Five Steps to Making Wine at Home Extracting Flavor The base (whole fruits or berries) is first prepared prior to extraction. It is peeled and unseeded or left as is and then washed thoroughly before it is crushed, chopped or sliced and then put inside a nylon straining bag before it is placed inside a primary. There are four basic methods of extracting flavors and aromas from the base; cold maceration, hot water extraction, direct heat extraction and fermentation extraction. Adding Additives and other Ingredients Additives and other ingredients are added to the base to achieve proper balance. This includes sugar, sulfites, pectic enzyme, acid, tannin, yeast nutrients, water and yeast. The base is then fermented inside a covered primary fermentation for 3 -10 days at 70-75 oF. Keep the wine in the primary until the vigorous fermentation subsides. As this happens, the wine also becomes more vulnerable to oxygen uptake and this is the best time to transfer the wine to a secondary. Transfer to Secondary Solids are strained off and discarded; the wine and lees poured through a funnel into the secondary. Lees are important at this stage because many of the live yeast cells will have settled into it. Without them, fermentation will slow down or stop altogether. The best procedure is to stir the wine to get the lees into suspension before pouring. Use a hydrometer to check if fermentation in the secondary is over. A hydrometer reading showing the specific gravity at less than 1.000 is an indication that the wine is ready for racking. Racking the Wine Racking is the process of siphoning the wine off the lees into a secondary; it is repeated as long as there are fresh deposits on the bottom of the secondary after a regular interval of 30-60 days. Only when there are absolutely no fresh lees and the specific gravity is 1.000 or lower is the wine ready for bottling. Wine can be left on the lees for three months. Beyond that, the wine may acquire off-flavors and odors caused by the break down of dead yeast cells. However, if the lees are stirred every week or so, no off-flavors and odors will form and the wine is actually improved through extended contact with the lees. During racking, the protective qualities of the sulfites are lost; hence, after every interval new sulfites are added to the receiving secondary. Bottling the Wine A cleared wine must first be stabilized prior to bottling, this means fermentation has ceased for good. Once a wine is stable it can be sweetened if desired. Newly bottled wine should be upright for 3-5 days. After that, it is stored on its side so the cork is fully in contact with the wine at 55 oF. Bottled wine should be allowed to age for 2-3 months to recover from the agitation of bottling process and develop a bouquet before sampling; continue sampling and aging until the wine has reached the desired taste. Mark Pollack is a wine making enthusiast. His website Best Wine Growing Secrets contains tips on making wine at home. He is also giving away a free ecourse outlining the secrets to making your own wine.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 10:46:25 +0000
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