If you're getting ready to
buy corks to bottle your wine you may be wondering which size you should get. We offer four different sizes of wine cork stopper. They are sizes: #7, #8, #9 and #10. These numbers refer to the diameter of the cork. The higher the number, the larger the diameter.
The opening of a standard, 750 ml wine bottle is 3/4 of an inch. If you have a wine bottle corker you will want to purchase either the
size #8 or size
#9 corks. Which size you get depends on the type of corker you have.
Any wine bottle corker on the market can put in the size #8, however some corkers have trouble putting in a size #9. If the corker was purchased from E. C. Kraus, you will be able to put in a size #9 cork just fine.
If your corker was purchased from somewhere else and uses a funnel-design to compress the cork, you will need to use a size #8 wine cork. The commercial wine industry uses a size #9.
Size #7 corks are for individuals who want to put their corks in by hand. We do not recommend using this size for this purpose, but if you do, you will need to store the wine bottles up-right instead of on their side to prevent leakage.
Size #10 corks are for larger size bottles. While many larger bottle still have the same 3/4 inch opening that the 750 ml have, some do have a larger opening that will require this larger size cork.
Making wine from grapes can require a bit of work. This is not only because you are dealing with fresh fruit as opposed to an easy-to-use concentrated juice, but it's also because you need a lot of grapes to make a batch of wine.
In general, you'll need around 80 pounds of grapes to make a 5 gallon batch. With most other berries such as blackberries, strawberries, etc., you'll only need about 15 pounds to make the same 5 gallons.
All these grapes need to be taken off the stems as well as crushed. You can get away with doing this all by hand if you are only making 5 gallons or so. But what if you're trying to make enough grape wine to last you all year, while the grapes are in season? Then you'll need help.
This is where a
grape destemmer comes into play. Not only does the destemmer remove the grapes from the stems, but it also crushes the grape, all in the same process. It's easy, and it's quick.
Another option would be to just get a
grape crusher and remove the grapes from the stem manually. The advantage to getting just a grape crusher is that most grape crushers can crush other fruits besides grapes, whereas a destemmer is limited to just grapes.
Hello EC Kraus,
This year I will have blackberries and I want to get some wine brewing with them. I plan on getting some wine making products from you. Can you tell me what I should be making the wine in. Some say a stone crock others tell me to use a water jug. Can you help?
Denise G.
Clinton, MO
_____
Dear Denise,
Thanks for the excellent question. Knowing where to start can be confusing, especially when you have so many people telling you so many things.
To have the easiest set-up you will need two different containers, one for the first five or six days of fermentation (primary fermentation), and the other for the rest of the fermentation (secondary fermentation).
You want the primary fermentation to be opened or exposed. A stone crock will work for this purpose, but is not necessary. A
plastic fermenter bucket will work just as well. Cover the container with a thin towel or cloth during the fermentation.
The second part of the fermentation will need to be closed off from air. Most people will use
carboys for this purpose, which is similar to a water jug. This type of container allows you to attach an
air lock to it with a
rubber stopper. This will cut off the air from the fermentation but still allow the gasses from the fermentation to escape.
I hope this helps you out.
Ed Kraus
Learning how to make white wine is easy, particularly if you've already been making red wines.
The main difference is the grape variety being used. You'll obviously be using a white grape instead of a red grape, otherwise the best you could hope for would be a blush wine.
But beyond this distinction there is another intricacy that has to do with how you will need to process these white grapes.
When making a red wine the grapes are put through a grape crusher and left in the juice (also called must) during the first few days of fermentation. On around the fifth or sixth day the skins and pulp is taken out of the must and then pressed to extract the juice, and then it is discarded.
When making a white wine the grapes are put through the grape crusher and then pressed before the fermentation even starts. Only the white grape juice is in the fermentation. The pulp and skins never see the fermentation. They are put through a wine press and discarded up front.
You may want to take a look at the article Wine Making With Grapes that is on our website. It goes over in better detail the process of making wine from grapes.
When using a steam juicer to extract the juice from grapes, how do you know when it's done? In other words, how can you tell when the juicer has done all it can do?
This is the question that was posed to us earlier today by one of our customers in Urbana, Illinois. They are going to make to make some homemade grape wine from Catawbas this year. What a great question!
