(A Point in the Right Direction)

If you’ve been toying with the idea of trying your hand at wine making,

delay no longer. Go right ahead! By doing so you will be joining

thousands of happy people who have already discovered this

intriguing and rewarding hobby. Home wine making is a pastime that

truly brings its own rewards.

Wine making at home is an easy process. In reality, all you are doing

is putting together fruit or concentrate and a few other wine making

ingredients into a container and allowing Mother Nature to do what

comes natural.

Your real contribution to the wine making process is making sure that

Mother Nature is given a fair opportunity to do her part. That is, to

put together the right wine making ingredients in the proper portions

and to make sure those wine making ingredients are in an environ-

ment suitable for fermentation.

HOME WINE MAKING INGREDIENTS

GETTING THE RIGHT MIX

There are many, many home wine making recipes available that guide

you to the right ingredients and their correct amounts. And they’re no

different than following a cookbook recipe.

Books are a good source of home wine making recipes and general

wine making information. There are many books listed on this web site

that offer an endless array of home wine making recipes and instruct-

ions for making wine from fruits like apple, blackberry or strawberry as

well as any kind of grape you can imagine, wild or domestic. Also, take

a look at the wine making recipe chart located on this web site.

The wilder grapes like Muscadine or Scuppernong make excellent

wines as do the more domesticated varieties such as Cabernet or

Chardonnay. If you have trouble finding a home wine making recipe

to suite your taste, contact us and tell us what kind of home wine

making recipe you are looking for and we’ll see how we can help you.

There are also lots of concentrated wine making juices available.

They all come with recipes and directions right on the package. Some

come with all the wine making ingredients called for, such as our

California Connoisseur line of home wine making concentrates. Others

are just the concentrated juices by themselves, accompanied by only

a listing of the other home wine making ingredients you will need. One

example of this is our Sun Cal brand of wine making concentrates.

In either case, these concentrated wine making juices are extremely

easy to use and make exceptional homemade wines. And unlike

depending on your own fruit, they are available all throughout the year.

You may want to consider getting a complete wine making starter kit,

such as our Winemaker’s Necessities Box. It includes not only the home

wine making concentrated juice and all the other ingredients, but also

the essential home wine making equipment you will need to get started.

One of the main advantages to starting with a complete wine making

kit such as the Necessities Box is that it comes with a set of directions

that applies specifically to wine making supplies you have in front of

you. In other words, the directions are very explicit and are able to

take you by the hand and guide you through each and every step with

little to no guess-work; a pleasant way to take on any new endeavor.
 

COMMONLY USED HOME WINE MAKING INGREDIENTS

Other than the fruit or concentrated juices discussed earlier, there is

a core group of wine making ingredients that is usually called for in

most all fruit and concentrate wine recipes. They are: campden

tablets, yeast, yeast nutrient, acid blend, and tannin. Each of these

wine making ingredients play a specific and distinctly different role in

the home wine making process.

CAMPDEN TABLETS are added to fresh wine making juices as a steril-

izer. It kills all the wild molds and bacteria that may be lingering in a

fresh juice, then evaporates into the air over a 24 hour period. It is

also used in finished homemade wines just before bottling as a flavor

and color retainer.

YEAST is what makes the alcohol during the wine making process. It

eats the sugars that are in the juice and turns them into carbonated

gas and alcohol; this is called fermentation.

YEAST NUTRIENT is added during the wine making process to help

invigorate the wine yeast. This makes the fermentation more active

and thorough. Without the addition of wine making nutrients some

wine fermentations would become sluggish.

ACID BLEND is simply a blend of the three primary acids found in most

wine making fruits: tartaric, malic and citric. It is added as a supple-

ment to juices that may be naturally too low in acid. One example of

this would be apple wine.

TANNIN is added to during the wine making process for two different

reasons. The first is that it gives the resulting wine a fuller flavor or

more “zest”. And, secondly it aids in the clarification and aging quality

of the wine.

