Wine making 6th post

Hello and welcome back, I was camping for 4 days so it has been a little while since I have posted.

Last week (7/17) I was able to rack the first jug of wine, now I have 2 months before I have to do it again. The color looks very deep red almost to a ruby color, the SG is 0.990 which is right were it is supposed to be. As it continues to sit, it will continue to clear.

The layer at the bottom is made up of dead yeast, fruit pulp, and other particles which make the wine cloudy. This over time should settle out.

This is shot of the sediment that was left after I siphoned the wine into a clean jug aka racking.

The second batch was racked to the secondary( please review my language post for definitions) on 7/17 so I still have a few more days before I have to rack that one again.

Here is a shot of the 2 jugs, after I racked it, as you can see the bottle on the right is the sediment and the bottle on the left is the wine after I racked, you can see there is no sediment, yet. Before I rack again there will be a significant layer again.

Each time I rack there should be less and less sediment.

Here you can see the first and second batch side by side, the flavor is almost the same but as you see there is a big difference in color. But I do think they will both be equally as fun to drink.

Next week I will be attempting rhubarb wine, I am going to make several varieties of rhubarb wine;
1. straight rhubarb
2. rhubarb and grape
3. rhubarb and cherry
4. rhubarb and strawberry

I will be making about 1 gallon of each to start and see which of these taste the best, I will then go for my first 5 gallon batch of wine. but for now 1 gallon batches will be my thing.

Stay tuned and you will undoubtedly learn something.

Wine making 5th post

Hello and welcome back.
I have updated the last post with pictures so all of you that are following can understand what I am doing and what tools I am using, I have also included a link to a site that I visit frequently for advice and recipes.

Over the weekend, besides adding pictures to the last post, I tested the second batch in the primary and found it was time to rack to the secondary, (siphon from the bucket to a glass jug) the SG (specific gravity) was at 1.030.

The second batch has taken a little longer to ferment to this level, I believe it is because there aren't as many nutrients in the left over must (pulp and juice from the first batch) to effectively feed the yeast, I had to add yeast and yeast nutrient half way through the fermentation process to keep it going. It was a nail biter for a little while but it seems to have pulled through.

If you look at the pictures from my last post you will see a picture of two jugs one darker than the other, the darker jug was the first batch the lighter color jug is the 2nd batch, both taste good however the color and the flavor is a little lighter in the second batch.

The first batch has been in secondary for about 10 days now, and there is about a 1 inch layer on the bottom of sediment, this sediment called LEES, is the pulp from the fruit and dieing yeast, this is also how the wine clears, It will still be months before I am ready to bottle but these are good signs of things to come. I have not yet tested the 1st batch as far as SG goes but next week I will rack (siphon from one jug to another and refit airlock) again and test it. I will let you all know how it is coming.

The second batch is still fizzing and was just racked to the secondary so it will be about 2 weeks before I open it again.

I have 2 wine bottles that I also filled with must to ferment along side the gallon jugs, these wine bottles you can see in the pictures from my 4th post are going to be used to "top up" (fill the gallon jugs to the top after racking) when you rack from one jug to another you loose some of the total volume because the pulp and dead yeast also have volume, so when you rack to another jug you leave the solids behind and therefore have less liquid volume in the second jug so you need to add liquid to TOP UP. Some people use distilled water for this which thins the wine just a bit, but since I had extra wine to begin with, I will be using wine to top up.

After I rack again it will be 2 months before I have to do it again, so in the mean time I am looking at starting a batch of rhubarb wine and I have a few more projects that I will be starting around my house so stay tuned.

Wine making 4th post

Ok, I have received a few comments from the non-wine making crowd about all the terms that I have tossed around about wine making. So here is the rundown on the process and procedure of wine making. If you are interested in trying your own wine here is a website that I have visited many time to learn more: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

First a few basic terms and definitions.

a primary - a food grade plastic bucket (left)where the fruit, water and preservatives (right) are mixed and the initial fermentation is started. A primary can be any size, I currently have a 2 gallon bucket which will yield about 1 to 1/2 gals of wine per batch, there are 6 gal primary's and for the commercial winemaker 100 + gals tanks.

A secondary - a glass or plastic bottle 1 gal or more also known as a carboy I use glass because it does not seep flavors into the wine, the liquid from the primary is siphoned off the pulp and into the secondary (carboy), fermentation is continued for 2 months to a year before bottled.

must - the mixture of pulp and liquid in the primary

Specific gravity or SG - SG is the measure of how much sugar is mixed into the primary, water has an SG of 1.000, in wine making, we want to mix enough sugar into the mix to have a starting SG of 1.095, this is a magic number that ferments to an alcohol % of about 12.
Different fruits have different sugar contents, So the amount of sugar added is different for every recipe and different for the same fruit from year to year due to humidity, sun, rain and other environmental conditions. That is why recipes that you find online or in books can not be followed exactly, you have to measure and adjust the sugar as you go to work with what fruit you have. but with this process you can ferment nearly anything into wine, I have even heard about a chocolate strawberry wine that turned out pretty good. above is a picture of a test tube which is filled with wine and tested using a hydrometer.

siphon tube - 3 ft plastic piece of clear food grade hose that is used to move the wine from the primary to the secondary or from one carboy to another, think of someone stealing gas except that you swallow some wine not a deadly toxin, unless you don't stop drinking the wine through your big plastic straw but that is another topic all together.





racking (left) - is the process of siphoning liquid from one container to another, for instance siphoning wine from one carboy to another then setting it back on the "RACK" for another two months. and racking is done every 2 to 3 months until the wine becomes clear.