The steam juicer we offer has a see-through lid. The reason for this is so you can see the condition of the fruit as it is being steam. Through this visual inspection you can tell if the fruit has any more to give or if it has been spent.
In the case of using the steam juicer for processing grapes, you will be able to see that what were once plump grapes are now slowly becoming smaller, shriveled grapes. Eventually, all the grapes will pack to the bottom and form a flat layer of skins. This layer will only be two or three inches high depending on the volume of your steam juicer.
The story is similar for other kinds of fruits as will when using a steam juicer. They will slowly lose their size and compact together at the bottom. Once this occurs, any further steaming is just a waste of time.
Been thinking about getting some wine brewing? Well, here's a good reason why you should get started, now. It's called Heron Bay!
E. C. Kraus is now carrying
Heron Bay homemade wine kits. Each kit includes all the wine making materials you will need to make a 6 gallon (30 bottle) batch of wine at home. All you need is the wine making equipment. Heron Bay has the rest.
There are 39 different homemade wine kits from which to choose:
24 Premium Kits (8L) and
15 Ultra Premium Kits (16L). Each one contains the grape juice for making wine, the wine yeast, the clarifiers, and stabilizers. And most importantly, the homemade wine instructions.
Even the first-time home winemaker will have no problems making quality wine with these kits. The directions are clear, concise and to the point. No mumbo-jumbo, just plain English that anyone can understand.
So, what are you waiting for?
Visit our website and take a look at the medley of wines you can make all throughout the year.
We are often asked why we don't sell a rubber stopper along together with our air locks, bundled together so to speak. I mean what good is an air lock without the rubber stopper to fit it to something? Well, the answer is really pretty simple.
Rubber stoppers come in all different diameters--from the size of a dime on up to the size of a orange. The size of rubber stopper you need depends on the what you are trying to attach the air-lock to. For this reason alone we will never be able to sell a rubber stopper and air lock together.
Glass wine carboys have a different sized opening than a gallon glass jugs for example. One takes a size #7 rubber stopper while the other one takes a #8. If you're using a plastic fermenter you may only need a size #2 rubber stopper. It just depends on the size of the opening.
You may want to take a look at another blog post that covers what rubber stopper fits what. You can also visit our website for more information about the rubber stoppers we have to offer.
I was fiddling through a bookshelf here at the office the other day when a stumbled across a copy of the book,
First Steps In Winemaking. We've been selling this book since the '60's, but I haven't really opened it and looked through it for quite some time.
What hit me as somewhat extraordinary was how relevant this book still is today. This wine making book is either a testament to how little the craft has changed over the last 4 decades or how forward-thinking the author, C.J.J. Berry, was when writing this book.
Compared to other wine making books, this one has a lot of great wine making tips that still apply today: like how to prevent your wines from being cloudy, or how to accurately read a gravity hydrometer. These are all issues that are sill being dealt with today by beginning home winemakers.
The other great thing about this book are the recipes. If I remember correctly there are well over a hundred of them--everything from apricot to apple wine is covered. It's really a treasure-trove of information for someone just starting out.
It has the wine recipes broken down by the month it is best to make them. The idea being you can make wine all throughout the year, winter and summer, if you plan things right.
If you're new to wine making or not even sure if you want to make wine, I would strongly urge you to at least get
First Steps In Winemaking. It will give you a great overview of the home wine making process and let you see what all is involved in this rewarding past time.
Correctly preparing your
wine bottle corks when bottling homemade wine is important. Not only should the wine cork stoppers be sanitary, but they should be softened just enough to allow your
corker to put them in the bottle with ease.
There are two basic ways to go about this: This first involves submerging the corks in a solution of sodium metabisulfite and cold water. The second, involves steaming the corks in water.
Sodium metabisulfite and cold water makes a solution that will sanitize the corks. This solution can also soften the corks if they are allowed to soak long enough, usually over night, and it's very simple to do.
Mix 1/8 teaspoon of sodium metabisulfite to each pint of water and submerge the wine corks in the solution. Corks like to float. So I have found that using a jar with a lid will help you to get this accomplished.
Let the corks soak long enough to make them slightly soft. You do not want the them to be spongy. You want them to be firm, but still give just a little. Give the corks a quick rinse and then drain before using.
