Correctly preparing corks for bottling wine is important. Not only should the wine corks be sanitary, but they should be softened just enough to allow your corker to put them in the wine bottle with ease.

There are two basic ways to go about sterilizing and softening wine corks: This first involves submerging the corks in a solution of sodium metabisulfite and cold water. The second, involves steaming the corks in water.

Cold Soaking The Wine Corks:

Sodium metabisulfite and cold water makes a solution that will sanitize the corks. This solution can also soften the corks if they are allowed to soak long enough, usually over night, and it’s very simple to do.

Mix 1/8 teaspoon of sodium metabisulfite to each pint of water and submerge the wine corks in the solution. Corks like to float. So I have found that using a container with a lid of some type will help you to get this accomplished. Use the lid to push down the corks into the solution.

Let the wine corks soak long enough to make them slightly soft. You do not want the them to be spongy. You want them to be firm, but still give just a little. Remove the wine corks from the sanitizing solution and allow them to drain for a few minutes in a colander, strainer or something similar.

Steaming The Wine Corks:

Preparing corks for bottling by steaming them is much quicker than just soaking them, but it does take some care. It is very easy to over-steam the wine corks making them very spongy and hard to press into the wine bottle without mangling them.

Also, too much heat on the wine corks for too long will cause them to become brittle and crumble later on when they are pulled from the wine bottle.  Excessive heat denatures the wine cork causing it to deteriorate while in the bottle.

Bring a pot of water to a boil then turn the burner off. Put the corks on the steaming water and place a lid over them. In just a matter of 2 or 3 minutes the corks should show some signs of softening. Once you feel the corks firmness start to give – just a little – rinse them in cold water to cool them down. They are then ready to be used.

Under no circumstances would I recommend preparing the wine corks by steaming them for longer than 5 minutes.

Which method you use for preparing corks for bottling is up to you. I feel the preferred method is to cold soak them, but if you forget to start that the day before bottling the wine, I can understand you wanting to steam the wine corks instead.
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.

Sediment has long been an inconvenient reality for the home winemaker – one that if not dealt with properly can lead to sediment at the bottom of your wine bottles. It’s enough to make a grown man cry. But if one takes the proper precautions they can guarantee that such a flaw does not happen to their precious wines. Here’s how to stop sediment in wine bottles.

Sediment is something that occurs during the fermentation, and it is something that can still accumulate even after the fermentation has completed. Most of the sediment is yeast cells that have given their life to the cause. A smaller percentage is fiber and other proteins from the fruit, whether the wine be made from grapes or grapefruit.

The savvy winemaker knows that the wine needs to be transferred off the sediment once the fermentation begins to slow down. Transferring the wine is a process called racking. The first racking is to get the majority of the sediment out of the way, but the winemaker also knows that more sediment will be on the way, and that additional rackings will be necessary. With each progressive racking the wine will slowly becomes clearer and clearer.

This is all well and good, but the big question here is, how does the winemaker know when the sediment formation is done? When will it be okay to bottle? Do they just wait until the wine looks clear enough?

For most, it is a simple matter of watching and observing. If the wine is racked off the sediment into a clean secondary fermenter, such as a carboy, and no new sediment is created at the bottom, then one can reasonably deduce that all the sediment that is going to occur has done so. The wine looks clear; no more sediment; time to bottle the wine!

Most of the time this approach will result in a spectacular wine – one that is brilliantly clear and one with no sediment at the bottom in the wine bottles. But from time to time there will be that particular batch that mysteriously comes up with even more sediment after the wine has been bottled.

The wine looks perfect, beautiful, worthy of being shared with family and friends. Then a month or two later you go to the wine rack to pull another bottle only to find that sediment has somehow formed.

What caused this? Can I get rid of it? Is my wine ruined? How do I stop sediment from occurring in my wine bottles? These are all valid questions and questions I will answer here:

Is My Wine Ruined?
First, your wine is not ruined. Having sediment at the bottom of your wine bottles is the result of something falling out of the wine. It has nothing to do with a spoilage. If it were a contamination issue you would typically see a growth at the top, near the air-pocket in the wine bottle. Molds, bacteria and other little nasties need oxygen to grow and tend to form near it.

