Food and Wine Products

For several years wine making has been practiced through the process called as vinification, this is a very simple method as compared to the other methods of making alcoholic beverages. The process of wine making involves six basic steps:

1. Viticulture
2. Harvesting
3. Crushing
4. Fermentation
5. Clarifying the solution
6. Bottling

Viticulture: As a known fact the flavor of the wine is dependant on the kind of grapes which are used. The variety of grapes depends on the place where they are grown, the climate of the place where they are grown, the drainage system around the winery, the quality of the soil, humidity content of the region and even the exposure levels to the sun. Other than these factors, one of the most important which is an important determinant in the making of wine is the techniques used to make the wine. Infact the different wineries formulate a customized wine making procedure according to the needs of their winery, so that they can bring out the best flavors of their grapes.

Harvesting: The next step in the winemaking process is the harvesting of the finely cultivated grapes. When the grapes are ripped and harvested it is very important that the timing of ripping the grapes is apt and the exact timing can be ascertained through experience. The timing of the ripping the grapes should be such that the grapes have the apt combination of sugar, acid and moisture. The harvesting of the grapes can be either done manually or mechanically, however majority of the grape wineries rip it manually.

Crushing: The next step after the grapes have been harvested is to crush and press so as to have their inherent flavors in the form of liquid. As the fruits are crushed the grapes withdraw their moisture content and the sugars. Many wineries make the usage of specialized machines for the process of crushing and pressing the grapes. The resultant liquid which is formed after crushing and pressing the wines is referred to as must, at this stage the wine will either turn into red color or white color depending on the preference of the winemaker. The wines become red when they are simply left after they are crushed because in this stage juices from the skin and the flavors are ripped off, thus when you leave the must for a certain period of time, the wine become red wine, and incase you immediately crush the wine after pressing and segregate the skin then the wine becomes white wine.

Fermentation: After the grapes are being crushed and pressed, the fermentation takes place since the grapes have good quantity of sugar and moisture they easily get fermentated with the reaction of wild yeast. Fermentation takes almost 10 to 30 days, however this depends on the quality of grapes and the climate.

Clarifying the solution: The next step in wine making is clarifying the solution. It is also referred to as stabilization.

Bottling: The final stage is to transfer the clarified solution in the wooden barrels or bottles.

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To make homemade wines with the recipes and ingredients here
all one needs is a gallon-size glass bottle, a saucepan and
a polyethylene pail. Make certain to use polyethylene as
some plastics are not suitable. Do not use aluminum, copper,
or enamel vessels to make your homemade wine with.

Sterilization is mandatory for all utensils, bottles and
corks, especially corks. One should use commercialy
available plastic corks until you know how to properly
sterilize natural corks.

Ordinarily, baker’s yeast and white granulated sugar are
used by the average homemade wine maker. A special wine
yeast and invert sugar makes the best wine possible.

Wine yeast is capable of producing eighteen per cent of
alcohol by volume (32 proof), against the fourteen per cent
of bakers’ yeast.

Starting what is called a ‘nucleus ferment’or nutrient. A
small jar will do for this. About a 1/2 cup of water
and a teaspoonful of sugar are boiled together for a minute
and then allowed to cool. This is then put into a
sterilized jar and the yeast added in whatever form it is
obtained. Allow to set for 3 days covered with plastic wrap
and rubberband.

Preparing the fruit: Various types of wild yeast and
bacteria are on the fruit naturally and must be dealt with.
Our method, known as the ‘sulphiting’ method, does
this. For more detailed information on “sulphiting” go to
==>http://www.make-homemade-wine.info/sulphiting.html

How to make homemade wine:
Crush the fruit by hand in the poly pail and pour on one
quart of distilled water. Mix well. Crush one campden tablet
and dissolve the power in 1/2 cup of warm water and
mix with pulp. Leave the mixture for 1 or 2 hours. A little
discoloring may happen. After this, take 1/3 of the sugar
to be used and boil this for 1 minute in 3 pints of
water. Allow this syrup to cool and then stir into the
pulp. Then add the yeast (or nutrient) and ferment for 7
days.

After 7 days, strain the pulp through fine cloth and wring
out as dry as you can. Put the strained homemade wine into a
gallon jar and discard pulp. Then boil another 1/3
of the sugar in one pint of water for 1 minute and when
cooled add it to the rest. Plug the neck of the jar with
cotton wool or fit a fermentation lock and continue to
ferment the homemade wine in a warm place for a further 10
days.

At this stage, pour the homemade wine into the poly pail
leaving as much deposit in the jar as you can. Clean
out the jar, sterilize it and return the homemade wine to
this. Boil the remaining 1/3 of the sugar for 1 minute
in 1 pint of water. When this has cooled, add it to the
rest. Refit the lock or plug the neck of the jar with
fresh cotton wool.

