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E. C. Kraus covers issues and topics of general interest to the home winemaker. You may pass this newsletter on to friends and others, as long as it is used in its entirety. Distribution of this newsletter in partial form is prohibited.
_____________________________ Freshly pressed apple cider will be available everywhere you turn. This may already be the case in your area. What a perfect time to get into the
Fall spirit and try your hand at making some apple wine. very easy and straight forward process. If you have never made wine
before, you may find this to be a good wine to start
with. Any roadside stand will do. The type of apples used for making apple wine is not to critical. Some winemakers are of the opinion that a blend of several apple varieties is best for the sake of balance, but in my opinion
any common variety seems to stand well on its own. added to the cider that might interfere with the fermentation. Cider that contains preservatives like "Sodium Benzoate" and "Potassium Sorbate" should not be purchased for making wine - Ascorbic Acid is okay. If the
labeling doesn't say, then ask. endeavor. You'll need a Primary and Secondary fermentation vessel, air-lock, siphoning equipment, hydrometer, etc. For more information about wine making equipment, see the article, "How To Get Started In Home
Wine Making" at the link listed below: Lalvin EC-1118 for every batch up to 5 gallons in size. All of the above items can be found on our web
site at: www.eckraus.com fermenter), EXCEPT for the yeast. Cover with a light towel and let sit for
24 hour. batch that is 5 gallons in size or less. Batches larger than 5 gallons will
require a minimum one package of yeast for every 5
gallons.
1.030 to 1.040 on the Specific Gravity scale. Fermenter so as to leave most of the sediment behind. This is called "Racking". The Secondary Fermenter should be some type of food-grade
container that will allow you to attach an
Air-Lock to it. the hydrometer reads .998 or less on the Specific Gravity scale. Now the wine needs to clear. This usually takes at least and additional 2 to 3
weeks. Tablets at the rate of 1 tablet per gallon. And it is then ready to be bottled
and aged. avoid any pitfalls, you might read the article, "The Top 10 Reasons For
Fermentation Failure" listed at the link below:
have to happen first:
the wine given a couple of weeks or better to completely
clear. container. Otherwise, this sediment will be stirred up again when you mix
in your sugar. stabilizer. Otherwise, the fermentation will eventually start up again when
the sugar is added.
Sweet Wines" listed at the link below:
alcohol, cordial drink know as Apple Jack. yeast will ferment a wine. Yeast is very sensitive to temperature. For example, juice that is 74 degrees will typically ferment twice a fast as juice
that is 68 degrees. can facilitate the production of unwanted off-flavors and odors in the wine. Fermentation temperatures that are too cool can cause the yeast to stop
working altogether. vague idea of what your fermentation temperature might be. Typically the thermostat is not in the same room as the fermentation - temperatures can vary from room to room. And secondly, the thermostats I have dealt
with have always been off by more than 1 or 2 degrees. but it is not all that accurate either. Temperatures near the floor of some rooms can be as much as 5 to 10 degrees cooler than temperatures that
are higher in the same room. ature? We have a handy little gadget called a Crystal Strip Thermometer. It is a strip of liquid crystal that easily attaches directly to the outside of your fermentation vessel. It gives you the actual temperature of the outer
surface of the vessel. numbers that are always illuminating the correct temperature of the
fermentation vessel and can be seen at a distance. control of your wine's fermentation temperature, and help eliminate the
chance for a stuck fermentation or the production of
unwanted off-flavors. the yeast has been added to a prepared juice. On average, 70% to 90%
of the fermentations activity occurs during this short
period of time. there is a dark dusty-looking deposit clinging to the bottom of the bottle? Have you ever had a wine become cloudy in the bottle after it was once
beautifully clear? What is meant by "unstable" is simply, there are still changes that may
occur in the wine when the conditions are right. some organic, some chemical - some good, some bad. Some are obvious such as a fermentation. Some are more subtle such as the enzymatic
changes that take place during the aging process. for the unsuspecting winemaker is called precipitation. Precipitation is when particles occur in a wine from out of nowhere. They are solids that
are created from the liquid. the wine then the wine can hold. It's no different than a cloud trying to hold more water vapor than the climatic conditions will allow. The clouds will
