3 Quick Wine Making Tips!

Home winemaking can be quite an investment in time and money, therefore it’s very important to be meticulous and careful throughout the entire process.  Of course, home winemaking is also quite a joy and is a wonderful hobby, and following a few important wine making tips will lower your chances of disaster in the bottle!
Below you’ll find some of the most crucial wine making tips that you should consider abiding by in order to maximize your chances of creating a delicious wine to enjoy or share:
1. Follow the instructions!
Unless you have been making wine forever and know the wine recipe so well you can recite it from memory, one of the most important wine making tips you should follow is to follow the wine making instructions!  Until you’re so comfortable with the wine recipe that the process becomes second nature to you, or you’re attempting to create a new wine you haven’t tried before, it’s important adhere to this wine making tip, to read and follow the directions, and know ahead of time the steps you’ll have to take to make a great wine.
2. Understand the stuff you’re putting into your wine!
Another great wine making tip is to understand the wine making ingredients that you’re using to make your wine.  Why do I need yeast nutrients?  What is the deal with this pectin enzyme?  If you’re just throwing ingredients in without understanding how they are contributing to the wine making process, it becomes very difficult to troubleshoot when things go unexpectedly.  If you follow this wine making tip and know the exact role of each wine making ingredient, you’ll have a better chance of saving a potentially trouble wine by adjusting the amounts of whatever ingredient is best in any situation.
3. Use clean, sanitary equipment!
You can ruin your wine immediately by starting the process in an unsanitary carboy or using other dirty wine making equipment.  A critical wine making tip is that you always use clean equipment throughout the entire home winemaking process.  Goodness knows what could be growing on a dirty piece of equipment.  This nasty stuff can infiltrate your wine, reacting with the compounds in the wine and creating undesirable and often unpalatable off-aromas and flavors.  There is a whole host of cleaning equipment and cleaning supplies available for you to purchase, so there is no excuse for being dirty and ignoring this wine making tip!
Here’s to hoping these tips will start you on the right foot toward producing a fantastic wine.  You can also read more wine making tips on this blog. Take a look at the the blog post, 101 Useful Tips For Making Your Own 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.