How To Make Wine – Part 2
In the previous article, Getting Started, we discussed what you should get in a good basic wine making starting kit. Today,
we’ll take a look at the process of wine making using concentrated grape juice purchased from a wine making outlet.
Tonight, I started a Grand Cru Liebraumilch that I purchased from Winemakers here in Orangeville. The staff at Winemakers are great, everyone from Tina, Debbie, Bob, and the other guys whose names I can’t remember.
If you’ve never done this before, you’re probably wondering, “What does all this look like? Is it hard? Is it time consuming?” Well, I even took pictures this evening just for you! Including the pictures, the entire process of starting my wine took me about 15 minutes.
First, here’s a picture of the box that I picked up. Yours will be similar. It does contain 10 litres of juice, so it’s not light weight. But once you have your starting kit, this is now all you need to get started on your first 30
bottles of decent quality home made wine.
Canadian will provide me with 30 bottles of wine. Wine that is comparable to
the average wine around 10.00 per bottle at the liquor store.
So, let’s open up this box, and see what’s inside! Well, right at the top, we
have a plastic ziplock bag, with packages of something or other, and
instructions:
So we’ve got:
- Instructions, which we can record the date and specific gravity.
- 1 Package of Bentonite.
- 1 Package of yeast.
- 1 Package of sulphite.
- 1 Package of potassium sorbate.
- 1 Package of isinglass.
I was a wee bit disappointed that this kit did not come with dried Elderberry
flowers – I’ll see if I can pick some up somewhere tomorrow. They won’t be
necessary, but I enjoy Liebraumilch when it’s fermented and aged with these.
Today, the only packets that we’ll need to concern ourselves with are the
Bentonite and the Yeast. In fact, some don’t follow the instructions exactly,
and instead add the Bentonite later. We’ll discuss what the use of bentonite
is in a later article.
So, let’s see what else is in that box:
That is the juice, sealed in a heavy duty plastic bag. That yellow thing on
top is the cap, that once we get the bag out of the box, we’ll pry off with the
side of a table knife. At least that is what I do. It’s just a tiny bit
awkward at first, as while you are holding this bag, and trying to pry the cap
off, you’ll likely feel as if there is a possibility that the juice might come
through the spout. Just hold the bag near the top, and all will be fine.
But before we do that, let’s make sure our primary fermenter is sanitized. The
primary fermenter is the food grade plastic pail that came with your starter
kit. Mix up four (or 8) litres of sulphite solution following the directions,
pour into the pail, swirl it around, making sure all of the inside surface of
the pail has been in contact with the solution. This solution can be used over
and over, so pour it into a bottle or container that you can cap.
Now, give your pail a quick rinse.
We’re ready to start on our wine! Open up that bag of juice, and pour it into
the pail. Run some hot water into the bag to rinse it, and pour that into the
pail. Your pail should have a mark at the 5 Gallon Imperial or 6 US Gallon
point. Fill the pail with water up to that mark.
Clean and sanitize a two cup measuring cup. Add about a cup of water – a little
more is fine, you don’t have to be absolutely accurate here. Get a fork, or
something like a small whisk, open the package of bentonite and SLOWLY pour it
into the water while you are stirring. You’ll end up with a grey liquid:
Now, pour this into your juice/water solution in the pail. Stir well with that
large plastic spoon.
If you’re interested in what the final alcohol content of your wine will be,
you’ll want to take a sample using your wine thief. Simply put the end with
the larger hole into the muss, allow it to fill, put your thumb over the top of
the other end, and fill the sample jar. The sample jar should already have the
hydrometer in it, otherwise when you go to put the hydrometer in, you may
overflow the sample jar.
Put the sample jar on a flat surface, spin the hydrometer, wait for it to stop
spinning, and read and record the specific gravity (we’ll discuss how to
obtain the final alcohol content from this reading in another article). Here’s
an image of what it looks like:
There are two steps left. The next one is to open the package of yeast, and
sprinkle it on top of the must. Just to let you know, “must” is the name of
the juice and ingredients before it becomes wine.
The temperature of your must should be between 70 and 85 degrees F. I’ve never
had any problem with mixing a bag filled with very hot water into the juice,
and then topping up with warm water to the 5 gallon mark, with final
temperature of the liquid outside of this range. If you’re not sure, put a
floating thermometer into the liquid and wait for the temperature to be between
this range before sprinkling the yeast on top.
Last step – put the lid on the pail! And you’re done for a week. Just let this
sit. You might want to have a peek under the lid tomorrow or the following day
– you should see lots of foam on top, and the obvious signs of yeast working.
So that’s all there is to it! It took me 15 minutes. A couple of things you
might want to think about before you start:
If you like the taste of your tap water, use it to add to the juice concentrate. If you don’t, pick up a five gallon bottle of spring water. Don’t
use distilled water. The minerals in the water will assist the good strong
yeast growth.
So to summarize the steps:
- Open your box of juice concentrate.
- Sanitize your pail.
- Pour the grape juice concentrate into the pail.
- Fill the pail with water to the 6 US (5 Imperial) Gallon mark.
- Mix up the bentonite in water.
- Pour the bentonite mixture into the muss, and stir.
- Record the specific gravity.
- Sprinkle yeast on top.
- Put the lid on.
And that’s it! If you have a tight fitting lid on your pail, you might want to consider not attaching it tightly, or you will need to open it up a few times per day to release the carbon dioxide that it is being created. There is nothing wrong with your wine having contact with air at this stage. This is called the aerobic fermentation when some contact with air and oxygen is beneficial.
If your pail has a lid that is not tight sealing, you won’t have to worry about
this. As well, the gas that will form will rise, pushing out any oxygen – and
creates a sort of “wall” against insects trying to get inside. They won’t even
try!
In about a week from now, we’ll spend another 15 minutes on the project. I bet
wine making is MUCH easier than you ever imagined, isn’t it? We can get
into more complicated and time consuming ways to make wine later, but I’m
certain if you have followed the directions (the most important is the
sanitization of your pail and equipment), you’ll have wine you’ll enjoy.
Shortly, we’’ll set up a message board here for you to ask questions, or get any
clarification you want on the steps outlined above. Don’t worry – no need to
try to be exact in your measurements of water – we’re likely going to be adding
more later anyhow.
Have fun with your new hobby!
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