Wine Making 101 - Beginner Basics for Wine Making at Home
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- Wine Making 101, the beginner guide for winemaking at home. Today we guide you through all the basics needed for wine making. Wine Making 101 contains background on wine, types of wine, what equipment you will need and a brief synopsis of the wine making process. Don't be discouraged, winemaking at home can be inexpensive, fun, and very easy to do and yeild great results!
We mention quite a few other videos in this video, and here are the links to them:
How to Make Cheap Easy Wine from Store Bought Juice at Home: • Easy Homemade Wine fro...
Mead for Beginners- How to Easily Make your FIRST MEAD at Home: • How to Make Mead at HO...
Sparkling Sweet Spiced Hard Cider from Store Bought Juice?: • Sparkling Sweet Spiced...
Can Homebrew Kill You?: • Can Homebrew Kill You?...
Yeasts we Use for Wine Cider and Mead - Demystifying Yeast Selection: • Yeasts we Use for Wine...
How to Read a Hydrometer - Why are they so Confusing?: • How to Read a Hydromet...
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Help Support the Channel and Join a Friendly Community of City Steaders!
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Become a Member of CS Mead and More! / @citysteadingbrews
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Some items used in the making of this video (We are Amazon Affiliates and as such do receive a small commission if you purchase anything after using one of our links. There is no cost to you for this, but it does help the channel and enables us to keep bringing you content. Thank you!)
Star San: amzn.to/3ekRtE4
T.R.B.O.S. (the red bucket of sanitization): amzn.to/3vftfC4
1 Gallon Carboy with Airlock: amzn.to/2QqD2X8
1 Gallon Wide Mouth Fermenter with Airlock: amzn.to/3vailNV
Lalvin 71B yeast: amzn.to/3tP5Ozg
Hydrometer: amzn.to/32IH1kc
Graduated Cylinder: amzn.to/3gy4Svl
"The Master Baster": amzn.to/2RU31qd
Auto Siphon: amzn.to/32Kxuck
Bottling Wand: amzn.to/3vdrftR
Our Favorite Pitcher: amzn.to/3avJ2V9
Swing Top Wine Bottles: amzn.to/3ne4cfK
Screw Top Wine Bottles: amzn.to/3dIAagV
B.I.Y. t-shirt: city-steading....
Making Magic Happen t-shirt: amzn.to/3tOXL5l
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I love that she talks with her hands and he moved the wine glass. That’s a beautiful relationship of awareness!! This is my new hobby so cheers to everyone!
My guess is he has seen the aftermath of not moving the glass a few times😂
relationship goals tbh
"and we decided wine-ot"
Thought
what is an ot 😅
@@squirmssq3352why not? Wine-ot
ive never clicked on a notification faster in my life
LOL. We should have made this one a long time ago.
I've made juice wines for a couple of years now (Apple, apple mango, strawberry etc) and this year made a Sauvignon Blanc from a kit with my dad which was great, and right now I've got an experiment going with Aronia Berry wine. Going to be making wine from grapes this spring (Chilean Cabernet) so doing the whole process of crushing, pressing, etc. My friends and family are VERY happy I've taken this up instead of bowling or fishing.
It's nice, a hobby that can be shared! I'm looking forward to doing the same thing.
First time I made wine I didn't wait long enough. But the second time, just a few weeks ago, I got a great product thanks to your tutorials.
Great to hear!
What do you mean by wait...inside a closed bottle?
@@laurelpeterman4995 Or inside a glass carboy (secondary fermenter).
I made your simple red table wine in the juice bottle using grape juice, bread yeast, and sugar (plus an air lock.) It turned out okay but it's not something I enjoy drinking; however, I found mixing it with blackberry soda water makes a wine spritzer I absolutely love. Thanks!
Knowledge and opinions change over time and things get unintentionally skipped, so it's always nice to have this type of video re-made from time to time.
