In several earlier posts, we introduced a few home winemaking terms that you may or may not be familiar with.  There are many terms to learn in home winemaking, and this post, like all the previous posts, gives you a short introduction to a few of those terms to help you get started in home winemaking, or perhaps brush up on some of the terms you may not have seen in a while.

• Acid:  Acid is one of the key components of wine, and it is very important to maintain balance between the acid and other components of the wine (i.e. sugar, alcohol, etc).  The acid in wines comes from the natural acid present in the grapes, and sometimes from various fruit acids added to the wine throughout the winemaking process.  If there is not enough acid in your wine, it’s going to taste flat.  You’ll want to remedy this by adding an acid such as tartaric acid.  Alternatively, if there is too much acid in your wine, it will taste rather tart and tangy, and overall an undesirable experience for most.
• Geranium:  The plant? Well, sort of…if you smell geranium in your wine, you may have a problem.  The distinct geranium odor is a result of spoilage caused by potassium sorbate.  Sorbic acid is often used in concert with potassium metabisulfite to protect against fungal infection.   It is important to note that you should never add potassium sorbate to a wine that has gone through malolactic fermentation, as the sorbate will react with the lactic acid produced from malolactic fermentation, creating a rancid odor reminiscent of geranium plants.  You don’t want this to happen, as there isn’t a real fix for the fault.  Be careful!
• Browning:  What does it mean if your wine turns a shade of brown?  Browning basically indicates that some of the phenolic compounds in your wine have been oxidized.  Take care to prevent this by using the proper fermentation and storage techniques, and consider adding some sulfites such as Campden tablets or potassium metabisulfite into your wine for protection against this undesirable reaction.
• Clarity: No, this isn’t that time when you finally figured out what you were doing wrong and have a moment of clarity, this is a term used to describe the absence of cloudiness or sediment in wine.
• Flocculation:  Gesundheit! Oh, sorry, I though you sneezed.  Flocculation is defined as the process where some yeasts stick to one another, particularly during the shift between the exponential growth phase to the stationary growth phase. The more the yeast flocculate, the quicker they will settle out of the wine after a fermentation.
• Hot:  We’re not talking about hot spiced wine here, but instead “hot” is a term to describe the taste or sensation noticed when a wine is too high in alcohol. Yes, there is such a thing as too much alcohol. Not only wines that are too hot, burn, but they also take the wine out of flavor balance.

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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.

Hi everyone!  Leigh here!
I’m so excited to report to you all today as I’ve finally started batch #3 of my very own homemade wine!  In case you didn’t read previous entries of mine, I’ll just remind you that several weeks ago I purchased a new home winemaking kit from ECKraus.  Specifically, I purchased the Cellar Craft Showcase Red Wine – Chilean Carmenere.  This is my first red wine I’ve tried to make in my new home winemaking practice!  I’m glad I decided to go with a kit on this one and not try to figure out how to do it myself—there are a lot more steps needed during red winemaking, and since I have never made a red wine before, I wanted to make things as easy for me as possible.  Having all the necessary wine making ingredients all in one place and detailed point-by-point instructions sounds pretty easy to me!
One thing I did a little differently this time compared to my previous two batches of wine was that instead of using bottled water, I used previously boiled tap water.  I checked the water quality report of my city’s water, and it appeared as though chlorine levels were within the acceptable range.  Even though these levels were “normal” and I could not smell any chlorine in the water, I decided to boil it just to be extra certain.  Before I used the water, I let it cool down to an appropriate temperature so as to not kill the yeasts, so hopefully that’ll all work out for me.
Another thing I did differently in terms of what was recommended in the wine making instructions for the winemaking kit, was that I used my 6 gallon primary fermenter instead of the recommended 8 gallon fermenter.  Based on the final level of the must after adding the crushed grape packet, my wine was still technically below the top of the fermenter, and in fact was only slightly higher than it had been for my previous batches of wine.  I only hope that fermentation doesn’t go completely crazy and overflow with foam in the tight quarters, but I was willing to take that risk instead of buying another fermenter.  Recall, I plan to purchase glass fermenters in the future, but space is extremely limited in my place right now, so I want to avoid purchasing new (large) items until that situation changes.
In regards to the crushed grape pack, the instructions said to put the pack into the supplied mesh bag, though a side note mentioned that some customers liked to put the pack directly into the fermenter without the protection of the bag.  Putting the pack directly into the fermenter instead of into a mesh bag first may improve the color and flavor extraction of the grapes into the must and ultimately the finished wine.  I decided to take this approach, and I did NOT put the grape pack in a mesh bag but instead squeezed it all in loosely.  Side note:  does this crushed grape pack remind anyone else of jelly? Because that’s all I could think about when squeezing out the contents into the fermenter!
Finally, I measured the specific gravity when it was instructed, and it turned out to be 1.098 (without temperature correction).  I also measured the specific gravity 24 hours later, as the instructions mentioned this may be a more accurate reading, and it turned out to be 1.100 (without temperature correction).  Looks like I’m off to a good start!  Now I just need to stir the must at least once per day until Day 10 (secondary fermentation) and I should be good to go!

