Winemaking 101

[Necie]

Ok-I figured this is the place for it since it's about the process and not the recipe per se, and winemaking is a form of preservation-just ask anyone who's been 'pickled' on home-made wine!

 

So, Pixie and I are making wine. Anyone else want to join? I'll do this slooooow (winemaking takes some patience) and post pics, so if ya want to join then just jump right in.

 

This is my favorite winemaking website (Fritz also posted it in a couple other threads): http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/ This guy is amazing and has some SUPER recipes.

 

Pixie-what kind of wine do you want to make? Let me know and I'll try to do the same or find an easy recipe. Anyone else want a recipe just let me know and I'll try to find one.

 

Ok-let's get started.

 

EQUIPMENT:

 

Primary: I use a 5-gal food grade bucket (pic 1) with a dish towel and the seal from the lid of the bucket to hold the towel on. For the seal you could also use a really large rubber band or sew ya up some elastic into a ring to fit or just tie with kitchen string. Whatever you use, it should fit tight so that no little beasties (fruit flies which can carry wild yeast) can get in.

 

Secondary: When I first started making wine, I used 1-gal plastic jugs (milk or water) and made my own home-made bubblers with the tops (pic 2 and 3). Get some aquarium tubing and drill a hole in the top of the cap the same size as the tubing, push the tubing about 1/2 to 1 inch into the cap and seal with a waterproof sealant. When the cap is screwed onto the jug, the longer end of the tubing is placed into a jar of water to bubble. Now I use glass gal jugs and rubber stoppers and bubblers (pic 4 and 5). I like these bubblers because you can take them apart for easy cleaning.

 

Other stuff I use:

 

Nylons. Yes, pantyhose. I bought a whole box of cheap large ones and cut off one leg to put my fruit into for the primary ferment-much easier than straining.

Funnels: a kitchen funnel that the spout will fit into the gallon jug and wine/alcohol bottles and a canning funnel to get the fruit into the pantyhose easier.

Ladle

Collander

Bottles: ask at a local restaurant or bar if they will save empty booze bottles for ya. I have used anywhere from 9 to 14 when making a 5 gallon batch. You have plenty of time to collect these, as they won't be needed until your wine is finished-I usually don't bottle for 6 months to a year.

 

Nice, but not necessary: A hydrometer (pic 6 and 7). This little tool measures the amount of sugar in your mix so that you can calculate your potential alcohol in the final product.

 

If anyone can think of anything I forgot or has a different set-up, please jump right in.

 

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[Fritz_Monroe]

Cool, thanks for the pics. I've made several batches. I've made a couple from cans of juice concentrate, an orange that turned out fantastic, a strawberry from fresh fruit, a coffee that is still aging after over 4 years, and several wine kits.

 

One really useful piece of info is that if you want to make gallon batches of wine, see if you can find glass jugs of apple juice, those work great for these. And if you can find them in both U.S. and U.K. gallon jugs, they work fantastic for primary and secondary fermenters because the U.K. is 1.2 U.S. gallons. This lets you rack it without having to top off.

 

And since you don't boil wine like you do beer, sanitation is even more important with winemaking. Sanitize everything that will touch the wine.

 

Good luck with your wine making. It is a lot of fun.

[Momo]

This thread in the kitchen is also about winemaking

 

http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...age=3#Post76467

 

DH has his first batch perking now. It should be ready to bottle at the end of May.

[Necie]

I almost added this to that thread, but thought doing the process rather than focusing on recipes fit better here. Grubby (aka Ricardo) started that thread right after I joined and we had been chatting about winemaking (my aka is brightblessings5). She wanted to get some good wine recipes in the kitchen.

 

Cowgirl brought the thread back up after exactly 2 years--to the day!! How COOL. I'll cross post a link there, too.

[Necie]

I got.......PLUMS!

 

.86c/lb. !!! So plum wine it's gonna be for me.

 

Anybody else joining in? Need more time? Thinking of starting on Tuesday or Wednesday. All ya need is a bucket. Will need your jugs and 'bubbler' set-up a week from start date.