I gave up drinking alcohol many years ago (long story) but find the idea of wine making intriguing. My wife and our friends are all wine drinkers and the idea of making wines as gifts could be very cool as you said at the end. I think I might give it a go.
The way she talks with her hands and he keeps moving the glass so that it doesn't get knocked over 😂 relatable
Thank you. We have been experimenting with fermentation, making vinegars and wine. This is perfect for us. We grow our own grapes and juicing cherries at 7000 ft up the mountains. I have so much to learn , your podcasts are just what we need.
I have an orange tree in my garden, and I often get my neighbours excess oranges as thank-you for various things I help them with, so twice a year I make orange wine.
This early spring I made 20 litres of orange wine which is currently bulk-aging.
Thank you for all your videos and the amount of time and effort you put into it to make sure we're informed.
I'm not even a drinker. But I've had a blast trying out some new things. My favorite so far was my watermelon honeydew with a cranberry juice base.
Great summary of the whole process. I would say I have been making wine for at least a year. I do own a hydrometer and the testing tube but stopped using it to cut down on the chance of contamination. I do have Starsan for disinfection. I usually rack from original juice vessel to another clean juice vessel. On the batches that I did a reading on, average was just under 11%. Mostly use Grape Juice but sometimes other types to see if I would like them. Have wine yeast and bread yeast. Am also a connoisseur of wines that sell for $5 or less. I am not talking about Boone's farm or mad dog 20/20. Cabernet Sauvignon would be my favorite. Love you're channel.
You guys are so fun to watch. One day I will make my own mead and feast and drink to my future victories with Odin's blessing.
I know all this stuff, so why am I watching yet another CS video? I think I just like watching Brian digress and Derica making faces
LOL, the best reasons.
Great video for beginners. Thanks for all your advice. Love your work guys👏👏
Thanks for watching!
Whoo hoo another video! Also happy that y’all found out what the grapevine in y’all’s yard is.
The way he talks u can just know he’s a really smart guy he reads all day
Aww thanks!
Because of the pandemic we don't have bottle returns in my state. My friend owns a bar and has been giving me his empty liquor bottles. If you need bottles that might be an avenue to check out.
Been brewing for six months but I love this video is a great video to watch for beginners and there’s many links that they have to get more information.
Over the course of a few months I have gone down the path of fermentation of all kinds of things and have spent quite a bit of time researching beverage fermentation and natural carbonation, there are 2 major sources (out of a lot of good and less than optimal channels) I love to watch because it does take a natural approach: @DIYFermentation and the wonderful City Steaders. Thank you for producing such great uplifting and seasoned content. I enjoy the whimsical and cheesy commentary between the hosts along with the invaluable guides to help new brewers on their journey. Please keep doing more awesome things!
Having shared a couple of my brews on FB these past few days I got a lot of questions on how to start home brewing. I’m sharing your video as you are answering a lot of the questions I got and you can explain it so much better than I ever could do. Hopefully it will encourage a lot of my friends to watch more of your videos and subscribe to your channel... and to start their own brews!
Thank you for always putting no-nonsense, great advice and information out there!
That is awesome! Thanks Edda!
@@CitySteadingBrews ☺️
I still make the banana wine every month, it's awesome.
Reminded me. During the Desert Shield/Storm I made an air lock from a 35mm film canister, ink pen and Chapstick tube. HAHA I currently use three piece airlocks but have seen a couple times that the liquid can be sucked out into the fermenter. Say you get the bucket all ready and pick it up to carry into another room. The bucket deforms and sucks the airlock out. Or say a cat (ARGHH) decides to walk across the bucket pushing the lid down and when the lid returns to normal it sucks the liquid out of the airlock. It looks like the two piece won't allow these issues. Going to get a few. Great video as always
Great story!
@@julietardos5044 good point
Grew up with my dad making blue berry plum wine, wild yeast, and then cleared with everclear. Rarely did it have an alcohol forward flavor, more often than not it was still sweet.