Steaming the corks is much quicker than just soaking them, but it does take some care. It is very easy to over-steam the wine corks making them spongy. Also, too much heat on the corks will cause them to become brittle and crumble when they are pulled from the wine bottle.
Bring a pot of water to a boil then turn the burner off. Put the corks on the steaming water and place a lid over them. In just a matter of 2 or 3 minutes the corks should show some signs of softening.
Once you feel the corks firmness start to give a little, rinse them in cold water to cool them down. They are then ready to be used.
When you're making wine from grapes one of the major tasks at hand is getting all those grapes crushed up. You can do it all by hand, or you can do it the easy way and get a grape crusher.
A good grape crusher will only burst the grapes and not mangle or shred the skins. Grape skins that are over processed will release excessive, bitter tannins (tannic acid) into the wine during primary fermentation and pressing. And, that's a bad thing.
It's important that the grapes be crushed correctly. You need a crusher that will do it just right.
With pretty much any grape crusher the grapes go into a hopper and fall in between two turning rollers. The trick is to have the two rollers separated at just the right distance to burst the grape--no more no less.
Our Stainless Steel Fruit Crusher has adjustable rollers that will allow you to set the distance to whatever it needs to be. Whether you're crushing huge Scuppernong grapes or teeny, tiny Cabernet grapes this crusher can handle it to perfection.
As an added feature the Stainless Steel Fruit Crusher can also handle other fruits as well: raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, cherries. And, because it also has rotating knives within the hopper, it can chop-up and crush apples, pears and other orchard fruit with very little effort. As far as homemade wine equipment goes, this one will save you a lot of work.
Here's a great tip from one or our customers, Dave in Anacoco, Louisiana.
He uses a
steam juicer as a way to get as much juice out of the fruit as possible. He also uses it as as a way to gather together the pulp for the fermentation.
Dave makes homemade grape wine from scuppernong grapes he grows himself. He says he puts the grapes in his steam juicer to extract the juice. Once the juice as been collected, he takes the pulp and puts it in a
fermentation bag and hangs it directly in the fermentation.
This is a great idea, Dave! Using the steam juicer in this way allows you to get every drop of juice extracted from the grapes. Putting the pulp in with the fermentation allows you to get all the well-rounded flavors from the grape's skin and pulp as well.
Using this method is also a great way to separate the pulp from the juice so that you can keep it collected in a fermentation bag. That way you don't have to worry about getting all the pulp out of the way later, after the primary fermentation has completed.
Exciting news! We now have available Heron Bay homemade wine kits!
We have added Heron Bay grape concentrates to our--already extensive--list of wine ingredient kits. Heron Bay is a leading provider of grape juice for wine making. Their products have been providing home winemakers like yourself with excellent homemade grape wine for many, many years.
There are 39 different varieties to choose from spread across two different Heron Bay lines: their
Premium 8 liter kits and their
Ultra Premium 16 liter kits.
Each of these homemade wine kits will make 6 gallons (30 bottles) of wine. They include the grape juice for wine making along with all the additional ingredients you will need such as yeast, clarifiers, stabilizers, etc.
Each of these homemade wine kits also come with detailed instructions that lead you through the entire wine making process. They show you how to make your own wine.
We are expecting the arrival of our first shipment either today or tomorrow, however you can go ahead and
place your order right now on our website or by phone (800) 353-1906. We will ship your Heron Bay kits once the product arrives in our warehouse.
Also remember that you will always receive Free Shipping on these products, and when you order two or more wine making juices, regardless of the brand, you will also receive a 10% discount on all of them.
When it comes to bottling homemade wine, we often get questions about using
gallon glass jugs in place of the standard
750ml wine bottle. Some winemakers like the idea of using jugs simply because it is less work. If you have 5 or 6 gallons of wine, just put it in 5 or 6 one gallon jugs and be done with it.
I can tell you that bottling homemade wine in gallon jugs is perfectly okay. The wine will keep just as good as if it were in wine bottles. Not an issue at all.
Where the problem can rise is when it comes time to decant the wine. Having leftover partial containers of wine whether it be in glass jugs or wine bottles is not a good thing. The size of the container needs to be appropriate to the amount of consumption unless you have a wine preservation system of some sort.
