My second batch of wine

[Charlesthewino]

I guess I'm hooked on this new hobby. I have a few fruit trees at home so I started this due to excess fruit. No fancy recipes at this point. Pretty simple process that I tried. I juice the fruit and strain off the foam to get as clear a juice as possible before I start. I mix the juice, sugar, yeast and water with a Kitchen Aid and place in 3 gallon bottles. Place a ballon over the opening and place a poke a small hole in the ballon. It's pretty much self regulating so I just monitor the bottles over the next few weeks until the ballon deflates. Then I shake it well to degas any leftovers.

I see a lot of different techniques being used here in the forum. Am I doing something wrong? I don't have any testers.


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[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT, Charles!

What kind of fruit are you using? That may have a bearing on your procedure. (I am no fruit wine expert!)

The first things I would suggest to add to your arsenal are a hydrometer and some potassium metabisulfite (AKA "k-meta"). The hydrometer allows you to monitor the process to see how far along you are in the fermentation. The k-meta will allow you to sanitize your glassware, suppress native yeasts, and to treat your wine after you are finished to prevent spoilage and control oxidation.

 

[JohnT]

I guess I'm hooked on this new hobby. I have a few fruit trees at home so I started this due to excess fruit. No fancy recipes at this point. Pretty simple process that I tried. I juice the fruit and strain off the foam to get as clear a juice as possible before I start. I mix the juice, sugar, yeast and water with a Kitchen Aid and place in 3 gallon bottles. Place a ballon over the opening and place a poke a small hole in the ballon. It's pretty much self regulating so I just monitor the bottles over the next few weeks until the ballon deflates. Then I shake it well to degas any leftovers.

I see a lot of different techniques being used here in the forum. Am I doing something wrong? I don't have any testers.


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You are in the experimental stages, but I would give you the following advice..

1) Ditch the balloon and get yourself a stopper and fermentation trap. This is much better and costs only $3.

2) you need to test and adjust your acid. You can do this with either PH strips (which are very cheap but not very accurate) or an acid test kit (which runs about $7)

3) You need to rack your wine. That is, syphon the clear wine off of the thick layer of sediment at the bottom. Believe me, this is a VERY important step.

4) if you do not care about "Going Organic", you should add a little k-meta. This helps protect your wine.


The above four items are the bare bones suggestions. There is a lot of other stuff that I am sure that other members will advise, but the above four items I strongly recommend you follow. I hate to see all of your hard work end in failure!

 

[Charlesthewino]

Welcome to WMT, Charles!

What kind of fruit are you using? That may have a bearing on your procedure. (I am no fruit wine expert!)

The first things I would suggest to add to your arsenal are a hydrometer and some potassium metabisulfite (AKA "k-meta"). The hydrometer allows you to monitor the process to see how far along you are in the fermentation. The k-meta will allow you to sanitize your glassware, suppress native yeasts, and to treat your wine after you are finished to prevent spoilage and control oxidation.

The first batch was from both white and red grapes. I have pear, pear & grape mix, apple, pear, orange & grape mix (sort of a Sangria), concord grape, cranberry pomegranate. Some was fresh fruit juice and some was bottled juice.


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[Noontime]

Great advice from JohnT. I'd say the pH is something you can worry about in the future ( I made wine for years without knowing what the pH was), but an airlock, a hydrometer, and kmeta (potasium metabisulfite) are by far the easiest and cheapest things to implement to improve your wine. You didn't mention what kind of yeast you're using, but using different wine yeasts can have a dramatic impact on your wine.

Right now your putting all your ingredients together and you get what you get (and who knows what is being introduced to your wine by that balloon). You can get a lot more control. By using a hydrometer you can determine beforhand how much alcohol you will have. Adding kmeta to your wine will help protect it from spoilage and oxidation (and ensure everything is clean). Depending on your fruit you may also want to use pectinase to get more out of your fruit.

Enjoy your wine!

 

[Noontime]

I just wanted clarify from my previous post...pH is certainly important, and other than measuring specific gravity with the hydrometer is the most important measurment to do.

From your picture (and yes...it looks like you HAVE gotten hooked), you should think about using glass or plastic containers designed for alcoholic liquids. The plastic water bottles may not be designed for low pH or alcoholic liquids and might leach chemicals into your wine (and the milk jugs are certainly not appropriate material).

 

[Charlesthewino]

The yeast I used was Red Star bread yeast. I didn't know until recently that there was yeast specific for wine. I now have some Red Star Wine yeast. It's a general purpose wine yeast. I'm interested in seeing what the differences are.

I'm also experimenting with the water. We have mostly used tap water. However, I have a control group now fermenting with the same juice mix. One tap, one filtered and one distilled. Any suggestions?


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[Noontime]

The yeast will have a profound effect on the wine. Just going from bread yest to wine yeast will make a HUGE difference.

Last year at the WineMaker Magazine Conference someone had 2 wines that were made exactly the same, except for the yeast. They were 2 completely different wines. It was a very educational experience drinking them.