My name is Arthur Salazar I'm not a member but I made my first 5 gal jug of apple wine. According to my friends. It tast great. I'm going full force on making wine at home. I followed all your tips and tricks. Instructions. You are a big help. I really appreciate you guys. It's Awesome 👌 👏 👍
Happy to help!
as someone who *loves* non grape wine, I appreciate that y'all aren't strictly defining wine as a grape thing. I also appreciate this bc while I can't drink it, my mom loves wine and I want to make it for her bc I love and appreciate her and this is helpful
AWESOME video my friends! This was a great video for beginner home brewers. I am so looking forward to getting home from my FEMA deployment in Oklahoma and start making some more mead's and now apparently you wine. You got me a new addiction. Also, that was a great addition about not everyone who makes wine, drinks. I myself do not drink and the idea of making gifts for friends and family to enjoy was the first thing that popped into my mind when I started this hobby. Anyway, thanks again for another great video and look forward to your future creations.
@Christopher Menz What's going on with fema in Oklahoma?
@@inspectorlunge3887 Nothing now. I was helping the Chickasaw Nation with COVID vaccines.
A bottling wand changed my brewing life. Thanks so much for the suggestion (in a previous video, of course). =-)
Been making cranberry white wine for years now. Your past videos convinced me to finally get into wine making starting with a cherry melomel and I'm all the better for it.
You posting this video the same day as my enology exam is a weird coincidence, but I got 27/30 so I guess you brought me luck! Cheers!
Thanks for the Video. I really love them ❤. Unfortunately I saw almost all your video´s now, so I am now doomed to wait for new one´s 😂
Good thing we still do two a week on this channel alone!
Muscadine wine is AWESOME!
your guys' videos are supremely informative, watchable, and fun. especially compared to what all else is out there, good grief
Thank you! There is a LOT out there :)
Wonderful! Trying to learn how to make wine at home for use on Shabbat! Will let you know when I succeed. Yah bless you all.
Absolutely LOVED this video! Informative & fun!🙃🍷
where I live we have crushed granite soil in a large river valley, easy to mimic French wines. A few vineyard have 300 year old vine stock.
Lol I'm same way when canning.
If I share I tell them you can have what you want but I want my jar and rings back..
I know this doesn't really fit into wine "basics", but I recently discovered that the term "Secondary Fermentation" seems to come from wine making, where the wine goes through both primary fermentation and malolactic (secondary) fermentation. I have been reading a lot more into this because it was something I was unfamiliar with, and I read that not only is the flavor and acidity of the wine affected, but you can also have bottle bombs as a result of this malolactic fermentation, if you dkn't plan for it (then of course you have all the playing with acid levels, etc.). I humbly suggest that this topic may be a great idea for a future video and might be very eye-opening for us loyal viewers.
I'm a bit late, but other terms that are used (in Italian/French wine making for example, I'm Sardinian btw) is High and Low Fermentation, or Tumultuous and Low fermentation. So you're right but it's not just about malolactic, which starts way later than the tumultuous one has finished. We start fermentation between august and october depending on the grape kind. So 10 days max after, it's done with the High fermantation, so we rack it in carboys/demijohns/barriques for the Low fermentation. Malolactic fermentation starts around april/may, depending on climate/region. We bottle around september and consider that, young wine; aging starts from that moment. Low fermentation is also called Refinement which is my favourite term since it's the most accurate. Refinement is not aging.
But since malolactic fermentation happens in almost all red wines, during refinement, it's an actual secondary fermentation also.
All this to say you're right, bigosbro.
Also, of course, when you add water or sugar to the must, you make the gods angry, mediterranean people believe, so be very careful about that.
@@riukrobu the gods would rightfully be angry in my opinion 😁 . Thanks for that answer. Thats good info. And I like the term "refinement" as well. So do you prevent malolactic fermentation from occurring until April/May? Why so long before it occurs? I know it happens more slowly, but I thought it could start during primary fermentation or low fermentation.
@@bigosbro21 Sorry I missed your answer somehow, you answerd the same day but the bell told me nothing about it.