Air is a big enemy to a still wine. Over time air will allow the wine to oxidize and eventually spoil. We've all put a half bottle of wine in the refrigerator and been perfectly happy with it later on, but this habit can only be taken so far. If done again and again with the same gallon an overall degradation of the wine will begin to be noticeable.
Long story short, using gallon jugs is perfectly fine for bottling your wine, however you should only do so if you plan on drinking that gallon in two or three days or if you have a wine preservation system. Having air in with the wine for longer than this will only be a negative for the wine not a plus.
Imagine walking into your next dinner party with a bottle of wine--you personally made--in your hands. Whether it be Super Bowl Sunday, Forth of July, or just a Friday night with friends, a bottle of homemade wine makes a wonderful personalized wine gift that fits any occasion.
You can have fun customizing the wine bottle labels for different events: Poker Pinot, Barbecue Burgundy, Chris & Amber's Wedding shower--Congratulations! They also make wonderful wine making gifts during the holiday season: Merry Christmas--Uncle Don.
We offer a variety of wine bottle labels that you can customize on your computer into surprising, decorative wine making gifts. We have six designs from which to choose. They come four wine bottle labels on a standard 8-1/2" by 11" sheet, so they'll easily feed through any computer printer.
To get started putting together your personalized wine gifts all you have to do is get your imagination going. What's the next event on your calendar? Who's birthday is coming up? Now's the time to get those wine bottle labels ready!
Synthetic corks are a far more effective way to seal a wine bottle than just your ordinary natural wine cork stopper. There is not much question to this fact. Pretty much everyone in the wine making industry agrees with this statement.
In fact, synthetic corks can be thought of as sealing a wine bottle just as air-tight as a screw cap. If you've ever sealed a wine bottle with one, then you already know. You can tell just by looking that no air is getting past a synthetic cork.
But the real issue here is not how well synthetic corks or natural corks seal a wine bottle, but rather, which one will age the particular wine you are bottling in the most appropriate way. A perfect seal is not always the best option.
For some wines to age to their fullest potential they need air but at a very, very slow rate over a very, very long period of time. A natural cork stopper does this to varying degrees depending on the density of the cork. Air will seep through it.
Big wines that are full and rich such as a Cabernet tend to need some transfer of oxygen through the cork to become its best over time. With these wines you are better off using a high grade natural cork such as our extra first grade corks rather than using synthetic corks.
Wines that require some aging, but have a fruitiness as some of its character, will usually need less air to transfer through the cork. An example of this would be a California style Sauvignon Blanc. With these wines synthetic corks may be your best option.
One of the wine making products we offer that seems to overwhelm so many beginning wine makers is the
gravity hydrometer. But it's not necessarily the actual using of the gravity hydrometer that seems to be so confounding. Just its looks alone seem to have the ability to put a beginning winemaker into a blank stare.
And it's understandable. When you first look at a gravity hydrometer, basically what you are seeing is a scientific instrument. That can be intimidating in of itself. It has a funny shape with all kinds of measuring scales and other markings to be read along its side, and inside there's a blob of stuff that you have no idea what it is or what it's does.
Well, if there's such a thing as
looks being deceiving, this is certainly a prime example. The hydrometer doesn't really do anything except float. It has nothing inside that goes up or down like a thermometer. It doesn't change color like a prism. It just floats.
Your only job is to see how high or how low it is floating. You do this by looking where the surface of the liquid crosses the scales. What this information does is tell you how much sugar is in the liquid. The higher the gravity hydrometer floats the more sugar you have.
During a fermentation sugar turns into alcohol, so if you know how much sugar you have, you'll know how much alcohol it can make. The hydrometer is also useful for checking the progress of a fermentation and for telling you if your fermentation is complete.
We have a couple of articles listed on our website that will give you more details about the hydrometer and how it is used in wine making, "
Getting To Know Your Hydrometer" and "
Hydrometer Scales And What They Mean." Both articles with take the intimidation right out of you.
If you've never had a chance to see wine brewing you're missing out on quite an experience. Even if you do not plan on making wine I suggest you take a winery tour whenever possible to see a fermentation in action--up close and personal. It's very interesting, and you'll get to see all the wine making materials and equipment that go along with making wine at the winery.
The first thing you will notice are the wonderful smells that permeate the area where the wine is fermenting. An array of aromas that can range from tart plums to yeasty bread, all blended together to create a pleasant bouquet of sorts.