What Caused The Sediment?
There are three main reasons for having sediment at the bottom of your wine bottles:

• You bottled the wine too soon
  This is by far the most common reason for sediment in wine bottles. It is possible for a homemade wine to look reasonably clear and still have some sediment to give. The last stuff to fall out from the fermentation is the finest of particles – as fine as flour. The heavier particles fall out sooner. Each one of these individual particle cannot be seen with the naked eye, but in numbers they can add a murkiness to the wine. Sometimes the murkiness is so slight as to go unnoticed. The best way to make sure that all the particles from the fermentation have settled is to use a wine clarifier or fining agent. A wine clarifier will collect and drag out the particles in a quicker, more efficient manner. Another thing you can do is be more patient. When you rack the wine into a fresh carboy, give it plenty of time to show the presence of sediment: two weeks, even a month. Sometimes more time is all that is needed.

• Potassium bitartrate crystals are forming  
  Potassium bitartrate is essentially tartaric acid that is crystallizing and then falling out of the wine. This most commonly occurs with grape wines that are made from actual fresh grapes. And, it is more common in white wines than reds. Grapes are high in tartaric acid. It’s the most abundant acid found in a grape. Sometimes there is more tartaric acid in the wine than the wine can hold in solution. The result is the formation of bitartrate crystals, sometimes referred to as wine diamonds. These are very tiny crystals that resembles salt. They form out of thin air, so to speak. It is important to note that the cooler the wine is the less tartaric acid the wine can hold. So It is possible for a brilliantly clear wine to form these crystals months later as cooler weather comes about. To combat this from happening, many wineries will chill the newly made wine so as to cause the crystals to form before bottling, making the wine cold stable. As a home winemaker, if you are making wine from grapes it would not be a bad idea to chill the wine down for a week or two before bottling to allow the opportunity for any potassium bitartrate crystals to form that can. To help entice the process even further you can add Cream of Tartar to the wine. This is the stuff you can buy at the spice rack at the store. Only a tiny amount is need: 1/4 teaspoon to 5 gallons is plenty. This will potentially set off a chain reaction of crystal formation.

• Protein is dropping out of the wine   
  Much like excessive tartaric acid can drop out of a wine as tiny crystals, excessive protein can drop out of a wine as a dust or powdery-looking substance. Most of the protein is in the form on tannins. These tannins can start to form deposits months after the wine has been cleared and bottled. It is when a bottle of wine becomes slightly warmer that you can sometimes see them start to form and settle. You can sometimes observe this even in commercially made wine. It shows up as a dark, dusty sediment deposit at the bottom of the wine bottle. This is the least common reason for having sediment at the bottom of your wine bottles. Most homemade wines will not have excessive protein, but it does happen. It is most common in red wines, whether it be from grape or fruit. It is often the result of the fruit being over processed or left in the fermentation too long. It can also be from storing the wine at too warm of a temperature. One way to help prevent this instability from arising is to treat the wine with bentonite. This is a clarifier that is very effective in removing significant amounts of protein from a wine. It is routinely used by wineries after the fermentation to drop out the yeast more quickly.

Can I Get Rid Of The Sediment?
There is no magical way to get rid of any sediment you may find a the the bottom of your wine bottles.

It is possible to re-bottle a wine. You can decant the bottles of wine back into a common vessel; allow the wine a few days to clear; and then re-bottle. But, this treatment has a downside by way of excessive air exposure. The wine can become oxidized if one is not extremely careful. It will be important to treat the wine with potassium metabisulfite upon decanting and again before re-bottling. This will help to drive out oxygen that has saturated into the wine during decanting. It will also help to keep the wine fresh and free of spoilage.

In reality, the best path for this type of wine fault is one of prevention. Do things things that will help stop sediment from occurring in the wine bottles: give the wine plenty of time to clear; use bentonite routinely; if you can, chill your grape wines; don’t over macerate your fruit; and don’t leave it in the fermentation too long – 3 to 6 days is plenty. If you do these simple things, having sediment in your wine bottles should never be an issue.

If you do discover that you do have sediment at the bottom of your wine bottles, you will be happy to know that it does not affect the wine’s flavor or character in any negative way. In fact, the wine will usually improve after such an occurrence. It is primarily an issue of esthetics. Who wants to share a wine with sediment at the bottom?

That being said, if you keep the wine to yourself, no harm, no foul. Carefully pour the wine into your glass. When you get to the bottom of the bottle, dump the little last down the drain. Problem solved!

Happy Winemaking,
Ed Kraus
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.

I recently made wine kit and bottled it at the end of October. While the taste of the wine is fine, any wine leftover in the bottle (re-corked) for two days starts turning orange. The wine fermented correctly, all directions were followed, and the wine was filtered prior to bottling. Why is my wine turning orange? Is this a health hazard?, and is there anything I can do now to prevent this colorization?

Terry – OH
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Dear Terry,

The reason why your wine is turning orange is very simple: your wine is oxidizing.