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My name is Leigh Erwin, and I am a brand-spankin’ new home winemaker! E. C. Kraus has asked me to share with you my journey from a first-time dabbler to an accomplished home winemaker. From time to time I’ll be checking in with this blog and reporting my experience with you: the good, bad — and the ugly.

Ed, I have made approximately 15 batches of wine from wine kits (mainly California Connoisseur, but also Cheeky Monkey, and KenRidge Showcase). The majority has been Sauvignon Blanc.
Only 2 batches turned out well. One in particular was outstanding. Both were CA Conn. For all of the others, I have had to struggle to drink the wine, and have thrown the majority out. I have no idea why the 2 turned out well and why the others didn’t. I am encouraged by many to give it up, so I want to reach out to you for a solution before further considering that unfortunate option.
Here is the outcome. Firstly, the white wine is a bit dark in color, but I can live with that, although it may help to diagnose the real problem, which I think is acidity. The balance is awful!
I have tried using my city water. I used my pool testing equipment and believe the PH is approx. 8.2, way too high.
I have used bottled Sparkletts purified water and the PH is approx. 6.8, a little low. I later discovered that this may be the same as reverse osmosis, which I know you do not recommend, even though the wine maker recommends it.
In both cases the Specific Gravity gets down to approx. 0.94, so it appears that the yeast is healthy and doing its job. But in both cases, the acidity, taste, and balance is terrible.
Here are some additional facts:
1. I clean and sterilize everything.
2. The fermentation temp is 68-74.
3. I follow the kit instructions.
Do you have any solutions? My only other thought is to mix the city water and purified water to get the PH closer to 7.0. but if this is the problem and such a sensitive issue, I would think that many wine makers would share this experience and there would be warnings on all of the kits advising people to make SURE that the starting PH is neutral. Would it help if I sent you a bottle to test and taste to diagnose the problem?
Many thanks in advance. Regards
Name: Mike M.
State: AZ
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Hello Mike,
So sorry to hear that you are experiencing such results with so many wines. I would love to get to the bottom of this to see what is going on. The results are unusual in the sense that most customers rarely have a batch they don’t like, much less, dump down the drain, so I fear there may be some fundamental issues at the core of all of this.
While there are certain situations where water can be the problem, this is highly unlikely to be the case. Not only because of the pH’s you have mentioned, but also because of the fact that have used two different sources of water with the same results. Most of the time when water is the problem it is because of some extreme issue, such as the water coming from a private well and such. As you mentioned, if the pH’s you used were problematic there would be much more noise on the internet and elsewhere about it. That’s just not the case.
I do not know if there is any truth behind what I’m going to say, but I have a gut-feeling as to what is going on. What I’m about to say is all based on what I’ve seen before while helping thousands of other home winemakers, so I’m going to go out on a limb a little bit.
I believe that your wines are becoming contaminated with a bacteria.
There are two reason why I think this:

1. You stated that your wine’s are a little darker than normal. This is not a indication that you have a bacterial contamination, in of itself, but it is an indication that there has been too much air exposure to the wine. Oxygen is catalyst that promotes the growth of bacteria.
2. You also feel that the acidity of the wine is out of balance. Nothing from the water pH’s you mentioned indicates that acidity would be a problem, and the wine kits, themselves, are carefully balanced for acidity. This is true regardless of whose brand of kit you buy. But, having a bacterial contamination would raise the acidity level of the wine. This is a natural byproduct of a bacterial fermentation — a rise in acidity.