An Airlock( left) - A double chamber airlock is attached to a cork and filled with water, it lets the CO2 the yeast produce escape without letting air in.

yeast (left) - the living organisms that turn the sugar into alcohol. These little miracle workers have the greatest job, Eat sugar all day until you die. What we drink is the waste from the yeast, I bet you all wanted to know that.

Hydrometer (left) - An instrument for measuring the specific gravity relative to sugar content of a liquid, these are used in salt water fish tanks as well to measure the salt content in the tank. it looks a little like long skinny glass bobber.

stay tuned any you will undoubtedly learn something. And who doesn't want to learn about making alcohol?

thanks for reading

Wine making 3rd post

Ok, so yesterday I came checked the wine and noticed that the first batch that I had moved to the secondary is still bubbling alot and the second batch which is still in the primary is slowing down.
I decided to take some measurements:

Batch1:
7/2/09 starting SG 1.100
7/7/09 racked to secondary at SG 1.030
7/9/09 still bubbling good.

batch 2:
7/7/09 starting SG 1.095
7/9/09 SG of 1.060
bubbling has slowed down a little but I'm not worried.

I am looking toward my next batch, I think I will try a Rhubarb wine, I have 20 plus LBS in my chest freezer and it should get used soon because I have more rhubarb ready to be picked.
thanks for looking.

Wine making 2nd post

Hello and welcome back,
I was gong to wait another day to rack to the secondary but when I got home I check the specific gravity and it was at 1.030 so it was time to rack.
I racked 1 gal into a clean and sanitized 1 gal carboy and refit air lock on carboy, In the primary I still had about 1/2 gal of must to do something with, It was too much to rack into wine bottles for further fermentation, and not enough for another 1 gal carboy, I guess this is the reason most seasoned wine makers have many different sizes of carboys available.
I decided that I could make up another 1/2 gal of sugar water and add it to the existing must, I adjusted the SG to 1.095 and refit the airlock on the primary for a second batch.
This batch will be a little weaker, I think, but it should still be drinkable in the end. So instead of making 1 batch now I am making 2, I guess this means another trip to the wine store for more supplies. keep reading.

Wine making 1st post

Hello and welcome to my wine making post.
One day about 6 months ago I got the crazy idea in my head to start making wine, I don't know where it came from or why, but the feeling was strong and since I am a taurus there was no stopping me.
I did my research, gathered the proper tools, and found a recipe that looked easy below is the recipe/guide line that I used for my first batch. I say guide line because the recipes can not be followed to the letter because different climates produce different sugar contents in the fruit you are using.
I happen to have a wine and beer making shop 3 blocks from my house so it is easy if I need any last minute items.

the first day is the most exciting as you get to mix all the ingredients and sugar and water and chemicals,

RED RASPBERRY WINE

• 3-4 lbs fresh red raspberries
• 2-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp acid blend
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/8 tsp grape tannin
• 7-1/2 pints water(8pts = 1 gal)
  
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 crushed Campden tablet
• wine yeast

Pick only ripe berries. mine were picked and frozen prior to using for wine. Combine water and sugar and put on to boil, stirring occasionally. Wash and de-stem berries. Put in nylon straining bag, tie, put in bottom of primary, and crush berries in bag. Pour boiling sugar-water over berries to set the color and extract the flavorful juice. Add acid blend, tannin and yeast nutrient. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F (about 4 hours or so). and add crushed Campden tablet. Cover primary with plastic wrap secured with a large rubber band. Add pectic enzyme after 12 hours and wine yeast after additional 12 hours, resecuring plastic wrap each time. Stir daily for a week, replacing plastic wrap if it looks like it needs it. Remove nylon bag and allow to drip drain about an hour, keeping primary covered as before. Do not squeeze bag. Return drippings to primary Continue fermentation in primary another week, stirring daily. Rack to secondary, top up with water and fit airlock. Use a dark secondary or wrap with brown paper (from paper bag) to preserve color. Ferment additional 2 months, then rack into clean secondary. Refit airlock and rack after additional 2 months. Wait another 2 months, rack again and bottle into dark glass. Drink after one year. This is an excellent dry wine, but don't rush it! You must ferment the full 6 months and age another year. Serve chilled.

DAY 1

I followed the recipe to the letter, I know I said not to but this was my first batch, adding all the ingredients as specified, However I did not account for the amount of time it takes for 1 gal of water to cool to 70 degrees after boiling, I mixed all the ingredients added to boiling water then sat back and let the magic happen unfortunately I started the wine later at night and after 2 hours of waiting the must was still too hot to add the campden tablet it was getting very late so I decided to use my sink to put the primary in and fill the sink with cold water while stirring the liquid, this cooled it down much faster, I don't know if it will make a difference because the boiling water is used to melt down the sugar and set the color of the raspberries, I think it will be fine, I added the campden once cooled and covered and went to bed.

DAY 2

12 hours after adding the campden tablet , I added the pectic enzyme. 12 hours later or 24 hours after the campden tablet, I added the best part about wine, the yeast, the yeast turns the sugar into alcohol. I started with a specific gravity of 1.100 so it should yield around 13% alcohol,

Days 3 and 4 are the same

The Must is very fizzy, kind of like soda in a glass, but that means its working, my bucket is in my dining room which is attached to the kitchen. It stays about 70-75 degrees in there which I have read is the best for primary fermentation, once it gets racked into the secondary (glass carboy) then it is best at 60-65 degrees. The whole place smells like yeasty and fruity, the airlock is bubbling pretty good and the directions at this point are simple:

1. stir
2. replace cover and wait another 24 hours and repeat
3. when specific gravity gets to 1.040 then rack into secondary

keep coming back for more updates. thanks for looking.