Nov 11
7
Making Wine – It’s Easy to Do at Home
Many folks enjoy a glass of wine when socializing, during dinner or just to unwind after a long hard day. Knowing that obtaining your favorite red or white is as easy as a trip to the local beverage store, why would you not take advantage of the convenience? why would you ever want to make your own wine?
First of all it can be just plain fun because it isn’t hard and once you’ve made a couple batches you can start to get creative. also, you would be surprised at how good of a wine you can make, probably better than you ever imagined. and finally, if you love to save a buck, then all you need to know is you can make quality homemade wine for as little as 2 or 3 dollars a bottle (after your initial equipment purchase) for those who have never homebrewed, getting started can be a little overwhelming, but don’t worry, there are ways to make you brew
Wine Making Equipment Kits Save the Day
This is where it all starts for the beginner. Buying a wine making equipment kit gives you all the essential materials and equipment you’ll need during the wine making process from equipment sterilization, to mixing, fermenting, measuring, and clarifying to the final bottling and corking process. Kits can run between $95 for a basic kit to $130 for a deluxe kit and they include everything except wine bottles and an ingredient kit. Wine bottles can be purchased, but you can just as easily re-use wine bottles from commercial wines as long as they don’t have a screw top and these bottles originally came with a cork in them. In fact, if you ask a couple friends to save some bottles for you, before you know it you’ll have more than enough.
Selecting a Wine Ingredient Kit
The wine ingredient kit contains the juice which is basically a concentrated form of the grape’s juice, already strained, processed and ready to go. The more expensive kits contain juice that is less concentrated and thus they require less water in the process, but even the wine you can make from the least expensive ingredient kits (around $68) is really, really good. The ingredient kit also contains some packets of ingredients you’ll use along the way such as the yeast and items to start fermentation, stop fermentation and help clarify the wine. some kits also contain oak chips or sweetener packs to get the appropriate flavor.
If you have made it this far then you probably have tried enough wines to know what types you like whether white, red, dry or sweet. I would suggest that you pick a wine that you know you’ll like for your first kit. Armed with your wine making equipment kit and your wine ingredient kit you are now ready to make your first 6 gallon batch of wine, which is approximately 30 bottles of wine.
Wine Making Steps
Here is a summary of the basic steps for making wine. your ingredient kit will have more detailed and specific instructions for your particular kit and that is what you should follow. each step requires that you sanitize your equipment, buckets, hoses etc. essentially anything that comes in contact with the wine in order to prevent bacteria and eventual spoilage. The sanitizer comes in your kit as a powder and is mixed with warm water.
- Mixing of concentrated wine juice and water along with bentonite, which is used to help activate the yeast. The mixture needs to be at a temperature between 65-75 Degrees F. Yeast is sprinkled on top and fermenting bucket lid is secured with airlock. Place bucket in an area with a temperature between 65-75 degrees F.
- After 5-7 days the wine will be fermented as determined by a reading with the hydrometer included with your wine making equipment kit. at this time the wine is transferred into a glass carboy and an airlock is attached.
- After 10 days and another hydrometer check you will then add two ingredients, one that stops any further fermentation and one that aids in the clarification process. The wine is stirred vigorously for a few minutes after adding these ingredients. your carboy is topped up within 2 inches of the top with water at this point as well and the airlock is put back into place.
- After 14 more days you check your wine for clarity and if it is completely clear it is ready to bottle. if it is not clear, you let it sit for another week.
- It is now time to bottle your equipment kit includes the bottling spout and corker. make sure your bottles are clean and each one sanitized before bottling. When you get close to the bottom of the carboy there will be sediment that will get sucked up and cloud your last bottle. When I start getting close to this point I siphon the last bottle’s worth into a carafe and then use that to drink first. The cloudiness will not hurt you, but you don’t want to bottle it like that.
The entire wine making process takes four to five weeks depending on the ingredient kit that you purchase. there is a myth that you must let the wine age before drinking any, but I have found you can drink some right away, especially the whites. Letting the wine age does give it more body and it brings out some flavors that you may not notice right away, and this is particularly true of the red wines, but don’t be afraid to try it right away, you deserve it
Making Wine – It’s Easy to Do at Home
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