Red wine grapes-the first step to making wine red collection is to have the grapes perfectly ready to be collected. They need to be collected not only at the time of their life cycle, but also at the right time of day to ensure the acids and sugars are all the right balance for wine.
Red wine grapes should contain enough sugar to consider mature and be able to reach the content of alcohol that are aiming for. They must also have the right balance of acids. This means "hang time" on the vine, until the grapes have met adequate quality factors. A sugar content of the collection 24 Brix will give you approximately 12% alcohol.
De-stemming and crushing-this step to make red wines from grapes removes stems and crushing the grapes bunches (but do not press) so that the juices are exposed to yeast for fermentation. This also exposes the skins so they may impart color to wine while in primary fermentation.
This step in making red wine can be done manually by pressing the grape bunches on a grid with holes to allow the grapes and juice to go through, leaving the stems. I used old cases of Coca-Cola, perforated plates and other means to achieve this result. (Depends on the type of wine, the stems may be left for a taste more tannic or removed). This wine is called mix and mash is placed in a fermentation VAT.
You can always "stomp" grapes and remove the stems afterwards-the old fashioned way. There are machines Crusher/destemmer which can be purchased even if you have a lot of grapes to crush. If you're going to adjust the acidity, this is the time to do it.
The primary fermentation-the must takes place in a tank that can be made of food grade plastic, glass or stainless steel for the fermentation. In any case, the sugars in the grapes are transformed into alcohol by yeast. The yeast should be used for red wine. This fermentation process typically takes 3-4 weeks.
How long must (juice and grape solids) are allowed to sit, collecting the flavor, color and tannin is up to the winemaker. Too long and the wine is sour, short and thin. Temperature is very important at this stage-it also affects the taste and color.
Fulling skins-skin and other floating solids upwards as fermentation proceeds. The carbon dioxide gas given off by the fermentation process to them developing surface pushes wine. Increasing skins are called "cap" and need to be pushed down to stay in touch with on mash. This should be done a few times a day. How to punch down the CAP, you'll notice that the wine is becoming more color from contact with the skins.
End of primary Fermentation (?)-the winemaker has to decide if the wort brewed long enough. This will require a couple of days to a week. Much of this decision depends on how much color you want in your red wine. In general, is not fully fermented wine at this time. Still there should be some sugars that will have to go through further fermentation.
Free removal of run and print-at the end of the primary fermentation, the wort is put into the wine press. The best quality wine is made only by the juice of the grape. Many wine producers allow this to run out and save it for the best red wines. The rest of drier (now called Pomace) is pressed.
The remaining juice pressing squeezes out of the residue. If you do it too hard, or too many times, you get the wine of low quality. You can save the vinyl separately from free-run or can be combined. This pressed the wine will take longer to become clear and ready for bottling.
Post-fermentation-juice, wine, now must settle after this ordeal and continue to ferment out all residual sugar. During this period, the wine must be kept in glass demijohns with fermentation lock.
Fermentation locks keep oxygen out of the wine while allowing the carbon dioxide by fermentation to escape. Without them, oxidation and will spoil the wine vinegar or something worse. In the absence of oxygen, the wine undergoes subtle changes that affect the flavour of the resulting wine.
Malolactic fermentation-many red wines need a non-alcoholic fermentation to remove excess acidity. This secondary fermentation turns the Malic acid tart (Green Apple) into softer lactic acid (milk). A special malolactic bacteria is added that allows the malolactic fermentation to occur. This occurs during the secondary fermentation. Wines are kept about 48F during, or at least the end of secondary fermentation in favour of this activity. The yeast that has settled to the bottom during post-fermentation also encourages this process.
Racking the wine and clarifications-moving from a container to a new container of siphoning allows leave solids and anything else that might cloud the wine, behind. This clears the wine and prepares for bottling. Fermentation locks must be used with all shelving units to keep the wine from spoiling. Wine is ripened at least once, but more might be needed to assist clarification.
Cold stabilization during a phase of aging between racking and bottling, the wine can be placed in cold refridgeration to be stabilized. This cold period will the cream of tarter settle out wine and further reduce the acidity. The wine is then siphoned off the cream of tartar in the next few months. I suggest you do this early in the process of pouring red vinification and ageing.
Aging-the wine is stored for anywhere from 9 months to 2 1/2 years to give the right amount of flavor. Oak barrels that can be used for the ageing, but are very expensive. Nowadays, when making wine at home, red oak chip is used. The amount of time that age your wine with oak depends on the tastes that you want. At the end of the aging period, you will be ready to bottle.
Fining or filtering-at the end of the period of ageing helps to remove anything that may be making the wine cloudy. This can be made of different clarifying agents (as sparkalloid), with filter, or both. This makes the Crystal for bottling wine and will prevent any sediments to form during bottle ageing.
Filling-this is done carefully so that the wine to come in contact with air. Finer wines can be kept for several years in bottle before being drunk. But I suggest that a minimum of 6 months to a year expire before drinking.
So there are steps in making red wine. Done correctly, you will have a wine that not only gives you pleasure to drink, but will make you the envy of your friends and relatives.
Jim Bruce has been growing grapes and making wine since 1974. Too much can grow their own grapes. Interested in growing the grapes for making wine? You can buy his advice for growing grapes to http://www.grapegrowingbook.comeBook
No comments:
Post a Comment