Can I make a very small amount of wine from a small amount of grapes? How?

Answer 1

I don't know what you call small amount, but the cost could be very high. It takes 17 pounds of grapes to make one gallon of wine.

For starters, you'll need a primary fermentation vat. The cheapest would be a food grade garbage pail. Crush the grapes (separating stems and leaves from the grapes) and pour into the vat. You will need yeast. The best place to find it is to do a search on "wine making supplies". DO NOT use the dry yeast bakers use. It will work, but the wine will be of VERY poor quality. Pitch the yeast into the vat of crushed grapes. The crushed grapes should NOT be at a temperature higher than 75 degrees F. If they are higher, let the grapes sit to cool, and keep the vat covered.

After 2 weeks, the fermentation process has slowed, and the grapes need to be transferred to a secondary fermentation vat. But you need to remove the pulp and skins. A wine press will be needed. If there's a wine making store in your area, you can rent one. If there isn't, go to an equipment rental store and see if they have one. If you can't find a press, you can try pressing by hand. You will lose a lot of grape juice, though. For a secondary fermentation vat, the easiest and cheapest to use would be a 5 gallon GLASS carboy. The last time I bought one (25 years ago), it was $40. You should start with at least 7 gallons of grape JUICE (not crushed grapes). You will have some loss of juice during this process, and will need to have additional to fill the 5 gallon carboy. One gallon apple juice jugs work well. And DO NOT use the plastic carboys available from bottled water vendors. Plastic is porous, and the wine will oxidize. You aren't making vinegar. Fill the carboy/jugs up to the nape of the neck. You now will need a fermentation lock for each of the containers. A fermentation lock is a glass device that looks like a glass tube inserted through the bottom of a drinking glass. There is a second and smaller glass that sits on top of the first one (inverted). You also need a pre-drilled stopper for each carboy and jug. Insert the device through the hole in the stopper such that when the stopper is placed in the jug, the glass will be right side up. Half fill the glass, and invert the smaller glass over it. This device allows carbon dioxide gas to escape, but prevents oxygen from reaching the wine (see plastic jug description).

Allow the wine to sit in a temperature controlled environment for one year. You will notice a build up of a white substance at the bottom of the jugs. This is spent sugar. Every 2 months, you need to siphon the wine off the spent sugar. (fermentation is the interaction of yeast and sugar. they combine to make carbon dioxide and alcohol.) Siphon the wine into a clean container to get the wine away from the spent sugar. Clean and refill the carboy using extra wine from the jugs to return the level to the nape of the neck. Refill, seal with fermentation locks, and allow to sit another 2 months.

After a year, the wine has cleared, and is now ready to be bottled. Clean wine bottles. You can do this easily by inverting in a dishwasher and cycling. Give them at least one more rinse cycle by hand. Siphon the wine into the bottles (do not put the siphon hose on the bottom of the carboy. there will be a small amount of spent sugar.), and seal. The ideal would be corks, but you need a corker (a device that compresses the corks and then inserts into the neck of the bottle.). If you can borrow one, perfect. You can get corks at OSH. If you can't find a corker, you'll need a bottle capper. Bottle caps are also available at OSH. The wine can be drunk now, but it's better if it sits at least another 6 months.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Yes you can...the same way you make it in large amounts, but scaled down proportionately to the quantity you have.

You will be surprised just how little you get in comparison to what you started with.