| You have decided to do wine making at home and | | | | - A 23 liter plastic or glass carboy |
| now you are looking into the details of just what | | | | - A long narrow tube or jar of glass to put the wine |
| that will mean. First off it is important to know that | | | | in while you check the specific gravity |
| wine making at home is relatively easy. Let me | | | | - A heavy duty thermometer |
| describe exactly what happens to make a grape into | | | | - At least five feet of rubber tubing for siphoning |
| wine. | | | | - A long spoon |
| You take a bunch of grapes and add wine yeast to | | | | It's important to know that even knew equipment |
| it, you may not know it but this works will grape | | | | needs to be cleaned and sanitized. Use Sodium |
| juice too or any other kind of fruit juice. The yeast | | | | metabisulfite to sanitize and B-Brite to clean. Use only |
| then eats the sugar, gobbles it up greedily and this | | | | food grade plastics or the cheap stuff will be leached |
| then produces carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. The | | | | into the flavor of the drink |
| carbon dioxide then bubbles off and what you are | | | | Ingredients you will need: |
| left with are juice and alcohol, better known as wine. | | | | - Sodium or (Potassium) Metabisulfite |
| So now let's get into the actual process of wine | | | | - Campden Tablets |
| making at home. The process is pretty simple if you | | | | - Yeast and Yeast Nutrients |
| take your time and go step to step. Of course | | | | - Acid Blend |
| nothing is ever as simple as it seems and there are | | | | - Sugar |
| many steps to follow and details to know. Below are | | | | - Water |
| the main ones: | | | | - Grape Tannin |
| - Sterilize Equipment | | | | - Finings |
| - Prepare the Juice | | | | It is said, "That if you can master the processes, you |
| - Primary Fermentation | | | | can master the art." Wine making at home involves |
| - Secondary Fermentation | | | | managing and ultimately optimizing the process which |
| - Clearing, Bottling and Aging | | | | turns juice to win, which is the fermentation process, |
| There are a couple of options that you can take in | | | | along with controlling the storage and aging of wine. |
| your journey into making wine at home. The first | | | | The main processes that you will be dealing and can |
| could be that you could buy a winemaking kit. These | | | | control are: |
| kits supply you with everything that you will need. | | | | - Acid levels |
| They are inexpensive and you can make several | | | | - Sugar content |
| gallons of wine. | | | | - Type of fermenting containers |
| If you want to make up your own kit, so you can | | | | - Air exposure |
| use it again and again then the following is what you | | | | - Aging |
| will need: | | | | - Temperature |
| - Airlocks--keeps the air out the wine | | | | - Humidity |
| - Corks-- for sealing the bottles | | | | - Cleaning and Sanitation |
| - Corker--for inserting the corks | | | | - Type of juice or grape you will use |
| - Carboy and Bottle Brushes--needed to clean bottles | | | | - Clearing wine |
| - Hydrometer--for measuring sugar | | | | Now you can see that wine making at home can be |
| - Wine Bottles--for storing wine | | | | fun and fulfilling and there is nothing better than when |
| - Oak Barrel (optional) | | | | you open that first bottle of your own signature |
| - A large food grade plastic container, at least 30 | | | | wine and share it with family and friends. |
| liters | | | | |