Self Sufficiency - Basic Wine Making

[British Red]

There are some huge advantage to living on the high chalk. In a warm wet summer this land is just perfect for grapes. Don't kid yourself that grapes only grow in "hot" climes. This land has had vineyards doing well on the chalk since Claudius brought the legions in the first century AD

A friend at work said to me the other day (the same person the blackcurrants come from for the port), "are grapes any good to you"?

Well duh - something to supplement my own vines is always nice

Next day a crate arrived

So, not a huge amount but she has "as many as I can use" (wanna bet?) so this weekend its out with my press

Please forgive my knackered old Shepherds chair - it does great duty as a stand though (and I know its scruffy but I like sitting in it)

When pressing grapes I line the drum with a straining bag to save pips and stalks pressing through

Each truss of grapes is inspected and any split, mouldy or generally "manky" grapes removed. The truss is then chucked in the drum

The bag is folded in on itself and the drum put back in the press. A sterilised bucket goes under the spout

The screw thread is tightened - don't kid yourself - to get a good press needs a LOT of force

See what I mean? How flat are these grapes?

Once squeezed I run the must through a coffee filter into a demi john to remove any larger pulp. Not really necessary but it helps later

Now I could use the natural yeast on the grapes to ferment it but I get more consistent results with a known strain yeast

I mix half a cup of tepid water with half a teaspoon of sugar and add the yeast sachet. I then leave it for 20 minutes

Once the yeast is bubbling, its shown alive. Its then pured into the grape must and an airlock added.

Thats it. I'll top the demijohn off with another crate next week. I can chat later about racking and simple clearing / bottling techniques but in a few weeks we will have a basic wine just as it is

Red

 

[addo]

Must try proper grape wine making, normally stick to elder/blackberry
I love wine making, and drinking! I have a press which should see action soon for cider using the apples and pears from the garden.
Looking forward to the up coming sloes too, as the sloe vodka I make last year didn't last very long.

 

[British Red]

Try getting a decent pulper if apples are your bag addo. Unless you can reduce them to a soft pulp first, no press will expel the juice well. I am probably "preaching to the choir" here but I tried it once without a pulping machine - never again!

Happy to do a thread on that too if it helps anyone else

Red

 

[Bardster]

We currently have 12 gallons in different flavours on the go inc some mead and some rowanberry. The field where i shoot archery has a wild vine so will see what the fruits like tomorrow.

 

[addo]

I'd enjoy a post on cider making. Ive tried a few recipies but always enjoy reading/trying others. I know what you meen about the pulper red. The last time I chopped the apples small, bagged them up and froze them. When thawed the juice was relesed a bit better.
Is your pulper a garden mulcher?

 

[British Red]

Nope - I just use a bucket spinner - not as "heavyweight" as I would like but effective

 

[firecrest]

get your feet in there and do it properly! Adds flavour

 

[gregorach]

What, no hydrometer reading or acid titration test? Red, are you going "rustic"?

I can't help myself - I'm a data junkie!

 

[British Red]

Nope - I want to make this really "low tech". I'd love to look into home made finings too. I recall albumen was suggested somehwere - any tips on that Dunc?

Red

 

[gregorach]

Hmmm, tricky one that... Gelatine is used as a beer fining, I guess you could make that at home. Then there's the "British Isinglass" that was invented during the Crimean War - ground up dried cod skin (if you can find any cod these days).

(As an aside, British Isinglass was invented by William Murdoch - along with gas lighting, and the steam locomotive - amazing bloke!}

But if you're going really low tech, then ditch the finings altogether - time and patience is all you really need. OK, you're probably never going to get the crystal clarity you can get from fining and polishing, but if you're going low tech, that's the way.

I take it you won't be using the filter for this one either? I dunno where you'd even start on making Vinbrite filter pads...

I can't believe I'm giving you advice now...

 

[Grooveski]

My folks used to use ground-up egg shell. Generaly only when they ran out of commercial fining and the only wine supplies shop on the island had ran out as well.
They had decent results with it but it took longer.

The tip probably came from Judith Glovers book "Drink your own garden".

 

[clcuckow]

My folks used to use ground-up egg shell. Generaly only when they ran out of commercial fining and the only wine supplies shop on the island had ran out as well.
They had decent results with it but it took longer.

The tip probably came from Judith Glovers book "Drink your own garden".

So did mine. Usually when they were on a very tight budget or when Scunthorpe was between homebrew stores.

 

[British Red]

Interesting - thanks for the advice guys. I was also thinking of using albumen and saline (egg white n salt ) which has some good results or perhaps bentonite which is a clay base. Has anyone tried any of those?

Red

 

[spamel]

Yoiu'll have to explain what finings is/does! Is it removing cloudiness, as what you are describing sounds like making a floc in water purification, alum being one of the ways to do it.

 

[British Red]

Its actually a catch all term for improving wine - much is about precipitating colloidal and suspension particles but also removing too much tanin and "polishing the wine". I was specifically referring to precipitating out particles (usually charged ones)

Red

 

[Grooveski]

The way my mum described it was along the lines of:
"The big bits of ground-up shell(shell dust really) float about for a while and pick up all the sediment then they sink and hey-presto, the wine's clear".

Mostly needed for flower wines if I remember right. The pollens causing clouding even though they'd been rinsed well.
I'm a beer guy so when I brew that's what it is. For many years though I picked, crushed and boiled. Still do in occassion. Turning water to alchohol is good alchemy.

 

[gregorach]

I didn't know you brewed Josh! Yet another interest we have in common...