Wine making how to...

[Brent S]

I promised to post the next time I started a batch of wine, so here we go. I've been picking the Concorde grapes for a while now and had stored them in 1 gal freezer bags, in the freezer. I thawed them out today and had 15 gallons of grapes. I know, a lot of wine snobs will say you can't freeze the grapes, but I've done it both ways and you can't taste a difference, really. Also, since the grapes come ripe at different times, it's a good way to store them until you have enough. Another plus is freezing swells them to the bursting point, which makes squishing them easier. So, I put about 4 gal. Of grapes in 4 five gallon buckets each, melted 5 lbs of sugar in filtered water, and added it to each bucket. Then I topped off with filtered water, just to make each a full five gallon batch. I never mess with less than 5gal anymore, but have in the past. You don't have to add the sugar, but if you're making wine, it may as well be potent. I also like sweeter wines over dry, so it works for me. The next step is really important. I put 1/4teaspoon of potassium metabisulfate in each bucket and put a lid on it for 2 days. It produces a gas as it dissolves and sterilizes the must (which is what the liquid is called at this point). Fresh grapes have wild yeast, and bacteria on them, and neither is good for winemaking. The stuff leaves no residue, and is completely gone after a day, but I give it two just to be sure. Next you remove the lid and add the wine yeast. I use lalvin ec-1118, which is a good all around wine yeast. There are lots of specialized yeasts to make different types of wines and campaigns, but I like to keep things simple, and this works. Both the yeast and potassium metabisulfate are easily gotten on amazon and are cheap. After the two days I add the yeast, 1 packet per 5 gal. And cover each bucket with a cotton tee shirt and a large rubberband. This allows the yeast to breathe, but keeps little flies and bugs out. Once Each day take a clean large spoon and push the floating grapes back underwater. You don't want them drying out. After 1 week you can pour the wine into a carbouy, which is a fancy name for a 5gal water bottle. I use a nylon mesh bag to filter all the grape skins and seeds out, but any filter media will do. I try to wring every last drop of flavor rich juice out before feeding the skins to the chickens. Glass is best, but are harder to find nowadays, and plastic leaves no aftertaste anyways. You need a bubbler on top of the carbouy to let the gas escape as the yeast turns the sugars into alcohol, but it dosent let air into the container, which isn't good for the yeast. Let the bottle sit in a cool dark space for about a month, without disturbing it at all. The solids are settling to the bottom of the jug and the wine is clarifying slowly. You need two carbouys, as now you siphon off the clear wine to the second bottle, leaving the sediment on the bottom of the first jug. This process of siphoning is called racking. I usually rack a wine three times, depending on how quickly it clears up. Allow about a month between each racking. The sediment isn't bad for you, it just isn't very good for appearance. I bottle my wines and store for a year usually, but you can drink immediately if you want. This batch of concords is 100 bottles of wine, but I haven't started to pick the muscadines yet. I hope to get at least another hundred, maybey more. Trading, gifting and enjoying this stuff has been really rewarding. Also remember, you can make this out of any type of fruit as well. I make some wines with no sugar added, and do a lot more processes with some, but this recipie is quick, easy and makes a good tasting, fairly potent wine that everyone enjoys. Here's a toast to you all!

 

[Danil54grl]

Nice post. Maybe one day I will try this out since it does not sound difficult at all. Actually quite easy.

 

[Akingu]

A few notes on this because I'm a mazer and a vintner. The yeast you have listed is an 1118 which produces an 18% alcohol and a bone dry wine and since you only added 5 lbs of sugar you're going to have a low Specific Gravity and the yeast is going to eat that amount of sugar up in no time. The only way to get it any sweeter is to kill off the yeasts and add sugar or honey to it afterwards but that could also re-start fermentation so you have to take precautions. You should also have a hydrometer so you will know the SG and Final Gravity and keep daily records of changes and lag phases. Everything should be sterilized with a sanitizer as well. Lallemand http://www.lallemandwine.com/spip.php?rubrique33&id_mot=19&lang=en has a list of yeasts that will give much better color, taste and clarity as well as adding some undertones. I don't use Lalvin or Red Star yeasts because if they -the must-aren't kept at AT LEAST 70* or COOLER they are known for throwing off fusels which give it a burnt plastic taste and a very hot product which takes YEARS to get rid of IF it ever does mellow out.
Yeasts eat sugar and produce CO2 and need O2 for the best reproduction and the must should be aerated several times a day with a paint stirrer and whipped for a good 5 mins each time. If you add Go-Ferm @ 2 g daily, also known as 'step feeding', the yeasts will get daily doses of food and reproduce better. The third lag phase should be achieved by 5-7 days and ready to be racked off into the secondary. I always add more fruit to the secondary as well for flavor and color.
Agree that you should rack off every 30 days as the lees-sediment-dead yeast- will ruin the flavor of the product, although some yeasts like the D-21, letting it sit will add a buttery tone to the wine. I did a mango-peach melomel a few years back and I had to rack that one 5 times. It's just one of those variables.

