Transferring Your Wine To A Clean Fermenter

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Fermenter With FaucetPart of learning how to make your own wine is mastering the process of racking. Racking means to transfer the wine or must from one fermenter to the next so as to leave any sediment behind. This process usually needs to be done once or twice with the wine brewing and at least once before you bottle.
If you have one of our plastic fermenters with a faucet at the bottom, racking is simple. Just attach our 3/8″ vinyl hose to the spigot and turn it on with the hose leading to the next fermenter. The faucet is away from the bottom of the plastic fermenter so as to not draw sediment.
As you get to the end of the wine or must you can tilt the fermenter to get the last bit of wine. The sediment should stay fairly well stuck to the bottom.
If you don’t have this kind of setup or are racking from glass jugs or similar, you will need to start a siphon with some vinyl hose. There are a few ways you can go about getting the siphon started.
The Auto Siphon

  1. You can suck on the end of the hose to get is started, just like siphoning gas (yuk).
  2. You can fill (prime) the hose with water from the sink, then discard the first cup or so of the siphon (hassle).
  3. You can put as much of the hose into the wine as possible and then put your thumb over the end to create a vacuum. Pull out the hose and stick the end with your thumb into the next vessel (messy).
  4. You can get one of our Siphon Kits that allows you to start the siphon from gallon jugs or glass carboys by blowing into a tube.
  5. You can get The Auto Siphon. This starts the siphon by pumping it slowly, one-time, kind of like a bicycle tire pump.
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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.

Has Vinegar Ruined My Glass Carboy?

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infected apple cider in a fermenterPlease help:
I recently noticed that a partially full carboy of apple cider wine had developed mother of vinegar proteins.  What is the likelihood that I will be able to use that carboy again for wine making?  I am currently using a sodium metabisulfite solution in an attempt to sanitize it.  Will this be sufficient?
Thank you.
Robin M.
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Hello Robin M.
Sorry to hear about your apple cider going rogue vinegar on you.
The good news is that acetobacter – the bacteria the produces vinegar – is easy to destroy with a normal dose of sodium metabisulfite. Getting any glass carboys that have been exposed back into a sanitized condition will be no issue at all.
There are a couple of thing I would like to point out for your consideration. The first is that acetobacter can be a little sneaky, so you need to look beyond your glass carboys. You need to consider things like rubber stoppers, air-locks… any wine making materials that might have come into contact with the acetobacter. These bacteria like to hide in crevices, cracks and dark corners. Because of this, rough surfaces need extra-special attention.
The second issue is that acetobacter can become air-born. It can float onto counter-tops, the floor, floor-joists, etc. I’m not saying this to scare you but to make you aware of the potential that acetobacter has. With that being said, you should do a quick wipe-down the immediate area. You can use a solution of bleach and water, 1/4 cup to each gallon.
Happy Wine Making,
Customer Service at E. C. 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.

101 Useful Tips for Making Your Own Wine

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Wine Making TipsSometimes learning a new hobby really has more to do with learning all the little ins-and-outs than it does with learning the basics. For example, to get some wine brewing is really quite easy. You just mix all the ingredients together; add the yeast; and let it ferment; and you’ll have wine.
There’s a lot of activities that are this way, from playing baseball to frosting a cake. The basic are simple, but the details are endless. In baseball who goes for the bunt when the plays at third? When decorating a cake, what’s the best decorating tip to use for making rose peddles?
The reason I bring all this up is because we have come across a wine making book that has nothing to do with wine making fundamentals and everything to do with the details. It’s called, 101 Wine Kit Tips.
As the title suggests, it’s a collection of wine making tips that quite often fills the holes that other wine making books may leave uncovered. Such as tip #82, what to do when your wine is too dry. It’s also a journey into practicality. For example, tip #12 show how to use an everyday wire hanger to suspend a funnel over an open, bucket fermenter, and 99 others.
These are wine making tips that will save you time, energy, and a bit of stumbling. It’s a great addition to any winemaker’s library, and will help to solidify your knowledge of wine making at home. Now you can get 101 Wine Kit Tips at a reduced price of $9.95. It used to be $12.95, making it an even greater value than before.
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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.

Grape Vines And Refractometers Go Hand-In-Hand!

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RefractometersWine Making Refractometer are vital to the successful operation of any vineyard, large or small. Even the individual who may just have a few vines in his/her backyard should strongly consider getting a refractometer of their own. Their value in helping you to determine when to pick your grapes makes them essential for anyone who plans to make their own wine.
Refractometers have come down in price in recent years as well, making them more affordable for an individual to own. The refractometer we offer today cost only $79.95. Ten years ago you would have paid over $200.
You may be asking yourself, what is it exactly that refractometers do any? Simply put, refractometers measure the percentage of sugar that is in the grape juice. The scale it does this with is call brix. For example, a brix reading of 20 would mean the grape juice is 20% sugar.
By monitoring your grapes’ brix level as they mature and become sweeter, you can then determine if it is time to pick yet. For more information on using refractometers to determine when to pick, you may want to take a look at the following blog post that covers the use of refractometers in a harvest situation,  Picking When To Pick… The Winemaker’s First Decision.
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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.

How Does A Steam Juicer Work?

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Steam Juice For Making WineIf you’re the kind of home wine maker that always seems to have fresh fruit coming your way, one piece of homemade wine equipment you should have on hand is a steam juicer.
It works beautifully for extracting juices from a huge variety of different fruits, so no matter what type of fruit ends up falling your way, the steam juicer will be able to help you to turn it into wine.
A steam juicer works by bursting the fruit with steam and then collecting the fruit’s juice as it freely drains from the pulp.
As you can see in the diagram on the right, the fruit is put into a perforated pan with a lid. This pan then sits on top of a collector pan. All this sits over a pan of boiling water which is being heated by your stove.
As the water boils, steam rises through the opening of the collector pan to the fruit. As the fruit breaks down from the steam, it releases the juice from the pulp. The juice then falls through the perforated holes into the collector pan.
From there you can drain the juice into canning jars for later use, or you can drain it directly into your fermenter so you can start making your next batch of wine.
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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.