So, malolactic fermentation starts on its own around april/may, beause of the seasonal rise in temperature. In winter is too cold to go malolactic. In fact it depends on the region and the year, some times it's a hotter year for example and it might even start in march! And of course, in southern Italy is hotter than in northern!
Mlf doesn’t only happen in certain months.
@@CitySteadingBrews What? What do you mean? If it's too cold it doesn't happen, it needs around at least 18°C, I know you know this Brian, so what do you mean?
I think this why CZcams was invented, Bon Appetite ❤
Much easier to make someone sick with cooking than brewing. Also Australian wines are among the best in the world, at least the some of oldest if not the oldest vintages and grapes in the world.
I would never have used bread yeast if not for you both. I was a yeast snob, still am but seeing the brews you did with it, made me try it on something other than JAOM.
great introduction. very thankful for you're having assumed I knew absolutely nothing about wine...as I didn't
Glad it was helpful!
I love your channel. I listen to you guys all the time. I'm about to make a fruit cake mead using buckwheat honey and dried fruit. If it turns out good can I send you guys a bottle?
This helps a lo- we have been making our own wine for about 15 years and are considering purchasing a u-brew that is up for sale in our town.
Thank you very much for the interesting topic .Ive learned a lot.
Joking, of course, but when you said "balloons aren't food safe", I immediately thought "but condoms should be" and then imagined a non lubricated condom blowing up on top of a fermentation vessel. Lol.
Love your videos!
Glad you like them!
A lot of good info here. I'm referencing this video to all beginners from now on
My granddaughter put the full envelope of wine makers yeast in a gallon of 100% apple juice. Will this make it bad or longer to ferment? I am attempting my first bottle of apple wine. Man I miss Boone Farm wines.
It will be fine.
I love seeing all of your videos and currently have my first wine and mead fermenting away with your recipes. It would be awesome to see you guys make different kinds of flavored vinegar.
Great vid full of sensible advice. Ever thought of writing a book or have I missed it?
All the best
Steve
Working on it actually!
Making my first brew which is a traditonal mead, currently been fermenting a week. Wanting to start a second batch already, but unsure whether to make cherry wine or cherry mead. Either way cant wait.
I've made beer, cider and mead before but not wine. Recently I bought several boxes worth of dusty bottles, hydrometer and others things for making wine from a couple who gave up drinking. It's a complete kit! I am anxious to clean it all up and make my first batch of wine. Everything only cost me about $16. I gave them a $20 and told them to keep the change.
Lol, you should've called this "Mead Basics" and said that all this also pertains to wine! You said it backwards! Also, fermented pear juice is 'perry'.
🤣 I'm just giving ya'll a hard time - ya'll are awesome! Request? Do a D&D/mead crossover video!
Ciders by definition are fermented juice of apples or pears. Yes, you can call it perry but it is cider.
@@CitySteadingBrews I was just being silly, lol.
...so, you'll get back to me about the d&d thing?
Some people even use the CO2 produced by their fermenting wines to "feed" their planted aquariums with it using the blow-off tube method you described, so it's a win-win haha
Thank You Brian and family I'm impressed as explained very well
Thanks for the info my goal is actually to make some good vinegar but will be making a whine before finishing the fermentation if it's good wine I may bottle some as I am making 6 gallons.
OK so I'm on day one of a Fontana Cabernet Sauvignon kit. I substituted the EC 1118 with Bourgivin RC 212. 12 hours in and I'm already getting healthy bubbling. Directions do not mention stirring while almost every post/article says to stir the primary (ranging from 2x a day to every other day) everyone has their own opinion. Thoughts? Secondly, I'm currently in a 6 gallon bucket with lid and bubbler. My plan is to NOT rack into a carboy for secondary and leave in the bucket. It seems like the main reason for racking into a secondary is to get the wine away from the sediment in the bottom of primary. But you still get sediment in secondary. If I eliminate my head space in my primary container, keep the bubbler and bottle from the spigot (above the sediment) after the wine is clear and without disturbing the sediment, it seems like that would work for a non-competition table wine. Thoughts? If this is a disaster idea please elaborate.
