making wine the old-fashioned way

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
That is looking very good. Nice job.

To answer some of your questions:

Yes, white grapes are normally pressed immediately and only the juice is captured and fermented. There are exceptions, however, and some people process them just like red grapes.

How often and how many times you rack the wine depends on how clear it is. You say there is a lot of sediment (lees) on the bottoms of the bottles now, so it looks like you will rack at least twice. Once to get it off those heavy lees and once more (hopefully) when it clears.

I don't think the cheese cloth will be effective in the future. You were correct to use it for the first transfer, but from now on, just let the wine clear on it own. There are fining agents that you can buy to help this along.

Is there any reason why you are not ordering chemicals like fining agents and equipment like a hydrometer and airlocks? If it is a financial consideration, I apologize for asking. If not, there are surely places in Europe to buy these products. Companies in the US even ship over seas.

One last comment. You are using 1 liter Diet Coke bottles and if that is the only thing you have available, it will have to do. I would highly recomment glass bottles of some kind rather than the plastic bottles.
 
better late than never, I hope...

Rocky and others... well, thanks for not giving up on me! I just got around to transfering the wine. (Ha... I accidentally wrote 'wife'!)

I have skimmed off the lees and it is now in wine bottles. I think I will need to do that once more as it clarifies, right?

I had a wine making Bible pdf that I had found somewhere but not can't seem to locate it, so I did what I remembered.

I am afraid that I will be a disgrace to wine makers around the world. But I figure it is all a learning process.

How long should I wait until I transfer it again?

Thanks. Here's hoping that late is better than never....

Steve
 
Rocky and others... well, thanks for not giving up on me! I just got around to transfering the wine. (Ha... I accidentally wrote 'wife'!)

I have skimmed off the lees and it is now in wine bottles. I think I will need to do that once more as it clarifies, right?

I had a wine making Bible pdf that I had found somewhere but not can't seem to locate it, so I did what I remembered.

I am afraid that I will be a disgrace to wine makers around the world. But I figure it is all a learning process.

How long should I wait until I transfer it again?

Thanks. Here's hoping that late is better than never....

Steve


esdu,

There is no set amount of time at this point. You need to simply let the wine tell you when it is time to rack. Keep an eye on it. When the wine becomes clear, and there seems to be a nicly packed layer of lees, then it is time to rack.

You need to also limit the number of times you rack. By rule of thumb, you should only need to rack 3 times. For me, this is normally at 2 weeks, 2 months, and 6-8 months.

johnT.
 
Nice thread to read! Very interesting, and you are doing well! :try

The tubing method of creating an airlock is superior to using a balloon, so you might try to pick up some clear plastic tubing for your next batch if you don't have a ready-made airlock. You can drill a cork, put in a short piece of rigid plastic or copper tubing, and then attach your plastic tubing to that. The other end goes in a bottle or bowl of water. Some prefer to use vodka.

I think you'll be fine with your natural yeast on this batch. My grandfather made wine the old fashioned way for decades and never added a speck of yeast. I understand the challenge of doing it the old way, and congratulations for trying it.

I can't wait to see more progress photos.

UNDER EDIT: I have done some reading. Wow, you are fortunate in where you live! As many as 1,200 indigenous varieties of grapes, and Turkey is considered one of the oldest winemaking areas of the globe, if not the oldest! A great place to perfect your technique.

Check this out:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news...Resurgence-in-Southeast-Turkey-106079884.html
 
Last edited:
I personally leave my wine in the carboy to age, racking off individual bottles could take Forever
 
temp? racking basics?

Hey guys... Pete asked what my temp was... boy am I going to show how clueless I am. What temperature? The room where I am keeping the wine?

Also, help me with racking. should the bottle be upright or laying on their sides? Remember that wine making supplies are not readily available... can I reuse old corks? That's what I've done cuz that's all I had. But without a cork thing-a-ma-jig, I wasn't able to get the corks all the way in... is that a problem? Am I doomed?!

If nothing else, I am learning just how much I don't know about this!

Thanks again.
 
What is the temperature of the room where you are keeping the wine?
Did you add any Sulfur or Potassium Metabisulfide to the wine when you put it in the bottles? If not, then at normal room temperature it will naturally start to reduce the malic acid in the wine through bacterial fermentation. This is normal and can benefit the wine, but you will likely see the corks start to push out or you will be carbonating the wine. That is why an air lock is used, it allows the gas to escape without letting fresh air in. If you cannot make the air lock, then use a balloon. The corks could even pop out and make a mess.
 
Hi! Well, the post I worked on earlier this afternoon seems to have gotten lost in cyberspace. Oh well! I have a couple of things I want to ask.

1. Update on last year's wine: Last year was my first year, and some of you have been following my questions and have been very helpful. Thanks!