When you actually see a wine brewing you will notice tiny bubbles being created and floating to the top. The bubbles are actually CO2 gas being created by the fermentation activity. Wine yeast eat the natural sugars in the juice and ferment it into half CO2 gas and half alcohol.
This bubbling also causes a layer of foam to form on the top surface. Pulp will also rise to the top because of the bubbling. From time to time a worker will have to push the pulp back down in to the liquid so that a dry cap is not formed. This is a process called punching.
While making wine at home is not usually done on such a grand scale as that of a winery, it is certainly just as interesting to watch. For the home winemaker the actual wine brewing is usually done in carboys, also known as water jugs. You can see right through the glass as if you had your own little winery to watch.
Foam forms on top and pulp rises to the top just like in a winery, and the pleasant aromas fill the room where the wine brewing is taking place. It is truly a fascinating hobby. And one that brings its own rewards.
To learn more about making your own wine just
visit our website and take a look at all the
articles we have on how to make your own wine at home.
If you want to know how to make your own wine the easy way, here's a little secret. Start by selecting one of our beginner wine kits. Each kit contains all the essential winemaking materials and ingredients that you will need to start making your own homemade wines.
We have three different homemade wine kits to choose from depending on what you want to use to make your wine, whether it be your own fruit, concentrated grape juice, or a wine ingredient kit.
Your Fruit! Necessities Box: This homemade wine kit is designed specifically for individuals who want to make wine using their own fruit. It has all the wine making materials and ingredients you will need including instructions
. This kit is ideal for making country-style wines from strawberries, blackberries, apple juice and many, many other fruits. It also comes with over 160 different wine recipes including a complete copy of the book,
First Steps In Winemaking.
Sun Cal Necessities Box: This wine making kit was created for someone who wants to make wine using one of our Sun Cal concentrated grape juices. It has everything you will need including your choice of
Sun Cal concentrate and complete directions. Using concentrated grape juice keeps the wine making process simple and quick. And you don't have to wait for the fruits to come in season. You can make wine all throughout the year.
California Connoisseur Necessities Box: Last but certainly not least. This homemade wine kit allows you to make wine with your choice of
California Connoisseur ingredient kit. It has all the materials you will need. It also includes instructions that are specific to the wine making ingredients in the ingredient kit. The directions take you by the hand and guide you through each step.
So what are you waiting for? Choose the kit that's right for you and get started, today!
Here's a question we get quite often from beginning wine makers who are just starting to learn how to make their own wine. "What's the difference between grape juice for drinking, like you buy at the store, and grape juice for wine making like you sell?"
The main difference is in the grapes that are being used to make the juice. When it comes to making wine from grapes, I can't stress enough that the number one factor is the grape itself. Not only the type of grape but also the quality of grape plays a huge role in how your wine will turn out.
Welch's, as an example, uses Concord grapes, mostly grown in the Finger Lakes region in New York state. If you want to make a Concord wine, then using Welch's will work fine. You can also get a White Niagara and a red blend as well, but that's about all you'll find at the grocery store.
We offer a Concord, a White Niagara and many, many various red blends. But beyond this we offer specific varietal grapes from regions all around the world. For example, we have a Sauvignon Blanc grape juice from New Zealand, and a Merlot grape juice from France.
Each has it's own unique flavor, bouquet and overall character that permeates into the resulting wine. These are grapes that were bred and cultivated for the purpose of making wine.
We have an extensive list of wine ingredient kits on our website that feature several dozens of different wine grape varieties and grape blends. To learn more about what kind of grape juice you might like you might want to take a look at our Wine Selector Tool.
Refractometers are an invaluable tool for any grape grower, large or small. Refractometers help you to know when its time to pick just by taking a few small grape samples from throughout your vineyard . For more info on refractometers, take a look at another recent blog post, 
How refractometers actually work is amazing. Refractometers can tell you how much sugar is in a drop of liquid just by how much light bends or refracts as it passes through it. To see refraction in action put a straw in a glass of water. The straw in the water doesn't seem to connect with the straw that's out of the water. That's refraction.
A sample of grape juice is put between the refractometers prism and light-defusing plate. How much the light bends as it passes through the prism and down the barrel of the refractometer tells you how much sugar is in the sample.
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