Basic Wine Making (Red)

Origin: France      Period: Traditional

Wine is defined as an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of unmodified grape juice. More generically however, a 'wine' is an alcoholic beverage made by the formation of any fruit. The resultant 'wines' are generally named after the fruit eg elderberry wine, cherry wine, apple wide (which is more commonly known as cider). For this reason these other wine types are known as fruit or country wines.

Here I am distinguishing fruit wines from other drinks commonly called wines such as rice wine (sake) which is made from fermented rice sugars and is actually a beer, barley wine which is made from fermented grain and is actually an ale or elderflower wine which is made from elderflowers and honey and his thus a mead. In these cases the term 'wine' is applied only because these fermented beverages have a high alcohol content. They are not true wines as they are not made from fermented fruit.

One key to making wine is to adjust the acidity of the 'must' (ie the juice extracted from the fruit) for a red wine this should be 6–7g/l, for a white wine 6.5–7.5g/l and for a fruit wine 5g/l. Measurement is done with an acid titration kit and adjustments are made by adding tartaric acid.

First check on this page to get an idea of the equipment you'll need. But some of the equipment for wine making is different so I give a list of your essential equipment here:

Essential wine-making equipment. This includes all the equipment you will need to make your first 10l batch of wine from grapes. All this equipment should be available from a homebrew or winemaking shop:

• Large nylon straining bag
• Food-grade bucket with a lid (about 10 to 15l)
• Cheesecloth
• Hydrometer
• Thermometer
• Acid titration kit
• Clear flexible plastic 1.5cm diameter plastic tubing
• Two 5l glass jars
• Fermentation lock and bung
• 750ml wine bottles
• Corks
• Hand corker

Then, to begin making your own wine you will need the following ingredients (this is for a 5l batch):

Ingredients:

11kg ripe red grapes
1 Campden tablet (or 0.33g potassium metabisulfite powder)
Tartaric acid (if necessary)
refined sugar (if necessary)
1 packet wine yeast (eg Prise de Mousse or Montrachet)

Method:

Method

As always, wine-making begins with the fruit. Start by ensuring they are ripe by crushing two good handfuls to extract the juice. Strain and measure the sugar level with a hydrometer. Optimal sugar levels should equal 1.0982 specific gravity and the fruit themselves should should taste sweet and slightly tart (don't worry if your specific gravity is a little off as you can adjust with sugar). Also ensure that the grapes are not rotten or discoloured (discard any that are) then remove all stems as these will make the wine bitter.

Also, like any brewing technique the true secret of winemaking is maintaining a sterile environment. Wash all of your equipment thoroughly with hot water, boiling what you can. It's also wise to arm yourself with a strong sulfite solution to rinse any equipment that comes in contact with your wine. This is made by mixing 3 tbsp sulfite powder (potassium metabisulfite) to 3.5l of water.

Once you have sterilized your equipment and your grapes are prepared and cleaned place them in the nylon straining bag and put the bag in the bottom of your bucket. Using clean hands or a sterilized potato masher or meat tenderizer crush the grapes inside the bag. Once you are done crush a Campden tablet and sprinkle over the must in the nylon bag. Cover the bucket with cheesecloth and allow to sit for one hour.

Now take a sample of the juice in your bucket and measure the acid with your titration kit. If it's lower than 6–7g per litre then adjust with tartaric acid. For example, if your acid level is 5.5g/l and you need to bring it to 6.5g/l then you need to add 1g/l tartaric acid. As you're making 5l in total then you will need 5*1 = 5g tartaric acid.

After adjusting the acidity it's now time to check the specific gravity of the must. Remove a sample and place in a hydrometer. You're looking for a specific gravity of 1.0982. If it's too low add a little sugar dissolved in sterile (boiled and cooled) water. If it's too high then just add some sterile water.

Now check the temperature of your must (mashed grapes). It should be between 21 and 24°C. If it's too warm then allow to cool naturally if it's too cold, take out a sample, warm in the microwave and place back in the must to warm it.

Now you can prepare your yeast by dissolving in 500ml sterile water that's been warmed to between 26 and 32°C. Leave this to stand until it begins to become frothy (about 10 minutes) then pour directly over the must (which is still in its nylon bag). Agitate the bag up and down a few times to ensure that the yeast has mixed in evenly. Cover the bucket and allow to stand in a warm place (between 21 and 24°C). Leave for 24 hours and check that the fermentation process has begun (you should see bubbles on the surface).

As red wine contains the skins and the colour and flavour are derived from these you should use a sterile potato masher to punch down the skins under the surface of the juice at least twice a day (otherwise they will float to the surface and form a 'cap'). You should also monitor the temperature daily and check the fermentation progress by measuring the specific gravity. Once this has reached 0.998 then the win is said to be of the appropriate 'dryness'. You can now lift the nylon straining bag out of the bucket, but make sure you squeeze any remaining liquid out of this.

Cover the bucket loosely with its lid and allow to settle for 24 hours. You can now rack the wine into a sterilized 5l jar. 'Racking' is the process of transferring the wine away from any sediment. To do this you insert a clear 1.5m plastic tube into the fermenter and siphon the clear wine into a sterilized 5l jar. Always set the original jar on a shelf above the new jar so that gravity does the work for you. Also be careful and delicate when doing this as you don't want to stir-up any sediment, but neither do you want to lose your siphon's suction.

Once the transfer is complete top-off with sterile water to entirely fill the container. Then fit with a sterilized bung and fermentation lock. Allow to ferment for 10 days (and top-off with grape juice if the liquid levels fall) then rack the wine into your second 5l fermentation jar. Top-up with grape juice and add a sterile bung and fermentation lock.

After six months siphon the clarified, settled, wine off any remaining sediment into clean, sterilized, bottles. Before you are ready to bottle soak your corks for 24—48 hours in cool, sterile, water. Then transfer the corks to a sulfite solution (30g in 1.5l of water) and ensure that they are all submerged for between 10 and 30 minutes). This sterilizes the corks ready for corking. Measure the length of your cork. When you are racking your wine into your bottles you will need to leave a 'head space' (unfilled region) below the rim of the bottle that's twice the length of your cork (ie if your cork is 3cm long then the head space needs to be 6cm long).

Cork with the pre-prepared corks and store in a cool, dark, place for at least six months before drinking.

Enjoy!

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