If you purchased a kit, I would follow their directions as closely as possible. Racking is important, as getting the sediment or lees away can prevent some off flavors. But, again, follow their directions.
I appreciate your reply and following the directions is the safe bet but I've also WK's often have the easiest directions not the best directions. Is it pretty accepted that leaving wine to age for a couple months over lees will definitely lead to off flavors or could possibly lead to off flavors. I think one of your videos actually gave me the idea to leave it in the primary container because you said secondary fermentation isn't really a second fermentation it's more like the last 30% of fermentation to further clarify. Oh well guess I'll find out the hard way.
You guys are seriously my favorite. Thank you for your knowledge.
Thanks for watching:)
I called the wine police on you guys, it's called mead! 😉
Just becoming interested in wine making. The hydrometer has been very important in my beer brewing, especially with whole grain recipes. To achieve consistent results you need to know your sugar content at start. Ive had to steep my grains longer or even steep another separate batch of grain to get my percentage right in order to have my content correct. How much water to add? With your hydrometer you can figure that out batch to batch. Anyone new to this can proceed a batch or two without but realize you need to get involved in your gravity in order to reproduce your results.
I would add to the safety of home brewing: the misconception of safety is probably to do with distilling (improperly). Which some people don't understand is something completely separate from brewing.
Absolutely
During WWII the Government needed people to move into the cities and take manufacturing jobs. They stopped publishing home brewing, farming, and canning information and started saying it was "not safe" leaving the farming, canning, and brewing to the corporations.
Hello from Australia! Love watching you guys!!!!
Hi from over the pond 🇬🇧👍. I’ve just bumped into you & Love the videos. Now you mentioned kerosene and not to put it in the wine which is very true. however have a look at “air booze” Russian pilots drinking a mixture of hydraulic fluid from the aeroplane mix with vodka. Only in Russia.
Not recommended, lol.
You two are hilarious, and also very informative. Thank you. I gave my daughter and son-in-law (then) a few grape vines a few years ago and now my daughter wants me to do something with the grapes!
Hears an Idea for you... how about a framed poster for your brew station with all the answere from your most asked questions... graphs and tables tips for different brews.... Instead of answering the same questions over and over you can sell them a cheat sheet. Make it look good if you do.
Thank you so much. Its very useful
What great information. Thanks
Love the vids, am watching every single one. Very informative and helpful, thanks! I am trying to get into homebrewing at the moment. How do I know when to take 1st hydrometer reading? (not counting the one before or straight after pitching yeast) Few different brews are in the making for about a week now, some with commercial and some with bread yeast and activity has slowed down a lot but I still see a little bubbles travel up. Should I wait until there's no bubbles? How do I know if the bubbles are from still active fermentation and not simply brew degassing itself? Thanks!
fermenter hack: The standard Homer Bucket from Home Depot? It's food safe so long as nothing's been in it before. They are not RATED as food safe, they are made from Polyethylene which is the most commonly used plastic today. Used in everything from pill bottles, to zip lock bags, plastic films, all kinds of bottles, cutting boards, plastic plates, cups, and bowls, you name it, it's probably made from PE or one of its variants (such as HDPE - high density PE). Home Depot also sells white buckets which are rated as food safe and cost an extra $0.20-ish each.
I wouldn't do it. If it's not rated food safe, it's not food safe.
@@CitySteadingBrews Nah, they just didn't want to pay for the testing to get it rated as such. Not being rated doesn't mean it's not food safe, only that it isn't rated as such. It's like "Organic" food, that means that it's government inspected, approved, and certified to meet certain criteria, but I'd still rather eat anything out of your garden even though it's not Certified. If you're uncomfortable with it though, that's cool. Like I said, the white buckets they sell are only a little bit more expensive and are certified. It's still about $5 for a 5 gallon fermenting bucket... Just remember to grab a lid...
