Equipment for making wine from a wine kit

Making wine from a wine kit is very easy.

Making wine from a wine kit is as easy as mixing Kool-Aid, but you get a MUCH better beverage!

Just like making beer, the no-rinse sanitizer is required.  A no-rinse sanitizer makes sanitizing your equipment very easy.  Simply mix water with a measured amount of sanitizer according to the directions.  Then sanitize everything which will have contact with the must (the grape juice).

The must in the wine kit is already chemically adjusted for pH and sugars.  Your only steps are to rehydrate (add water) and inoculate (toss yeast in) the must.  The large spoon is for mixing the must when you rehydrate it.  You’ll need a secondary fermenter when you rack the wine during the racking and clarification step.

You will also need a sanitized spoon later after the fermentation to “degass” your wine.  This is a fancy term which means “stir the heck out of it until there is no more CO2/bubbles in the wine”.  You might want to invest in a Fermtech Whip Degasser, Winexpert Wine Wand, or some mixer which you can attach to a electric drill.  This will make your degassing much easier.  It’s not listed because you can use a large spoon and lots of stirring.

Again like beer, I suggest getting a bottling bucket when you bottle.  You can siphon directly into your bottles, but a bottling bucket makes life easier.

Here’s the minimum equipment you’ll need for a wine kit

• Sanitizer
• Fermenter
• Secondary Fermenter/Carboy
• Large spoon
• Corks and Corker
• Wine bottles
• A hose to siphon beer, racking cane or an auto-siphon

Equipment for making wine from grapes

Making wine from grapes takes a bit more equipment.  You will need to destem the grapes, crush the grapes, and then eventually press the grapes.  When I started making wine from grapes, I used the equipment from my local homebrew store where I purchased the grapes.  They had wine making equipment available for rent.  The homebrew store even tested the must acids and sugars for me, so all I needed was a trashcan fermenter for the grapes.  There are some wine making/homebrew clubs which pool resources together for grape crushes too.  Do some research to find out if your grape supplier also can provide use of equipment.

If you don’t have access to equipment, you can still make wine.  In this case you will need to destem and crush the grapes by hand.  This will work for a small amount of grapes, but your patience will be tested if you are planning to make large amounts of wine.  You will also need a wine press.  If you can’t find one to rent, look on craigslist for a used press.

A large fermenter is needed if you are making red wine.  I use a large food grade trashcan dedicated to making wine.

You can find these trashcan fermenters at most wine homebrew stores

The potassium metabisulfite is used to kill wild yeast and bacteria.  You can also use campden tablets.  The potassium sorbate is used later to stabilize the wine.  Pectic enzyme is used to help break down the grapes and extract more juice.

Once you’ve crushed your grapes, the process is similar to wine kits.

Here’s the minimum equipment you’ll need for a wine from grapes

• Sanitizer
• Fermenter
• Large foodgrade trashcan (red wine)
• Large Spoon
• Corks and Corker
• Wine bottles
• A hose to siphon beer, racking cane or an auto-siphon
• Potassium Metabisulfite
• Potassium Sorbate
• Pectic Enzyme

Possibly

• hydrometer
• acid testing kit
• wine press
• destemmer/crusher

Did I miss anything?

There might be something I’m missing.  I think these lists represent the minimum equipment you will need to make wine.  What do you think?  Is there anything I missed or is there anything I added which you do not need?

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I went into a homebrew store close to my house today, because I needed some malolactic cultures for two red wines I am making.  The Denver Broncos had just been pounded in a football game they should have won, and I really didn’t want to drive the 20 minutes to my favorite homebrew store.

I asked the shop employee if they had any malolactic cultures.  He attempted to direct me to some of the Belgian sour strains for beer, but quickly surrendered and admitted he had no clue what I was asking for.  After a few minutes of explaining it was clear, despite their selection of wine kits and wine yeast, this was a “beer only” shop.  Defeated (like the Denver Donkeys) I got back to my car and drove to the better homebrew store.

After your wine fermentation is complete, you'll want to start a malolactic fermentation

What is malolactic fermentation?

Despite my experience, malolactic fermentation is nothing mysterious.  A malolactic fermentation, also known as MLF (not MILF – that is something else), is a fermentation where malic acid is converted by bacteria to lactic acid and CO2.  The bacteria used are usually Oenococcus oenii.  Other lactic acid bacteria include various species of Lactobacillus and Pediococcus.  Malic acid tastes like green apples and is tart.  Lactic acid however is smoother and slightly buttery to the mouth.  Lactic acid is present in sour milk.

