Step by Step Guide to Winemaking

Whether you’re a long time wine lover who’s ready to try your hand at making your own wine, or you’ve made other fermented drinks (e.g. beer) before and are looking to switch things up, you’ve come to the right place. Winemaking is a precise process with multiple phases that requires special ingredients and equipment. However, it is perfectly possible to create great wine at home. A little patience, time, attention, and love will get you a long way toward tasting that first satisfying glass of your very own wine.

First you will need to gather the necessary equipment. You are going to need a primary fermenter with a tight-fitting lid, a hydrometer or refractometer, an acid titration testing kit, a testing jar, a thermometer, a wooden spoon or stirrer, a strainer, two secondary fermenters (e.g. glass carboys), two fermentation locks, one racking hose, an automatic siphon pump, sanitizer (such as Iodophor), glass wine bottles, corks that fit your wine bottles, and a corker designed to work with the size and type of corks you bought. You may also want a bottle hose and bottle drying rack to further assist in the sanitization process. If you’re intending to use fresh fruit, you’ll also need a juice/wine press.

 As far as ingredients go, you will need to decide whether you want to start with an ingredient kit or fresh fruit. If you intend to use an ingredient kit, you’ll be working from a combination of juice and concentrate that already contains the perfect amount of sugar, acids, and more. The kit will most likely contain everything you need, though you should confirm that there’s nothing additional you need to purchase before you get started. If you are starting from scratch with fresh fruit, you will need about two to four pounds of fruit and one cup of sugar per gallon of wine you wish to make.  The fruit and sugar, once mashed, becomes an amalgam of juice, skin, seeds, and pulp called must. Per each gallon of must, you will need multiple Campden tablets and additional sugar and acid to adjust levels. If you’re starting with grapes, you’ll need Tartaric Acid, but for any other fruit you’ll want to use Citric Acid. You’ll also need a gallon of water and one teaspoon of yeast nutrient per gallon of wine you want to make. If you’re using a fruit other than grapes, you may also need a small quantity of grape tannin and pectin enzyme.

Now that you’ve rounded up all of your equipment and ingredients, it’s time to begin. Sanitize all of your equipment, even if you’ve never used it before. You’ll need to let it soak in a solution of cold water and Iodophor sanitizer (five gallons of water for every one ounce of Iodophor) for a minimum of two minutes, then rinse it all thoroughly with water and dry it off properly. Assuming that you’re using fresh fruit, you will then need to use your juice/wine press to extract the juices from your fruit. You may wish to line the cage of your press with a plastic bag to catch the pulp and skins so they can be added back into the juice to make must. Then combine the resulting juice and fruit mixture with the initial amount of sugar (one cup per gallon of wine you intend to make) in the primary fermenter. Crush up one Campden tablet per gallon of must and add it to the mixture, then cover the primary and allow it to sit in a cool place for twenty four hours.

Once a full day’s time has passed, uncover the contents, add a gallon of filtered water per each gallon of wine you’re making, and combine well using your wooden spoon or stirrer. You should make sure that the sugar in the mixture is completely dissolved. Use your refractometer or hydrometer to test the specific gravity (SpG) of the must and water mixture, adding more sugar until you get a reading of 1.085. Each cup of sugar you add per gallon should increase the SpG level by about 0.020. Each time you add more sugar, stir well to thoroughly dissolve it into the must. After you reach the correct SpG, you’ll need to test the must’s acidity using the titration kit. Add one teaspoon of Tartaric Acid (for grape-based wine) or Citric Acid (for other fruits) per gallon to increase the acid level by 0.15 percent until you finally get within a range of 0.50-0.60 percent. If you’re lucky, the must may be at the ideal level without you even needing to add more acid. Finally, you’ll need to warm or cool the must until it falls within a temperature range of roughly 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it reaches this key temperature, you can then add one packet of wine yeast per gallon of wine. Seal the primary fermenter up again and let it rest for between four and five days, checking the temperature frequently to make sure it doesn’t fall below or rise above the 70 to 75 range. You’ll also need to stir the top half of the mixture twice a day during this time period.

After four to five days have passed, you can then strain all of the pulp out of your wine mixture and then siphon the wine into the secondary fermenter. Fill the secondary about two-thirds of the way full with wine, and siphon the remainder into another, smaller container that you can use to top the secondary off with later. You can’t fill the secondary all the way up at this particular point in time, or it could overflow during the next part of the fermentation process. Seal it with a fermentation lock, which should be half-filled with water. At this point, you’ll let the wine continue to ferment for another three weeks. After the three week period has passed, you can top the secondary off with the remaining wine that you previously reserved, and then add one crushed Campden tablet per gallon, mixing well. Now you can begin to rack off your wine. Siphon the wine into your second secondary fermenter (a glass carboy is ideal), seal it, and allow it to further stabilize and clarify for a period of roughly three months. Once that time period is complete, siphon the wine back into your first secondary fermenter (which you should have sanitized between uses) or into sanitized wine bottles.  Seal the secondary with a stopper or use your corker to cork all of your wine bottles, and allow the wine to rack off for another three months. After six months of total racking time, your wine will now be ready to drink. You should end up with a delicious dry wine, ready to be appreciated by you, your friends, and your family. Enjoy!