When I tried my hand at processing of wine were many years ago, without help from friends or literature, the results of enlistment, well, awful. Making wine at home is easy, but only if you recognize and avoid some huge errors before you even start.
I'll start at the beginning. I like to read. That in itself is not a bad thing, however, if you're like me and sometimes fail to read the whole article before you run away and trying to make the wine, bad things can happen.
There was an article that mentioned the fact that the wine was made many years ago, before we knew anything yet about yeast or sulfates. It was an excellent article and would be very useful if you had indeed read the whole thing. So the lesson one is this. Just because the grapes have a form of yeast on their skin and possibly can ferment without the addition of chemicals, this does not necessarily make wine. More like vinegar, fuel, something, but not what I would call the wine.
Manufacture of wine of the House is really easy, but there are some steps that must be followed.
Cleaning is at the top of my "first things to do" list. This is a very easy task, but the most essential. If you're just mashing around 1 campden tablet per gallon of water and dissolve completely, you can sterilize containers, utensils, counter tops, and so on with this mixture. You will also need to sanitize your must first add the yeast to it, but be careful with this step. Most recipes call for a campden tablet per gallon of wine, but I learned that 1/2 of a tablet per gallon is fine. If you add too much, your wine may end up having a bad taste the sulfur.
Another term that I have become all too familiar with was "stabilising the wine before bottling.
It has to do with stopping fermentation before you ram an air tight in Cork, I mean the bomb bottle. All joking aside, this is something that can be very dangerous if you are not familiar with the process. A little knowledge goes a long way.
I've been enjoying home-made wine for many years and find that it is not only fun, but relaxing as well. If you find this short article of interest and would like to learn more about home winemaking through free education and video, please visit http://www.squidoo.com/DIY-How-To-Make-Wine-At-Home for more information. Also, I have an informational site with free recipes, videos, eBooks http://BestHomeWineMaking.comto. Wait to hear your comments or feedback.
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