The malolactic fermentation should occur after the initial fermentation and lasts for 3 weeks to 2 months.  This fermentation can happen naturally or with an added culture.  The problem with natural malolactic fermentation is many bacteria are capable of this task.  Some bacteria are better than others and bad ones can ruin the wine.  To produce a consistent wine, it is better to use a known culture rather than leave it up to Mother Nature.

Why should you do it?

There are several reasons to perform a malolactic fermentation on your wine.  The first reason is to reduce the acid level.  The reduced acid gives the wine the better mouth feel mentioned earlier.

A second reason is to stabilize the wine.  If you don’t undergo malolactic fermentation, your wine might undergo one spontaneously later in the bottle.  This will cause your wine to be fizzy (from the CO2) and most likely ruin the flavor.  The wine can also turn cloudy, and have a sour kraut aroma (that’s bad).

Another reason is the wine flavor is changed.  By-products from the fermentation will give the wine more body (from glucans and dextrans), a buttery flavor and mouth feel (from diacetyls), and other notes of vanilla, honey, nuts, or smoother tannins.  This gives the wine a much more complex and enjoyable flavor (that’s good).

Why you should not do it?

For some wines malolactic fermentation would produce a wine which is “out of style”.  For most white wines you want the higher acid.  Malolactic fermentation will make a white wine seem “flatter” because the second fermentation will always increase the pH.  Malolactic fermentation adds to the total time to produce your wine.  You have to delay adding sulfur dioxide to your wine as well, since it will kill the bacteria.

If you are making a sweet wine, malolactic fermentation will throw the flavor out of balance since there will be less acid.  A wine which had under gone malolactic fermentation will be less fruity in aroma and flavor.

Malolactic fermentations are best for big red wines such as Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet.  Chardonnay is one white wine exception, because the buttery flavors are part of the wine style.

When should you do it?

You want to add your malolactic culture at the end of your fermentation.  The reason is the bacteria can also process sugars, but will produce off-flavors.  You are adding the bacteria to consume the malic acid only.  The end of the fermentation is also best because the decaying yeast provides nutrients for the bacteria. Most cultures are 125 ml per 6 gallon batch.  To help accelerate the malolactic fermentation, leave your wine on the lees and occasionally gently stir the carboy.

Conclusion

Once the malolactic fermentation is complete, you need to aerate the wine and rack it to a new container.  The aeration helps drive off bad aromas from the second fermentation.  You will also need to add Campden Tablets or Potassium Bisulfite to the wine.  This is to stabilize the wine and help reduce any oxidation effects.

You should also test your wine acidity after the fermentation.  Sometimes the malolactic culture can go overboard and convert too much acid.  In this case you will need to add tartric (not tantric—that’s something else) acid to the wine.  Don’t add more malic acid since this might renew the fermentation.  Citric acid is also bad because the culture could convert the citric acid into acetic acid (vinegar).  Acid blend should also be avoided because it contains citric and malic acid, giving you a double whammy of bad problems.

Malolactic fermentations can give your wine new complexity.  It’s not intended for all wines but when done properly, the second fermentation produces a much smoother wine with better flavors.

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Pour someone a glass of fine looking wine, then right before they are about to take a sip, tell them you made it—invariably there will a hesitation (the length of which depends on the default courtesy of the guest)—followed by questions.  People are leery of homemade alcohol, usually for good reason—it’s frequently awful.  But making alcohol at home has come a long way since the moonshine days; it’s now easy to make elegant wines in your own basement for a fraction of their retail cost.  Home winemaking is a fun way to fill up a wine cellar, to make gifts for friends and family, and to put a personal stamp on entertaining.

“Most of my customers make their own wine as a hobby.  It is fun, easy, and the end product is very good.  It is fun for them to share with friends and family, and it also is much cheaper then buying wine.  You can make a very good wine for about $3 a bottle”, comments Kevin DeLange, owner of The Brew Hut in Aurora, Colorado whose store and website is an excellent resource for the home enologist.  Richard T. Berkey, co-owner of Stomp Them Grapes in Denver, a store which specializes in supplies and equipment for home winemaking, expands upon its appeal,
“Fermentation is fascinating, akin to preparing fine cuisine or baking.  You create  complex and flavorful concoctions from naturally-occurring, raw materials”.

