Preparing Corks For Bottling Wine

Posted on November 14, 2013 by AIH

Just made a bottle of peach wine. This is my first batch and I’m getting ready to bottle it. What is the best way to prepare the corks for bottling?

Thanks,
Chris

—–

Hello Chris,

There are a couple of methods for preparing corks for bottling wine. The way I personally like to do it is to take a container that has a lid that is large enough to hold all the corks you will need — something like an old tin coffee can, or I have a old instant Lipton tea jar I use. One or two Mason jars would work as well. Put all the wine corks in the container. Then fill it up with a water/sulfite solution.

This solution should consist of 1 teaspoon of either sodium metabisulfite or potassium metabisulfite for each gallon of water. If you are using Campden tablets, add at the rate of 16, crushed, per gallon.

As you fill up the container with this sulfite solution the wine corks will want to float out, so you will need to use your spare hand to corral them back down into the water. Once the container is completely full, put the lid on and let them sit over night. When you are ready to use the corks, dump them out into a colander and let them drain for 20 minutes or so, and they’ll be ready to go, no reason to rinse.

The second method for preparing corks for bottling wine is to steam them. The advantage to this is that the wine corks will be ready sooner. The disadvantage is that if you over-steam the corks you can activate the natural enzymes within them, causing the corks to bread down and become brittle over time. The result is crumbling corks that are difficult and unattractive to remove from your wine bottle.

If you decide to steam the corks you do not want to do it for any longer that 5 minutes — 3 would be better. Take a pot of water, and bring it to a boil. Then move off the burner; throw the corks on top; and cover with a lid. After the 3 to 5 minutes, take the corks off the water. You can just pour it through a colander. But whatever you do, don’t leave them on the heated water.

The method I prefer the most for preparing corks is the first one. Submerging the corks in a sulfite is affective and will not compromise the cork in anyway. The only downfall is that you will need to plan a day ahead. No big deal.

Anyone else have any ideas they’d like to share for preparing corks for bottling wine?

Happy Winemaking,
Ed Kraus

———————————————————————————————————
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.

Making Apple Wine Without A Press

Posted on November 12, 2013 by AIH

Sliced Apples For Making Wine Without A Press Can you make wine from cut up apples instead of using only juice. I found recipes for all kinds of whole fruit, but not apples. I have made several batches of wine with your products and they have all turned out well. I have a large apple tree and would like to make apple wine, but don’t want to squeeze the juice. I have made chokecherry and blueberry that are wonderful.
Name: Jerry S.
State: Nebraska
—–
Hello Jerry,
It is possible to make wine apple without a press and use cut up apples, instead. The issue is that water needs to be added along with the chopped apples to make it a fermentable must. The result is a weaker flavored apple wine than what you would get with straight apple juice. This is not a particularly good thing when you consider that fact that apples do not have that much flavor to begin with as compared to chokecherries and blueberries.
So you have to ask yourself if you would be happy making an apple wine that was a little lighter in body and with a little less flavor. If you’ve got the time and the apples would be going to waste anyway, I say go for it. If you have limited time and you’d eat the apples anyway, then I might reconsider, but of course, it’s up to you.
If you do decide on making apple wine without a press the first thing that should be realized is that if you are making 5 gallons, you will need about 10 gallons of fermenter volume. This is to make room for all the apples and water needed. By the time you remove all the apple solids during the fermentation you will be left with about 5 gallons.
To start out you will need to decide how you are going to chop the apples. I would suggest focusing on making slices of apples instead of cubes. This will allow more flavor to be extracted more easily during the fermentation. An apple coring/slicing knife would not be a bad option for this. You nee to be chopping about 80 pounds of apples to end up with 5 gallons of apple wine.
Dump all the sliced apples in the fermenter(s). Add a sugar/water mixture to fermenters until the apples are covered. This sugar/water mixture is made by dissolving 1-1/2 pounds of sugar to each gallon of water.
You will need to add acid blend to the apple must. For now, add 2 tablespoons to entire 5 gallon batch. If the batch is divided into two fermenters, put 1 tablespoon in each. This is just to get the acidity close enough for a proper, safe fermentation. Once the fermentation is complete and the apple wine has cleared and it is ready to be bottled, you will want to test the acidity with an acid test kit to make a final acidity adjustment.
You will also want to add yeast nutrient at the rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon of actual must. You will also need to add wine tannin — 1 teaspoon over the entire 5 gallon batch is plenty.
The final steps for preparing the apple wine must is to add 1 crushed Campden tablet per each gallon of wine must. If you have 10 gallons of actual must, add 10 tablets. Wait 24 hours for the Campden tablets to do their thing, then add a packet of Red Star Pasteur Champagne Wine Yeast. During this 24 hour period you want to leave the fermenter(s) uncovered, or covered with a very thin towel, at most.
From the point of adding the wine yeast on, the wine making process is like making any other wine. After 5 days or so you will want to remove the apple pulp and then get the wine must under air-lock. You may want to consider using a fermentation bag in the fermenter. This will make pulp removal a breeze. And, you will have a lot of it.
So there it is, all the steps for making apple wine without a press. Just understand that the flavor will be a little weaker, but it will most certainly taste like an apple wine.
Happy Winemaking,
Ed Kraus
———————————————————————————————————
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.

