strongarm
Well-Known Member
Ive been a homebrewer for a while and have about 5 wines under my belt
..2 wine kits and 3 from local fruit (peaches).
Now for my questions:
I recently pulled enough grapes from my lonely planted merlot plant to make around 1gallon of wine. This is more of an experimental batch next year I plan on purchasing around 500lbs of grapes and aging in a 30g barrel.
Can anyone give me some advice on any of my steps below: (I put some of the main questions I have in bold)
Vol 1gallon
Place de-stemmed and washed grapes in a mesh bag, crush and place in primary bucket. Add 1crushed Campden tablet. Cover and let sit for 10 hours.
Add 1/2tsp pectic enzyme seal with airlock and refrigerate at 35degrees for 48 hours.
Take a specific gravity reading, acidity level reading, ph reading. Adjust acidity (most likely need to add) to 0.65% by adding an acid blend (tartaric, malic, and citric). Is there a certain PH level I want to be at for fermentation? Not sure how to check for tannins but I see its recommended to add a small amount of grape tannin. Add yeast nutrient. If my SG of the juice is not around 1.095-1.100 then should I supplement with corn sugar to get it there? Also do you ever have to add water to your juice?
Bring up to 62degrees and add dry yeast (any recommendation on yeast to use) and toasted oak cubes. Set in fermentation chamber at 62degrees without an airlock for the first 48 hours then apply airlock and set for another 10 days or until gravity has dropped to around 1.010.
Rack wine to carboy and install airlock. Let sit for 1-2 months.
Rack to new carboy for another 15 days, if no lees is on the bottom then move to next step.
I think I either need to degas the wine here by stirring or just let sit for a few couple more months and let it degass on its own. Any recommendations? Do I need to add any more Campden tablets if I do this?
Once ready to bottle do I need to add any potassium sorbet for preservation?
I think Im all set on the bottling part, I have a floor corker, use all natural corks and purge with CO2 prior to racking and bottling. I use StarSan for all my sanitation.
Basically any advice for this novice winemaker is appreciated.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.
Now for my questions:
I recently pulled enough grapes from my lonely planted merlot plant to make around 1gallon of wine. This is more of an experimental batch next year I plan on purchasing around 500lbs of grapes and aging in a 30g barrel.
Can anyone give me some advice on any of my steps below: (I put some of the main questions I have in bold)
Vol 1gallon
Place de-stemmed and washed grapes in a mesh bag, crush and place in primary bucket. Add 1crushed Campden tablet. Cover and let sit for 10 hours.
Add 1/2tsp pectic enzyme seal with airlock and refrigerate at 35degrees for 48 hours.
Take a specific gravity reading, acidity level reading, ph reading. Adjust acidity (most likely need to add) to 0.65% by adding an acid blend (tartaric, malic, and citric). Is there a certain PH level I want to be at for fermentation? Not sure how to check for tannins but I see its recommended to add a small amount of grape tannin. Add yeast nutrient. If my SG of the juice is not around 1.095-1.100 then should I supplement with corn sugar to get it there? Also do you ever have to add water to your juice?
Bring up to 62degrees and add dry yeast (any recommendation on yeast to use) and toasted oak cubes. Set in fermentation chamber at 62degrees without an airlock for the first 48 hours then apply airlock and set for another 10 days or until gravity has dropped to around 1.010.
Rack wine to carboy and install airlock. Let sit for 1-2 months.
Rack to new carboy for another 15 days, if no lees is on the bottom then move to next step.
I think I either need to degas the wine here by stirring or just let sit for a few couple more months and let it degass on its own. Any recommendations? Do I need to add any more Campden tablets if I do this?
Once ready to bottle do I need to add any potassium sorbet for preservation?
I think Im all set on the bottling part, I have a floor corker, use all natural corks and purge with CO2 prior to racking and bottling. I use StarSan for all my sanitation.
Basically any advice for this novice winemaker is appreciated.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.