There are two main ways of making wine at home, one considerably easier than the other, making wine from a kit, and making wine from fresh or frozen grapes.

Wine Kits

“The most popular kits are the most common types of wines.  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet, and Shiraz.  The Port and Ice Wines are also popular”, says Kevin. Wine kits consist of either pure grape juice, grape juice concentrate, or a combination of the two, as well as all the other additives needed such as: yeast, oak chips (simulates the flavor of aging in oak barrels), and clarifying materials—and the all important—instructions.  Beginning equipment needed to make kit wines can be purchased together for about $50-70.  The kits themselves range from $50 to $120.  Kits allow wine makers access to uncommon grape varietals.   Wine kits usually make about 6 gallons of wine, which fills 30 standard wine bottles. You can buy bottles new from suppliers, but a good source for free ones is a local bar.  Used bottles can be cleaned, sanitized, and reused.

Wine kits can be really good as long as you follow the instructions carefully

Most wines should be fermented between 68-75 degrees F (this depends on the yeast so check instructions), making most basements ideal locations for a home winery.  Kit wines need to age from 5-8 weeks, but many benefit from additional aging. Once finished, the wine is transferred into bottles and corked with either real or synthetic corks.  You can also make your own wine labels using Microsoft Publisher, a paint program, or a label making program.  While there are laws limiting what you can put on wine labels for commercially sold wine, they don’t apply to wine made at home—but keep this in mind if you are going to give a bottle to Grandma as a holiday gift.

Wine from Grapes

The other–significantly more involved option—for home winemaking involves using fresh or frozen grapes.  Many brew stores will order different grapes from growers across the U.S., but they get their deliveries from August to October. “Fresh grapes are only available within a limited margin of time each year, in the fall during harvest”, says Richard, “fresh grapes are a delicate lot, and must be dealt with expediently and intently when taken off the vine”.  Making wine from fresh grapes—or their must, the liquid resulting from pressing and crushing fresh grapes—takes more effort than kits. Richard explains, “The wine kit product, unlike frozen grape musts, is drastically simpler, since all the basic analysis and chemistry has been done for you prior to opening the package”.  There is a long list of equipment involved in this process, and as they are pretty expensive, most people use them at the store where they buy their grapes, or rent them.

Nothing beats making wine from grape!

The first step in the process of making wine from grapes is crushing, desteming, and testing and adjustment of sugar, acid, and pH levels.   Next is the initial fermentation, which takes about 2 to 3 days, then pressing to remove skins and seeds (for red wine, white wine is pressed to remove the skins before fermentation), then another round of fermentation, called malolactic fermentation.  The wine is moved into a clean carboy—this step is called racking.  Next, oak (oak chips which simulate the flavor of aging in oak barrels) is added.  The wine is racked again and then clarification materials are added.  Depending on how much sediment is present, the wine may need to be racked every 2 to 4 months.  The wine is then aged 6-9 months (total) and then bottled.

Which way you go to your own impressive homemade wine is really up to you. “Kit winemaking is decidedly the more affordable and less daunting way to get involved, since a basic equipment kit can be purchased for around $70.  Ingredient kits go for as little as $50, and contain everything needed to produce a quality wine”, says Richard.  However, making wine from grape, although more involved, also have its benefits Richard explains. “Others enjoy the camaraderie and widely-felt spirit of celebration innate within a community-based crushing, and return again and again in pursuit of it”.

Regardless of the method, making your own wine is a fun and unique way to add to the celebration and bonding of drinking with friends and family. Its “a personally engaging activity that requires forethought, learning, discipline, patience, and attention to detail”, says Richard, that produces “the pride of sharing, over the home hearth with good friends, a wonderfully complex product that one has created oneself.  It is the giving of a gift that comes from within”.

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Mead was a very popular drink throughout history and was used in religious gatherings.  Some pagan rituals use mead in their ceremonies.  Ethiopian meads are used in funeral rituals.

Some old traditions in Europe gave newlyweds a month’s supply of mead.  Some say this is where the word “honeymoon” comes from, but most linguists do not support the claim.  It does sound cool when you tell people this, however, be prepared for someone to call you on this claim.

Mead, sometimes called honey wine, is a fermented beverage made with honey.  The most basic mead is made with honey, yeast and water.  It really is that simple.