 

[Brent S]

A few notes on this because I'm a mazer and a vintner. The yeast you have listed is an 1118 which produces an 18% alcohol and a bone dry wine and since you only added 5 lbs of sugar you're going to have a low Specific Gravity and the yeast is going to eat that amount of sugar up in no time. The only way to get it any sweeter is to kill off the yeasts and add sugar or honey to it afterwards but that could also re-start fermentation so you have to take precautions. You should also have a hydrometer so you will know the SG and Final Gravity and keep daily records of changes and lag phases. Everything should be sterilized with a sanitizer as well. Lallemand http://www.lallemandwine.com/spip.php?rubrique33&id_mot=19&lang=en has a list of yeasts that will give much better color, taste and clarity as well as adding some undertones. I don't use Lalvin or Red Star yeasts because if they -the must-aren't kept at AT LEAST 70* or COOLER they are known for throwing off fusels which give it a burnt plastic taste and a very hot product which takes YEARS to get rid of IF it ever does mellow out.
Yeasts eat sugar and produce CO2 and need O2 for the best reproduction and the must should be aerated several times a day with a paint stirrer and whipped for a good 5 mins each time. If you add Go-Ferm @ 2 g daily, also known as 'step feeding', the yeasts will get daily doses of food and reproduce better. The third lag phase should be achieved by 5-7 days and ready to be racked off into the secondary. I always add more fruit to the secondary as well for flavor and color.
Agree that you should rack off every 30 days as the lees-sediment-dead yeast- will ruin the flavor of the product, although some yeasts like the D-21, letting it sit will add a buttery tone to the wine. I did a mango-peach melomel a few years back and I had to rack that one 5 times. It's just one of those variables.

Ahh, good to know someone else out there likes wine too! I do use a hydrometer, acidity test, and yeast nutrient too, but wanted to keep this simple for people getting started. Wine is like everything else in the world, the more you learn about it you realize you could spend a lifetime getting better at it. My first batch was from welches grape juice and sugar. It turned out to be a drinkable, good tasting drink, even though I probably wouldn't make it now. However it motivated me with the initial success to try making some more. That was about 5 yrs ago. Since I've made champaigns , and lots of assorted fruit wines. I also planted a small vineyard in the yard with about 75 vines. I have several varieties of muscadines and one of them produces a grape almost as large as a 50 cent piece. I'm looking fowards to fermenting a batch of it this year. I started with several fancy types of wine grapes, which were not suited to this area. I still manage to keep them alive, but they struggle in their unnatural environment. I got some muscadine varieties about a year and a half ago, and they are like weeds! Not only did they survive planting,but have grown at an amazing rate. I will take cuttings from the strongest and best producing ones this fall to propagate them. As a matter of fact I'll probably pluck some of the under producing vines next spring and replace with the native muscadines. Funny, lots of people say they aren't good grapes, but I think the flavor is the best of all that I've tried so far. I'm glad you pointed out about sterilizing your equipment (buckets and such). I didn't really stress cleanliness. For others reading this, the potassium metabisulfate mixed with water is a good sanitizer that leaves no aftertaste or residue, unlike bleach. Just make sure you clean everything that comes in contact with the wine. By the way, I had never heard the term mazer before. It's always good to have feedback, and good luck on this years batch.

 

[Akingu]

The only thing that I disagreed with was the use of the potassium. It just ain't natural, I tell ya! I try to stick to traditional brewing and it keeps the allergic reactions away as well. Proper sterilization, the yeasts doing their job and the bad bugs die off any way.

