Easy wine making really consists of a healthy balance between factual knowledge and common knowledge. A combination of these two, along with a good wine-making grape will result in a delicious glass of wine for you and your family to enjoy.
It takes about fifty pounds of good, rip grapes to produce about five gallons of terrific wine. Materials like plastic vats large enough to accommodate grapes can be purchased from your local wine supply shop. Once the grapes are harvested youll need to place the grape clusters into the vat and crush them. The age old method of crushing the grapes by foot has not been surpassed by technology. But, for smaller vats, grapes can be crushed by hand or with a potato masher. Both work equally as well as the foot. The vat should be no more than two-thirds full when all of the grapes are crushed. Unwanted yeast can produce premature fermentation. You will need to add the appropriate amount of Campden tablets which is pre-measured amounts of potassium metabisulfite to the grapes to stop this unwanted yeast growth. Cover the vat with a towel and allow it to sit for a day.
Fermentation After the mixture has rested for a day, its time to add 1 packet of wine yeast (not to be confused with bread yeast). The most common types of wine fermenting yeasts are Montrachet and Prix de Mousse. To stir in the yeast, use your hands so as to elevate the temperature of the must and activate the yeast. Using your fingers, comb through the mixture and remove the stems, crushing any fruits that were left attached to them. Cover with a cloth, and let it sit again. Within 48 hours, the must should begin to fizz and it will look like its boiling by the third day of fermentation. When a week passes, the fizzing will stop and the wine will be ready to be filtered of seeds, pulp and any leftover grape skin.
Within a week the fizzing will subside and it is time to separate the wine from the leftover seeds, grape skins, and pulp. The mixture can be poured into mesh bags or cheese clothes. It then needs to be squeezed, strained and poured into a glass carboy, also available at winemaking shops, or poured into an empty wine barrel. From this moment on the wine should no longer come into contact with the air. An airlock can be used with a carboy or a barrel. An airlock prevents air from getting into the container but allows gas to escape.
Racking At this stage, it will only take 2-3 weeks for the fizzing to stop. Once the fizzing stops, its time to rack the wine. Racking will remove what is called the lees from the wine. Lees is the used up yeast and grape pieces that remain, unconsumed, at the bottom of the barrel of carboy. A common way of doing this, is siphoning the wine out of the container to clean the bottom. Once the bottom of the lees has been removed, the wine is to be poured back into the container. A second racking will be required 2-3 months after the first, with a third and final racking 3-4 months after that.
Wine can be aged in a cool completely dark place. It is also important to top off the barrel. This can be done by using a similar wine. At this point, the wine is able to be tasted but, the longer a wine ages, the better it is.
Pierre Duponte is a grape growing expert. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on easy wine making or you can get his free 10 part mini course on grape growing and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.
Growing grapes and making wine out of them, has been in practice since the beginnings of farming custom. In order to maintain a healthy grapevine, it takes work and dedication. Since it can take up to three years for a vine to give fruit, this time allows the grower to tame the plant’s growth -and production- thru pruning. .
Pruning is simply getting the plant growth to encourage more growth
Pruning is the action of clipping back shoots and cutting excess foliage to control the plants growth and to ensure that no energy is being spent feeding dry or unnecessary plant sections. Grapevines are trained to maintain a consistent plant shape, size and productivity; a process that takes about the time it takes to grow your first harvest.
How to Prune: The Standard Pruning Method
The way that the grapevine is pruned is based a lot on the type of grapes that are grown on it. Hybrid varieties were developed to be hardier during the winter and more resistant to diseases. They tend to produce less foliage then the traditional types of grapevines. The annual pruning removes the previous years fruiting canes or spurs. Because fruit is only produced on shoots growing from one-year-old canes, healthy new canes must be produced by the vine every year
The Pruning Benefits
An important aspect of pruning is that this process will rid your grapevines of old canes and spuds that no longer produce fruit. Grapevines canes are only productive during their first year of growth, making it absolutely necessary to generate canes every growing season to lock-in a future harvest. Pruning will also aid in plant size management, since the grapevine will adapt to the size and productivity that you establish when you prune.
If you clip more shoots, your vine will grow smaller, while if you clip less the vine will be bigger. Some trial and error will be needed to find the balance for your growing needs, but it will be effective to maximize production. This will also prevent your grapevine from growing a shady canopy that, if not addressed, can seriously jeopardize grape ripening and resulting quality of the wine you make.
Pruning Tools
There are various hand tools that will assist you in your grapevine pruning: loppers, handsaws and hand-pruners are some of the most common. As a grower, you must be very careful not to injure or damage your grapevines during pruning, so as not to jeopardize their future productivity. When removing canes that are one year of age, a hand pruner is effective; while older branches of thick wood are better pruned using a handsaw or lopper.
Pruning is a simple process that will help you control the productivity and size of your vine, as well as the quality of the grapes it blossoms. Be patient during the first taming, and you are guaranteed to be rewarded with a top quality wine-making grape.
Pierre Duponte is a wine making enthusiast. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on pruning grapes or you can get his free mini course on grape growing and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.
The history of growing grapes and making wine is almost as old as humans themselves. It is a process that was seen all over the world in all of the major civilizations. In today’s society, growing grapes and making wine is just as rewarding and is well worth the effort.
The Growing Process
Prior to tasting your first glass of home made wine, growing grapes correctly is the prime step. With 2 different grape varieties to select from, before you even think about your grapevine.
Select Your Cultivars According to Climate
The first step to growing your grapes is picking the type to plant. While you will pick from the general red or white grapes, you will also have to select from European grape varieties and Hybrid grape Varieties. European grape varieties are used in warm climates, with long growing seasons and in grapevines where traditional wining methods are employed, such as in California. Hybrid grape varieties, on the other hand, have evolved to become highly resistant to cool weather and common plant diseases, making them the most popular variety amongst harvesters in areas of cold weather and short-lived growing seasons.
which kinds of grapes to grow
The most significant thing to remember about growing grapes is they are evergreen plants, and therefore, it will be about 3 years before you are able to crop your first crop. But, some good news is the quality doesn’t think about the winemaker but on the grapevines.
Creating Prime Growing Conditions
Providing your grapevines with enough sunlight and a nutrient deficient soil is vital to obtaining a good harvest for your wine making. Enough sunlight will ensure you get sweet grapes that are good for fermenting, while a nutrient-poor soil will stress the vine so that the fruit is small and appetizing. A smaller fruit equals more skin, the essence of the grapes color and flavor.
Establish the Prime Cropping Time
In order to determine if its time to harvest your grapevine, you will need to measure the acidity of the fruit in each vine. When harvesting, it is essential that you stabilize acidity levels before adding the yeast to ensure proper fermentation. You can find acidity measurers and acidity stabilizing chemicals at your local wine making supply store, as well as bottles, corks and wine fermenting yeast.
The Fermentation & Finishing Process
When you are ready to ferment the grapes you will have to add yeast. There are different yeasts available for your wine. They will add subtle flavors or characteristics to the wine. Fermentation takes about a week, and then it is ready to age. Ageing can take several months to a few years to complete. Once the wine is crystal clear you can bottle it and the wine then sits again for a few months aging during this step also. It is also common knowledge that the longer you allow your wine to age, the better it will be. Corks and wine bottles can also be purchased from your local wine store.
This age old tradition is well worth the time and effort. When the time is right to open that first bottle made especially by you, friends and family will line to be amazed and admire your newly acquired skill.
Pierre Duponte is a grape growing expert. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on How To Grow Grapes or you can get his free 10 part mini course on grape growing and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.
