Make red wine at home.
Vitis vinifera is the classic wine grape, according to WineMakerMag.com, but if you can't get it because you live in any number of the cool, wet climates where it doesn't grow well, don't hesitate to use Vitis labrusca, which does grow well in some colder, wetter climates that don't support Vitis vinifera (see Reference 1). Wine-making supply shops are becoming more and more common, and there is likely one in your area. If not, you can order these supplies online.
Instructions
Preparation
1. Test the juice from the fruit with a hydrometer. Squeeze two handfuls of grapes, strain the juice and measure the sugar level. You want a 22- to 24-degree Brix. Brix is a unit of measurement in wine making. Your hydrometer will give you a Brix measurement. According to WineMakerMag.com, "the fruit should taste sweet, ripe and slightly tart" (see Ref 1).
2. Clean the grapes. They should be undamaged, free of insects and debris. Remove all of the stems.
3. Prepare a sulfite solution to rinse any equipment that comes in contact with the wine. Add 3 tbsp. of sulfite powder to 1 gallon of water. Mix well. Wash everything with hot water and boil as many instruments or containers as possible.
Making the Wine
4. Sanitize a potato masher.
5. Place the grapes in the nylon bag and set the bag in the bottom of the pail and crush the grapes in the bag with the potato masher.
6. Sprinkle a crushed campden tablet or 1 tsp. of sulfite crystals over the must in the bag. "Must" is the name for the grapes in the bag that still have their skin. Cover the pail with a piece of cheesecloth and let the pail sit for one hour.
7. Measure the must's temperature. It should be between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Sample the juice in the pail and measure its acidity with the titration kit. You want it to be between 6 and 7 grams per liter. Adjust the acidity with tartaric acid, if necessary. Add the powder 1/8-tsp. at a time and check the acidity until you reach your desired level. To raise it one full gram--from 5 to 6, for example--you will add 3.8 grams of tartaric acid for a 1-gallon batch (see Ref 1).
9. Test the Brix of the must with the hydrometer. Add some sugar dissolved in water to bring it somewhere near 22-degrees Brix.
10. Heat a pint of water to 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and dissolve one packet of yeast in the water. When it begins to bubble, pour the yeast by agitating the bag. Replace the cheesecloth and set the bucket in a warm place, 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Fermentation will begin within 24 hours.
11. Mix the juice twice a day to keep the skins under the juice. Check on the fermentation and take the temperature every few hours. Measure the Brix until it has reached "dryness," or 0.5 degrees Brix. Lift the bag and squeeze the remaining juice into the bucket.
12. Place the lid on the pail, don't seal it, and let the wine settle for 24 hours.
Rack the Wine Off the Sediment and Bottle It
13. Boil 1 gallon of water and let it cool.
14. Rack the clear wine off the sediment into a sanitized 1-gallon jug. Racking off the wine is the process of removing the clear wine into its own container, separate from the sediment.
15. Place the sanitized jug at a lower position than the jug full of juice. Insert one end of a sanitized length of clear, 1/2-inch diameter, plastic hose into the fermenter and the other end in the sanitized jug. Go slowly. When the clear wine has been transferred, top off the jug with cool, boiled water.
16. Fit the jug with a sanitized bung and fermentation lock.
17.Let the wine sit for 10 days then rack off the wine again into another sanitized jug. Top it off with grape juice or another dry red wine.
18. Wait 6 months then siphon the clear wine into five 750-ml sanitized bottles. Cork the bottles with a hand-corker.
19. Store the bottles in a cool, dark place and wait six months before drinking.
Tags: clear wine, degrees Fahrenheit, acidity with, clear wine into, gallon water, grow well