Have you ever made a rhubarb wine? I've found recipes, but conflicting with how to extract, how long and such. Thank you for your recipes and sharing your knowledge.
We haven’t but want to! Cannot get a good supply of rhubarb here in Florida.
Very Very Helpful information
I really dig your channel. I bottled my first cider today. Good color and clarity. Good flavor. Dry as a popcorn fart, though. I'm sweetening with gomme syrup at drinking time. Keep up the excellent work!
At my local homebrew store 1 gal carboy are $8, I found some used carboys on Facebook marketplace, I now have 4- 5 gallons, 12- 1 gallon and 4- 1/2 gallon all for $100.
Nice!
City steading I'm wondering if you have ever made a raspberry made or raspberry wine
Nope but we will if we get enough of them. Mulberry wine is coming soon.
Me: trying to watch this video my 20lb Mainecoon: let's knead biscuits on your face!!!!
Lol
Carlo Rossi 1 gallon bottles are about $12 where I am. Get the liquor for free!
$20 here 😔
What liquor are you buying?
I love these guys! Great vibe!
Love you guys!
This my seem like a dumb question but it’s my first time making wine. I know you said after fermentation it’s better to siphon your product into a smaller container, is it okay if I just put it in the wine bottle i’m going to use?
You can, but it might take time to clear so if you skip the bulk aging step you will have sediment in your bottles.
Such an informative video guys !! Thank you 🥂
You guys are awesome! Thank you!
Derika (hope I'm spelling that right :-) ) makes a good point when she eats the strawberry - If you wouldn't want to eat it, you probably don't want to try making wine out of it. There are exceptions to this (like very sour fruits that might make a good-ish wine) but in general I say if you wouldn't eat it, don't ferment it!
Hi, your information is very informative. Could you please help me on how to make black grape wine.
Hi guys, love your videos. Question: Today I started a blue raspberry wine it's taking off great lots of action going on, however I also started some cranberry pomegranate wine made with same yeast and its not working at all its almost like the yeast is dead in that one but my other cranberry pomegranate batch I started 5 days ago started working hard after just an hour or so. Any thoughts on why this new batch may not be going?
I have been binging on your brewing videos for days now. First time commenting. A friend recently bottled your my first mead recipe, I tried some and was blown away. He wants me to get into home brewing too. I know you say stick to a recipe first, but I really want to try and make a caramel apple cyser and can't find one that sounds like what I want. I think my biggest hurdle is going to be the caramel flavor. I really want it to taste like biting into a caramel apple. The bochet thing seems easy to burn. Do you know any other easier, simpler, more consistent methods? Am I reaching too far for a first attempt? Lol
As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, yes, I think you're reaching a bit much for your first brew. Get a few under your belt, gain some experience first. Bochet isn't simple, there's a lot of was to go wrong, and adding spices is complex too as they are antibacterial. We have a new version of our super simple cyser coming out soon, that might interest you.
Sounds very interesting! Thank you for the advice. I'll try to tame the enthusiasm a bit.
@@trevormartin8497 I don't mean to kill your enthusiasm, I'd just rather see you make successful brews right away rather than have a bunch of problems your first time out :)
You're definitely not killing my enthusiasm. That's why I said a little bit. This seems like a fun hobby that's a little chemistry experiment every time.
I totally tripped out alot of women over here on Merritt Island with Your first wine recipe... Got the 3 quart Welchs size from BJ's... Tripped em out. No vinegar taste like all store wines do....
Thank you very much. It was very helpful for me. I just have one question. My wine after a week of secondary fermentation stopped bubbling. I still waited another week according to the instructions to start bottling. Does it mean that I am safe of my bottles exploding?
Thanks again for the video
You should take readings otherwise you are flying blind.
Hey, awesome guide.
