How to make your own wine at home. I like drinking wine very much. My sister has lived abroad for more than 10 years and learned how to make her own wine abroad. After returning to China, we make our own wine every year. As of this year It’s already the eleventh year, and I saw some friends asking about how to make fruit wine. Here I would like to briefly introduce to you how to use Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Longan, Roselle and other grape varieties to brew dry red and dry wine. The method and basic operation of whitening, because Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon are now off the market. Currently, there are only table grapes such as Rose Fragrance on the market. Please refer to it first. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me individually.
Ingredients, tools and methods for home-made red wine in small batches
1. Picking grapes
Grapes are the key to making wine. Good grapes are the key to good wine making. The basis of wine, the grapes used to make red wine include (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, etc.). It is best not to use table grapes to make wine.
Grapes are generally picked in Beijing from late September to mid-October. If it is too early, the grapes will not be ripe enough and the quality of the wine produced will be poor.
The Huailai area in Hebei, the Changli area in Qinhuangdao, and the Penglai area in Yantai are all the main wine grape producing areas in my country.
When picking grapes, it is best to wear work gloves, fruit shears, hook knives and a flat and wide container. Containers that are too deep are not good and can easily crush the grapes. Because before pressing, proper selection must be carried out to remove spoiled grapes. If there are too many crushed grapes, it will cause trouble in picking. When picking white wine grapes, it is best to wrap the gate with food plastic bags to prevent oxidation.
2. The first stage of fermentation ((maceration fermentation))
Newly picked grapes must be crushed as soon as possible. But preparations must be made before that. If you want to make authentic wine , then we must strictly follow the wine process and add the necessary auxiliary materials, because these processes were developed by our predecessors (including Chinese and foreigners) after hundreds of years of exploration and research. If we do not strictly follow the process. There is no guarantee of production quality.
1. auxiliary materials to be prepared:
a. Yeast for wine - there are many types of wine yeasts that produce different flavors of wine. Different. Different grape varieties, the amount of yeast is also different. Generally, 8 to 10 grams of dry yeast is added to 100 pounds of grapes.
b. Potassium bisulfite - contains about 50% SO2, wine. SO2 needs to be added twice during the production process. The dosage at this stage is calculated as SO2 30ppm (one part per million of 1ppm), which is about 3.0 grams for 100 kilograms of grapes. Of course, you can also use sulfurous acid containing 6% SO2 (about 100 kilograms of grapes). 25ml).
c. Oak chips - an important supplement to improve the quality and taste of wine. Add about 150 grams to 100 pounds of grapes.
d. Pectinase - can improve the quality of wine. The clarity is good for extracting pigments from grape skins and improving the juice yield. Generally, there is no need to add a clarifier. The dosage varies according to different grape varieties. Generally, 1.5 to 3 grams is used for 100 kilograms of grapes. time.
e. Diammonium hydrogen phosphate - a yeast nutrient that can maintain the healthy growth of yeast and allow the yeast to fully and timely convert the sugar in the grapes into wine. Its dosage should be calculated at 150ppm. , 100 pounds of grape juice with skin is calculated to be about 6 to 8 grams.
f. Sucrose - adding sugar to wine abroad is strictly controlled, mainly because it will affect the taste of the wine, so the less you add, the better. OK, as long as the grapes are sweet enough, don’t add it. The amount of added sugar will directly affect the alcohol content of the wine, so you need to measure the sweetness of the grape juice first. The sugar content reaches the concentration value for making 12-degree wine - 230 grams/liter. No sugar is added, otherwise the sugar content of grape juice must be measured by a hydrometer and then looked up in a table, and then the following formula is applied:
(12 degrees grape juice sugar content - measured. Sugar content of wine juice)/4.5 = Added sugar (g)/L
Or kilograms of grapes × 0.85 (juice yield) × (209 - measured sugar content per liter of wine juice) = Number of added sugar (g)
As for the conversion relationship between grape juice density and sugar content, please see the attached table
2. Tools and containers to be prepared:
a. First stage container— — The first is the container where the grapes were initially fermented with their skins on. The volume of the container should be the total volume of all the grapes of a certain variety you want to make plus an additional 1/3. The container should be as large as possible. Because it does not need to be moved at this stage. The only work required is daily stirring (two or four times a day). The container material is preferably a No. 304 stainless steel barrel with a lid. There should be a circle of non-toxic rubber (or glass glue) where the lid contacts the barrel. Secondly, food-grade white PVC plastic buckets with screw caps are also acceptable.
b. Graduating cylinder, hydrometer, thermometer, pH test paper, gram scale, etc. - these tools are used to measure the specific gravity and temperature of grape juice. The measuring cylinder is about 250ml, and the hydrometer is 1.0~1.1 and 0.90~0.99. Thermometer -10~100 degrees. The best pH test paper is between 2.5 and 4.5.
