Easy Wine Making Guidelines

The process of making wine is a pretty simple one which everyone knows the basics of. Grapes are crushed and the juice fermented, sometimes along with the skins and wine is the end product. However, the details of the winemaking process are actually more complex and are generally known only by those who are in the industry themselves. On the otherhand, easy wine making at home is something which can be done by anyone who grows grapes.

The ratio of grapes to wine is about ten pounds of grapes to one gallon of wine. To make wine, you’ll need vats – these are available from any wine making supply store. After harvesting your grapes, they will need to be crushed. Despite many technological innovations in wine making, the preferred method of crushing is still to use one’s feet. In a smaller vat, you can crush grapes by hand or using a potato masher instead. Once all of your grapes are crushed, your vat should be about two thirds full. You can use Campden tablets for easy wine making – these tablets contain potassium metabisulfite which can prevent premature fermentation by unwanted wild yeasts. You’ll then want to cover your vat with a towel and allow your crushed grapes to “rest” for a day.

After allowing your grapes to rest for the day, add a packet of wine yeast. Do not substitute bread yeast here – these are not the same type and will not produce wine which will be drinkable. The types of yeast you should use are Prix de Mousse or Montrachet. Once the yeast is added, your grapes are called must. You’ll want to mix in your yeast by hand, removing stems as you go – you want little if any stems to remain in the must, since they can result in an unpleasant taste in your finished wine. You should then cover your vat with a towel again and check on it daily. Within three days, the must in the vat will be fizzing away, appearing almost as if it is boiling. However, this will calm down in about a week – it is now time to strain the wine itself from the grape skins, seeds and any pulp remaining in the vat. You can pour your wine through mesh bags and cheese cloth to trap the larger particles and then strain it again, pouring it into a glass carboy (you can get this at your local wine making supply shop as well). After this, your wine should not be allowed to contact the air. You’ll be able to use an airlock with the carboy to keep air from getting in but still allow gases to escape.

After a few more weeks, the fizzing will have gone down and the next step will be to rack the wine. This separates the wine from the sediment which will have gathered at the bottom (called lees in winemaking jargon). A hose is a good tool for siphoning out the wine – after doing this, clean out the lees and return the wine to the carboy. Leave it here for two to three months and then rack again. After another three or four months, perform the final racking. After this, all that remains is to age your wine which should be done somewhere which is cool and dark. You can taste the wine at this point, but the longer you allow it to age, the better your wine will be. Easy wine making can be done at home following these simple steps. If you already have grapes thriving in your backyard, then try making your own wine this year!