I used it to start my own cherry wine and it's currently in conditioning phase. It tastes alright, but I wonder if I could increase the cherry taste by adding some fresh cherrys in this phase. Do you think it is worth the effort to add/remove them, or are the fruits likely to ferment just as in fermentation phase (not giving the fresh cherry flavor)?
I have a concern. I’m making 2 batches of 1gallon orange wine. The wine has 2.6 lbs of sugar, half a gallon of fresh squeezed oranges (no peels from the oranges) and 2 grams of wine yeast. It’s been chillen for 13 days and is fermenting just fine. No gravity reading yet, It’s not ready at all to rack lol my concern is that yesterday the pulp from the oranges suddenly just like deflated 😭is the pulp deflation a sign that something is going wrong ?? I’m gonna leave it alone until it’s ready for it’s 2nd fermentation, but it’s highly concerning to me because I’m still a beginner to this hobby. But I mean there’s less liquid in there now, than when I started fermentation. Should I be concerned about this? I would really appreciate y’alls input 🙏🏽
You mention Mason/canning jars not being designed to hold pressure. Is that commentary made with the idea of using regular canning lids without a pressure release? Have you considered or tried the Ball fermenting lids, with a pressure release dot gasket on top?
Sure but those aren’t really made for long term storage either.
@@CitySteadingBrews thanks, I was just looking to start with what I had :)
I will be moving, is there a best practice on moving bottles that are stored? What about carbonated?, I hope to have ongoing brews done, but what if I have to move while they're still fermenting?
I did have a swing top bottle with ginger beer in it explode. Thankfully it was contained and didn't do any harm. The sound was scary enough! 😆
I have been making various juice wines. How long can I let it work, and how long can it just sit in the making vat or racked into bottles before I have to refrigerate it?
If done properly, you don't have to refrigerate it. Also, it should ferment until it is done. We have hundreds of videos showing how to make wines and meads with our methods on our channel.
Would you have a top 5 meads/wines you would suggest a beginner to have a go at?
For beginners, I recommend what we linked right in the description of this video :)
how strong is the bread yeast? is it stronger than normal wine yeast? How is the alcohol tolerance?
Every yeast strain is different... Strong isn't really the word I'd use. It comes down to alcohol tolerance and bread yeast, at least the Fleischmann's we use goes to around 11-12%. Many wine yeasts are in the same range.
I am a first time wine maker living in Jamaica. My second stage Ribena Berries fermentation is still releasing gas after nine weeks. should i wait until it stops before bottling? I have about 2 gallons of sweetened juice in a 5 gallon Plastic bucket.
czcams.com/video/DHqgdkHIt8g/video.html
My wine just stopped bubbling it is about a month old when do I rack it again and when will it be done ?
Take a hydrometer reading. czcams.com/video/hsOd9rWRcSU/video.html&ab_channel=CitySteadingBrews
Last year I made a wine with home grown grapes... It was wine but it had SO MUCH ALCOHOL. Probably ended up being red wine tequila haha. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely try it again.
Most likely it was 15% or so. That's what most wines end up. Yeast can't really go much higher than 18-20% if any higher. But... it might have had a more ethanol forward taste for sure!
No stirring the must/pushing down the floating bag of fruit skins & pulp with a long-handled, sanitized spoon once or twice daily during primary fermentation?
Is there not an increased risk of unwanted mould developing if part of the bag remains above the surface of the liquid for too long, and/or an increased risk of fermentation stalling due to insufficient oxygenation if this procedure is not performed regularly until the point when the wine is racked?
Of course you do that :). We mention this in every fruit wine or mead video.
@@CitySteadingBrews ahh, thanks for the clarification. I also agree with your strategy of leaving the must in the primary fermenter to fully finish fermenting and conditioning. But would you really keep stirring the must every single day for 3-4 weeks? I guess it becomes part of one's daily routine like any other chore. I'm just wishing there was some way around it, some way to "set it and forget it". 🤔 I guess racking to secondary early would mean only having to stir the must for a few days but then you're increasing the risk of a stalled fermentation... 🤔 Choices choices 🤔