I have 50 cabernet sauvignon vines I planted three years ago and my first harvest is coming up. Any advice on recipes or process from harvest to crush to ferment to carboy that anyone can share would be very helpful. I have the starter kit from Ohio Home Brew, along a wine press and carboys. Other than that I am flying blind! Thanks in advance for anything you can share.
Ohio Home Brew also sent me things like Acid Blend, Yeast Nutrient, Pectic Enzyme, Potassium Sorbate, and WIne Tannin that I have no idea what to do with?
Thanks again
Mike
I'm not an expert, but I've made thousands of gallons of wines from kits and fruits. Just planted grapes this fall myself, so I hope to be in your position in the future. Wines typically have a 2 stage fermentation or more.
Do you want to use wild yeast? If so, great, mash up the fruit and get started. If not, boil the fruits to pasteurize. Talk to your local shop about the proper yeast for your product. I won't mention mine, it's different with every grape, and I'm eons behind in yeast technology... I would probably lead you astray on this item.
Primary fermentation
When the must (the wine version of wort) is at the right temp, take an OG reading. At this stage I personally add bentonite clay for the clairity of the final product. You can also use gelatin for this the same as beers. Arguments can be made if this is stage 1 or 2. If I'm going to add it, I do it at the beginning. At this stage for a red, I often add toasted wood chips as well, which adds tanins. You have tannins, I haven't used them specifically, so I won't give any advice on that, except I like a high tannin wine myself, I should experiment.
Secondary - racking
You don't need to necessarily ferment until dry, but I always do. Reason for not is to keep a sweeter product, but I back sweeten with a non-fermentable sugar if I decide to do this. Rack into a secondary container, leave as much lees (like beer trub) behind as possible and add potassium sorbate to stop the fermentation process and avoid bottle rockets. At this stage you also want to degass the wine; most people use a pump for this, or a coat hanger style drill attachment, you can find those on amazon for $15-60CAD, or just DIY it. This is important to reduce off flavours and improve clarity. This is also an opportunity to bulk age, as long as there isn't too much lees/yeast cake, it can sit there for years as long as it isn't exposed to air.
Clearing - more racking or filtering
If you don't have filtering, You can continue to rack multiple times until your product is clear. I filter with a sort of old fashioned buon vino filter; they're expensive and there's probably better products out there, but you can usually find these for a song on the used market. If you're going to do this regularily or produce whites, you're going to want to explore these options.
Bottling
Typically IMO a young wine isn't very nice until it's at minimum month old. Most wine makers that I know tend to believe that they reach their peak at 1 - 2 years. That's usually the maximum they last in my house, and it's really hard to know where peak is, even with a refined pallet and good tasting notes. I say drink it when it tastes good to you.
Here's what I know based on your list:
Acid Blend: Obviously this is to acidify your water. Like beer, wine is mostly water. You're normally looking for around 3.5, but you may want to research based on your specific grape/outcome. If the pH is too low, you'll have a sour flavour or inhibit fermentation.
Yeast Nutrient: This is to encourage fermentation. You won't want it to go too fast, so read the instructions. Is this a package of DAP (diamonium phosphate)? There's usually a recommended grams/gallons sort of calculation. A slow ferment is often preferred with wines using old fashioned yeasts like I do; this is going to probably depend on your yeast/grape choices.
Pectic Enzyme: This helps with clarity of the final product. This should be added in the very beginning of the fermentation. Cloudy or hazy wine isn't acceptable like it can be with beers.
Potassium Sorbate: As said above, stabilizes tp stop the fermentation process, add at secondary.
Wine tannins: As above, I haven't experimented with these, but it should give a dry tart taste. I do know it's used by people using juices only, the skins and seeds have tannins in them, and so do wood chips. I can't give much advice on this.
Again, I'm not an expert, and I don't have any formal education in the wine making process, but this is how I do it. 100% there are others who will criticize this, or be able to point out inaccuracies in the reasons of some of these items, but it works for me, and the wines I make are pretty decent.
Good luck, I'd love to hear how it goes. Hopefully I'm crushing grapes next fall!
