Wine Making Question..?

Question

I used this web-site to make wine. http://www.warpbreach.com/6/6.html
Im just starting out and wanted to get a idea of what to do. I quess I want to know whats wrong with this recipe or right and what I can do to make better wine? How long I should let it sit before trieing it out and what happenends to wine when it sits? I have since made another gallon using wine making yeast. After ferminting I put into different container and tried to get as little air as possible. Thanks and I will add details if needed.

Answer 1

What's right?
-you will get an alcoholic brew that's drinkable and will give you a nice buzz

What's wrong?
-you're not using wine ingredients per se. So it's going to taste more like grape kool-aid mixed with Mike's Hard (at best). Your second attempt using wine yeast is the first step up. It's going to taste less yeasty, but still like grape juice. The second step of putting into a secondary container after the primary fermentation is another step up, but it still doesn't affect the grape-y flavor.

Other details...
Getting minimal air in the secondary container is only part of the battle. You need to sterilize that container...simply washing it out thoroughly isn't enough. Without proper sterilizing, you rin a very likely risk of having bacteria and other stuff (just from the water you washed it with, in most cases) that can cause it to go bad while it sits. Early on after fermentation, you'll be ok, and the wine will be harsh. If you let it sit and let it mellow, this allows time for the bad bugs to take hold and ruin the wine.

Read up on making wine at home and compare your notes with what they have. You don't have to get it spot on, but at least you can see how others do it and what you can do to tweak your next batch(es).
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/
http://www.homewinemaking.co.uk/

Answer 2

I did it once before from some grapes growing in my back yard (I recently found out they were Voignier grapes).

Concord grape wine is *not* fine wine -- the high sugar content will give you well over 15% alcohol, probably closer to 20%. Now, if all you want is a buzz, go buy some Sherry, Port, or Mogen David, it's much cheaper.

When I made my wine from grapes, I still went to a wine/beer makers shop and bought the proper yeast (that's another thing that will make it taste like crap -- baker's yeast).

Most everything else in that website is just how I did it -- the bottle, the balloon, etc. Keep everything absolutely sterile: boil the bottles for 20 minutes, use some powerful chemical disinfectants (available at the winemakers shop).

I let my batch ferment (balloon all the way deflated) and stand 2 weeks before I transferred it to a clean bottle for settling. I let THAT settle for about 1 month before transferring it to the final bottles (with new corks from the winemakers shop). I waited several months before drinking it, only because it was white wine. Had it been red wine, I would have waited at least 1 year.

Winemaker shops sell concentrated wine-grape juice for fermenting -- all your favorites: Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauv., etc. etc.

.

Answer 3

Go to the beer and wine makers stores.
Look in the yellow pages
" ALL enlightenment is contained within"
Breweries, Beer & wine making.

Get the right supplies and equipment.
You really need an 'air dam" or lock
www.thebeveragepeople.com
800 544 1867 Santa Rosa CA

Remember to toast Mother and keep everything clean.

Answer 4

I have settling in the bottom of my bottled wine. Can I re-filter these bottles and re-cork them.