Making Grape Wine: Some hints and tips
Vines fall into two main categories and produce either dessert grapes or wine grapes. If you have an early-ripening, white, outdoor wine grape this will give you the best opportunity to make some really excellent wine. But don’t be afraid to have a go with whatever your vine produces!
You will need the following:
- Plastic Bin
- Fine Sieve or Muslin Bag
- 1 or 2 demijohns
- Air Lock
- Syphon Tubing
- Bottles and Corks
How to make Home Brew Grape Wine
- All equipment should be sterilised before use.
- First make sure the grapes are fully ripe (when the birds get interested!)
- You will need between 6 to 7 Kilos (12 to 15 lbs ) of grapes to make 1 Gallon.
- White wine can be made from either colour of grapes except for some black grapes that make red juice.
- Red wine is produced from leaving the skins of crushed black grapes in the must for about 10 days so that the colour is extracted.
- The grapes can be crushed by hand or with a piece of hard wood. For larger quantities a fruit press is useful (can be hired from Hops and Vines).
- English grapes are likely to be slightly over acidic, so you may wish to dilute with water or syrup up to a ¼ of the volume of the grape juice. White grapes are generally riper and need less adjustment.
- Pour the extracted juice into a fermentation vessel (demijohn).
- If you are making red wine use a bin and keep the grape skins below the surface (a hardwood disc can be used to keep the skins submerged) for 10 Days and then strain off the liquid into a demijohn. Try and keep the light away from the demijohn by wrapping brown paper around it to preserve the colour.
- Even after a good year when the sugar content of the grapes is higher you will still need to add extra sugar.
- The general aim should be to add up to 1 kilo of sugar to a gallon. This is best done in small quantities of about 100gms at a time to aim for a 12% of alcohol by volume when making 1 gallon. If you have a hydrometer a SG of about 1085 to 1095 is the approx. range to aim for.
- You can either rely on the natural yeast which will be in the juice or it is probably better to add 1 Campden tablet per gallon and then the next day add a good general purpose yeast and yeast nutrient.
- Put the demijohn in a warm place with an air lock fitted and leave to ferment out.
- When the bubbling stops the wine starts to clear (the SG is close to 1000 at this point).
- At this stage it is best to rack it off into another clean demijohn and add another Campden tablet.
- Bottle the wine when it is absolutely clear and bright.
- It is best to store the wine for about 6 months before serving.
- You will have a wine to be proud of!