Kit Winemaking Tutorial

[Homegrow3r]

Bottle washing is a pain, I do beer so I have a lot of bottles to do on bottling day, at least 40 half litre ones. I tend to spend a few days doing the rough wash with a bottle brush in my bath, not doing it intensely but over the space of a week or a few days, then I have clean brushed bottles in my cases. I go from there to my kitchen while bottling and fill a large 80litre gorilla tub with bleach vinegar solution, I tend to add 60ml of bleach and 60ml of white vinegar to 40l of water. , don't add bleach and vinegar together, first add one to the water and then the other.I then use this to soak everything while bottling. I submerge 20 bottles at a time, then take them out one by one and rinse under the tap, then put the cap which was in the same soak water on top of the bottle and line em up.
There's no real easy way to do it, but like you say it's a love hate thing

 

[Sticky Scissors]

Your wine looks great Vin, as always! I'm gonna hang around for a while longer to see if the improvements actually start to work for me, If not I'll have to fnd a new home!
Heres how my pix post, tiny thumbnails that won't enlarge when clicked on!

Get your magnifying glass out, SS

 

[TrichyTrichy]

What will your label look like?

 

[vintner]

Sticky Scissors: Sorry to hear that you're still having PC trouble w/all the changes around here and that no one around here can help you nail them down. Did you resize your pix before you up-loaded them? Wish I was more PC literate for ya Bro. Plants look really good Especially the center one. How much more time you think you've got? Keep an eye out for mail from me.
Homegrow3r: Thanks for checking out my thread and for sharing your bottling experiences. What kind of beer do you brew? Feel free to post up a few pix if you'd like. Q: for ya. What's the rational for adding vinegar to your sanitizing solution? Is that something you read or were taught? Like I've said, mine aint the only way, and I'm hear to learn too.
TrichyTrichy: Thank you too for visiting I rarely put labels on my bottles. I wont post a pic of one here cause the name I chose for my cellar/winery gives a pretty good indication of my location.

 

[Endo]

tasted and racked the cherry spiced cider the other day.. dark redish like motor oil, super cherry flavor... except right now it tastes like robotussin with no sugar... whoa... baby.. red lightning. was thinking of adding more brown sugar but i fear that will contribute to the alchohol taste... like white sugar would... any suggestions to sweeten Vin? i heard some people use splenda? id use honey but i only got 15lbs left, and im saving that for the pineapple pear mead. ...

 

[vintner]

Hey Endo: No offense meant, but you're gonna get the same kind of response here as if you'd taken a sick plant to the cannabis infirmary...More questions LOL. What stage is your mead in? Is it clear? Is it bone dry? Have you checked the SG? Have you stabilized it? What was your recipe?
Wine from "sweet cherries" as opposed to "pie cherries" tends to have a more medicinal flavor. Cherry wines in general take a long time to age/mature. They sell products that are toted as non-fermentable wine sweeteners. Don't know whats in them as I've never used them myself. Can't say I'd use splenda, or sweet n low. I don't care for the chemically/metallic taste of artificial sweeteners. But that's just me.
Hope that helps a bit. Thanks for stopin' by Bro.

 

[Homegrow3r]

Homegrow3r: Thanks for checking out my thread and for sharing your bottling experiences. What kind of beer do you brew? Feel free to post up a few pix if you'd like. Q: for ya. What's the rational for adding vinegar to your sanitizing solution? Is that something you read or were taught? Like I've said, mine aint the only way, and I'm hear to learn too.

Yeah no problem, I'm not really into posting pics as I have too much crossover between that on other forums and I'd rather not be too recognisable here . I've really just gotten into beer and cider making at the end of last year, I got a load of apples and pressed them myself and have a few gallons of cider and cyser on the go up in the attic. I also have a pils and a real ale that I've bottled about two weeks ago that are starting to lose their greenness, by next weekend they should be good to go.

