Wine Making Steps

• Clean and sanitize your primary fermenter with either bleach, oxi-clean, one step, or iodine solution. Personally, I use oxi-clean or a one step sanitizer. I have used bleach, but you really need to rinse several times to remove any residue. As for iodine, it seems to messy for me.



• Clean fruit (if using fresh fruit) and crush. Use a potatoe masher for small batches, (less than 5 gallons) a colander and a large plastic bowl. If you have an electric juicing machine, you can use that also. I usually use one for my peach wine.



• Pour juice, sugar and water into primary fermentor (6 gallon bucket)



• Check with hydrometer. Your must should between 1.080 - 1.095. Adjust as needed. Too high add a little water, too low add a little sugar.



• Test for acidity



• Add acid blend, yeast nutrient, grape tannin, pectin enzyme and campden tablets as needed. Cover with a large mesh bag and tie shut.



• Let the must sit for 24 hours before adding the yeast



• It might take a day or 2 for the yeast to start working. After it starts, stir at least once a day.



• After about 5 days, remove any sediment floating on the top and transfer to your secondary fermentor



• Let the wine ferment for 3 - 4 weeks and transfer (rack) it again. Be careful to leave any sediment on the bottom, on the bottom.



• Continue racking every 6 - 8 weeks or until clear. When clear, I usually add oak chips, campden tablets and potassium sorbate. I usually sweeten my wine at this point by adding either sugar or Splenda. About a 1/4 cup per gallon mixed with about 1/4 cup of water to top the fermenter.



• I let the wine sit for about 6 weeks after adding the oak chips. Then I transfer it to 1 gallon jugs and let it sit for about 4 - 6 months before bottling.



• Last step is bottling. Usually I try a little out of each jug to make sure that it is worth bottling. Nothing worse than bottling a bad wine and hoping that aging it will make it better. Sometimes, it works, but in most cases it doesn't.