I used
18 lbs of rhubarb
2 lbs of strawberries
10 lbs of sugar
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
sulphite as per the usual procedure
water to the 5 gallon mark
I chopped the rhubarb into small peices, discarding anything that I thought was too green or too woody, and placed it in the primary with the sugar. Next, I thinly sliced the strawberries and threw them in too. I boiled enough water to fill to the 5 gallon mark and did so. I let it sit overnight, and began the yeast starter to be put in the next day.
This is going to be a sparkling wine, so after it clarifies, I will follow the instructions that I found here.
22 June 2008
Getting Started II
Once you've acquired all of the equipment you need, you're ready to begin the process of vinification. I will describe all of the steps in order.
The first part of all the steps is to sterilize all of the equipment you will be using in that step. If you do not do this properly, you could wind up with a foul tasting wine. This could either result from your wine being infected by bacteria other than yeast, or from some of the sanitizing agent being introduced to the wine. I use the purple chlorinated sanitizer (which you will find at any wine supply store). I begin by making the solution in the primary with 5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water. Next, I place all of the equipment (except for the carboy) into the primary. Use the racking tube to syphon a gallon or so of the solution into the carboy. Swish the fluid all around the inside for a minute or so. When using this type of sanitizer, one should triple-rinse the equipment with hot water.
Preparing the must. The must is the mixture to which yeast is added to make wine. This is the step where we extract the flavour from the fruit, vegetable, herb or whatever you have decided to ferment. What needs to be done in this step depends on what you have chosen to make. It usually invloves peeling, chopping, slicing or crushing. Next hot or cold water may be added. Sugar may be required to achieve the correct initial sweetness. Your recipe may call for the use of additives such as acid blend, pectic enzyme, grape tanin or bentonite. You should also add sulphite unless the fruit you are using already contains it. Crush 1 campden tablet for every gallon of wine you are making and dissolve in a cup of water and stir into the must. This protects it from any other bacteria that might try to infect your wine.
Starting the yeast. This can also vary based on the recipe. For many recipes there is no problem with simply sprinkling the yeast on top of the must and covering it up with the lid. This may not work all of the time though. My rhubarb-strawberry wine for example is extremely acidic, so I created a yeast starter. I sanitized a large jar, and placed in it the contents of the yeast packet, 3 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of yeast energizer, and 1/2 cup of water. After a couple hours, it was foaming noticeably. I swished it around to knock down the foam and added 1/2 cup of the must to the jar. I repeated this until I had a full jar working vigourously, and then added it to the must. Do not add yeast to a must that is significantly warmer or cooler than room temperature. This is worth repeating, as you may kill your yeast if you do so. So, do not add yeast to a must that is significantly warmer or cooler than room temperature.
Primary fermentation. The yeast work vigourously in this stage and rapidly expand in number. You may notice some serious foaming depending on the variety of yeast you are using. This lasts about a week. You should sanitize your long spoon and stir the must daily during this period. This normally lasts about a week, but can be faster or slower depending on the conditions. Generally speaking, move to secondary fermentation as the vigour of the ferment subsides.
Secondary fermentation. This is done under an airlock, as the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by the yeast is no longer enough to protect the must from other bacteria. You'll need to siphon the liquid from the primary fermentor into a carboy. You may have to press or drip drain some juice out of solid pieces of the must. You should have a sip of your wine at this time. Top up to within a couple inches of the bottom of the airlock. You can use water, a sugar solution, or wine of a similar variety to do this.
Racking. You will notice after a couple of days that some solids start to accumulate at the bottom of your carboy. This is called the lees. After a set period of time you will want to transfer the wine to a new carboy so it's not sitting on that lees. This needs to be done regularly until the wine is clear and has not produced a new lees. No more often than 6 weeks should be necessary, and it can be left for up to 12 weeks. Taste the wine every time you rack it. If it tastes flat or uninteresting you may need to add acid. Top up every time you rack, and sulphite your wine every other time you rack to protect it from oxidization.
Bottling. Once your wine is clear, and has gone through a period of time equal to when you've normally been racking it and not shed a lees, you can prepare for bottling. Sanitize your bottles and corks with a sulphite solution (do not use the chlorinated sanitizer for this). Sulphite your wine again, and stir vigourously for 4 minutes to degass your wine. Wait 10 minutes and stir again. Syphon the wine into the bottles, and fill them to just below the base of the neck. Leave the bottles upright for 3 or 4 days before turning them on their sides.
Once you have completed all of these steps your wine can be consumed. Very likely it will improve for as long as you are able to keep it. This is difficult to do unless you make a lot. Therefore it is recommended to make as much as you possibly can.
Have fun, and enjoy!