Mead comes in a wide variety of flavors and types.  It is varies as much as wine or beer.  Each style could be its own article.  It is a shame all meads are lumped together in the brewing style guides.  I omitted it from my brewing map for this reason.  It also doesn’t make sense for style guidelines for beer to cover mead.  It’s like putting all wine as a single category in the beer brewing guidelines.

Here's my raspberry mead and vanilla mead fermenting away

Mead can be constructed with different flavors of honey using a wide variety of yeasts.  There are meads from all over the world with dramatically different tastes.  If you’ve had mead before, don’t get too hung up on the taste and assume all meads should share similar tastes.  It is like assuming all beer should taste like Budweiser, since it was the beer you tasted first.

I’ve had made mead with green tea, fruit, vanilla, grapes, and a wide selection of flavors.  One of the first meads I made was raspberry mead, but in hindsight I should have started with a simpler recipe.  I ran into problems with the fermentation, which might have been avoided.  I’ll cover the raspberry mead and other recipes in future articles.  For this article, I’ll cover one of the simplest meads possible.

Minimum Equipment needed

Large metal spoon
Ladle
Fermenter with airlock
Carboy with airlock (I recommend Better Bottles)
Sanitizer
Hydrometer (optional but recommended)

Setup

The most important step for making mead is the first one.  You must start by cleaning and sanitizing everything!  We are creating a food product and adding micro-organisms (yeast).  If we are not careful about cleaning, other unwanted micro-organisms might move in too.  The resulting mead would not be toxic, it would just taste that way.  There are no known pathogens that can live in alcohol, but we don’t want to ruin the mead.  Make sure everything is very clean.

The best sanitizer to use is a one-step sanitizer like Star San.  Star San is a blend of phosphoric acid and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid.  It is a weak acid that with 2 minutes of contact will kill most micro-organisms.  It is odorless and tasteless.  It does not matter if you use the foam sanitizer or the non-foam sanitizer (Sani Clean), both are very effective.  Make sure everything is sanitized.

Basic Mead

15 lbs (5 qts) of honey
4.5 gallons of water
2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon of yeast energizer
2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast

Pour the water into your fermenter.  Get as much of the honey as you can into the fermenter, but don’t stir it.  It should sink to the bottom of the water.  Once you pour all the honey you can into the fermenter, ladle some of the water back into the honey container.  Reseal the honey container, and shake the water around inside the container.  This will help you get the last bit of honey from the container.  Pour the last honey water into the fermenter.  Once the last of the honey is in the fermenter, mix the honey thoroughly.  This mixture is called the “must”.

Mix in the nutrient and energizer.  You can get these items from your local homebrew store.  Since honey is almost pure sugar, you need to add nutrients to help the yeast reproduce.

The other thing your yeast needs is oxygen.  Using your spoon, stir the must as much as you can.  You can also seal your fermenter and rock it back and forth.  I use a wort mixer which attaches to a drill.  You can find these at your local homebrew store.  Any of the above methods will work.  The important bit to take away is you need to mix oxygen into your must.

If you have a hydrometer, take a bit of the must and place it in a hydrometer jar.  It is important to take a gravity reading , because mead fermentations are much more subdued and can take much longer.

Activate the yeast by mixing it with warm water (not hot).  After a few minutes, pour the yeast into the fermenter and seal it.  Store the fermenter in a cool dark place.

The fermentation should start within 72 hours.  If you are a beer homebrewer, do not expect the same vigorous fermentation.

This can take a long time.  Just put the carboy in a cool dark place, and forget about it for a while.  You can always take two consecutive hydrometer readings to determine if the fermentation is complete.  If the readings from Monday are the same as the readings on Friday, your fermentation has likely stopped.

After a few weeks, the bubbles should stop.  Rack the mead into a carboy.  Make sure you fill the carboy to the neck with filtered water.  Place the airlock into the carboy and store for at least another month.  At this point the fermentation is complete, and we are just waiting for the yeast to settle.

Once the yeast has settled you are ready for bottling.  The mead should be clear.  Clean and sanitize your bottling bucket, corks, and 30 wine bottles.  Take a hydrometer reading at this point to determine your final gravity.  Siphon the mead into your bottling bucket, and then bottle your mead.

The mead at this point will still taste a bit “jet fuel-ish”.  This is quite common.  It may take another 6 months of aging before the mead has mellowed a bit.  After 6 months, open a bottle and see how it is.  You will find the mead will mellow with age.

