If you enjoy making homemade wine, or are just thinking of
giving it a try, this article will give you a few "inside
tips" on how to make sure your first batch or your next
batch of wine comes out perfect.
This article won't go in the the step by step details but
there are many guides available on the internet that will
do this for you.
The biggest secret to making sure your wine comes out
perfect is Sanitizing. You have to sterlize and sanitize
everything you are going to use and everything the wine
will come into contact with. You can use many different
sanitizing agents, I personally like something called
B-brite sanitizer. You could also use a sulfite solution.
Why do you need to sanitize everything, even the spoon?
Because the wine has to stay in the fermenter and then the
carboy for weeks. Remember, you have a room temperature,
sugary solution we are dealing with. This is a perfect
environment for any kind of microbe or bacteria to grow in.
If there is any type of microbe, it will just love the
enviornment you have put it in and it will grow and
multiply and basically have a feast on your sugar and
juices.
That is NOT what you want to happen.
The only microbe that we want growing is the yeast. That's
it. The warm sugary solution is wonderful for yeast but
you must first make sure that you do not insert any kind of
competition for the yeast.
So - STERILIZE everything that will come into contact with
your wine.
The second big secret is sulfites.
Many people claim to be alergic to sulfites, but, in fact,
are not. They are usually alergic to something else in
certain food products but then they just associate the
symptoms with sulfites.
The fact is that sulfites are the number one food
preservative in the world. Just about everything you eat
or drink has sulfites in it. If you think you are alergic
to them, you should consult with your doctor and find out
for sure - don't guess.
Sulfites act as both a preservative AND a microbe killer in
winemaking. Many yeast strains are somewhat sulfite
resistant so the yeast is not readily killed by the
sulfites. This is perfect for winemaking. When you rack
your wine from one container to another, it's always a very
good idea to add sulfites. The exposure to air during
racking could introduce some of that good 'ole acetobacter
microbe and you could quickly end up making 5 gallons of
vinegar.
The third "insider scret" is a little chemical called
Pectin or Pectic Enzyme. This is a chemical that will
break down something called pectin. Pectin, simply, is
what makes jelly have it's jelly like consistency. Fruits
are full of pectin. if you are going to make any kind of
fruit wine, you will need to add this enzyme to break down
the pectin. You don't want wine with a jelly consistency,
right?
The big area that pectin enzyme will help you in is
clearing your wine. Pectin in your wine causes it to be a
little thicker and will also cause solids to stay suspended
in the wine longer. Adding pectin enzyme will break dow
the pectin and allow the solids to settle to the bottom of
your carboy much faster.
With these three simple tips, you should be on your way to
making fine wine with a nice polish! Enjoy.
----------------------------------------------------
Mike Carraway has been making fine homemade wines for 21
years. You can get a FREE COPY of his book, "How to Make
Your Own Wine" by going to this link:
http://www.how-to-make-wine.net/free_book.html
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