I just looked at it again. I last racked it about 6 months ago, I assume. It was quite cloudy. Each bottle had a thin layer of lees (?) on the top of the wine surface. Since it was in the neck of the wine bottle, however, that's not a lot. Since it was so cloudy I looked at some sites for advice. I haven't added anything commercial to my wine. Just what nature gave me. I read that racking it every month for a few months could help the cloudiness go away. Does that make sense? So I put it all back in one large glass jar with a rubber ring seal and thought I'd wait to see if a month does it any good.

Any other suggestions?

2. NEW WINE! I just picked, destemmed and crushed enough grapes from our yard to fill two 20 liter buckets about 4/5 full each. So, I am starting another batch this year. Now I REALLY wish I'd taken better notes last year. At least I had this thread to go back to! (Thanks!)

I can't remember, should I leave the buckets uncovered? Sealed? Also, I should stir daily to get the must down and mixed in, right? And keep doing that until it isn't fermenting anymore, right? I need to see about purchasing that alcohol content measuring aparatus. lol

Looking forward to more fun!
 
Lees should settle on the bottom of your carboy not in the neck. These items in the neck, do they appear white, powdery, and flowery? Could be a mold growth due to unsterile conditions. My guess would be this, due to the nature of your thread title and the lack of additives to protect your wine.
 
A Wine which has been made the old fashioned way should be drunk early . Otherwise it will spoil .

People in my Country are also used to make Wine this way and the whole Process ( from crushing to drinking ) is 40 days long .

Have you ever tasted your wine ?

Doesn't it have a flavor similar to Nail polish remover ?

Hector
 
thank you for that info. I think that might be what it is. Though I am disappointed. any ideas of what I could do now?! :-/
 
If you are lucky, the mold growth is only on the surface and not throughout the wine. You need to get the wine that is beneath the mold out of those conditions and into a sanitized carboy without disturbing the surface mold too much.

Easiest way to do this is to top up the existing carboy using a turkey baster full of liquid (a like wine, or water if you have to) until the surface mold overflows the top of the container. Clean and sanitize a new carboy using a k-meta solution or a sanitizing product such as one-step or B-Brite. Make sure you sanitize any equipment/hoses/syphon tubes which will come into contact with your wine. Rack wine to new sanitized carboy. Add 1/4 tsp of k-meta/5 gal of wine to your wine. Make sure new carboy with wine is fully topped up (within an inch of the top of the carboy) and put a stopper in it (or a stopper with an airlock if wine still has CO2 in it). Then hope and pray the mold does not reappear.

Good luck!
 
Note - hopefully you've caught this early enough and the whole batch is not ruined. As you are racking, try tasting the wine. If it tastes off, chances are you've lost it and will have to dump it. Not much you can do to bring it back after a certain point.
 
Though I am disappointed. any ideas of what I could do now?! :-/

The best thing you should do is READING , READING , READING about the Principles of Winemaking .

I've read a lot and I'm still learning .

Don't waste your time making wine this way OR drink it after one month .

I think your wine should have Ethyl Acetate now .

Always work CLEAN and HYGIENE .

Try to order online some useful additives such as K-Meta , Tartaric acid and Yeast Nutrient .

Hector
 
A Wine which has been made the old fashioned way should be drunk early . Otherwise it will spoil .

People in my Country are also used to make Wine this way and the whole Process ( from crushing to drinking ) is 40 days long .

Have you ever tasted your wine ?

Doesn't it have a flavor similar to Nail polish remover ?

Hector

Hector, thanks for the warning. Why nail polish remover? Do you think it has spoiled? :-( That would be disappointing, but a lesson learned, I guess.

So, in your experience, you crush and begin the fermentation, then what? Once it has fermented, you strain it then let it sit until 40 days and start drinking?
 
So, in your experience, you crush and begin the fermentation, then what? Once it has fermented, you strain it then let it sit until 40 days and start drinking?

I've never made wine the old fashioned way . I meant the other people in my Country who know nothing about the principles of winemaking .

They do not even wash the grapes before crushing , so that the wild yeast can do the dirty job for them .

Please read what I wrote in the post #35 .

Hector
 
Actually, in most places, I don't think very many wine makers wash their grapes before crushing. I don't think it is considered necessary. However, I guess if one is making wine the old fashioned way - no sulfites, it probably would be a great idea to wash them first.
 
The best thing you should do is READING , READING , READING about the Principles of Winemaking .

I've read a lot and I'm still learning .

Don't waste your time making wine this way OR drink it after one month .

I think your wine should have Ethyl Acetate now .

Always work CLEAN and HYGIENE .

Try to order online some useful additives such as K-Meta , Tartaric acid and Yeast Nutrient .

Hector

I agree, Hector, I seriously doubt if the juice is any good after so many days just setting there. I think he should smell or taste it and make sure it if OK.
 
Actually, in most places, I don't think very many wine makers wash their grapes before crushing. I don't think it is considered necessary. However, I guess if one is making wine the old fashioned way - no sulfites, it probably would be a great idea to wash them first.

Agree about the cleanliness without sulfites. But if one were to rely on natural yeasts, would there be enough left after washing the grapes to get fermentation going in a reasonable amount of time? I've never tried to do a natural yeast fermentation so I just don't know.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top