One syringe each for 60ml and 20ml.
3. Operation steps at this stage:
The first stage of making wine is the most critical. First, harvest the grapes (no need to wash them. If they are too dirty, you can partially rinse them with water and blow them dry with a fan) Remove the stems and skin as soon as possible and put it into the prepared container. Do not exceed 2/3 of the total capacity of the container. "Removing stems and breaking skins" seems easy. If there are a large number of grapes, you can use the following methods introduced on the Internet:
a. If the container is large, you can put a large tasteless plastic bag on it and step on it. Then pick out the stems;
b. Find a food-grade plastic bag with a zipper that is as large as possible, put the grapes in and crush them with your feet, pick out the stems and pour them into the bucket;
c. Buy a plastic washboard and rub the whole bunch of grapes on the washboard;
In short, the above method only needs to break the grapes without making them very messy.
After the grape skins are broken, potassium metabisulfite (or sulfurous acid) must first be added. Add 10 times the potassium metabisulfite to warm boiled water to dissolve, then add it to the grape juice, stir evenly, and then Continue to add pectinase, add dozens of times of cold boiled water to dissolve the pectinase, stir, and add it to the grape juice after half an hour. At this time, it is best to keep the grape pulp at a low temperature of about 12 degrees. If the ambient temperature is too high, add a sealed bottle of frozen mineral water to the bucket to cool down. At the same time, try to close the lid as tightly as possible.
After 12-24 hours, return the barrel to temperature, add yeast, add 10 times the dry yeast to warm boiled water at about 37°C, then add the same amount of sugar as the yeast and stir. When the yeast begins to regenerate and a lot of foam bubbles up, and after about half an hour you feel that the temperature of the yeast is basically consistent with the temperature of the barrel, add the yeast liquid to the grape juice. Before closing the lid, measure the temperature and specific gravity of the grape juice as a basis. Data (optimal value: temperature 24 degrees; specific gravity 1.095 - no need to add sugar if this value is reached, sugar should be added appropriately if it is less than this value).
After 24 hours and you see that fermentation has started, add oak chips and tannin (2g to 2.5g for 100 pounds, or not). Stir two to three times a day, and do not close the lid too tightly at this time. At the same time, the temperature and specific gravity of the grape juice were measured in the morning, noon and evening. If the liquid temperature exceeds 27 degrees and the specific gravity drops too quickly, appropriate cooling measures should be taken, and frozen mineral water bottles should be added to slow down the fermentation speed. The first phase is best completed within 7-8 days.
Add diammonium hydrogen phosphate yeast nutrient on the third day. The scientific method for adding nutrients is to measure the nitrogen content of grape juice. If the nitrogen content is sufficient, there is no need to add it. But families do not have this condition, so they can only consider whether to add it based on the maturity of the grapes and the speed of fermentation. Generally, more mature grapes do not need to be added or less added.
In the later stage of fermentation, when the specific gravity drops to 1.00 and you can see signs of the end of fermentation (bubbles reduce or disappear, skin residue settles, and the difference between the barrel temperature and the ambient temperature decreases), close the barrel lid tightly. , began to consider emptying the barrel to prevent the wine body from "restoring" (the specific gravity drops below 0.992, and the wine body will have an odor).
3. The second stage of fermentation (malic acid-lactic acid fermentation)
The second stage requires strict one-way valve sealing. Although after the first stage of semi-open fermentation, most of the All the CO2 gas produced by part of the fermentation is gone, but it cannot be completely completed, so some gas will still be released. In addition, CO2 will also be released in the second stage of fermentation (malolactic fermentation), and at the same time, we do not want the wine to be oxidized, so this stage requires a one-way seal to prevent gas from entering. This has some requirements for the container (the following description takes 25 liters of free-flow wine from 100 kilograms of grapes as an example).
1. Tools and containers to be prepared:
a. Container 1 for the second stage - pickle jar (made of glass, pottery, etc.)
The biggest advantage of the kimchi jar is that the water seal at the mouth of the jar can fully meet the one-way sealing requirements. Beginners are willing to use transparent glass jars so that they can easily observe the fermentation of the wine. Glass kimchi jars generally have a smaller capacity, 15 liters is considered large, while ceramic kimchi jars have a capacity of 50 liters.
When using kimchi jars, pay attention to adding water to the seal in time, especially in northern areas where winter is dry. If you don’t add water to the seal for 3 or 4 days, it will dry out. This will affect the sealing effect and deteriorate the quality of the wine. Poor, even production failure.
