making wine

[robthewineo]

can any one get me started on making wine,i would like to make a sweet wine dosnt matter what kind of frut this will the first time. does anyone have recpie for a red wine like a rodio red

[CellarRat]

First off, home winemaking IS NOT EASY. I've been in the Fresno State Enology program for 4 years and I still run into problems with home winemaking. There is no recipe for making wine. Luckily, sweet wines are a lot easier to make than table wines. I've made two so far and they came out great.

Make sure you are completely prepared AHEAD of time. You absolutely cannot leave grapes or wine unsealed overnight while you look for equipment. Fruit flies are a bitch and they bring brett. Pick late. Shriveled but clean berries are good for sweet wines. Growers usually don't want them and they're just gonna drop the fruit anyway. Crush (NOT PRESS) your red grapes and throw em in a food grade bin (trash cans work). Add yeast, at this point oxygen is a good thing.

The most important step at this point is stopping fermentation. Since you want a dessert wine, I recommend neutral spirits like everclear. High proof alcohol will kill the yeast so make sure you have around 10% residual sugar. After fermentation, draw off your free run and air lock em in some sort of food grade container. If done properly, what results is a beautiful wine with natural sweetness and around 18% alcohol. Winemaking is God's proof to the world that Murphy's Law is real. Best of luck.

[robthewineo]

cellar ratt thank you im planning to make 3gals of sweet wine i plan on 30lbs of graps but thats is about as far as it goes do you take the grapes off the vine and how much alcohal to stop the yeast,there is much to learn grasshopper. 4yrs is alot to learn about wine making o ya how much yeast goes in the batch,what kind of time am i looking at for 3gal of wine thanks

[CellarRat]

I'm not quite sure off the top of my head how much alcohol to add. If memory serves me right, we used 10 bottles of everclear in a thirty gallon batch. The first desert wine I made we just added the alcohol to taste. For such a small batch of wine, I would probably only add one 5 gram pack of yeast, if that. You want a slow fermentation so you can monitor the sugar levels. Definately take the grapes off of the rachis. It shouldn't take too long to pluck each berry off. You also want to take a small knife and split each berry. I've never crushed by hand like that, but I know people how have. As far as time goes, all total probably 2-3 weeks. Fermentation should probably only take a couple of days. I made a cab that took 3 weeks to ferment. My late harvest syrah too 3 days to get to 10% residual sugar. Your most important tool is your pallet. Keep tasting and make the wine that you like.

Oh, don't bottle immediately after you add your spirits. You want to give your wine at least a week to settle.

[robthewineo]

cellar rat
thank you very much ill find a good deal on some grapes and get started thanks

[777Prodigy]

Hi, Thanks for the intricate explanations on home wine making. How do I make wine from Fruits? this is pretty common now and I want to experiment. I don't know much about stuff like fermentation, just give me the basics and I will try to figure things out.

[Jackie]

Are you asking these as questions? I had difficulty understanding what it is that you want to know.

1) "do you take the grapes off the vine"

Yes. I would definitely think so. Are you asking "when"???

2) "and how much alcohol to stop the yeast"

What?? if this a question, please re-write it.

3) "there is much to learn grasshopper. "

No kidding.

4) "5 yrs is a lot to learn about wine making o ya how much yeast goes in the batch,"

Another question??

5) "what kind of time am i looking at for 6 gal of wine"

For what?

If you really want answers, Rahul, please write the questions again so we can help you. Thank you.

[winoweenie]

Jackie-Love methinks R isn't from Shawnee, Oklahoma. Howm-so-ebberly he's an active lil' bugger. WW