The deal with the sanitising solution is that it's a no rinse solution if you want it to be for sanitising, I've used it no rinse but I've also rinsed it off just in case, I saw no difference really.
You use a low concentration of bleach, but bleach is hugely more effective in low pH solution apparently so it's a really good sanitiser and with so much dilution you don't really get residue if you put your bottles on the tree to drip drain after using it. I got the tip on some of the forums and apparently the guy from Star san gave podcasts where he said it's really good...and he sellls a commercial sanitiser The basic proportion is 15ml vinegar, 15ml bleach to 20l or 5gallons I guess of water.
I find it works well anyway and not a lot of bleach odour to the solution either.

I forgot to add before always add the vinegar to the water and then the bleach, do not mix them as concentrates.



<edit> apparently it's a really good general household cleaner and sanitiser.

 

[vintner]

Homegrow3r: Yeah, I understand about the pix. You can never be too careful. Sounds like you've got some good things brewin yourself. I remember reading about it, but what is a cyser? That's a great bit of info about the pH and bleach Thanks for sharing! How long do you soak you bottles? Got any advice for Endo^^^?
Pitchin yeast tomorrow on something new. Pix to come soon

 

[Homegrow3r]

Well what I have on isn't technically cyser, which is a mead with apple juice, I have a cider which I've added honey to as well as a few dried fruits.
I picked up lots of fruit today and tomorrow is gonna be a wine brewing day. Have some more stuff on the way from an internet order so my pipeline is starting

30 seconds in that solution is meant to be enough of a soak it's that effective.

 

[Homegrow3r]

Endo, that sounds like it's still warm with alcohol, give it another four months bottled then try it again, all the forums say, walk away from the brew.......

 

[Endo]

Hey Endo: No offense meant, but you're gonna get the same kind of response here as if you'd taken a sick plant to the cannabis infirmary...More questions LOL. What stage is your mead in? Is it clear? Is it bone dry? Have you checked the SG? Have you stabilized it? What was your recipe?
Wine from "sweet cherries" as opposed to "pie cherries" tends to have a more medicinal flavor. Cherry wines in general take a long time to age/mature. They sell products that are toted as non-fermentable wine sweeteners. Don't know whats in them as I've never used them myself. Can't say I'd use splenda, or sweet n low. I don't care for the chemically/metallic taste of artificial sweeteners. But that's just me.
Hope that helps a bit. Thanks for stopin' by Bro.

lol, now that i look at it was a kinda dumb ?. i didnt take any sg ratings and i forgot what the initail reading was. its pretty freakin dry though. i posted the recipe on the last page i think. its in secondary fermentation, 2nd rack.
about 4 gal fresh pressed applecider.
2l of 100 percent cherry juice
2l of cherry cider
2lbs brown sugar.
1qt of vermont maple syrup
various spices
ec1118 yeast

color is clear but dark like motor oil, fantastic smell. very very dry. you could say bone dry. im thinking of just biting the bullet and using some of the honey i have. mildest flavor and best sweetener i think. it definitly tastes like its going to need some mellow time.

thanks vin,

Endo

 

[Homegrow3r]

lol, now that i look at it was a kinda dumb ?. i didnt take any sg ratings and i forgot what the initail reading was. its pretty freakin dry though. i posted the recipe on the last page i think. its in secondary fermentation, 2nd rack.
about 4 gal fresh pressed applecider.
2l of 100 percent cherry juice
2l of cherry cider
2lbs brown sugar.
1qt of vermont maple syrup
various spices
ec1118 yeast

color is clear but dark like motor oil, fantastic smell. very very dry. you could say bone dry. im thinking of just biting the bullet and using some of the honey i have. mildest flavor and best sweetener i think. it definitly tastes like its going to need some mellow time.

thanks vin,

Endo

That variety of yeast will ferment stuff out super dry. What you can do is to use non-fermentable sugars to backsweeten it like lactose or splenda, if it's fermentable (like honey) it'll probably continue to ferment unless you're already up around 18% or so already, and if you bottle fermenting wine it'll blow up. If you get the alcohol so high that it can't ferment anymore then it'll get sweet again, but like I say that's 18% and higher.
That'll probably be a nice wine in a year or two.

