How to Make Dry Red Wine

Wine is a beverage that dates back thousands of years, and yet it is being produced and drunk today more than ever. In centuries past, sweeter wines, both red and white, were more in vogue.They were easier to make, and the high sugar content was often used to mask impurities in the winemaking technique. Now, however, dry red wine is popular. Making it involves quite a few steps and a serious amount of machinery, but the end result is well worth the trouble.

Things You'll Need

• Grapes
• 100-gallon stainless steel tank with pumping system
• Second 100-gallon stainless steel tank with fitted mesh filter
• Refractometer

Instructions

1. Pick the grapes. If you are using grapes that have been harvested for you, then half of your battle is already won. If you are harvesting the grapes yourself, however, the picking is where your input into what kind of wine you will make begins. No matter what type of grape you are using, be it merlot, cabernet sauvignon or pinot noir, you must look for grapes that are clearly ripe. The skins must be unbroken, the berries must be mature (taste them to see if they are sour or not) and the bunches themselves must be tight. Once you have several pounds of good grapes picked, sort and divide them. Gently twist each individual grape off of the stem and separate into a large, very clean stainless steel tank with a pump. Discard the stems.

2. Crush the grapes. Once the stainless steel vat is full, the crushing begins. This can be done with any implement, as long as it is very clean and can reach all the way to the bottom of the tank. Begin by pushing down on the grapes, starting from one side of the tank and traveling around in a circle until you have reached the other side. This may take an hour or two, but it is imperative to crush every grape. Once the grapes are crushed, let the tank sit in a very cool room, undisturbed for several days. The optimum temperature for the environment should be around 50 degrees F.

3. Pump over the juice. After several days, the natural yeasts on the grape skins will have started to ferment the sugars in the juice. This is the first step in making red wine. The second is to extract the color from the grape skins. At this point, the grape skins and seeds will have floated to the top and formed a skin over the juice below it. This is called the "must." Using the tank's pump, feed the juice from below over the top of the must, until all of the juice in the tank has been filtered over the top at least once. Let the juice rest and resettle. Repeat this two or three times over the next several days, always keeping the juice at a constant temperature. At this point take a small sample of the fermenting juice and taste. It should still be somewhat sweet.

4. Filter out the must. Once you have finished the process of pumping over the must, it is time to discard of the must altogether. Using the pumping system, feed all of the juice and sediment from the first tank into the second tank, filtering everything through the mesh filter on top. Once all the wine is inside, remove the filter. Clean the filter and the first tank.

5. Let the remaining sugars convert to alcohol. The juice must remain at the low temperature (around 50 degrees F) for another 20 to 40 days. Every three days or so, take a sample. Taste the sample, and look at a sample on your refractometer. The taste test will tell you how dry the wine is becoming. The refractometer will indicate to you how high the alcohol levels are. Once the wine does not taste sweet any more and the refractometer registers the alcohol level between 13 and 17 percent (depending on how ripe the grapes were when picked) your red wine is dry, and is now ready to bottle.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use clean or sterilized equipment when making wine. The slightest imperfection can cause catastrophic results in your end product.