The first part of all the steps is to sterilize all of the equipment you will be using in that step. If you do not do this properly, you could wind up with a foul tasting wine. This could either result from your wine being infected by bacteria other than yeast, or from some of the sanitizing agent being introduced to the wine. I use the purple chlorinated sanitizer (which you will find at any wine supply store). I begin by making the solution in the primary with 5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water. Next, I place all of the equipment (except for the carboy) into the primary. Use the racking tube to syphon a gallon or so of the solution into the carboy. Swish the fluid all around the inside for a minute or so. When using this type of sanitizer, one should triple-rinse the equipment with hot water.
Preparing the must. The must is the mixture to which yeast is added to make wine. This is the step where we extract the flavour from the fruit, vegetable, herb or whatever you have decided to ferment. What needs to be done in this step depends on what you have chosen to make. It usually invloves peeling, chopping, slicing or crushing. Next hot or cold water may be added. Sugar may be required to achieve the correct initial sweetness. Your recipe may call for the use of additives such as acid blend, pectic enzyme, grape tanin or bentonite. You should also add sulphite unless the fruit you are using already contains it. Crush 1 campden tablet for every gallon of wine you are making and dissolve in a cup of water and stir into the must. This protects it from any other bacteria that might try to infect your wine.
Starting the yeast. This can also vary based on the recipe. For many recipes there is no problem with simply sprinkling the yeast on top of the must and covering it up with the lid. This may not work all of the time though. My rhubarb-strawberry wine for example is extremely acidic, so I created a yeast starter. I sanitized a large jar, and placed in it the contents of the yeast packet, 3 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of yeast energizer, and 1/2 cup of water. After a couple hours, it was foaming noticeably. I swished it around to knock down the foam and added 1/2 cup of the must to the jar. I repeated this until I had a full jar working vigourously, and then added it to the must. Do not add yeast to a must that is significantly warmer or cooler than room temperature. This is worth repeating, as you may kill your yeast if you do so. So, do not add yeast to a must that is significantly warmer or cooler than room temperature.
Primary fermentation. The yeast work vigourously in this stage and rapidly expand in number. You may notice some serious foaming depending on the variety of yeast you are using. This lasts about a week. You should sanitize your long spoon and stir the must daily during this period. This normally lasts about a week, but can be faster or slower depending on the conditions. Generally speaking, move to secondary fermentation as the vigour of the ferment subsides.
Secondary fermentation. This is done under an airlock, as the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by the yeast is no longer enough to protect the must from other bacteria. You'll need to siphon the liquid from the primary fermentor into a carboy. You may have to press or drip drain some juice out of solid pieces of the must. You should have a sip of your wine at this time. Top up to within a couple inches of the bottom of the airlock. You can use water, a sugar solution, or wine of a similar variety to do this.
Racking. You will notice after a couple of days that some solids start to accumulate at the bottom of your carboy. This is called the lees. After a set period of time you will want to transfer the wine to a new carboy so it's not sitting on that lees. This needs to be done regularly until the wine is clear and has not produced a new lees. No more often than 6 weeks should be necessary, and it can be left for up to 12 weeks. Taste the wine every time you rack it. If it tastes flat or uninteresting you may need to add acid. Top up every time you rack, and sulphite your wine every other time you rack to protect it from oxidization.
Bottling. Once your wine is clear, and has gone through a period of time equal to when you've normally been racking it and not shed a lees, you can prepare for bottling. Sanitize your bottles and corks with a sulphite solution (do not use the chlorinated sanitizer for this). Sulphite your wine again, and stir vigourously for 4 minutes to degass your wine. Wait 10 minutes and stir again. Syphon the wine into the bottles, and fill them to just below the base of the neck. Leave the bottles upright for 3 or 4 days before turning them on their sides.
Once you have completed all of these steps your wine can be consumed. Very likely it will improve for as long as you are able to keep it. This is difficult to do unless you make a lot. Therefore it is recommended to make as much as you possibly can.
Have fun, and enjoy!
Getting Started
If you're just getting started, you'll need to purchase some things. Set aside about $200 to buy your equipment and the things you need to make your first batch. This may seem like a lot, but look at it this way: even if you don't enjoy this, and you only make one batch, this is still less than $7 per bottle which you won't really be able to match at the LC! Pop into your local home brewing shop and pick up the things on this list:
30L primary fermentor with lid
23L carboy (get more than one if it will fit your budget)
a corker (these can be hand-held or floor standing, if you are serious about making your own wine, get a floor standing model, if you are just experimenting the hand-held model may suffice)
a long plastic spoon
s-shaped airlock and a drilled bung (these are cheap so buy extras)
racking cane and a section of plastic tube
a nylon straining bag
thermometer
hydrometer
chlorinated sanitizer
potassium metabisulphite or campden tablets
yeast nutrient
acid blend
pectic enzyme
bentonite
grape tanin
yeast (Lalvin EC-1118 is a good yeast that works very well in many homemade wines)
Once you have all of these things, you'll be able to make an amount of wine equal to 30 bottles at a time. Note that it's also worth checking the classifieds for used primaries, carboys and corkers since these are the only items of significant cost. Ask your friends and neighbours to save their empty wine bottles for you, as there is little sense in paying for these. Also, don't buy your corks until it is close to bottling time. The longer you wish to keep or think you are able to keep your wine, the more money you should spend on corks.