Enjoy!

Mead can be served warm or cold.  There is no standard.  I prefer to chill lighter meads, but drink other darker meads (or meads based on red grapes) at red wine serving temperatures.  For this mead, I would chill it like a white wine.  Serve it in a wine glass and enjoy!

For more information about making mead, I would highly recommend The Complete Meadmaker by Ken Schramm.  I would also highly recommend the Got Mead website .  They have a wealth of information about making mead, including different recipes.  They also have many skilled mead makers.

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There are two choices for how to make wine , kit wines or wine from grapes.  Each method has distinct advantages and disadvantages.  These are the main differences between the two methods to help you decide which is better for you.

Price difference between wine kits and grapes

The price for grapes usually is between $30 and $40 per 30 pound crate of grapes.  Grapes from Napa Valley, raised on bottled spring water and blessed by the patron saint of wine may cost even more.  It depends on the year, but usually three crates will equal 6 gallons of wine.  You can also buy a 6 gallon bucket of grape juice already pressed for about $50.  I’ve had great results from the white grape juice buckets; however red wines typically are not sold in the bucket.  You can buy merlot grape juice, but it will not contain the skins.  In the past few years, grapes have cost me $120 per 6 gallons.  You might be able to get the cost down even more by buying in bulk.

Wine kits usually range from $50 to $150.  The price range is determined by the quality and amount of juice in the kit.  For example, you can purchase a 7.7 liter (2 gallons) wine kit for about $50.  An expensive wine kit will have 15-16 liters of juice (4 gallons) and possibly grape skins.  Besides the volume of juice included, the higher end kits use grapes from specific vineyards and contain higher levels of total dissolved solids.  The dissolved solids give the kit wine flavor and aroma.  The price and volume of juice are directly related to the quality of wine produced.

I usually buy the premium wine kits, so all in all I have not noticed a huge price difference between the two.
Advantage: None

Labor and Equipment

Other than hard cider , there is nothing easier to make than a wine kit.  If you follow the directions religiously, you will get a good wine.  You do not need any additional equipment other than your normal homebrewing equipment.

Making wine from grapes includes more know-how and significantly more work.  If you buy your grapes from a wine making store, you likely will be able to use their equipment for free.  My first year I purchased grapes, but I used their crusher/de-stemmer and their wine press.  The problem with using a store wine press is you need to crush your grapes on premises, take it home and ferment the wine, and then bring the wine back to the store to press the wine.  I eventually purchased a wine press , because it is difficult bringing grapes back and forth to a store 20 minutes away.

Given wine kits are so easy to make, the score goes to wine kits.
Advantage: Wine Kits

Wine Aroma

Wine from grapes produces great wines, but it requires lots of equipment you will need to rent or buy

When I first started drinking wine, I never understood what people were talking about when they referred to the “aroma” of the wine.  I could not smell anything.  When I attended my first wine festival, I went to a wine pairing dinner and realized it wasn’t me it was the wine.  A good wine will have a very pleasant smell.  The aroma of a nice wine cannot be beat.  It can smell of grapes, flowers, cherries, and perfume. I finally understood what everyone was talking about.

I never notice this smell with wine kits, and I only make the high end kits.  Kit wines just do not have the same aroma.  Sometimes you can pick a few notes or raisins or fruit, but the scent is much more subtle.  The aroma is a huge part of the wine experience, but kit wines fall into a lesser quality category of wine.

With my grape wines, the smell is amazing.
Advantage: Grape Wine

Wine Flavor

I’ll probably get lots of hate mail or hate comments for even mentioning “kit taste”.  Look on any winemaking or homebrewing forum and the “wine kit taste” topic will eventually come up.

Many swear there is an off-flavor from kit wines; others say it is the taster’s imagination.  The taste is described as sweet, caramel kool-aid or “jolly rancher” flavor.  For a dry red wine, this flavor can be distracting.  Even worse, only some people can detect the off-flavor.  It is maddening for some winemakers to hear there is an off-flavor in their wine which they cannot detect.  Personally I am in the “I can taste it” camp.

The “kit taste” in kit wines comes from the pasteurization process.  Some of the sugars in the wine bond to form more complex sugars which are not fermentable.