How Big Does A Secondary Fermenter Need To Be?

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Homemade Wine EquipmentHelp,
I’m getting together some homemade wine equipment. Question: does the secondary fermenter have to be (6) gal. for making (5)gal.of wine???
Thanks
James T.
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Hello James T.,
The primary fermenter needs to be about 6 gallons for 5 gallons batch of wine. This is to allow room for the foaming, otherwise you have a potential for foam to come through the rubber stopper, out the air-lock and on to your floor.
But when it comes to the secondary fermenter, you would like it’s size to match the size of the batch. There should be very little foam at this stage of the fermentation to be concerned about. By eliminating the extra head-space you are reducing your chances for having your wine adversely effected by oxidation.
Headspace is not so much important when the fermentation is still releasing gases, there’s no oxygen in this space, but it does become a consideration once the fermenetation has stopped and the rubber stopper has been taken off for whatever reason.
Best Wishes,
Customer Service at Adventures in Homebrewing
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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.

Can I Add Sodium Metabisulfite To My Wine Now?

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Here’s a question from a customer who has essentially aged his wine in bulk for a few months. He wants to know if he should be adding sodium metabisulfite at this time.
Sodium Metabisulfite———-
Fellow Winemakers,
Can I add sodium metabisulfite to my wine now?
I have 25 gallon of grape wine in 5 gallon glass jugs that I made in September of 2009 filled to the top no air space to stop bacterial infection can I add sodium metabisulfite before I rack the wine? and how long  should I wait before I rack the wine? I want to thank you for taking the time for all the information.
Thank again,
Richard R.
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Yes, you should put in the sodium metabisulfite, but add it after you rack the wine, not before. If you add it before the racking, much of the sulfites will dissipate into the air. You should use a full-dose (1/16 teaspoon per each gallon) unless you have already added it before since the fermentation has ceased. In this case, I would suggest adding a half-dose instead.
In general, you should rack the wine after 5-7 days of fermentation, then again once the fermentation is complete. Then a final racking is done after the wine has clear. This can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. You can bottle the wine at this time, or you can elect to leave it in bulk for a while to age.
Best Wishes,
Customer Service at Adventures in Homebrewing
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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.

Preparing Your Synthetic Corks For Bottling

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Synthetic CorksOne of the primary goals of this blog is to continuously provide wine making tips and advice that will make life easier for the home winemaker. With that in mind, here’s another tidbit that you may want to look over.
One of the greatest advantages of using synthetic corks is that they are easy to sanitize. Their surface is not porous like an natural cork, so you can quickly and confidently sanitize them with a quick, straight-forward process. All you need to do is give them about 20 minutes or better of contact time with a mixture of sodium metabisulfite and water.
The simplest way I’ve found to accomplish this is to put the corks in a gallon glass carboy and fill the glass jug about half way with water. Then add 1 teaspoon of sodium metabisulfite and shake the jug to dissolve the sulfite crystals. Then fill the jug the rest of the way with water and put screw cap on and let sit for at least 20 minutes. The corks are buoyant so this is why you can’t just put them in a bowl of the mix.
The same thing can be done with natural corks as well, except in this instance the corks should be treated for 24 hours. This is for two reasons: 1) To give time to for the sulfites to sanitize the porous openings of the natural cork, and 2) to give time for the corks to soften slightly so that they will go in the bottle more easily with a wine bottle corker.
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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.

Why Does A Wine Recipe Call For Raisins?

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making wine at homeHi,
What value, if any is there to adding raisins to a wine recipe? Because I see some wine recipes using the same fruit-some use raisins and some don’t. Thanks for your information.
Bernie C.
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Hello Bernie C.
Thank you for the great question.
It’s not unusual to find wine recipes that call for raisins, especially in some of the older wine making books that are geared more towards country style wines. Books such as, First Steps In Winemaking or, Winemakers’ Recipe Handbook have several recipes that utilize raisins.
By design, country style wines are very full-bodied with a lot of fruity flavors. Most of them end up sweet as well. They can be made from anything from apricots to raspberries.
Raisins may be called for because they are an abundant source of body. They can improve the mouth-feel of the wine by increasing its viscosity. This gives the wine a heartier, overall impression. It also causes the fruit flavors to linger on the tongue longer, producing a fruitier impression.
Raisins also add a caramel element to the wine. This is an effect that is caused by the browning, oxidative effects of sun-drying the raisins. This is the same characteristic found in Ports or Sherrys. This can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the type of wine and preference of the wine drinker. You can reduce this characteristic by using Muscat, or white raisins instead.
I hope this helps you out.
Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. 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.

My Wine’s Bubbling The Wrong Way

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Air LockHi Wine Helpers,
On the second rack it seems like the fermenting has stopped!(about 10 days) no bubbles in the air lock that I have on my gallon glass carboy, then last night I looked at the air lock and it looks like the wine is pulling a vacuum the water is on the wrong side. What do you think?
Justin
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Dear Justin,
Glad to hear that your fermentation appears to be finished after 10 days. This is about average for the amount of time it typically takes for the fermentation activity to complete.
I understand how you can be concerned about seeing the air-lock looking like it’s going backwards, but this happens from time to time. It’s being caused by the wine chilling down at night. As any liquid becomes cooler it contracts. The slight shrinkage of volume that is occurring in your gallon glass carboy is what is causing the vacuum, particularly when your rubber stopper is nice and snug.
Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. 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.