Winemaking Terms You Should Know: Part 5

Posted on November 7, 2013 by AIH

Bottle Shock Scene 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.

Bottle shock – If you’ve ever seen the movie, starring Bill Pullman and Chris Pine, you might already been familiar with this term. Bottle shock, also known as “bottle sickness”, is the term used for the temporary condition that wines sometimes get immediately after being bottled or being shaken up due to shipping or other general jostling around. A wine experiencing bottle shock will sometimes taste as though its flavors are “muted” or otherwise out of balance. The good thing about the condition of bottle shock is that it doesn’t last that long, so after you’ve bottled your wines, just let them sit for a period of time before opening and enjoying them.
Casein – Casein is compound that is derived from milk proteins, and that is used as a fining agent in winemaking. Casein is often recommended for use during white winemaking, as it is very effective in reducing any browning caused by oxidation. One problem that can arise with casein is that if you use too much, it can strip the color out of your wine, so be sure to use the recommended amount necessary for your homemade wine.
Maceration – Maceration refers to the process of the grape skins contacting the must during fermentation. The main purpose of maceration is to extract polyphenols, anthocyanins, and tannins, as well as adding complexity to the aroma, flavor, body, and texture of the finished wine. Maceration is primarily used during the red winemaking process, though some have experimented with using the technique in white winemaking with mixed results.
Süssreserve – Süssreserve is probably a term you’re less familiar with, though all it refers to is the un-fermented grape juice that is used to sweeten a finished/fermented wine. German in origin, this technique was and still is used today for semi-sweet German Rieslings. According to German law, no more than 15% of the final wine’s volume may be this “sweet reserve” juice. Süssreserve effectively increases the sugar content of the finish wine, while at the same time reduces the alcohol level. Making a sweet wine using süssreserve is different than simply stopping the fermentation process early, as süssreserve results in mostly glucose and fructose sugars, while stopping fermentation early results in mostly just fructose sugars.

— Other Winemaking Terms You Should Know:
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1
———————————————————————————————————
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.

Day 5: My Cider Is Dry. Can I Sweeten it?

Posted on November 5, 2013 by AIH

Bottle Of Apple Cider I am into the 5th day of the 2nd fermentation of my apple cider. I took a sample of the cider yesterday and found it to be very dry and cloudy. I have two questions. 1) Can I add sugar at this point to sweeten or will this just increase the alcohol content? 2) Can I add pectin at this time or is that only mixed with the must? Or is there a better fining additive? Thank you.
Name: Chuck F.
State: NY
—–
Hello Chuck,
You are correct in thinking that more sugar will only contribute to more alcohol. If you want to sweeten the wine you want to do it right before bottling, not day 5 of the fermentation.
Once the cider has come to a point that it is ready to bottle, add sugar to taste. The sugar should be in a simple syrup form made by heating up equal parts of sugar and water in a sauce pan. Add the sugar syrup to get the sweetness you like.
You will also need to add potassium sorbate at the same time to keep the fermentation from restarting. Potassium sorbate will keep a wine that is still and clear from starting a renewed fermentation. You may want to read more on sweetening your wine before actually doing it.
Most of the cloudy stuff you are seeing in the wine at this stage is yeast. A little packet of wine yeast will typically grow to 100 to 150 times what you put in. It is finer than flour, so it does take time for it to settle out.
It is completely normal for the cider to be cloudy at this stage. Once the fermentation stops, you will slowly see the cider begin to clear. It may take a week or two to completely clear, but it will clear. You can add bentonite to help speed up the clearing process, but do not add it before the fermentation has completely finished.
Now for your second question about adding pectic enzyme. If you have not added pectic enzyme to the cider, you should go ahead and do it now. We recommend adding double the recommended dosage. This is because you are adding it after the fermentation has started. You need more enzymatic power to get it up to speed.
Pectic enzyme does two things: 1) it helps to break down the pulp so that you can get more juice and flavor from it; 2) it breaks down pectin that can cause cloudy haze in the cider. You can read more about using pectic enzyme, as well.
I hope this helps you out. Just be a little patient. Give the wine some time and things should come together like they should.
Happy Winemaking,
Ed Kraus
———————————————————————————————————
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.