Still there are few people who can detect the flavor.  I’m the only one in my family who can taste it.  The “kit taste” only affects red wines.  I’ve never tasted it in white wines.  I still have to give the advantage to grape wines.

Advantage: Grape Wine

Intangibles

After reading the last two points, you probably think I hate kit wines.  It’s not true, I like kit wines.

I can make a kit wine any time of the year.  Most varieties are available in kits year round.  Grape wine can only be made at the end of the summer when the grapes are harvested.  You have much more flexibility with a wine kit.

With kit wines you can make wines which normally might not be possible for you.  For example, I live no where near South Africa, but with a wine kit I can make a good Pinotage wine.  When you make wines from grapes, you are limited to the grapes in your area.  In Colorado, we can get some grapes from California.  These grapes are shipped in refrigerated trucks and stored in refrigerated warehouses.  It can sometimes take several days before you can crush the grapes.  The types of wine you can find in a kit are usually better than what you can get locally.

Finally wine kits consistently win awards in head-to-head competitions with grape wines.  Grape wines win as well.  Nothing can speak stronger than a first place ribbon in a blind taste test.  The key point to take away from this is a kit wine can be compared side-by-side with a grape wine.  In some cases, a kit wine can be a better wine.

Advantage: Wine Kits

Conclusion

So it really depends on what you want from your wine.  Personally I like the aroma and flavor of grape wines more than kit wines.  If you have limited equipment, a kit wine is a much better choice.  I often make kit wines through the year while I wait for my grape wines to age.  Most kit wines benefit from aging, but the aging process for grape wines is much longer.  And remember, the best wine (kit or grape) is the wine which makes you want another glass.

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The Disaster

I was distracted with several people talking to me and my daughter running around while I was making my wine kit.  I grabbed what I thought was yeast and I tossed it into the wine.  I noticed the yeast looked a bit like potassium sorbate and thought it was unusual.

Wine kits are very easy to make as long as you're paying attention!

A day later the wine kit showed no signs of fermentation.  I forgot to clean up earlier in my haste, and noticed an emptied wrapper was lying on the basement floor.  The wrapper said “Potassium Sorbate”.  I could almost feel the camera quickly pan out as I was hit with the sudden epiphany.  I added the wrong packet.

For the readers who do not make their own wine, potassium sorbate is added to the end of the wine fermentation to ensure that the fermentation is complete.  It is a preservative that stops yeast from reproducing, and prevents any renewed fermentations from other yeasts or bacteria.  Potassium sorbate is added to many products, like grape juice to prevent spoiling.  If you add the potassium sorbate at the beginning, you are preventing any fermentation from starting.  No fermentation means no wine.

I quickly signed on to a wine forum.  I sheepishy asked the question to which I already knew the answer.  Was my wine kit doomed?

Can someone call a wine medic?

Some of the answers were hopeful.  They suggested that I try anyway, and see what happens.  Most said what I knew deep inside.  I have a bucket of $150 grape juice that will never be wine.

I talked to the owners at my favorite homebrew store in Denver.  They were not hopeful, but suggested I try making a starter and add that to the wine kit.  If I did nothing, the kit was lost so I might as well try.  I created a starter using 100% Welches grape juice, and tossed it in two days later.

To my shock, and to the disbelief of many on the wine forum, the kit started fermenting.  The fermentation was the most vigorous fermentation I’ve ever seen for a wine kit.  It actually blew out the airlock twice.  The starter had worked, and in the process destroyed my understanding of how potassium sorbate worked.  I had to know why.

How it worked

I searched the internet for articles regarding potassium sorbate.  Richard Roseweir in B.C. Canada directed me to an article at the British Columbia Amateur Winemakers Association (BCAWA) written by Bill Collings.  The article showed that the effectiveness of potassium sorbate is related to the amount of alcohol in solution.  The higher the alcohol content, the less potassium sorbate required to prevent fermentation.  The amount of potassium sorbate in wine kits is enough to prevent fermentation in wine, but not in grape juice.

For example if your wine is 10% alcohol, you need 0.20 grams/liter of potassium sorbate.  When the alcohol content reaches 14%, you need only 0.07 grams/liter.  The effectiveness of the potassium sorbate as a preservative is dependent on the amount of alcohol in your wine.  In my case there was no alcohol so the amount of potassium sorbate added was not enough to prevent fermentation.