 

I found a 'basic' recipe:

 

2-3 lb fruit or berries

7 pts water

2-2 1/2 lb sugar (adjust to 1.090-1.100 if using a hydrometer)

 

This is to make a gallon of wine. The only other thing is:

 

1 pkg yeast

 

One package of yeast will make up to 5 gallons of wine, so if you want to make more than a gallon, then you have to multiply the fruit, water and sugar; but still only need one pkg of yeast.

 

Let me know if ya need more time or have any questions.

[PoGo]

OK, I want to make some wine. Can I use frozen fruit? Wyoming doesn't have a great selection of fresh fruit, especially in the winter.

[Fritz_Monroe]

Yes, you can use frozen fruit. I've even made wine with frozen juice concentrate.

[westbrook]

um... I have 5 five gallon carboys, I have wine yeast(s), I have everything else needed. I used to make wine after LL4E sent me a bottle of strawberry wine! elderberry, watermelon, apricot, peach, I just don't make it anymore... I don't need to... I am standing in line waiting for the wine tasting to begin!

 

 

[Pixie]

ok, i have a bucket, no jugs ot tubes yet. what are they for? how much fruit do i need?

[PoGo]

Originally Posted By: Fritz_Monroe

Yes, you can use frozen fruit. I've even made wine with frozen juice concentrate.

Thank you, Fritz_Monroe. Now what kind of fruit to get...decisions, decisions.

My husband gave me a bunch of wine making stuff a few years ago. I made a gallon of mead! I still have half a gallon of it left.
Didn't much care for it.

We also have a little Mom & Pop store here that sell wine and beer making supplies, so it will be easy to get supplies I don't already have.

[Fritz_Monroe]

Mead improves with age. Wait until the mead is about 5 years old then try it again. You may be surprised.

 

As fot the fruit, you can usually find frozen strawberries. That's what I used for my first batch. But put that fruit in a mesh bag of some sort. All that will be left of the strawberries will be the seeds.

[PoGo]

Hmmm, guess I'll have to bottle that left over mead and set it aside. Good tip, using a mesh bag. Thanks!

[westbrook]

I was told by Mr. LL4E to not get caught drinking the thick milky stuff at the bottom... its the best!!! then I don't remember much after that!

[Necie]

Pogo-frozen fruit works great. The first batch of wine I made was with a bunch of frozen fruit I had in the freezer-apple, cherry, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and huckleberries. It was a trial run to make sure I didn't screw anything up making dandelion wine (it's ALOT of work picking all them little flowers ).

 

It's also where I got the idea to use nylons for the bags. The recipe I used was for mixed berries and it said to put the fruit into nylon bags...sour in one and sweet in another. So I just cut the legs off a pair of nylons, put the fruit in each and tied the open end. Also disposable-when ya take the fruit out of your primary you can toss the whole thing.

 

Pixie-how much fruit you need depends on what kind of fruit you're using and how much wine you want to make. Let me know and we'll find you a recipe and figure it out.

 

The gallon jugs are used for your secondary containers. After you put your fruit, sugar, water and yeast in the bucket and let it work for about a week and get all the fruit flavor into it, then you put it in the jugs. The tubes are your make shift air locks-they get put on the jug and the tube into a jar of water, so then the gases can escape the jug without letting outside air into the jug.

 

Ok-I'm gonna work on mine today.

 

Cat? Should I save my plum pits for jelly? Or is that just for peaches?

[PoGo]

Thank you, Necie! I'll try to get my fruit tomorrow.

[PoGo]

I have fruit!

 

Two 4 pound bags of frozen mixed fruit containing - peaches, strawberry, pineapple, honeydew and red seedless grapes.

 

I have sugar and water. I have plastic buckets and nylons.

 

From the mead making stuff my husband gave me awhile back I have 1 glass gallon jug, 1 glass 3 gallon jug, 2 rubber stoppers, 1 bubbler, plastic tubing and a couple bottles of flavoring for beer.

 

I need a recipe.

Can I use regular baking yeast, or do I need to get "wine" yeast from a wine making supplier?

 

What's next?

[PoGo]