 

[Brent S]

I took another step towards the wine today. Sorry I didn't take Picts. Along the way, but I basically took the fruit filled buckets and strained all the grape skins and seeds, and poured the juice into the 5gal jugs. I have a nylon mesh bag that I fill with all the fruit pulp, then I use the antique fruit press to squeeze every last bit of flavor rich juice out. If you look closely at my avatar you can see the enterprise fruit press. Circa 1880, and still working great! Once I filled the jugs, (carbouys) , I put an airlock bubbler on each bottle to let the co2 escape, but it keeps oxygeon from getting in, and bugs. The fruit juice had been fermenting for a week now, and was ready to strain. You can see the froth on top of the jugs as it's still bubbling away. Now they just need to sit in the cool dark for a few weeks until they stop fermenting. Then I'll siphon them into another jug a couple times as the solids settle to the bottom. I picked several gallons of grapes tonight, and still have a bunch of unripe ones that are getting there. The four gallons I just picked went into the freezer. I scored on a new primary fermenter today! I got a 30 gal food grade barrel for 30 bucks. It will make it easier to make the next batch, which should be about thirty gallons with the grape yield I'm getting this year.

 

[Danil54grl]

aww. . . you had me kinda worried with that last picture with the okra next to the grapes. You never know who is going to have a health kick while making his wine!

 

[Brent S]

aww. . . you had me kinda worried with that last picture with the okra next to the grapes. You never know who is going to have a health kick while making his wine!

I actually saw a recipe for asparagus wine once, yuk! But hey, saki is pretty gross too and people seem to love it. Who would have thought to ferment rice??? I like sweet fruity flavored wine, so I'll stick to the Concorde and muscadine wines thanks.

 

[Brent S]

Ok, I'm finally back! The wine had not completely stopped bubbling, but had slowed down as the yeast had eaten most of the sugars by now. As you can see, this is not an overnight process, but is at least pretty easy. I start this part, called racking, as I do every part of winemaking, which is clean everything! You don't want to waste a batch of fruit because some bacteria got in there. The most important part of racking is you don't want to move or jostle the wine jugs, as a lot of the sediment has settled to the bottom and you don't want to stir it up. The main point of racking is to clarify the wine. Although the cloudy solids might actually be nutritious, it's un appealing and people won't drink your wine! I bought a pump siphon, but a piece of clear tubing will work, it's just not as easy or sanitary. With just the tubing you need to put your mouth on one end, like siphoning gasoline, and suck to start the process. The pump also has a little 'foot' to keep it slightly off the bottom of the container, so it won't pick up as many solids. Once done, you just let it sit for another three weeks or so, and rack it again. You can get by with two rackings, but each batch is different, and you will see if it's clear enough for you or not. If you're just making a 1 gal batch and are drinking it right away, it makes no difference, but if you bottle it for two years more will settle and look like debris is in the bottle, so be patient and rack it three or four times for better wine. I didn't take a second reading with this batch with the hydrometer, so am not sure what the alcohol content is, but it smelled really strong. Usually I'll take a little sip to see how it tastes, but this is early Sunday morning and alcohol just didn't seem appealing. I got my second 30 gal barrel yesterday, and will start making all my wines in them from now on. It's just easier to wash one container vs several. I also got a lot more grapes than I ever imagined this year. These 5 gal jugs were almost all Concorde grapes, but I have enough muscadines to do a good thirty gal. batch next. There's still a few vines that aren't quite ripe yet, but are close. I probably have 25 gallon bags frozen in the freezer allready. Sorry the Picts aren't in order, does anyone know the secret to placing them how you want? Anyways, I'll post again when ready to bottle!

 

[Brent S]

I started taking clippings from the sweetest and best producing grape vines. I did about 40 in potting soil, and 25 in water with rooting hormone. I'll see what has the highest success rate, but am betting on the water. I have a couple vines that produce a muscadine that's almost as large as a plum. They produced really well, and are the majority of the clippings.

