will kill almost
anything. You'll need to rinse off all the bleach since yeast have
trouble living in the presence of chlorine and even the tiniest amount
can produce awful flavours and odours when it reacts with other things
in your must.

If a fermentor has just been in use and you're rinsing it out to put
more wine in immediately, scalding hot water out of the tap will do
nicely, no need to use bleach. You SHOULD bleach if this last batch had
vinegar in it.

A sulphite sanitizing solution is 1 tablespoon of sulphite crystals per
gallon of water.

G14. PROCEDURE

Prepare the yeast. You can either start from a package of yeast or the
leftover yeast from a previous batch. If you're using a package of
yeast, it can just be sprinkled on the must, but it works better if you
rehydrate it in a covered, sanitized glass of water. You can also
encourage it by adding a spoon of sugar or by substituting some fruit
juice for water, but this is not necessary. Re-hydrating only takes
about 15 minutes.

Prepare your must. Crush your fruit and, where appropriate, add water,
sugar and other ingredients. An easy way of preparing non-grape fruit
is to put them through a food processor or blender.

Must sanitation.

There are many methods of must sanitation:

A) boil your must -- helps kill infections and blend ingredients, but
can change the character of whatever you're preparing and caramelize
some sugars, producing less desirable results, sweet wine, loss of
aroma, or both.
B) pasteurize your must (heat to 70C for a couple of minutes)
C) 2 campden tablets per gallon
D) freeze you fruit, which helps extract juice and flavours better, and
is usually done in conjunction with a dose of sulphite)
E) don't sanitize at all, but rather allow the wild yeasts to ferment
the must
D) pour boiling water over pieces of fruit to get wild yeast and
bacteria off the surfaces and makes the fruit easier to crush and
extract juices

Most fruit juices, especially apple and grape, will ferment out to 7%
or 8%, possibly up to 11%. Adding sugar or honey will make a more
potent wine or cider.

Mix juices, tannins, acids and nutrients in fermenting vessel.

Add the yeast, and let it ferment the must. This can take anywhere from
2-3 weeks for a kit to several months with some fruit.

Clear the wine. Some people rack the wine from one vessel to another
every three months after fermentation is complete until clear; others
use a fining agent such as bentonite, gelatin or isinglas. Most people
fine and filter their wine before bottling to give the wine a final
polish.

Aging. Quality improves a lot with age. It is usually best to wait at
least a month on anything, and the longer you wait, the better it will
be. Most references say wait at least six months or a year but many
wines can be drinkable earlier. Keep the bottles in a cool place out of
direct sunlight. Wines age better if not jarred or disturbed. Kit wines
tend to be best at a year.

To determine the optimum aging time required for a wine, make a lot of
small bottles and open one up every three to six months or so and taste
it.

G15. WHY AM I ADDING THE BENTONITE AT THE BEGINNING? HOW MUCH DO I PUT
IN? WHERE DO I GET IT?

{As I understand it, bentonite is a clearing agent. However, in the
instructions for my kit it says to add the bentonite at the same time
as the yeast. Why?}

It helps clear off millions of dead yeast cells during the primary
fermentation; doing so optimizes the actual clearing process by taking
care of a lot of it before you even try. It also helps avoid foul
smells from decomposing yeast -- a potential problem when your wine is
in the carboy for several weeks or even months -- when you transfer the
wine into the secondary.

In about 5 gallons, about 25 to 50 grams of bentonite is used.
Bentonite should be easily available from your brewing supply shop.

G16. EGG WHITE CLEARING

{How is egg white clearing accomplished?}

The egg whites are raw. Add about 2 whites per barrel, with a pinch of
salt; mix the whole thing to get the salt mixed in -- the salt helps
solubilize some proteins in the whites that aren't water soluble. Don't
whip the whites, though, or it'll just float on the top like a meringue
and require counterfining. Salmonella is a good question, although it
likely can't stand the environment of wine for too long (ethanol and
low pH).

If you're doing very small batches, you don't need to add much at all.
This method should only be used for red wines.

G17. HIGHER ALCOHOL LEVELS

If you wish to increase your alcohol content, such as for ports,
sherries and the like, try syrup feeding and using champagne yeast.
Prepare your must like a regular wine (but keep your initial sg below
1.095) and ferment using a high alcohol tolerant yeast. Rack to
secondary as usual at 1.010. When the sg is at 1.000, bring it up to
1.010 with a 2 to 1 sugar to water syrup. This can be done several
times, but production will usually stop at roughly 18%. Don't worry
about excess sweetness if you're careful as higher alcohol levels tend
to mask sweetness and sweetness tends to smooth out the rough taste
from higher alcohol levels; as well, in order to get the same apparent
sweetness as a wine with a given lower alcohol level, you need more
residual sugar. If you put in too much sugar, A) learn to live with a
slightly sweet wine and B) experiment to see what works best for you in
the future.