There is news that new pottery and glass jars may contain excessive amounts of lead, so it is best to do some treatment after buying them, such as soaking them in water for a few days and then pouring them out to dry for later use. Glass jars should be kept away from light as much as possible after serving wine.
b. Container 2 of the second stage - experimental (medical) long-mouth bottle
Medical long-mouth bottles are divided into wide-mouth bottles and narrow-mouth bottles. It is best to use narrow-mouth bottles. The bottle mouth is small and easy to seal, and it is also easy to observe and move, thus spreading risks. The volume of the narrow-mouth bottles is not too large, usually the largest is 20 liters. Since the narrow-mouth bottles are for experimental (medical) use, they are generally of better quality. The stoppers of narrow-mouth bottles are all made of frosted glass. This kind of stopper does not have a very good one-way sealing effect and can only be used in the third stage of storage.
Therefore, rubber stoppers of corresponding sizes, L-shaped glass tubes and rubber tubes of corresponding sizes (or glass tubes with one-way valves) must be purchased separately. A hole must be punched in the middle of the rubber stopper to match the glass tube so that it can be Insert the glass tube into the rubber stopper to drain the gas out of the bottle. The other end of the glass tube is connected to a soft rubber tube. The other end of the rubber tube is connected to a deep-bottomed container. Fill the container with water to form a one-way sealing structure. . Narrow-mouth bottles and accessories are generally available in glassware stores. The advantage of container 2 is that as long as the water container is large enough and enough water is added, there will be no air leakage problem; a transparent container can be used to observe the fermentation (but try to keep the bottle away from light at this stage); replace it with a frosted glass bottle A stopper (or a non-perforated rubber stopper) can also be used as a third-stage storage container.
c. Of course, it is best to use a 316 stainless steel sealed bucket.
d. PH test paper in the 2.5-4.5 section.
2. Supplementary materials to be prepared:
a. Lactobacilli for wine - dry lactobacilli powder for wine, which is not lactobacilli for making yogurt, nor lactobacilli tablets for treating stomach problems. The purpose of adding lactic acid bacteria to wine is to reduce the sharp acidity, intensify the fruity and mellow aroma, and make the taste soft and plump. Only wine that has undergone malolactic fermentation (also known as post-fermentation) can be called a true red wine.
As for the dosage, different brands of lactic acid bacteria have different dosages. You can only refer to the instruction manual.
b. Potassium Bisulfite - contains about 50% SO2. The amount used this time is about 25 liters of grape juice, calculated at 70ppm, about 3.5 grams. In this way, most of the first sulfur addition is volatilized, and the remaining part is added with two sulfur additions. The total SO2 content of the wine will not exceed 100ppm, which is far less than the national standard of 250ppm.
c. 1 square meter of 50-60 mesh nylon filter cloth.
3. Operation steps at this stage:
After the first stage of fermentation is basically completed, three parts are formed in the fermentation container. The upper part is the skin residue, the middle is the wine body, and the bottom is the wine lees. and some of the skin scum that has sunk to the bottom. Use a catheter to extract the middle part of the wine (also known as free-flowing wine) and pour it into the prepared second-stage container. The remaining skin residue in the first-stage container can be squeezed slightly to produce a portion of the wine, which can also be added. About 100 kilograms of grapes produce about 25 liters of wine. After heavy pressing, a part of wine of about 2-3 liters can be produced from the dregs, which should be fermented in another container (the quality of wine produced from pressed wine is slightly worse than that of free-flowing wine, so we don’t care here). The self-flowing wine is sealed in one direction to isolate air and light, allowing malolactic fermentation to begin immediately. There are two types of malolactic fermentation: natural fermentation and artificial fermentation.
1 Natural fermentation - The conditions for natural fermentation are: PH 3.2 or above, alcohol content below 12 degrees, temperature between 22-25 degrees. Another important factor is the presence of active lactic acid bacteria in the grapes used. If any of the above conditions is not met, fermentation will not proceed. So success is uncertain.
2 Artificial fermentation - adding lactic acid bacteria to the wine body, the fermentation requires the same process conditions as the conditions controlled by malic acid-lactic acid natural fermentation. After about 20-30 days of fermentation, no bubbles have precipitated in the wine container. The second stage of fermentation has ended. At this time, SO2 should be added to the wine immediately to control the activities of lactic acid bacteria and yeast, and the barrel should be poured once. Separate the wine stems. Of course, it is best to use a special sterilization and filtering device to separate the lactic acid bacteria and yeast in the wine.
In the second stage, as long as the quality of the grapes is good, attention is paid to the sterilization and oxygen isolation of the equipment, and the proper application of auxiliary materials, in general, very clear wine can be produced without special clarification and filtration.