Homemade Wines Fermenting At Different Rates

Posted on November 2, 2013 by AIH

Homemade Wine Fermenting A Different Rates I’ve recently started making wine again after about ten years away and, of course, the changes in wine kits over that time are striking! Specifically, I’ve started three different kits from different manufacturers and followed each set of instructions accurately. All three completed fermentation (as measured by hydrometer), but the first one was visibly vigorous with a lot of foaming, the second just bubbled a bit and completed in only three days, and I had to look carefully at the third to see the tiny bubbles rising up the sides of the carboy. Why did these fermentations look so different, was one “better” than the others, and were these differences intentional by the manufacturers?
Name: Dave S.
State: Ohio
—–
Hello Dave,
Fermentations will more often then not will vary in both their appearance and speed, even when they are sitting side by side. Some of the reason for this is that there are just so many variables involved with a wine fermentation.
From the set of nutrients in one fermentation verses another, to the fact that one is slightly closer to the basement window than the other — all of these little things can make a difference in the way a wine ferments. And, the list of these little things (variables) goes on and on… They affect the fermentation time, and they effect the bubble rate.
But having said this there are two factors that trump all these variables: 1) what is being fermented, and 2) the type of wine yeast being used.
Different juices foam differently. They also vary in the set of nutrients they provide for the fermentation. These nutrients can directly affect the wine yeast’s ability to ferment. Some wine yeast will foam more than others. It just part of their character. Some yeast will also ferment harder than others, given the same set of fermentation variables.
Now for a final word. None of this matters. How much the fermentation foams or how quickly it finishes will have no direct effect on the final outcome of the wine. Whether it is 3 days or 10 days, it will result in the same wine when matured 6 months down the road.
What does matter is that the best wine yeast for the particular job at hand is used. That is why these kit manufactures will use an array of different yeast strains across their line of wine kits. Some work better with certain wine juices then others. Some of it is because of the flavor nuances the wine yeast provides. Some of it is because it is better at fermenting the situation at hand. Here is a yeast profile chart that may help you to understand this a little more clearly.
Thanks for the great question and happy wine making,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus
———————————————————————————————————
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.

Wine Making Terms You should Know: Part 4

Posted on October 15, 2013 by AIH

In several earlier posts, we introduced a few home wine making 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.

PVPP: PVPP isn’t actually a word, but what it stands for certainly is! PVPP is short for polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (say that three times fast). PVPP is a common fining agent used in winemaking, and is specifically used in white winemaking for the removal of compounds that contribute to the premature browning of the white wine. Interestingly, the parent compound of PVPP (which is PVP; polyvinylpyrrolidone) has pharmaceutical drug applications in humans.
Ullage: Ullage is a fancy term for “headspace” in winemaking that was originally derived from the French word “ouillage”. This headspace term applies to all situations in winemaking, including in the barrel, in the tank, or in the wine bottle. The term ‘ullage’ is also often used when describing the act of topping off a barrel with more wine in order to combat the damaging effects of oxidation caused by too much oxygen contact and headspace in the barrel.
Chaptalization: Chaptalization in winemaking refers to the process of adding sugar to the wine must in order to increase the alcohol content of the finished wine. Since yeast consume sugar and convert that to alcohol (and carbon dioxide), the more sugar you start with, the greater the alcohol level in the finished wine has the potential to become. The Chaptalization process is actually illegal in some regions, so before you practice this method, take a look at the rules for your wine region if you plan on selling your product.
Gelatin: Gelatin is used as a fining agent in winemaking. Specifically, gelatin acts to remove excess concentrations of tannins in the wine, as well as other negatively charged phenolic compounds that are in excess in your wine. Gelatin is derived from collagen obtained from animal by-products, so if you’re attempting to make vegan wine, you may wish to look for other fining agents that are plant in origin.
Liqueur de tirage: This is probably a term you won’t run into too much as a home winemaker, but if you ever decide to make sparkling wine, you’ll need to become familiar with it quickly! Liqueur de tirage is defined as the solution containing yeasts and sugar that is used to start the secondary fermentation process of sparkling winemaking. Without liqueur de tirage, you’ll have a hard time getting bubbles!