 

[Endo]

That variety of yeast will ferment stuff out super dry. What you can do is to use non-fermentable sugars to backsweeten it like lactose or splenda, if it's fermentable (like honey) it'll probably continue to ferment unless you're already up around 18% or so already, and if you bottle fermenting wine it'll blow up. If you get the alcohol so high that it can't ferment anymore then it'll get sweet again, but like I say that's 18% and higher.
That'll probably be a nice wine in a year or two.

yeah its gonna have to sit a while.. i think i decided on honey to sweeten and ill just let it bulk age some more, and keep an eye on it.. when its the right sweetness.. ill toss some camden tabs in and bottle it and forget about it for a while. thanks for the heads up.

 

[vintner]

Another thing you could try Endo is to wait till it's clear and you know all fermentation has stopped, then rack into a clean carboy and chemically stabalize it w/potasium sorbate and potasium metabisulfate. Let it sit for a month or so, then sweeten it w/what ever you like. The 2 in combo ensure that, even if there are any living yeast, they will not reproduce, and will eventually die off.

 

[vintner]

Good wine, cheep!

Good wine, cheep!

Hi Everyone: I've made this wine several times, but never in a batch this large. It's really good after a year in the bottle, but it just keeps getting better after that.
Here's my recipe. I multiplied it by 6.
Two 11oz cans of Welch's 100% frozen grape concentrate. You can use red (concord) or white (niagra) grape juice. I prefer the niagra.
(be sure to get frozen "concentrate" not "cocktail")
1 pound = (2 cups) granulated sugar
1/4 pound golden raisins (if you were making red wine, you'd use regular raisins.)
1 Campden tablet
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp Bentonite
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Water to make 1 gallon
Wine yeast. I'm using Red Star Premeir Cuv'ee. It happens to be the only wine yeast I have on hand at the moment. Personally, I prefer champaine yeast.
Let me take a moment and explain some of the more obsure ingredients:
Campden tablets are a tablet form of Pot Meta (potasium metabisufite). It's used to sanitize the must and kill off any unwanted bacteria. Crush up the tablet to make it easier to disolve into the must. In my case, I'm going to substitue 1 tsp of Pot Meta for 6 crushed Campden tablets.
Acid blend is a dry, granulated mix of 4 or 5 different acids including citric acid, tartic acid, malic acid and others. Acid is what gives wine it's tartness or astringency. The original recipe actually calls for 2 tsp of acid blend, but since this is a white wine, and I perfer a less astringent wine, I cut that in 1/2. I can always add more later if I find the wine is a bit flat. In the past I've substituted the zest and juice of one lemon/gallon of must (pre-fermented wine) for the acid blend w/good results. All depends on what kind of wine is being made.
Yeast nutrient is just that; a granulated mix of trace elements that yeast needs to survive.
Pectic enzyme is a chemical that helps break down the pectin found in the skin of most fruits. Pectin is a very small protein molecule. Because of it's low molecular weight, and the fact that it bonds easily to water molecules, it will stay in suspension in the finished wine for a very long time. Giving it a cloudy appearance. It also makes the wine tates bitter.
Bentonite is another chemical that helps the wine to clear.
The original recipe does not call for raisins, but they add a lot of flavor and character to the finished wine. I add raisins to almost all of my scratch wines.
All told, including the cork, I have spent less than $4.25/gallon to make this wine!
So, let's get started: A few days before I actually pitch the yeast (yes, it's called "pitching the yeast" LOL) I boil 3-4 gallons of water and, once they've cooled, transfer them to clean and sanitized gallon jugs.

I'm on municipal water, but it has high chlorine content, and I'm not a fan of chlorine. This should also be done if you're on a well, and do not trust the cleanliness of you water. This can be done several days in advance.
The day I start the wine, I rough chop the raisins.

This really isn't nessesary, but I like to make sure the skins are broken open. I transfer the raisins to a nylon mesh bag made for just this purposes, and tie the bag off leaving several large loops in the string for later use.