After this, the homemade wine should be left in a warm place
until all fermentation has ceased.

Clearing: it is usual to have a brilliantly clear homemade
wine a month before fermentation has ceased so
patience is required here. After all fermentation has
ceased, siphon the clear homemade wine (if not yet crystal
clear) into another jar leaving the deposit behind. Then
when the homemade wine is finally crystal clear it should
be siphoned into bottles and corked.

To get the maximum alcohol and to get total fermentation the
ideal temperature at which to keep a ‘must’ is
between 65-70 degrees F.

Fully ripe fruit is essential if we hope to make the best
homemade wine.

CHERRY WINE (A Delightful Sweet Wine):
8lb. black cherries, 7pts. water, 3 1/2lb. sugar (or 4lb.
invert), all-purpose wine yeast or Bordeaux yeast, nutrient.

PLUM WINE (Port Style):
Dark red, fully ripe fruits must be used. 10lb. plums,
7pts. water, 3 1/2lb. sugar (or 4lb. invert), port yeast,
nutrient.

GRAPE WINE
Homemade grape wine is much more difficult and requires 20
pounds of grapes so unless you own a vineyard it is
not cost effective to make homemade grape wine.

After several batches you will get the rhythm of making
homemade wine down to a tee. With further knowledge you
will be able to make homemade wines with a strength,
clarity, flavour and bouquet of which you will be justly
proud.

If You Think This Was Helpful Click On The Link Below To Get
A Great Collection Of Resources That Will Further Your
Knowledge And Understanding In wine making. Go To
==> Make Homemade Wine <== Today!

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Being a wine maker, I am occasionally asked how to make wine. I usually give people the story about how I came about this hobby. When me and my older brother were going to the same university, he would make his own mead in his basement. Mead is an alcoholic drink made from honey. My brother had a simple kit that he bought somewhere and it worked great. Six weeks after beginning the process, he had 24 bottles of homemade mead that tasted great. This was one of my first introduction to making homemade alcoholic beverages.

Unfortunately, my brother is now at Western Michigan getting his PHD, so I no longer have access to his mead. I decided to take the hobby up myself and make my own great tasting wine.

I decided for myself that I would focus on making red wine instead of mead. Now, I will say that I have since made mead, but I started out with making red wine because I thought it would be a lot more challenging and fun. What I realized was that it is a lot of fun, but there isn’t nearly as much work as I had imagined.

For those of you interested in taking up this hobby, I want you to understand that it doesn’t have to be a major project that you have to watch constantly. Set aside 10 minutes of your day and you’ll have great wine in a few weeks. I recommend all wine lovers to try making wine at least once in their lives. It is truly a fulfilling hobby.

The first thing I do before starting a new hobby or project is research. I hit the web and try to learn as much as I can while taking notes. During my research, I came across and bought multiple wine guides that had great ratings from people that had purchased them. They can cost anywhere from $10-$50 each and some were way better than others.

One of the online books that I bought worked out great for a complete novice like myself. It’s a 100 page manual that teaches everything from building your own wine kit to selecting the right types of fruit to the bottling process. The author is an avid wine maker who releases new videos every month for free to people that have bought his guide. It’s great! If you know absolutely nothing about making your own wine, then this is the guide I recommend you to look into.

The most important process in wine making is definitely the fruit selection. I had no idea how important it was until I read about it in the guide. The fruit you choose needs to be perfect. No bruises, scratches, or anything. This guide shows you how to go about finding local vineyards so that you can get the best, most freshest grapes possible. This is by far the easiest to follow guide for wine making that I have ever come across. Since it is an ebook, you can download it, print it, highlight parts that you want to remember, print pictures of the fruit you want, etc.

It is also important that you learn which materials to buy to get you started on your own kit. I think I paid around $50 to have a complete setup. You can also buy kits at a few stores out there if you do not want to build your own. I started with 5 gallons and I recommend you do the same. Don’t start with 1 gallon because you will be out of that 1 gallon of wine before you know it.

My favorite part about having my own winery in my home is the fact that you can give your homemade wine away as gifts! Wine is always a great gift and my friends and family are always very thankful when they receive my gift. Plus, it serves as a great addition to parties. Just bring over a few bottles and people will be complimenting your homemade wine all night. It makes for great conversation. I am constantly being complimented on my wine and I am always the life of the party because of it.

Learning how to make wine is one of the most fulfilling hobbies. I recommend all wine lovers to try it out.

Cheers and happy wine making!
You can read more about how to make your own wine at home by checking out my blog. If you would like more general information on how to make wine, visit my website and browse around. I have many articles in the field of wine making.