FIVE FUNDAMENTALS

To Keep Your Wine Making On Track

Not once have I ever heard a winemaker say, "I don't care how my
wine turns out, as long as I can drink it." On the contrary, home
winemakers generally seem to be more in tune with obtaining
perfection than just obtaining passable.

Wine making is a hobby that seems to bring out a yearning in
people to produce the best wine they can--to create a wine worthy
of recognition. And often winemakers will go to great lengths in
their quest to create such a wine.

With some home wine makers, every little detail of the wine
making process is analyzed and scrutinized with great care. The
selection of wine yeast to be used will be thought over again and
again. "Is my tap water okay, or should I get bottled water from
the store", they'll think to themselves. "And if I do buy bottled
water from the store, which brand is best?"

Some details are worthy of attention. Some are just simply tom-
foolery. But the biggest point to make here is that too much
attention given to too many details can often fuzzy-up the focus
of what matters the most when making a wine.

Too many times I've talked to a home wine maker whose thoughts
were being consumed with a minute detail only to find out that
they were overlooking some key wine making fundamentals.

With that in mind, here is a list of five things that you should
focus on first and foremost when making your own wine at home,
particularly if you are just getting started.

These are the issues that matter the most, but sometimes get lost
in the clutter of fine details that spring up here and there when
learning about wine making for the first time. Concentrate on
these key points and your wine making efforts will be consist-
ently rewarded with exceptional wine.


1. Be Sanitary.

Being sanitary and being clean are two different things. To keep
things "clean" is to wash the grime and grit off the equipment
and bottles--much like you would do when you wash dishes.

But being sanitary requires that you go a step further. Sanitiz-
ing solutions such as Sodium Bisulfite, CleanPro SDH or B-Brite
must be employed in order to eliminate wild mold, bacteria and
other micro-organisms that can be hiding on your equipment even
after it has been washed.

Keeping these "little nasties" under control will provide for a
faster, healthier fermentation. And will greatly enhance the
ability of your wine to stay fresh and fruity tasting for years
while being stored in the wine bottle.

There is no reason to become obsessed with sanitation. Just
practicing it and being aware of its necessity is enough.


2. Start With A Sound Recipe.

Recipes come in many shapes and sizes--from clippings found in
the folds of an old cookbook, to your neighbors recollection of
what he saw his grandpa do when he was watching as a child. Some
are fine. Some are simply a "recipe for failure". If you have a
recipe from a questionable source, it might be worth your effort
to investigate a little further.

There are many instructional books available on wine making that
also include recipes for producing many types of wine. One that
comes to mind is the book, "First Steps In Winemaking". The first
60 pages for the most part goes through the wine making process.
The remaining pages include about 60 different wine making
recipes.

This book is available separately on our web site and it is also
included in our beginner Winemaker's Necessities Box.

If you are making wine from one of our concentrated wine making
juices, a dependable recipe is already included with it. These
concentrates are a good way to get your feet wet just for that
reason. Not to mention the fact that they are easier to deal with
than processing fresh fruit and they are available all throughout
the year.

We also have several wine making recipes on our web site for

making everything from grape to grapefruit.


3. Use A Hydrometer.

A hydrometer is as important to a winemaker as a compass is to a
navigator. Without a hydrometer it is impossible to get a handle
on which way your fermentation is headed.

The hydrometer is simply a long glass cylinder with a weight at
one end. You can take readings with it by seeing how high or low
it floats in your juice.

What the hydrometer can do for you is two-fold. First, it allows
you to track the progress of your fermentation by taking readings
throughout the fermentation.

Secondly, it can tell you what the alcohol percentage of your
finished wine is by taking a reading before fermentation and
another one after fermentation has ended and then comparing the
two.

To learn more about hydrometers, we have two articles on our web
site to help you out a little more. The first one is titled,
"Getting To Know Your Hydrometer". It covers the general use of
hydrometers.

The second article is titled, "Hydrometer Scales And What They
Mean". This article gives you a simple understanding of how to
use the different scales you will find on a typical wine making
hydrometer.


4. Control Your Fermentation Temperature.

The number one reason for a fermentation to stop in mid-stream or
for a fermentation to not start at all is because of improper
temperature. Yeast is very sensitive to temperature. It is
important that your fermentation temperatures stay between 70 and
75 degrees for a sound fermentation.

To help put the temperature issue into better perspective, a
fermentation at 75 degrees will ferment more than twice as fast
as a fermentation at 70 degrees.

It is also important to note that a fermentation at 65 degrees
may ferment very, very slow at best, but more than likely it will
not ferment at all. A fermentation at 80 degrees will ferment
very, very fast, but the flavor of the alcohol is usually
considered inferior.

To warm of a fermentation temperature also entices unwanted
micro-organisms to multiply more readily which can eventually
result in off-flavors or in extreme cases a complete spoilage of
your wine.

If you are unsure as to what fermentation temperatures you are
encountering, you might want to invest in a thermometer that is
designed to take fermentation readings.

For a list of other common factors that may hinder a fermentation
see the article, "Top Ten Reasons For Fermentation Failure."


5. Keep Air Exposure To A Minimum.

When a wine is exposed to too much air in the coarse of its life-
time, it will show symptoms of oxidation. A white wine will turn
slightly amber, and a red wine will turn slightly orange or
brown. Also, its flavor will take on a slight caramel to raisin
character.

During fermentation air exposure is not an issue. The CO2 gases
that are produced by the fermentation protects the wine from most
oxidative forces.

But once the fermentation has finished, care should be given to
see that excessive amounts of air does not come in contact with
the wine for extended periods of time.

Also, splashing the wine when transferring it from one container
to the next should be kept to a minimum. The same goes for when
you bottle your wine. When a wine is splashed it temporarily
increases its surface area by several hundred times causing the
wine to act like a sponge, soaking up air at an extremely
accelerated pace.

This is one of the reasons why it is recommended that SO2 gases
in the form of Sodium Bisulfite or Campden Tablets be added to a
finished wine after each time it is transferred. This gas
displace the oxygen that may have been absorbed by the wine in
the siphoning or bottling process.

The recommended dosage is either 1 Campden Tablet or 1/16
teaspoon of Sodium Bisulfite for each two gallons of wine. This
dosage should only be added if the wine has stopped fermenting.
Wines that are still in the process of fermenting are still being
protected from oxygen by the fermentation's CO2 gases.

To learn more about keeping oxidation under control in your
wines, see the article on our web site titled, "Controlling
Oxidation In Your Wines". It covers in more detail the general
issues surrounding oxidation.

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E. C. Kraus

Home Wine & Beer Making Supplies

Address: 733 S. Northern Blvd. - P. O. Box 7850 - Independence, MO  64053

Phone:(816) 254-7448  Fax:(816) 254-7051  Toll Free: (800) 353-1906

Email: customerservice@eckraus.com

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