Oxidation is a process that occurs when a wine is exposed to excessive oxygen for too long of time. In your case, once the cork is pulled from a wine bottle, you are allowing air to enter with the wine. This allows the oxidative process to start.

This is no different that when an apple core turns brown. The first signs of your wine oxidizing will show itself as a light-orange tinge that will later turn to a light-amber, then dark-amber, then eventually brown. If you have ever seen a Sherry or a Port, these are examples of wines that are oxidized on purpose.

The wine is perfectly safe to drink. There is nothing going on that would make the wine harmful. However, you will probably notice some deterioration in the wine’s overall character. This is normally first noticeable as a loss of fruitiness and a collapse of any complexities the wine may have had. In other words, the wine will typically start to have a flat and lifeless impression. Then as the oxidation progresses on you may start to notice a caramel or raisin smell, then in later stages, as a caramel or raisin taste.

There are some things you can do to help keep your wine from turning orange and experiencing the other effects of oxidation:

• Add sulfites to the wine at bottling time. Doing this will delay the oxidative process once the bottle has been opened. It will also help the wine to keep better while aging in the wine bottle.

• Add ascorbic acid to the wine at bottling time. This will help to slow the effects of oxidation by lowering the wine’s pH.

• Keep partial bottles in the refrigerator. Cooler temperatures will slow down the oxidative process as well as keeping the wine out of direct UV rays such as sunlight.

• And, then there’s the solution I find most effective of all… drink the whole bottle!

If you want to read more about oxidation and why a wine will start turning orange you may also want to take a look at the article, “Controlling Oxidation In Your Homemade Wines.”

Happy Wine Making,
Ed Kraus

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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.

This is a story of two wines, Syrah and Shiraz, and how they both are the same, yet different. On the surface it seems to be somewhat of an exercise in semantics, with their names being the only difference, but after taking a closer look, it starts to become clear that there is much more to the story than just names.

The difference between Syrah and Shiraz teaches us a lesson, one that illustrates how a grape’s environment and the way in which it is processed can influence the outcome of a resulting wine.

Any wine expert will tell you that Syrah and Shiraz are two varietal wines that are made from the exact same grape. If you analyze the DNA of each grape used to make these wines you will find that there is no difference between them.

Then Why The Two Names?

The French refer to the grape and the varietal wine they make from it as Syrah. In other notable regions such as: South America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, the grape and the wine is referred to as Shiraz.

But there is something more than just a difference in name. There is a difference in style and character as well. While both wines are very assertive red wines, a Syrah tends to be a little more elegant and complex. It usually has more of a smokey, earthy character with flavors of plum and spicy pepper. A Shiraz on the other hand is more crisp and fruity, less layered with slight, jammy flavors of berry as compared to a Syrah. This is a very wide generalization of each wine, but even so, it would be safe to say that if you tasted both wines side-by-side you would notice more differences than similarities between the two.

So, Why Is There A Difference Between Shiraz And Syrah?

While the grape remains the same, in each wine there is so much else that is different. The soil, the climate, the cultivation, and the fermentation all vary to make a Syrah, a Syrah, and a Shiraz, a Shiraz.

While different soils can not assert their own character onto a grape, they can guide the way in which a grape develops its own flavor. This is referred to as the terroir of the wine. The French vineyards are heavy in limestone which can hold moisture better and deeper than most soils. This forces the vines to get more of their nutrients from deeper soils. The result is a wine with more layered, complex flavors.

The French are not allowed to use irrigation or fertilization on their vines, either. This stems from governmental laws designed to keep the grape production limited. This leads to stressed vines with fewer berries, but with each berry packing more flavor.

This is all in contrast to places like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand where Shiraz grapes are produced in sandy soils with plenty of fertilization and irrigation. The cultivation is abundant. This creates a wine with a more even character than a Syrah and with the ability to mature more quickly.

The Syrah is also grown in France’s cooler climate. This lends to the plum-like, smokey character of this wine. This is in comparison to Shiraz which is grown in warmer climates which makes the wine more jammy and berry-like.

Even the rate of fermentation plays some role in the flavor development of the wine. A Syrah is fermented more slowly so as to increase the time the pulp can stay on the fermentation. A Shiraz is fermented at a faster, more-normal rate which helps to make the wine, in general, more fruity.

In Summary:

So as you can see there is much more than just the grape when it comes to bringing a wine to fruition. While a wine’s character always begins with the grape, it ends upon many other factors, including the human touch. There are many other examples of how this is true, but most not quite as clear as the difference between the Shiraz and Syrah.
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.