In addition to this core group of home wine making ingredients, if you

are making wine with fresh fruits, the recipe will usually also call for

the addition of pectic enzyme. This is a liquid that will help to break

down the fruit’s fiber and allow the juices and natural color to be

release from the pulp.

Yeast energizer may also be called for in place of yeast nutrient when

using fresh produce. This is a stronger form of wine making nutrient

that works well with produces that are naturally nutrient deficient.

A couple of examples of this type of wine would be rhubarb and

dandelion.

If you are making your wine from fresh fruit other than grapes such

as blackberry, plum or cherry, the home wine making recipe will also

call for sugar and water. Wine making fruits such as these are simply

to strong to use their juice at full strength. Their flavor would be over-

whelming and the acidity level in these particular juices would make

them too sharp or sour tasting. So, it is normal to cut them with the

sugar and water. For example you might find a home wine making

recipe that calls for 3 lbs. of raspberries and 2 pounds of sugar per

each gallon of water.

Most wine making grapes do not need to be cut with sugar and water.

Full strength is fine. However, wilder varieties and shorter season

grapes are quite often an exception. These grapes will usually need

a little water and sugar added. Not so much because of the strength

of the flavor as much as to reduce these types of juices’ excessive

level of acidity.

This is just a general overview of the wine making ingredients you will

be dealing with in various situations. There are home wine making

recipes available that may call for other ingredients or that may omit

some ingredients that we have suggested. This does not necessarily

mean that these particular wine making recipes are not valid, but you

may want to do a little research before investing your time and energy

in such a home wine making recipe.

WHAT WINE MAKING EQUIPMENT WILL I NEED?
There are a few basic pieces of wine making equipment you will need

to start your venture into wine making. We’ll start with the most obvious.

PRIMARY FERMENTATION CONTAINER: It can be made of glass or food-

grade plastics. It should be slightly larger in volume than the size of

the wine making batches you intend make. This is to allow for the

foaming that will occur during the fermentation process. If you think

you’ll be making 5 gallons at a time, a 6 gallon size container will be

appropriate for the beginning wine making process. It should also

provide a large top surface area for the liquid, no slender openings.

SECONDARY FERMENTATION CONTAINER: A secondary container is recom-

mended as well when making wine, but it is not completely necessary.

There are certain containers that are suitable for both primary and

secondary fermentations. The main requirement for the secondary

container is that you need to be able to attach an air-lock to it. An air-

lock is simply a small water trap that allows the fermenting gases to

escape with out letting bugs and other little nasties back in. In the

case of our 6 gallon Poly-fermenter, it can act as both a primary and

secondary fermenter during the wine making process.

SIPHONING EQUIPMENT: Depending on the type of containers you

choose, you may need some limber vinyl hose and rigid tubing for

siphoning wine from one container to the next. In the case of our 6

gal. Poly-fermenter and Tuff-Tanks, a piece of vinyl hose can be

placed over its faucet to drain the container.

HYDROMETER: This instrument is highly recommended. It allows you

to track your homemade wine’s progress during the fermentation.

It also allows you to determine the wine’s alcohol content by compar-

ing two readings, one taken before fermentation and one taken after

fermentation.

Beyond these items there are other pieces of home wine making

equipment  you may want to consider that can make the process a

little easier depending upon your particular situation, such as: bottle

brushes, bottle rinsers, bottle drainers, stirring spoons, thermometers,

funnels, hose clamps, pulp bags, etc.

You may want to also consider what you will use for wine bottles.

Used bottles will work fine as long as they are washed and then

sanitized with a cleaner such as Cleanpro SDH or B-Brite, or you can

use new wine bottles.

The type of closure you are going to use on the bottle should be con-

sidered as well. If you are using standard fifth size (750 ml) wine

bottles that are designed for corks, you can use mushroom corks.

These corks can be pushed in the bottle by hand. Or you may want

to go with a cork inserter and straight corks for a more professional look.

This is a general overview of the wine making process, but it covers

much of what you need to know to get started. Feel free to contact us

if you have any questions.

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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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