If possible, you should buy the book First Steps in Winemaking by C.J.J. Berry. I got my used copy from Amazon for a couple of dollars. Not only does it explain how to make wine very well, it also includes over 60 recipes which are conveniently organized by the time of year that they should be started.
Once you've done this, you are well on your way to practising a wonderful hobby that is limited only by your own creativity. Unlike many hobbies, this one is not expensive or very time consuming.
More to follow on what to do next.
Cheers!
30L primary fermentor with lid
23L carboy (get more than one if it will fit your budget)
a corker (these can be hand-held or floor standing, if you are serious about making your own wine, get a floor standing model, if you are just experimenting the hand-held model may suffice)
a long plastic spoon
s-shaped airlock and a drilled bung (these are cheap so buy extras)
racking cane and a section of plastic tube
a nylon straining bag
thermometer
hydrometer
chlorinated sanitizer
potassium metabisulphite or campden tablets
yeast nutrient
acid blend
pectic enzyme
bentonite
grape tanin
yeast (Lalvin EC-1118 is a good yeast that works very well in many homemade wines)
Once you have all of these things, you'll be able to make an amount of wine equal to 30 bottles at a time. Note that it's also worth checking the classifieds for used primaries, carboys and corkers since these are the only items of significant cost. Ask your friends and neighbours to save their empty wine bottles for you, as there is little sense in paying for these. Also, don't buy your corks until it is close to bottling time. The longer you wish to keep or think you are able to keep your wine, the more money you should spend on corks.
If possible, you should buy the book First Steps in Winemaking by C.J.J. Berry. I got my used copy from Amazon for a couple of dollars. Not only does it explain how to make wine very well, it also includes over 60 recipes which are conveniently organized by the time of year that they should be started.
Once you've done this, you are well on your way to practising a wonderful hobby that is limited only by your own creativity. Unlike many hobbies, this one is not expensive or very time consuming.
More to follow on what to do next.
Cheers!
21 June 2008
Alex's current winemaking
This is a picture of the wines I've started so far this year. Altogether, these jars will yeild 150 bottles of wine. I'll describe them in order from left to right.
Rhubarb-Strawberry - This is to become a sparkling wine. I came upon the idea quite accidentally, actually. I recently opened my last bottle of last year's batch of rhubarb wine, and it had begun to re-ferment in the bottle and was carbonated as a result. I found this to be much more interesting than when it was still, so I decided that I would try to make a fully carbonated version this year to be used for the New Year's Eve celebrations. Hopefully it will be ready in time.
Dandelion - If you're new to this hobby, it might seem odd at first to make wine out of weeds. All I can say is trust me. Wine made from dandelions is delicious. The last batch is all gone. You have to have patience to make this, as it will take some time to mature. Dandelions are also free, so by the time I added the other ingredients that I used, this works out to less than $1 per bottle.
Pinot Grigio - This is a kit wine. I tend to prefer the Winexpert kits. They are a good value in terms of price and quality. They can be ready to bottle in 6 weeks, but I will age this batch longer than that.
Mead - Mead is made from honey. This is my first attempt at making mead. I've used 5 kg of raw wildflower honey to make this. It tastes and smells delicious, and it's just a month old!
Jalapeno - Brad and I joked about this once. Yes, it may seem unusual, but after reading Jack Keller's page about this, I knew I had to make it. I used 60 big jalapeno peppers for this, seeds in, so it's quite firey. I tried a sip of it the other day when I was transferring it out of the primary, and it is already amazing.
So this is what I'm working on at the moment. I'm also planning a cranberry wine, and a peach dessert wine. Let me know what you're fermenting.
Welcome
Hello, and thank you for finding our Blog. If you've never made your own wine before, follow our lead as we make (inexpensively, I might add) some delightful beverages, and ask as many questions as you like. If you're as in to this as we are, please share your feelings, experiences and recipes. We'll be publishing our methods, madness, recipes, tasting notes and pictures in the hopes of being able to share a little bit of the joy that this hobby brings us.
Cheers!
Cheers!
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