Search online for information on wine yeasts and you'll have all the information you'll need to choose (as long as you have the time to digest all the information that's out there). EC1118 and KV1116 are very popular yeasts for fruit wines because they are very aggressive and robust, able to dominate other organisms and tolerant of alcohol.

 

[Charlesthewino]

Making some progress. I've bought stoppers and airlocks for all carboys. I racked 2 of my carboys last night. Pear which was @ 1.010 and a Sangria (white grape, apple, pineapple & orange) @ .994. I guess my process is a bit different from a lot I have read about. Technically I never had a must. Therefore I guess I never had a primary fermentation. I use a fruit juicer to separate the pulp, seeds & skin at the beginning. Then I remove the froth. So I start with a relatively clean base. My stock mix goes directly into a carboy. No bucket of must.

Both the carboys I racked had less than 1/8" of sediment. The wine appears clean - not clear. At least not yet. I added Potassium Metabisulphite. I don't have my PH tester yet, but that is my next step. BTW...if the PH is off. How do you adjust it? Does it affect the taste?

I like sweet wine so I am sure I will have to backsweeten. For now, I'm going to let the bulk of it sit for a couple months then try it again. When I do backsweeten, I understand I have to ensure the yeast is inactive. Will the Potassium Metabisulphite render the yeast inactive? What is typically used to backsweeten? Sugar? Honey? Other?

I'm probably not following the correct steps in this process, but I am learning a lot and I appreciate all the input.


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[Noontime]

I'm pretty sure it's still called must, even if it is just juice (I'm used to being wrong though ). But you certainly had a primary fermentation. There's a bit of confusion involved with the word secondary though. Most winemakers refer to the yeast fermentation as the primary, and if they inoculate with (or allow a natural fermentation to occur) with a malolactic bacteria they call that the secondary fermentation (MLF). Many home winemakers refer to the racking from the primary container into a secondary container a secondary fermentation, but it's really just the end of the primary fermentation. I'm just giving you the big picture in case you encounter a nit-picky person.

pH is really something you should adjust before fermentation, since it will directly affect the health of the yeast. It gets a little confusing talking about ph and acidity since they're related but don't necessarily correlate. Theoretically, the higher the acid the lower the ph, but it doesn't always work that way. If your pH is high before fermentation, you can lower it to the right range for your wine by adding tartaric acid. After fermentation you can add acid for taste using either acid blend, or other acids like citric, malic, etc. There are college courses on this subject, so I don't think I'll do it justice, but there are plenty of resources on the internet.

As you make more wine, all these things will become more familiar and make sense the more you read (and then make more wine, etc..). You're asking great questions.

 

[Noontime]

I like sweet wine so I am sure I will have to backsweeten. For now, I'm going to let the bulk of it sit for a couple months then try it again. When I do backsweeten, I understand I have to ensure the yeast is inactive. Will the Potassium Metabisulphite render the yeast inactive? What is typically used to backsweeten? Sugar? Honey? Other?

I'm probably not following the correct steps in this process, but I am learning a lot and I appreciate all the input.


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You'll want to add sorbate as well as kmeta before sweetening. It prevents the yeast from reproducing, preventing refermentation in the bottle (better known as bottle bombs). And you'll want to use a syrup made from cane sugar unless you want to add an additional flavor (which may not work out well...I've added honey to a few wines and not been happy with the outcome, while we love the meads we make). Adding just cane sugar can cause gas to erupt like a shaken bottle of soda.

You may find you don't need to sweeten your wines as much, once your wine making process is "better" for lack of a better word, and you adjust the acid.

 

[Charlesthewino]

My wine supply company did not seem to carry any sugar based syrup. Is this a common grocery store item?


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[sour_grapes]

You make simple syrup yourself. You add water and sugar together, and heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Don't boil the water, but get it plenty hot. The ratio of sugar to water may vary; many use equal parts. Here is a recipe.

 

[Charlesthewino]

Much appreciated. I will try a small batch tonight.


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[Charlesthewino]

What a huge difference the back sweetening makes! Thanks for the input. I am going to enjoy this hobby! My Pear wine is fabulous.



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[Noontime]

One of the many learning curves that all (or at least most) home winemakers go through is drinking their wines too early. THEY'RE JUST SO GOOD! My advice is to take a few bottles of the ones you're making now and put them away for a year. Once you taste them you'll probably start planning your wine making so you'll be able to drink your wines when they are more than a year old. It makes a HUGE difference.

I've never had pear wine...I'll have to see about making one of those!

 

[Charlesthewino]

I am going to make only a few bottles for early consumption and leave the rest in the carboy for a few months. It will be difficult for me to let it sit a whole year, but I will try. Thankfully Illinois is a state that allows for up to 200 gallons annually of homemade wine. I plan to max out this year with staggered batches.

This has been an enlightening experience. I have learned a lot in a short time with all your help. Thanks to all that have participated in this thread.

BTW...Has anyone experimented with the water side of the base mix? Tap water quality varies from city to city. My recipe calls for nearly 60% water to 40% juice/sugar mix. I have a couple small batches with different water to see how it affects the taste. Just curious what experienced wine makers have seen.


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