Here's what it *should* have looked like when adding yeast

The effectiveness of potassium sorbate is dependent on several factors: the wine pH, the concentration of free SO2, the percent of alcohol in solution, the concentration of sorbate, and the viable yeast concentration.  All have to be in the correct amounts to prevent renewed fermentation.

Another reason why my starter worked is potassium sorbate prevents fermentations from starting or renewing.  It does this by interfering with the reproduction cycle of yeast.  It does not kill the yeast.  When I added the starter, the yeast was already fermenting.

Conclusion

The lesson I learned was the potassium sorbate does not kill yeast as most brewers and winemakers believe.  Potassium sorbate only prevents fermentations from starting again, and its effectiveness is dependent on other factors.

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2. The insider on cider – A recipe for hard cider
3. What do you really need to start making wine?

You can easily create labels using a paint program, label program, or desktop publishing program.  In this article we used Microsoft Publisher, but you can use any labeling program.  You can also find many free labeling programs online if you spend some time searching on Google.  The best programs allow you to layer images and text.  Layering allows you to move one “piece” of your design without disturbing the rest of the label.  For example, you can move one text item around the label without moving other text or images.

Finding ideas

The most difficult step can be coming up with an idea.  If your label idea is simple, you might be able to use clip art from your label design program.  If you need something more, you should look around on the internet.  For our label, we wanted to display a pair of blue-footed boobies from the Galapagos Islands.  A quick search on the internet provided many photos.  If you are making the label for a commercial endeavor, you should contact the artist/photographer before using any images found on the internet.  Since this is just for homebrew wine, it is perfect.

Set up the page

The first step to create your label is to set up your page.  You need to divide a normal 8 1/2 x 11 page into six boxes.  The boxes should fill up the page as much as possible.  You can experiment with larger numbers, like 8 or 12, but 6 seem to make a good sized label.  If you are using a labeling program, the template ‘Avery 74536 Clip Style Name Badges’ or any other 6 block template is a good choice.

The first step is to set up the borders on your label

In Microsoft Publisher, we created a block that fits about 1/6th of the page.  You can create the block using the rectangle shape tool.  Create all six blocks on the page to verify that they are the correct size.  If you are using an Avery template or another template, your work is already done for you.

Add the image

Resize the image to fit inside your label box.  For this label, we set the image slightly off center and slightly smaller than the size of the complete label.  This gives us room to later add text.

Next add an image for your wine label

Decorate with text

Here we added text to the label.  Most programs let you select from any font on your machine.  We gave the label a name, added the varietals, and the vintage.  Other things you can add are the alcohol content if you know it, the source of the grapes, the wine maker, the name of your winery, or anything else you would like to add.

Add text to decorate your image. Don't forget to add "your winery's" name like I did.

Replicate the image

In Publisher (or what ever tool you are using), use the ‘select’ tool to select everything.  Then use the ‘group’ command.  This collects all of your changes, and groups them into one object.  If your tool does not have a ‘group’, you should be able to select everything and copy it.  Copy your label to fill the page with 6 labels.  If you are using a labeling program, this step might be done automatically.

Finally copy the image at least six times over your page

Print the image

Unless you have a very good printer, you’ll want to take your label somewhere else to be printed.  Inkjet printers can produce nice labels, but the colors will run as soon as any moisture touches the label.  Kinko’s standard color printing produces some very nice labels.  These labels look nice and the colors will not run.  You will want to save the image to a floppy disk, CD, or a thumb drive before taking it to Kinko’s.  Have them print the labels on normal paper.  We are not using actual sticky labels because they tend to be difficult to remove from bottles.

Cut the labels

Unless you have an extremely steady hand, do not use scissors to cut your labels.  In the school section of your favorite supply store, you should be able to find a straight edge paper cutter.  These work much better than scissors, and do not leave jagged edges.  Cut out each individual label using the paper cutter.

Apply Labels

The best choice for applying the labels to the bottle is to use a glue stick.  Most glue sticks are water soluble; this makes the labels very easy to remove.  Lightly cover the back of the label with glue.  Make sure to get glue on all the edges and the corners.  This will provide a good seal for the label.

Finishing Touches

After your label has dried, you can add a shrink capsule.  This provides a top to your wine.  There are other things you can do too, like a wax top.  Your local homebrew or winemaking store should sell these.  Once you add these small touches to your creations, the questions you will get will be “do you own your own winery” and not “did you make this in your bathtub”.

Now apply the finished label to your wine bottles.