precipitate the water in the form of rain. wine. To take our weather example a little further, the warmer the air gets the more likely the clouds will produce rain. The opposite holds true as
well. of the wine when it is warmed up. There are also certain solids that are
more likely to precipitate out of a wine when it is
cooled down. These wines are said to be "temperature stable". But in general, most wines will precipitate something when taken to an extreme, whether it be
hot or cold. excessive tartaric acid or excessive tannin. Tartaric acid is the major source of acid found in grapes. Tannin, also known as tannic acid,
comes from the skins and stems of the grape as well as
many other fruits. particular wine, at a particular temperature, then precipitation will occur when given enough time. Quite often it will show up several months after the wine has been bottle, making a perfectly good tasting wine become
visually unappealing. that will stay suspended in the wine for some time and then eventually settle to the bottom in the form of cream-of-tartar. This type of precipitat-
ion is most commonly associated with white wines. of precipitation than wine stored at room temperature. But, it may occur at
any time with wines that have extremely high levels of
tartaric acid. bottom of the bottle. You will find this type of precipitation almost exclusively in heavier red grape wines, such as Pinot Noir, and also in
darker berry wines - elderberry being the primary
candidate. when the wine is stored at a warmer temperature. But, it may also occur very slowly at cooler temperatures in wines that are extremely heavy in
tannin. tannic acid itself, but rather tannic acid that has bonded with various
types of proteins in the wine - usually color
pigmentation. "flake-out", there are a couple of simple tests that you can perform on a given wine to determine if it is unstable and has the potential for
precipitation. say about 1 cup, and freeze it. After it has frozen solid, then allow it to thaw. If you see an abundance of creamy looking flakes, then your wine
is not cold stable. and bring it to just short of boiling then allow it to cool down for a few hours. If you see an abundance of dark dusty looking precipitation, then
your wine in not heat stable. okay. We are taking the wine to both extremes - temperatures they will never actually encounter during storage, so a little bit of precipitation is
acceptable. wines that have been given an abundance of time to settle out the yeast and fiber particles from the fermentation. Otherwise, you will get these
items depositing as well, making it hard to determine
these tests' results. will precipitate or not. A beautifully filtered wine can become cloudy or with ugly deposits just the same as an unfiltered wine. So filtration is not the answer to this type of problem. However, there are a couple of things you can do to help eliminate the chance of these deposits from occurring
in your bottles. treat it by cooling the entire batch down to 35 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 to 2 weeks before bottling. The idea here is to cause all of the excess tartaric acid to precipitate out now, so that it will not occur later
in the bottles. teaspoon of cream-of-tartar crystals for each gallon of wine. This is the same cream-of-tartar you will find in the spice section of your local
grocery store.
to keep the flakes suspended, so that they may attract
more precipitation. ately, this is not a practical solution because of the other effects heat has
on wine such as oxidation and denaturing. of action is to treat it with a full dose of Bentonite. Bentonite is a clarifying agent that is regularly used by wineries. Not only does it effectively clarify particles that may be linger from a fermentation, it also has the ability to induce protein precipitation, which is what tannic acid would eventually
cause on its own if left untreated. teaspoon of tannin for each gallon of wine. This should be done at least
a few hours before the Bentonite treatment is performed.
Bentonite As A Wine Clarifier" at the link below: double its shelf-life. Yeast stored in this way will always be good for at least two years. If yeast is just stored at room temperature it is usually
only good for about a year.
yeast damages their cell walls making budding or
multiplying very difficult. can leave a sticky, gooey mess in your fermenter that is next to impossible to get out. This tacky mess seems to defy even the strongest cleaners
available. this mess and take it right off. It's called "Goo Gone (tm)". You can find it in any full line grocery store, in the household cleaning section. We have no affiliation with this product or its manufacturer, we just think it's great
stuff. listed on our web site:
"How
To Get Started Making Wine"
"Home
Wine Making Recipe Page"
"The
Seven Easy Steps To Making Wine"
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