Both oxidation and bacteria growth fit together nicely into the information you have described above.
Having said all of this, I do not believe this is going on because you are not clean or do not use sanitary measures. It is more likely that some piece of equipment you are using has a nook or cranny, or hidden place where the bacteria is hiding between uses. This is evident by the fact the you are have such consistently bad results. The bacteria could be hiding behind a backing-nut of a fermentation faucet, or a piece of hose you have been using that hasn’t been getting completely sanitized all the way through.
I have also seen situations where pickling or vinegar making has been made near the wine making area. The bacteria used to make vinegar is called acetobacter. It can go airborne and land on different surfaces, including walls and ceilings, only later to fall directly into the wine.
Once some of the bacteria gets into the wine, the oxygen combined with the available nutrients provide the perfect storm of bacterial growth.
If your wines are experiencing a vinegar contamination, you will notice an off-odor in the wine. It may not be that strong, but will have a whaff of nail polish or paint thinner. If it is a bacterial contamination other than vinegar — a more wild bacteria — it could have odors ranging from barnyard, to sour milk, to sauerkraut. There are many, many different kinds of wild bacteria.
What I would do before starting another batch is to take all your wine making equipment completely apart and sanitize it with something like Cleanpro SDH or Basic A. Take all the faucets off the fermenters. Take the rubber stoppers off the air-locks.
If you are making your wine in a basement with exposed floor joists and such, I would spray it down with a bleach solution consisting of 1/4 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water. Just one light spray is sufficient.
When making your next wine, reduce the air exposure — particularly after the fermentation has completed. When bulk storing the wine, keep the head-space to a minimum. When racking the wine, don’t splash it around. Fill the container from the bottom up, with the hose all the way down to the bottom of the container.
Mike, I hope this helps you out. Just realize that there is something fundamentally wrong that probably has a simple solution. It’s just a matter of identifying what’s happening and correct it.
If you do not smell any off-odors or smell something different than what was described above, please let us know, so that we can hone in on the root cause.
Best Wishes,
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.

Hi everyone!  Is winter over yet?  I don’t know how it is where you are, but Mother Nature sure seems confused this winter!  I’m ready for spring, for sure!
Lately I’ve been pondering the idea of water.  Specifically, when it comes to home winemaking, what’s the best kind of water to use?
The first two batches of wine I made (the Pinot Grigio and also the Pinot Chardonnay), I utilized bottled spring water.  I really didn’t want to keep buying gallons upon gallons of water from the store for many different reasons, including 1) extra costs and 2) adding to the pile of plastic in our landfills.  While I try to control what gets recycled in my house and what doesn’t, I really can’t control where the plastic actually goes once it leaves my hands.  But I digress…
For my next batch of wine, I want to see if I can just use my tap water.  Doing a search on the ECKraus blog, I found question that was posed from a beginning winemaker regarding using tap water in winemaking.  Specifically, the reader asked: “Is it OK to use tap water to make this wine kit?”.  The folks at ECKraus responded that for most urban areas, the tap water is fine to use.  Basically, the biggest issue with using tap water in winemaking is the chlorine that is added during the treatment process in order to control for bacterial growth.  If there is too much chlorine in the water, that is bad news bears for your wine.
How am I supposed to know how much is too much?  Another resource I stumbled upon said that if you can smell chlorine, there is too much.  If you can’t smell it, it’s probably fine.  I wasn’t sure how accurate this actually was, so I decided to dig a little deeper and look into the water quality reports for the water in my city.  You can do this for your own city/town as well, as I believe water quality reports are in the public domain and anyone can have free access to this information.  For my town, last year’s water quality report was just a click away online.  According to these data, chlorine levels in my tap water are within the recommended limits put in place by the EPA.  Just because the chlorine levels in the water are safe to drink, are they low enough to be OK to use in my wine?
Since I’m not 100% convinced that it’s OK to use tap water in winemaking, even though I can’t smell chlorine and water quality reports suggest levels are within the acceptable range, I decided I’m going to boil the water first, just to be extra sure.  The ECKraus blog post that I mentioned previously mentioned that leaving the water out overnight would get rid of any excess chlorine, though I am too lazy to wait that long and I worry about other things getting into the water as it sits there (the pets may get curious….).  So, since the instructions for my next batch of wine indicate that I need to add warm water anyway, I’m going to sterilize a big pan, boil a bunch of water, then once it’s cool enough to be at the appropriate temperature listed in the instructions, I’ll knock out Day 1 and get this new batch of wine started!
Wish me luck!

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My name is Leigh Erwin, and I am a brand-spankin’ new home winemaker! E. C. Kraus has asked me to share with you my journey from a first-time dabbler to an accomplished home winemaker. From time to time I’ll be checking in with this blog and reporting my experience with you: the good, bad — and the ugly.