Most port is made by stopping the fermentation by adding of high alcohol
brandy. Start your wine in typical fashion (add yeast or spontaneous),
watch your residual sugar closely and add brandy when RS is at desired
level (usually 8 to 10 brix). Add brandy to 19%. Pure brandy is
difficult to obtain for the home winemaker, and some fine ports made
with grain alcohol, while some would disagree.

If brandy is added while skin fermenting, add brandy to 17% (enough to
kill the yeast), press your must, then correct to 19%.

According to "The Lore of Still Building" by Kathleen Howard and Norman
Gibat, you can concentrate the alcohol (and everything in the wine as
well) by putting the wine in a freezer until it turns mushy. It can
then be poured or ladled into a large strainer cloth and squeezed dry.
The liquid squeezed out will be higher in alcololic content than the
residue in the strainer cloth. This method should yield a fortified
wine (20% to 30% alcohol) from ordinary wines. Unfortunately, the book
does not give a good indication of freezer temperature or how long the
wine should be frozen.

Please note that this is effectively the same as distillation and can
be quite dangerous with regards to methanol concentration.

The Pearson Square

Spirit is expensive so you will need to calculate the correct amount to
achieve the desired result.

The Pearson Square is useful if you are using your own wine, plus some
Polish Spirit and some of the excellent flavorings now available on the
market to make liqueurs.

THE PEARSON SQUARE

A          B

     C

D          E

A = alcohol content of spirit to be added.
B = present alcohol content of wine.
C = desired alcohol content.
D = difference between B and C.
E = difference between C and A.

The proportion D to E is the proportion spirit to wine to achieve the
desired strength.

If you are blending two wines of known strength and wish to know the
final strength, the formula is:

(A x B) + (C x D)
-----------------
      A + C

A = No. of parts of 1st wine.
B = Strength of 1st wine.
C = No. of parts of 2nd wine.
D = Strength of 2nd wine.

Thus, if you blend two parts of a wine of 15% with three parts of a
wine of 10% the result will be:

(2 x 15) + (3 x 10)   60
------------------- = -- = 12
       2 + 3           5

or a wine of 12%.

G18. SPARKLING YOUR WINE

Traditional method:

For 20 litres:

Wine should be fermented to 10% alcohol. When still and clear, but
without any sorbate or further sulphite added, add 1 cup sugar and
champagne yeast to the wine. Bottle the wine in champagne bottles with
crown caps or corks wired down to the bottle neck. Let bottle rest on
its side for one month.

When disgorging and corking, 12oz (360ml) of this wine is to be added
to 8oz (240 ml) of vodka or brandy (preffered) and 12oz (360ml), wine
conditioner and 1/2 tsp sulphite crystals. This is the "dosage".

Over a period of six weeks after the initial one month period,
gradually shift the bottle angle from near horizontal to near vertical
(neck down) using a riddler (see definitions). Then chill the wine to
about -1C (30F) without disturbing the sediment (this can be done in a
large bucket of ice or outside in the winter.) Then place several
alternating layers of crushed ice and salt in a bucket and place the
necks down in the ice. When the sediment has frozen, carefully point
the bottle in a safe direction (such as into a bucket) and uncork. The
sediment should come out cleanly.

To achieve a good riddling rack you need $20 of lumber and hardware for
2X4 hinges and a 3" bell saw for your drill. You will find the plans
for a 200 bottle riddling rack designed for amateur champagne makers in
the magazine Wine East of November-December 1983 issue. If you call
Hudson Cattell the editor at (717) 393 0943.

After the wine is disgorged, the "dosage" is added to the sparkling
wine. The wine is recorked.

Compared to artificial carbonation, there is no need to sterilize your
wine (less chemicals in your product), it takes two minutes to add the
1.5 cup sugar, and the bubbles in your wine will be finer, longer
lasting, and will thread like champagne. The loss of the small amount
of wine is minimal and if you keep the yeast, in the bottle it is good
for you.

Articicial carbonation:

WARNING: This method can be dangerous. IF YOU AREN'T SURE, ASK YOUR
DEALER FOR HELP!

Artificial carbonation avoids the nuisance of sediment. The drawback is
that it is expensive and involved.

A) rent the carbonation equipment from your supplier store.
B) chill your wine to -1C (30F).
C) charge the tank with CO2, shake, charge, shake, charge, shake.
D) each bottle has to be filled under pressure.

Estimates for 23L are in the 2-3 hour range not including chilling
time, extra trips to the store, cleaning time, and so forth.

Some have tried to carbonate with food grade dry ice, using about 10g
per bottle then corking.

Through MLF:

If you intentionally allow MLF to occur in the bottle, you can
carbonate your wine slightly. You will have a sediment in the wine, so
if you wish to get rid of it, after carbonation is complete, proceed as
though you used the champagning method. You should also take all
apropriate precautions due to carbonating your wine.

Note:

Use bottles that are designed to be under pressure (such as soda
bottles or champagne bottles) and that the cork is secured to the
bottle with a wire. Alternatively you can use large beer bottles or
other bottles that can use crown caps.