Reusing Box Wine Container Bags For Homemade Wine

Posted on October 10, 2013 by AIH

Box Wine Contianer Is it ok to use boxed wine containers for my homemade wine, after removing spigot, and using Camden tabs to clean container? Spigot is easily removed and replaced. I make 15 gal every run, bottles get expensive. Thanks
Name: Dale
State: TN
—–
Hello Dale,
No one here has any specific experience with reusing box wine container bags for homemade wine. I haven’t heard of any of our customer doing this either, so I don’t have any direct experience with using them. But knowing what I do know about wine and storage, I see know reason why you couldn’t reuse the bag-in-a-box container.
The biggest concern is sanitation. If remnants of the original wine has been sitting in the bag for some time, weeks maybe, and has become dried, it could be hard to get the box wine container bag completely sanitized. But on the other hand, if you rinse the original wine out as soon as you empty the box bag, it should be fairly easy to sanitize.
As far as sanitizers go, I would suggest using CleanPro SDH in the bag. Realize that the only way you are going to get it completely sanitize is to fill the box bag completely up to maximum capacity. The sanitizing solution needs to come in contact with all surfaces. This will not happen unless the bag is fully expanded and wrinkles eliminated.
Also, you will want to add sulfites to the wine just before putting the homemade wine in the box wine bag. This can be in the form of either: Campden tablets, potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite. It doesn’t’ matter. This suggestion is no different than if you where putting your homemade wine up in wine bottles.
When actually sealing the wine bag shut, you will want to eliminate any air pockets in the wine bag. Any air in the bag will only contribute to oxidation.
My personal thought is that reusing box wine containers bags for homemade wine does have potential, but there may be some problems to look out for as well, particularly when it comes to long-term storage and aging. Will the wine age well? Will the bag’s plastic allow too much air to permeate and facilitate oxidation?
I would like to also point out that there is a similar product that can be used for this purpose. We have been selling Reliance containers for over 30 years for both fermenting and dispensing. Like the bag-in-a-box containers, they collapse as the wine is decanted.
Happy Winemaking,
Ed Kraus
———————————————————————————————————
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.

Using Bentonite In Winemaking

Posted on September 26, 2013 by AIH

Bentonite For Winemaking The wine kits I use come with Bentonite. I am preparing to start my first batch of hard cider, from scratch. Should I use Bentonite in that also?
Name: Betsy L
State: WI
—–
Hello Betsy,
Thanks for the great question about using bentonite! Before I answer your question I would like to go over some things about how bentonite is used in winemaking.
The reason bentonite is used in the wine with the wine ingredient kits is so that the wine will clear up more quickly and be ready to bottle in the 28 days, as these kits promise. The bentonite is put in the wine at the beginning of fermentation.
This is somewhat unusual in winemaking since fining agents are typically added after the fermentation, not before. But you can get away with it if you know the dosage to add and have bench-tested this amount such as the wine ingredient kit producers have done.
The amount of bentonite used in a wine is critical when added before the fermentation. Use too much and you will drag out all the wine yeast and stop the fermentation; don’t use enough and there’s no early clearing of the wine/cider.
To answer your question, yes, go ahead and put bentonite in the wine, but do not use it before the fermentation, but rather, after the fermentation has completed. The dosage listed on the container will be intended for use at this time. It is a much larger dose than what would be used before the fermentation.
Also realize that if you didn’t use any bentonite in the wine at all, it would more than likely clear up on its own just fine anyway. Just not as quickly. Bentonite is generally used in wine right after to the fermentation to speed up the process and make it more stable sooner, not necessarily to make the wine better.
Thanks again for such a great question about bentonite and its use in winemaking. We have more information on using bentonite before the fermentation if you are interested.
Happy Winemaking,
Ed Kraus
———————————————————————————————————
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.

