How to Make Homemade Wine With Grapes

Wine making is a simple, ancient art perfected by mankind all over the globe. Despite the modernization and mechanization of life in the 21st century, the process of wine making has changed very little since ancient times. Though the best winemakers have perfected the art through generations of experimentation and refinement, the basic process can be quick and easy and performed by most hobbyists at home. Homemade wine is a novelty and a pleasure to serve, and the variety of flavors achievable is limited only by one's palate and imagination.

Things You'll Need

• Large nylon mesh bag
• Food-grade five-gallon bucket with lid
• Cheesecloth
• Hydrometer
• Thermometer
• Acid titration kit
• Clear half-inch diameter hose
• Two one-gallon glass bottles or jugs
• Fermentation lock and bung
• Five empty wine bottles
• Five corks
• Hand corking machine
• 18 lbs. ripe red grapes
• One campden tablet or potassium metabisulfite powder
• Tartaric acid if necessary
• Table sugar if necessary
• One packet wine yeast
• Some of these items may be available only at specialty wine making shops.

Instructions

1. Preparing
   Wine making starts with clean, ripe grapes. Wash the grapes to remove any stems, debris, insects or rotten grapes. Make sure they are ripe by crushing several handfuls. Strain the juice and measure the sugar level with a hydrometer. Harvest grapes when they reach 22 degrees Brix (a measurement of sugar-to-water ratio) to 24 degrees Brix.

   Maintain a very clean work environment, and use hot water to wash your equipment. Prepare a strong sulfite solution using three tablespoons of sulfite powder (potassium metabisulfite) to a gallon of water. Use this solution to rinse any tools that touch your wine.

   Put the grapes in a nylon straining bag and into the bucket. Crush the grapes inside the bag using very clean hands and clean utensils. Add one campden tablet or one teaspoon of sulfite crystals. Cover the bucket with a cheesecloth for one hour.

2. Fixing

   It is essential that your juice or "must" has the right acid content. Use a titration kit to measure the acidity. The best acidity is 6 to 7 grams per liter for dry red wine and 6.5 to 7.5 grams per liter for dry whites. Use tartaric acid if necessary to raise the acidity of your must.

   Adjust the sugar levels using a hydrometer to measure the level. Both reds and whites should be about 22 degrees Brix. To raise sugar levels, dissolve one cup of sugar into one-third of a cup of water. Boil and cool this syrup before adding a spoonful at a time until the juice reaches 22 degrees Brix. If the sugar level is too high, simply dilute the juice with water.

   Must should be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit for good fermentation. Be careful to raise the temperature of your must very gently to avoid damaging the juice. An electric blanket is a good way to slowly raise the temperature of the juice.

   Dissolve the yeast in warm water, allowing it to bubble for about 10 minutes. Pour the yeast solution into the bucket and stir a few times to mix well. Cover with cheesecloth and check fermentation 24 hours later. Monitor fermentation and temperature often, stirring the mixture twice daily.

3. Racking

   "Racking" means separating the sediment from the fermenting wine.
   Once the must has reached 0.5 degrees Brix, remove the nylon bag and squeeze out any liquid into the bucket.

   Cover loosely and let the wine settle for 24 hours. Use a half-inch diameter hose to siphon the liquid into a sanitized one-gallon jug, adding a little boiled and cooled water to fill the container to the top. Work slowly and be careful not to disturb the sediment.

   After 10 days, rack the wine again into a new, sanitized one-gallon jug.

4. Bottling

   After fermenting for six months, siphon the wine into bottles, allowing about two inches of space at the top of each bottle, below the cork. Be sure to sterilize the corks to prevent damaging the wine. A one-gallon batch makes about five standard-size (750 ml) bottles of wine.

   Store the wine in a cool dark place for six months before drinking.

Tips & Warnings

• Most reputable wine making supply shops offer hands-on courses for beginner and advanced wine makers to hone their skills. Do not be discouraged if your first attempt is less than perfect--most experienced winemakers learned from trial and error.

• Be careful to maintain a very clean environment and use sterilized tools to avoid contamination.

References

• Wine Maker

Resources

• Grape Stompers