I put a sauce pot on the stove and bring about 1.5 quarts of water to a boil. Toss in the bag of raisins, and let it come back to a boil. Then turn off the heat, cover it and let it steep till it comes to room temp.

In the mean time, bring another gallon or so of water to a boil. While that's heating up, I wash and sanitize my primary fermentation bucket and all the equipment needed to start a batch of wine, including the blender.
Carefully transfer the bag of raisins to the primary, and pour in the liquid they steeped in.

Start opening the cans of frozen grape juice and dumping them in as well. I ladle some of the hot water into each can to rinse it out. Also, ladle some of the hot water into the blender.

Next, pour the sugar into the rest of the hot water and stir until it's dissolved. Add this to the primary and stir. At this point, I add water, but not all of it. I leave it a few quarts shy of the final volume of wine I'm making. In my case, I brought it up to about 5 gallons
Crank the blender up to high, and slowly sprinkle in the Bentonite. When there are no lumps, let it set. Every once in a while, give it a pulse untill adding it to the must.

Next, clean and sanitize a wine bottle and a tasting cork. Fill it about 3/4 full of room temp water. Add the acid blend, yeast nutrient, and K+ Meta. Cork it and shake it until it's all dissolved. When the must has come to room temp, add this mixture and stir it in well.
The pectic enzyme and bentonite should not be added to the must at the same time as the Pot Meta as the sulfites break them down rendering them useless to the wine. So, wait 8-12 hours before stirring them in. Mix the pectic enzyme the same way as the acid, nutrient & Pot Meta mixture. 24 hours after they're added, I add a yeast starter.
In the mean time, bring the level of water in your primary to the appropriate volume, stir well, and take an SG reading.
This is how I make my yeast starter. Clean and sanitize a mason jar. Put in about a cup of luke warm water (90-100*F), 2 tbs of must and your yeast and stir. Let this sit for an hour or so for the yeast to rehydrate. Add a 1/4 cup or so of must every 3-4 hours. I usually increase the amount of must I add each time. Do this till the jar is about 3/4 full, then pour it into the primary. A yeast starter is not nessisary. It's perfectly ok to just sprinkle the yeast on top of the must and walk away. However, yeast has trouble getting started in certain wines and needs a helping hand.
Here it is waiting for the yeast.

Taking an SG reading. Yeast starter to the side.

Initial Sg was 1.102
This will ferment for about a week. Every day I'll stir it up, pushing the bag of raisins back down into the must. After 7 days I'll rack to a carboy and let it sit till it starts to clear, or till 30 days has passed, then I'll rack again.
See you then! Time to go burn one

 

[Homegrow3r]

I put on three kits last night, basically I got some cheap beginners kits, cos I'm still building up my equipment, a cab sauv wine kit, a lager kit and a bitter kit, all pitched last night. The wine is supposed to only take 6 days but I'll leave it in secondary for a while before bottling I think, possibly a month, then bottle.
The beers will get just a month in primary and then get bottled with bottle conditioning from then on in.
The beginners kits got me syphons, hydrometers, buckets and ingredients so in all it was worth it seeing as I had vouchers so it was effectively free.

 

[vintner]

Sounds like you got some good deals Homegrow3r I don't know much about brewing. How big is this cab kit you picked up? Don't be afraid to let it sit for a long time. Several years before you even try it if you can! Just got to keep your cleanliness up to par

 

[Homegrow3r]

The wine kit says that as a beginner kit it has fast finishing and aging agents added and it's not even got cab sauv grapes in it, just flavour pack and a fruit juice concentrate, oak chips too. I'm not taking this wine too seriously, unlike my apfelwein, my plumwine which I made from scratch, only pitched a few days though. It won't last too long, cos it only claims to improve up to 3 months and is only good up to a year. It's also only a gallon.

 

[Homegrow3r]

Hmmm maybe I just won't add the finings packs and let it sit a while longer before I add the stabiliser.Not too interested in waiting too long on this one in any case.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

When I get the growing thing down I've got to try this!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to vintner again.