winemaking

Anyone make their own wine? recipes??

 

i know this is quite a thread revival, but ive been making wine for about 7 years now. i usually make 6-10 gals a year. i've made muscidine (usually mixed with apple juice) made a little blackberry once, pear, persimon/fig, sweet potato, and i just started a batch of pumpkin since i had a good supply left from halloween. I dont use a hydrometer or anything, i start off pretty conservative with the sugar and taste every time i rack it, if i want it sweeter i add sugar.

 

how does one make wine?

 

all grains and fruits and veggies have starches or sugars. one needs to breakdown (either mechanically or with enzymes or both) said sugar source, then add yeast. the yeast will eat the sugar and a bi-product of yeast digestion is CO2 and alcohol. u need a water trap so the CO2 can be released and bacteria and stuff cant get into the mash. there is a little bit of work and attention required at the start and the finish and alot of patients (or in my case laziness) needed during the middle.

 

Racked some pumpkin wine last night. Its been working since early nov. Another rack or twoand i should be able to bottle it. I accidentally ordered champagne yeast, so it may be a bit bubbly.

 

It depends on if you're a purist or not. If so, it's grapes. Anything else isn't wine.

But most don't really care. I've made a ton of applewine, strawberry etc. I haven't done a batch in a few years but will be starting a few in the next couple weeks. Mainly dessert wine, my recipe is cheap and for some reason women love it. Way to sweet for me, I like very dry.

The basics are basic. Juice, sugar, yeast and patience.

 

Kill the yeast before you bottle and it won't be an issue. The yeast type won't change the product, just the alc content and sediment. And if you want it carbonated don't use wine bottles/corks unless you store the entire batch in the sink.

 

yeah i been through some cork poppers and now it gets stored standing up not on its side.

 

2 6g batches and 2 1g experiment batches fermenting away. I racked the 2nd of the full batches into secondaries yesterday, kicked up a healthy 2nd fermentation. I think the merlot batch is about 2-3 weeks from bottling, the shiraz I'm guessing about a month.

My experiments still need fining and then clearing. Got to get off my butt here eventually