How to Make Wine With Lots of Alcohol in it
Wines with high alcohol content are becoming quite popular with the increase in wine clubs. Robert J. Parker has also contributed to this trend. The world-renowned wine writer's 100-point rating scale has been awarding more points to more bold, fruity flavors with a 12.5 to 14.5 percent average alcohol content. Nurturing the fermentation is key in achieving a higher alcohol percentage, because wine yeast has to be monitored to keep the sugar from acting like a preservative. Varieties of grapes, nutrients and the environment in which you make your wine can influence the fermentation and the level of alcohol in your wine. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Wine-making supplies
- Wine barrel
- Sulfur stick
- Yeast starter
- Yeast
- Hydrometer
- Journal
Instructions
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Visit a home-brewing or wine-making supply shop and purchase supplies and the instructions you will need to make and bottle your wine. Ask a clerk or store owner for assistance if you are unclear as to everything you need.
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Purchase a barrel. One oak barrel typically holds 50 to 60 gallons of wine. Wash your barrel thoroughly and let it dry for one week without the stopper, and then burn a sulfur stick in the barrel with the stopper in place. This can be purchased at the wine supply shop as well.
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Make a wine yeast starter a few days before you start your wine. A yeast starter is a mixture of sugars with a boost of nutrients. The measurement is 1 pint for every 5 gallons of wine to be made. Mix the yeast starter with the yeast and allow it to do a mini-fermentation for 1 to 2 1/2 days. When the fermentation starts to slow down, it can be added to the prepared wine batch.
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Maintain a warm fermentation range, between 74 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Slightly warmer temperatures help to keep the yeast fermenting, especially when it reaches the end of its lifespan. Take caution, because higher fermentation temperatures can result in off-flavors in wine, and in extreme cases can even hinder the fermentation. Make sure the temperature does not exceed 78 degrees.
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Use a hydrometer to control the fermentation and track the alcohol content of your wine. There are different scales on a hydrometer; the one you should monitor is a list of numbers from 0 to 20. This is the potential alcohol scale. Track how your readings move across the scale throughout the fermentation process, and record them in a journal to determine how much alcohol has been made. For instance, if you take a reading of 14 percent on the scale before the wine's fermentation starts and then take another reading at the end of fermentation of 0 percent, then your wine has 14 percent alcohol because it moved 14 points across the scale. Keep in mind that the wine will lose volume during the bottling process, thereby diluting the alcohol content slightly
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Feed sugar into your wine throughout the fermentation process. Sugar added at the beginning can act as a preservative and halt fermentation. Add sugar in the beginning to get the fermentation going; as the fermentation slows, feed more sugar to the wine every few days until all the recipe has been mixed in. Use the hydrometer to monitor the sugar level. When it gets close to zero, feed more sugar into the wine. The reading will rise and in a few more days drop back to zero. At that point, add more sugar. This process can go on for several rounds before the yeast stops fermenting. The hydrometer is essential for this step, because your wine can turn out sweeter than you want.
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Tips & Warnings
Taking a sommelier class to learn more about wine can be a great asset in choosing grapes that will yield a higher alcohol content. Keep a journal to determine how to keep rendering a higher alcohol content for future barrels. Wine must reach 10 percent and maintain 10 percent in order to ferment. This can be monitored with your hydrometer.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit wine image by Du...¡an Zidar from Fotolia.com