 

[Brent S]

I just finished squishing the last of this years grapes! I filled up the blue 30 gal barrel and put in the potassium metabasulfate to sterilize it. I had the 20 gal. From the Concorde grapes allready in the 5 gal. Jugs, and now will have 30 gal of muscadine to bottle a total of 50 gals. before long. That's 250 bottles, not bad for this year. I just started looking into getting a farm winery license, which is cheap but still need to learn the rules about it. It would be nice to be able to sell some of this stuff, cause if I drink that much it might be a problem! I'll keep posting Picts as I go, I guess bottling will be next

 

[Brent S]

I had the thirty gal batch of muscadine fermenting for a week now with the grapes left in. I strained out all the husks and seeds as I filled the second barrel. I drilled a hole for the bubbler/airlock in the lid of the second barrel. Now it's just red juice, and still had some fine grape pulp in it. I sealed the lid and it started bubbling right away. That little thing is going 90 miles an hour, which is a good thing! The barrels I got have a recycle symbol with a 2 on it, which is pretty good. A #1 is best, with #7 not being safe at all. A 2 is food grade and won't leach chemicals from the plastic. The only thing I'm worried about is if it will impart a plastic flavor to the wine. We will see. Once my Concord grapes are done, I'll siphon out of the big barrel into those 5 gal. Containers, which I know don't leave a taste, (there #1). I just took about thirty lbs of grape husks out to the chickens. It smelled like alcohol allready, I hope I don't give my chickens a hangover. Oh well, they say chicken goes well with red wine flavor.. I'll probably rack the wine again in three weeks, or when the bubbling slows down. Here's to never having to buy alcohol again!

 

[Brent S]

Oh I forgot, I took some white oak boards and cut a circle to fit the top of the barrel. Then I drilled small holes in it and 'toasted' it in the oven. I placed it on top of the grapes when I first started this batch, and then covered it with a cotton tee shirt. The oak disc weighted the grapes down, keeping them submerged so they don't float up out of the liquid and dry out. Without it you need to take a ladle and push the grapes back down once a day. The oak barrels winery's use are made from white oak, and when it's heated to a golden brown, or toasted it gives off an aroma, flavoring the wine. I'm hoping this will impart some of the same taste of traditionally made wines. I also made some oak slats and put them in the newly filled drum, and one in each of the 5 gal bottles. I had thought about doing this for a couple years, but this is my first try. I'll let you know if I can taste a difference. In wine making supply stores you can buy oak wood chips for this as well.

 

[Brent S]

This was last years batch of muscadine. I have a few more bottles in another cabinet, and tried a few allready, but like to let them sit for a year at least. I have a few bottles from my first attempts that are 4 yrs old now. When I finish my root cellar I'm going to turn a part of it into my wine cellar!

 

[Marv.Schmitz87]

Thanks for sharing. Im really looking forward to read more from your winery and congratulate you to your sucsess. I have a very deep connection to wine. beeing born at the german Mosel river and growing up in wineyards and cellars helped a lot lol.
Im gonna plant a couple of vines as a hobby next year as well.
Thanks again for sharing!

 

[Brent S]

Thanks for sharing. Im really looking forward to read more from your winery and congratulate you to your sucsess. I have a very deep connection to wine. beeing born at the german Mosel river and growing up in wineyards and cellars helped a lot lol.
Im gonna plant a couple of vines as a hobby next year as well.
Thanks again for sharing!

Thankfully most of my hobbies have been things that produce something. I tried making beer a couple times, but wasn't happy with the results, so tried wine and it is easy to make a good tasting batch. Actually I liked beer most of my life, but when the blood pressure started going up my dr. said to switch to red wine. I don't think he meant for me to make 50 gallons at a time though!

 

[Brent S]

Sorry I haven't posted any on this for a while. I just finished bottling the last three 5gal carbouys today. 75 more bottles added to my preps. That was the end of last years grapes. The Concorde wines turned out typical tasting red wine, not very sweet, but not really dry either. Loads of fruity taste though. The muscadines were all maxed out for sweetness and high alcohol content this year. It dosent take more than a glass to unmotivated me . The flavors of the muscadine grapes are my favorite. I ended up putting 100 cuttings total in pots with potting soil, and have had them in the greenhouse all winter. I don't know how many will survive/sprout, but am curious to see what percentage makes it. I plan to do a couple more rows of grapes, and will plant vines along all the fences and anywhere I have a spare spot! I had a pretty productive day so far. I fixed the motorcycle up, from the damage I did when I wrecked. The windshield mount was bent and the handle bars were a little crooked. Both turned out great, and can't even tell anything happened. Still have a small ding on the gas tank, but will leave that to remind me to be careful! Also made a mount to house a full sized battery on my welder /generator, as those small batteries don't last long enough. Then I got a few loads of firewood up, and now I'm just going to enjoy a little of the new batch of wine by the fire.