Hi, everybody!  Leigh here!
I decided to hold off on starting my new batch of wine (the CellarCraft Carmenere wine kit) until after I got back from vacation, as due to the timing of everything listed in the wine kit instructions, I wasn’t going to be able to get to a “holding point” before leaving on my journey.  Instead, I decided to take the time off to study the wine kit instructions more and figure out what I need to do and when, and if I have all the right equipment and ingredients to get this wine made.
Reading through the equipment requirements as well as the wine kit instructions for Day 1: Primary Fermentation, I do have a small concern.  In the equipment list, it noted that I needed an 8 gallon (30L) primary fermenter for this batch.  However, the only primary fermenter I have is a 6 gallon (23L) vessel.  Do I need to purchase a larger primary fermenter to complete this stage of the process?  I noticed that the final volume after adding the crushed grape pack is 24.5L, only 1.5L greater than the supposed capacity of my 6 gallon primary fermenter.
When I used my 6 gallon primary fermenter previous, I notice that the “full” line is actually a bit lower than the top of the fermenter.  I’m not certain if it was 1.5L of space, but I would like to think that it was.  From the line drawn on the 6 gallon point on the outside of the fermenter, it looks like there is plenty of space for 1.5 more liters of “stuff”.  I’ll have to ask the friendly folks as ECKraus about this, but I wanted to express my concerns to you all first, in case one of you has had experience with this and might be able to give me some advice.
Why not just buy an 8 gallon fermenter?  Well, in a perfect world, I would.  However, due to the lack of space in my current abode and the fact that I will be moving into a larger home at some point this fall, I really didn’t want to start too much of a collection of winemaking equipment until I moved.  The fewer items I have to move, the better!  Then, as I mentioned in previous entries, I’ll upgrade to glass and start growing my collection more then.  If I can get away with using the 6 gallon primary fermenter for this next batch of wine, I would rather do that for now.
After reading the wine kit instructions, the only other thing that “concerns” me (if I can even call it that), doesn’t really come into play until right before bottling.  Last time, I did not bother filtering my Pinot Grigio wine, as 1) it looked extremely clear to me and 2) I don’t have a wine filter!  This being a red wine with the potential for extra sediment, I think I may invest in a wine filtering system prior to bottling. Luckily for me, I have over a month to decide that at this point, so it’ll give me plenty of time to do some research to figure out which filter is right for me.
Thanks for reading, and certainly chime in if you have any experience with these wine kit instructions!

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My name is Leigh Erwin, and I am a brand-spankin’ new home winemaker! E. C. Kraus has asked me to share with you my journey from a first-time dabbler to an accomplished home winemaker. From time to time I’ll be checking in with this blog and reporting my experience with you: the good, bad — and the ugly.

I’m new and I think I just ruined my first 3 gallons of peach wine. I had everything ready to go to bottle and I went back to the internet to check the amount of potassium metabisulfite to add. I was sure I read 1 teaspoon per gallon prior to bottling, but noticed a really strong SO2 odor when I dumped the small amount of wine left in the 3 gallon carboy while cleaning up. I went back to check the amount again and found anywhere from 1/16th to 1/4 of a teaspoon is what I should have used. I had already corked the bottles at this point and now I don’t know if it can be salvaged. Will it break down if I leave it to age longer?
Name: Chris
State: IL
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Hello Chris,
Having too much SO2 in a wine can be a problem. It will not break down in the bottle or anything like that, but what it will do is dissipate into the air and go away. It is just a matter of giving it the SO2 an opportunity to do so.
Depending on the acidity of your wine, about half of the SO2 you added will permanently bond to the wine. This bound sulfite will do nothing to protect the wine. It is just there, and will remain there.
As doses of potassium metabisulfite or Campden tablets are added throughout the wine making process, the amount of bound sulfite builds up. If it builds up too much you can actually taste it in the wine. Fortunately, it takes quite a bit of over-dosing to get to that point. Because the perceptible taste of SO2 can be different from one wine to the next, I do not know for sure if you will be able to test the bound SO2 in your wine or not at the dose of 1 teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite per gallon.
The other half of the SO2 that doesn’t bond to the wine is know as free SO2. This is the half that actually does the protecting of the wine. It slows any oxidative processes that may be wanting to occur. It also stymies any bacteria or mold that may be wanting to grow in the wine.
This is also the half that will give the wine a strong sulfur odor upon decanting when you have too much SO2 in the wine. Since the free SO2 is volatile, it wants to leave as a gas. It just needs the opportunity to do so. This is why doses of potassium metabisulfite are added throughout the wine making process, to replenish the free SO2 that has dissipated as a gas. Here’s more information on this.
With that being said, it should start to become clear to you that you can very easily remedy the problem of having too much SO2 in the wine, but it will requires you to:

1. Decant the wine back into a bucket fermenter;
2. Allow the sulfite gases to dissipate;
3. Re-bottle the wine.

The fermenter needs to sit open to the air for the SO2 gases to escape. You can cover it with a very thin cloth towel to keep stuff from getting into the wine, but nothing more than that. You should let the wine sit like this for a couple of days.
Alternately, you can get a degassing mixer like The Whip to speed up the process. Using an item like this will allow you to degas any wine with too much SO2 in minutes.
This will allow you to rid the wine of the excessive free SO2 — the half you can smell — but it will not do anything to rid the wine of the bound sulfite — the half you won’t be able to taste anyway.
Ironically, it is very possible that all of the free SO2 will be removed with these steps, leaving the wine susceptible to oxidation and contamination. For this reason, I would strongly urge you to test the wine for SO2 before bottling again. This can be done with Titret Test Vials and a Titrettor Hand Tool.
There is one other option for someone that has too much SO2 in their wine. It is much easier to accomplish, but may not be satisfactory to you, especially if you would like to hand these bottles of wine out as gifts. That is to simply pour the wine into a carafe and let it sit for a few hours. You could also invest in an wine aerator. There are many different types on the market that can purchase at a commercial wine store. A good aerator would allow the excess SO2 to dissipate in minutes.
I hope this helps you out Chris. Having too much SO2 in your wine can be a big bummer. Just realize that there are solutions.
Best Wishes,
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.

Hey all!  Beginner winemaking blogger, Leigh, here!
I am so excited to report that I received my next shipment from Homebrewing.org the other day!  As you may recall, my first wine was a California Connoisseur Pinot Grigio that is now hanging out in wine bottles (bottled a few days before Christmas), and my second wine was a SunCal Chardonnay that is currently spending some time kicking back in a carboy for a couple of months while everything settles out.  In fact, we’re about 2 weeks into that 2 month waiting game at the moment.  It’s looking good so far—no red flags at the moment, and it’s definitely starting to clear up little by little.  It’s since turned from a murky cloudy wine to a translucent wine that I can’t quite see through yet, but it’s definitely less cloudy than it was after I racked it two weeks ago.
Anyway, since I want this to be a continuous beginner wine making journey, and not wanting to wait 2 months before I did anything home winemaking related, I decided to go ahead and buy another wine making kit and a few more pieces of wine making equipment and get my third batch of wine started while the second one was spending some quality time with the carboy.
Since I’ve made two whites in a row, one of which is turning out quite nicely (in my beginner’s opinion) and the other looking nice but is not far along enough to cast judgment, I wanted to shift gears and try my hand at making a red wine.  I almost went with a Chardonnay using oak chips/oak cubes, but I ultimately decided to just launch right in and try a red.
I ended up purchasing the CellarCraft Showcase Red Wine kit: Carmenere, as Carmenere is one of my favorite red wines, and, well, it has a nice ring to it!  When the package arrived, I was surprised at how heavy it was—-51 pounds!  For a moment I felt really bad for the delivery person that had to carry that up a couple flights of stairs!
Opening up the package, right off the bat I knew this was a big step up from making the white.  What I mean is that there are many more ingredients needed for this particular wine, and many more steps along the way.
The difference between how I feel now and how I felt when I looked at the instruction sheet the very first time I made wine a few months ago, is that instead of feeling anxious, scared, or worried that I might screw up, now I feel a sense of excitement for the new challenge that sits before me. The beginner wine making fear is starting to subside.
So, things I’m most excited about for this 3rd batch of wine:

1. Fermenting the wine with the skins!  I obviously didn’t pay close enough attention to the product description, as it had slipped my mind that this wine kit was coming complete with the grape skins for maceration!  Thinking back now, it makes sense to me, as this is how red wines are made, but for some reason at the time, it didn’t click.  Anyhow, these skins definitely helped contribute to the 51 pound weight of the entire package.
2. Using oak chips and oak cubes.  This wine kit comes with both—both Hungarian oak as well—and I’m really looking forward to trying my hand at using them.  The kit also came with a little cloth pouch for the chips, which reminds me a lot of a tea bag (side note:  I love tea and drink a lot of it).
3. Doing punch downs.  OK, well, it’ll be more like a stirring process than a real “punch down” as they say in the commercial industry since the scale is so small, but hey, that is what I will be doing, right?
4. Following countless instructions.  I know that sounds odd, but I love following recipes, lists, and any other organized schedule of sorts.  These instructions come complete with 46 different tasks, so I shall prepare myself with a pen full of ink to check-check-check as I go!

So there you have it, my beginner wine making notes. Have any of you newbies ventured into red winemaking yet?  For the more experienced of the bunch, any tips or hints for someone who is making a red wine for the first time?

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My name is Leigh Erwin, and I am a brand-spankin’ new home winemaker! E. C. Kraus has asked me to share with you my journey from a first-time dabbler to an accomplished home winemaker. From time to time I’ll be checking in with this blog and reporting my experience with you: the good, bad — and the ugly.