G19. ICE WINE

Icewine is basically a very sweet desert wine where the grape juice has
been naturally concentrated by partially freezing the grapes and
pressing, so that the ice will remain with the skins and stems etc.,
resulting in a very concentrated juice.

Home winemakers can produce wonderful icewine style of wines using
concentrates. The only difference is that the juice was concentrated in
a factory as opposed to freezing on the vine.

Several suggestions follow:

In western Canada the Brew Crew and its affiliated stores carry an
icewine kit which is made by R.J. Grape products. One kit makes 11.5
litres, and it costs approximately $70 Can.

Alternatively you can use a regular kit and only bring it up to 11.5
litres instead of 23, or use two kits and bring up to 23 litres or
combine a 15 litre juice kit and a 3kg to 5kg concentrate kit instead
of water to bring the batch to 23 litres.

This method allows you to be very creative. For example you can start
with a riesling as a base, and add a gewurtztraminer concentrate or
several different concentrates, even a small amount of red wine
concentrate. It is possible to create a truly unique and complex
icewine type desert wine using this blending method. Note: you can also
use this method in regular winemaking as well.

Another suggestion is to use a readily available super concentrated
form of grapes: RAISINS. Take 1 pound of raisins, and 1 pound of
seedless dates, put them in the blender with some juice, blend it until
it's a puree and add it to the primary. After fermentation is complete
and the wine is stabilized, add 1/2 pound of raisins and the same
amount of dates, prepared in the blender (at this point extraction of
the sugar and flavour is the goal). Use additional concentrate to raise
the specific gravity to 1.050, and proceed as usual.

In order to make it the traditional way, the grapes must be left on the
vine late in the season until they are partly frozen, usually when the
temperature has reached -7C (19F) for six weeks, and then quickly
harvested and pressed to get only the concentrated juice in the centre
of the grape, while avoiding allowing the ice crystals to melt and/or
directly join the must. Alternatively, you can partially freeze your
grapes in your freezer. Ferment the juice as you would a regular wine.

To use the non-traditional method, adjust the sg by adding honey and
concentrate (usually 3 parts concentrate to 1 part honey) to the
desired alcohol yield. Ferment until dry. Stabilize the wine and
filter. After stabilization, add concentrate & honey to raise the sg to
about 1.050 (THIS IS NOT A TYPO). At this point proceed with normal
winemaking techniques (fining, cold conditioning, and it MUST be
filtered).

It is important to control the acid levels, especially when using the
concentrate feeding method, as concentrates are already acid balanced
for 23 litres.

G20. DIFFERENT KINDS OF FERMENTATION USED IN WINEMAKING

Red wine fermentation: the trick with red wine grapes is to hit a peak
temperature near 32C (90F) for at least a short time to optimize colour
extraction.

Pros naturally achieve temperature -- the large fermentors they use
don't allow the heat of fermentation to escape easily. Some must even
prevent overheating! With our small tubs, we amateurs must use
trickery. The best heating system is a "brewbelt" which should be
available from a local brewing supply store. A simple trick is to wrap
an electric  blanket around the fermentor. A submersible thermometer
will tell you when you've got the right thermostat setting. Other heat
sources are aquarium heaters, space heaters, and waterbed heaters.

A good fermentation regimen is to hold the must at 4C (40F) for 5 days,
innoculate and warm to 32C (90F) for a day, then drop the temperature
down into the 15C to 26C (60F to 80F) range for a long fermentation,
pressing a couple days after cap fall.

Cold fermentation: Some white wines benefit from a cooler fermentation,
producing a clean, fruity wine.

Again, cooler fermentations can be difficult. An old fridge run warm
(about 10C (50F)) is perfect for a carboy at a time. Icebags suspended
in must or placed in a tub in which a fermentation vessel sits can be
effective. You can place carboys in tubs of water on the basement floor
if it's cool. The water draws heat from the carboy to the floor. A good
target temperature for white wines is 10C to 13C (50F to 55F).

Barrel fermentation: It's not hard once you get past the expense of the
barrel. Press the grapes in the usual fashion, settle the juice
overnight. Rack the juice into the barrel (previously swelled to
prevent leaks) to about 80% full. Inoculate with yeast, put an airlock
in the bunghole and wait. After about 2 to 3 weeks, when vigorous
action has slowed, top the barrel off and keep it topped. Leave it in
the barrel for anywhere from 3 weeks to a year, depending on many
factors (age of oak, desired amount of oak flavour, etc.)

Malolactic fermentation: MLF, as it is abbreviated, is a bacterial
fermentation where sharp malic acid in wine is converted by bacteria to
mellower lactic acid. MLF is usually good, especially for high acid
Chardonnays. Pinot Noir, which has a high natural malic acid content,
almost always undergoes MLF and benefits from it. The MLF bacteria
sometimes can be present on either the grapeskins or your facility and
equipment and is available for purchase at most wine supply shops.

If you want MLF to happen, keep sulphite down. MLF is sensitive to
sulphite, low pH's (especially below 3.0), and cool temperatures (below

Section 2 of 4 - Prev - Next
All sections - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

© allanswers.org | Terms of use