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3. Review: Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

You just sank $100 on a new wine kit.  You rip open the box and get to work on making your wine.  For your final step, you reach for the yeast packet and sprinkle it on the top.  Then you see the #2 on the packet.  It’s not the yeast.  It’s the potassium sorbate.’, ‘You scream.  You cry.  You write frantic posts to every forum you can think of asking what should you do.  You blame the kit maker for not making the pouches a different color.

What is your next step?  If you had grabbed the potassium metabisulfite, you’d be ok.  Wait a day or two, and then add the yeast. Potassium sorbate is a bit different.  It doesn’t kill the yeast.  It just prevents it from renewing a fermentation.  Unfortunately a fermentation is exactly what we want to happen.

The local homebrew and winemaking store suggested to try making a starter.  A starter is a small amount of grape juice, apple juice, or sugar water inoculated with yeast.  Also add some yeast food.  We want this yeast culture to be as happy as possible.  Once the cell count gets high, you add it to your fermenter.  Normally it is used to give a fermentation a good start.  In this case we are adding an existing fermentation to our wine kit.

The key is that potassium sorbate stops renewed fermentation, not existing fermentation.  We are adding a yeast culture that is currently fermenting.

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Please see the fair use guidelines for republication. If you would like to submit articles to fermentarium.com, please review our Guest Post Guidelines.

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Related Posts

1. Everything you know about potassium sorbate is wrong!
2. What do you really need to start making wine?
3. The insider on cider – A recipe for hard cider

With fall fast approaching, you might consider starting a hard cider.  Hard cider makes a great alternative to beer and is very popular even with those who do not like beer.  There are cider kits floating around like the one from Vinoka, but since Vinoka was recently purchased by RJ Spagnols, it is not clear if these kits are still available.  Many homebrew stores have these kits on clearance.

The Process

Cider is very easy to make.  All you really need is apple juice and yeast.  The best apple juice is juice pressed from fresh apples right off the orchard, but many of us simply do not live near a good source of apples.  We created a very tasty cider using apple juice from the store.  You can use either cider or apple juice, just make sure it does not contain any preservatives.  You will have a difficult time fermenting apple juice with preservatives.  Mott’s apple juice is a good choice.  We used Archer Farms apple cider from Target.

Cider from fresh apples makes great cider, but apple juice works great too

To make the hard cider, simply pour apple juice in the fermenter, add sugar and yeast, and wait till it ferments completely.  Once the specific gravity has reached 1.000, add potassium sorbate.  The resulting cider will be very dry since apple juice is a very fast and clean fermentable.  Once you have stabilized your cider with potassium sorbate, you can add honey and apple concentrate to give a better apple flavor.

The Easy Cider Recipe

Here is the recipe that we used:

6 gallons 100% Cider (from Le Targét - Archer Farms)
White Labs Liquid Starter - English Cider Yeast
1 Lemon
0.5 gallons of water with 6 cups of white sugar diluted
-S.G. 1.062

Heat up the 0.5 gallons of water to a boil, and then dissolve the sugar in the water.  If you use bottled water, try to use spring water and not distilled water.  Spring water has more minerals to keep the yeast happy.  Add the juice from the lemon to the sugar solution.  Once the water is clear again, add it to the cider in your fermenter.  Take an initial gravity reading, and make sure the temperature of the apple juice is between 60 F and 70 F.  Add the yeast.

The final gravity should be 1.000 after 2 weeks. After the potassium sorbate is added, put the cider into a refrigerator for a week.  This reduces the chance for any renewed fermentation.  If you want to bottle your cider, do not add the potassium sorbate.  Add 3/4 Cup Corn Sugar and bottle.  If you are able to keg your cider, you will want to add the following ingredients.

1 can 100% apple juice concentrate (any kind will do)
1 pound of honey

Make sure you heat up the honey in some water before pouring into your hard cider.  Cold ciders will cause the honey to become almost solid, and is very difficult to mix.

There are also many other variations you might try.

1. Try using brown sugar or strong honey.  This will create a more caramel-like flavor.
2. Light Cinnamon might be added to the apple juice to give it a bit of spice.

Good luck with your cider, and let us know how you like it!

© 2007 – 2011, fermentarium. All rights reserved.

Please see the fair use guidelines for republication. If you would like to submit articles to fermentarium.com, please review our Guest Post Guidelines.

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Related Posts

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