Winemaking Terms You Should Know: Part 3

Posted on September 24, 2013 by AIH

Man Drinking Homemade Wine In some 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 the previous posts, will give 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.

Anthocyanin: We’re coming out swinging with this winemaking term! Anthocyanin is the term for those chemical compounds that are responsible for the color of red wines. Specifically, depending upon the pH of the wine, anthocyanins appears to the naked eye as various shades of red, purple, or sometimes blue. Anthocyanins are from the parent family of Flavanoids, and are odorless and flavorless, though they often contribute a quality of astringency to a wine. Anthocyanins are frequently spotted in the research literature, as they have been linked to not only wine quality, but also have been shown to have positive health benefits for humans.
First Press Juice: The first press or first pressing is the juice that comes out of the grapes from the (you guessed it) first time the grapes are pressed. This juice will be the clearest and have the lowest levels of debris or other contaminants than all subsequent presses. First press juice will have greater concentrations of polyphenols and skin/seed-related compounds than free-run juice (see below).
Free-Run Juice: Elaborating a little more on juice from grapes, the winemaking term free-run juice is defined as the juice that comes from the grapes without any pressing. In other words, it’s the juice that comes out of the grapes on its own as they sit there in the press prior to any pressure being applied. Free-run juice is often kept separate from pressed juice, and sometimes mixed back together during blending to increase quality and complexity of the finished wine. It’s perfectly acceptable to make a wine completely from free-run juice (or pressed-juice only) and is sometimes as simply as personal preference.
Must: This home winemaking term might be pretty easy for you, though if you’re completely new to winemaking, it may seem like an odd word to you. Must is actually a noun in winemaking, and not the auxiliary verb form that is often used in everyday language. The definition of must in winemaking is actually significantly different than the definition of must you may have run into throughout your education. Must in winemaking is a term for the unfermented grape juice, including the skins, seeds, and other plant debris left after pressing. Basically, the must is the stuff you have after pressing the grapes but before you have wine.

What's The Rules For Topping Up Wine

Posted on September 21, 2013 by AIH

Topped Up Wine When making my wine I have never topped up on the first or second racking. I have had great results but a few people tell me I need to be topping up the wine. I could see topping up the wine if I was batch aging, but for the 4 weeks I hold and rack after primary fermentation I am no so sure. It should be mentioned I am usually only down much less than a liter. Your thoughts?
Name: Mike in B’ville
State: NY
—–
Hello MIke,
If you are making wine from a box wine ingredient kit topping up the wine is not recommend. Partially for the reasons you gave about it not being that long of time, but also because these kit manufacturers produce the wine in such a way that they do not oxidize very easily. This is just one of the many advantages of using a wine ingredient kit.
However, if you are making a wine from fresh fruit or fresh juice the story is a little different.
First off, you don’t need to be topping up the wine while the fermentation is occurring. This is because the CO2 gas (carbon dioxide) coming off the fermentation keeps the air away and protects it from oxidation. The CO2 is slightly heavier than air, so it wants to create a protective blanket across the surface of the wine.
Even when the fermentation has completely stopped, as long as you have not taken the air-lock off the fermenter, there is no reason to be topping up the wine. The CO2 gasses from the fermentation are still trapped in the head-space of the fermenter. No air is in the head-space.
But the moment you remove the air-lock or take the lid off the fermenter, all the rules change. You are then in a situation where not only is topping up important but vital to the color and flavor of the wine.
What is topping up a wine?
What is meant by topping up a wine is increasing the volume of the wine so as to reduce the amount of head-space in the vessel. To be more specific, the exact goal here is to eliminate as much surface contact between the wine and the air. You want this contact to be as minimal as possible.
In the case of a carboy, when you increase the volume of the wine you push the surface of the wine from the shoulders into the neck. It goes from maybe a square foot of surface contact area to maybe 2 square inches.
Hope this info helps you out,
Ed Kraus
———————————————————————————————————
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.