4. Storage
Wine storage requires fully sealed containers. When storing wine, the wine should be filled with the can, protected from light, and the temperature should be controlled at 10-20 degrees in a room without odor. .
1. Tools and containers to be prepared:
Containers for the third stage
a - The containers for the second stage can be used as the third stage Containers, just add one more for transfer. Using a narrow-mouth bottle is the first choice, but the bottle mouth must be sealed properly. If the sealing operation is not performed properly, the wine that has been made for two months may be wasted. After pouring the bottle, just replace the second stage rubber stopper with a spare eyeless rubber stopper.
Accessories to be prepared:
b 200-300 mesh nylon filter cloth 1/2 square meter.
2. Operation steps at this stage:
The wine undergoes two fermentations, and then passes through 200-mesh moderate filtration, and it initially becomes crude wine. It is best not to drink it immediately at this time, because crude wine can easily make people intoxicated.
At this time, it is best to pour the wine into a prepared container for aging. The container at this stage does not need to be too large, because it is possible to move it in and out of the house. In the northern region, when the outdoor temperature is about minus -5 degrees at night, the wine can be frozen outdoors for acid reduction treatment. The storage time at this stage can be adjusted according to the acidity of the grapes that year. If the grapes are sour that year, leave them for 7-10 days. Otherwise, they will last for about 3 days. But if the outdoor temperature drops to minus 7 degrees, you must move back indoors. Otherwise, it will freeze and affect the quality.
Frozen wine will form a hard layer of tartaric acid crystals at the bottom of the container.
When the weather gets warmer in April next year (or the ambient temperature exceeds 20 degrees), the bucket should be poured once to remove the tartaric acid. After emptying the barrel, it can continue to be stored in large barrels (bottles) until bottling in October of the next year.
5. Bottling
Tools, containers and auxiliary materials to be prepared at this stage:
a. Container 2 in the third stage - special wine storage Containers such as wine bottles, bag-in-box, etc.
b. Wine corks and heat-shrinkable tubes - To use wine bottles to hold wine, wine corks and heat-shrinkable tubes are needed. There are many types of wine stoppers, including pure wooden stoppers, 1 +1 (the two ends of broken wood are glued and then the whole wood veneer is attached), the broken wood is glued together. There are also synthetic rubber stoppers, polymer synthetic stoppers, etc. If you want to bottle it for long-term storage (more than half a year), it is best to use solid wood or 1+1 or polymer synthetic stoppers. Anything can be used for short-term storage.
c. Cork press - the purpose is to press the cork into the wine bottle. Generally, the diameter of the purchased cork is about 22mm and the inner diameter of the bottle mouth is only about 18mm, so the cork can only be pressed into the bottle with the help of tools.
d. Vitamin C - Before bottling, vitamin C is added to the wine at a dosage of 1 to 2 grams per 100 kilograms to maintain the quality of the wine.
Filtering equipment can also be configured if conditions permit.
Impatient brewers can bottle part of the wine in April of next year, but it is best to bottle it after October of next year. Because aging is an important part of making good wine, a one-year aging period is essential.
The most important principle when emptying barrels and bottling is to try to avoid too much contact with the air. Due to limited family conditions, it is impossible to isolate oxygen when emptying barrels and bottling, so try to Shorten the time for pouring barrels and bottling, and reduce the contact surface between the wine body and the air. Therefore, it is best to use a pipe to pump, and start pumping from the top, and gradually move the pipe head downward. If possible, you can use a micro clean water pump and filter equipment to pump the wine. The other end allows the wine to flow down the side of the bottle. Be as full as possible. When bottling, it is best to press the cork immediately after filling a bottle of wine.
The final reminder is disinfection. All containers and tools that come into contact with wine must be carefully disinfected to minimize the intrusion of bacteria. Disinfection methods mainly include: boiling water, heating by fire, wiping with 75% alcohol, heating in microwave oven, sulfurous acid cleaning, etc. You can also purchase a disinfection machine that can produce oxygen-enriched water for disinfection.
Attachment: Specific gravity of grape juice, sugar content and wine alcohol conversion table (based on 20 degrees Celsius)
Specific gravity of sugar content (grams) per liter of grape juice made into wine After the alcohol ( %)
1.056 119 7.0
1.059 127 7.5
1.063 138 8.1
1.066 146 8.6
1.069154 9.0 1.072 162 9.5
1.075 170 10.0 1.078 178 10.5
1.082 188 11.0
1.085196 >
1.098 231 13.6
1.010 239 14.0 1.105 250 14.7
1.107 255 15.0
1.111 266 15.6
In short, making wine is not just one thing It’s an easy thing. While referring to the above methods, you must do it based on your own specific situation. I believe you can make great red wine. I wish everyone success in brewing!
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