Dear
Kraus,
I have a batch of peach wine and a batch of pear wine in 5 gallon
glass jugs ready to bottle. Both need to be sweetened at
bottling time to bring out more of the fruit flavor. Please
explain to this rookie exactly how you sweeten the wine as you
bottle it. Do you add the sugar/water solutions to each
bottle or do you add to the 5 gallon glass jugs, stir, and then
bottle?? Same question on how to add the chemicals to prevent
re-fermentation and oxidation. And, is plain sugar OK...
Hi:
Today is day 8 and I just transferred my wine from the
plastic fermenter to a glass carboy like the homemade wine
instructions say to do. I do not see the wine brewing at
all. Shouldn't the wine still be fermenting? Do I have a
problem?
Please help!
Robert
-----
Hello Robert.
I am going to assume that you are making your wine from a wine
ingredient kit such as our European Select or KenRidge Classic since you mentioned "day 8"
much like their directions would.
How fast your fermentation goes can...
Hi,
I crushed my grapes in late September & squeezed them. Then
racked it 2 times since then. It's been almost 2 months since the
last racking and 1 of the 5 gallon wine carboys is starting to
bubble again just slightly. What is happening should I do
anything. The other 3 carboys are not doing this???
Thanks Rick
-----
Hello Rick,
It's hard to know exactly what is going on with your forth carboy, but here are your possibilities:
1) Your wine has started to ferment again: This means that the...
Read More » »
Hello
My alcohol level is very low, what can I do? ........and what did I
do wrong? It's a cab, I let it ferment and its clear but when I
checked the alcohol level its low, what can I do?
Thanks Mike A.
-----
Hello Mike,
We get your question a lot: "My wine is done fermenting, but the
gravity hydrometer says there is no alcohol. What happened?"
Well, I've got some great news. It is extremely likely that there
is not a problem with the wine. It is more likely to be a problem
with your understand of...
Hi:
I bottled my wine for the first time this year - i bottled 45
- i have went thru several bottles and given a few away. But
recently the last couple of bottles that i have opened have tasted
fine - but i notice that the wine glass will have bubbles clinging
to the side of the glass after sitting for a while. Do you know why
this is?
Thanks,
Jon
----------
Hello Jon,
What I'm understanding is that the first few bottles of this wine
were perfectly fine. Then as time went on you began to...
Hi,
I am a newbie to wine making. I believe the primary fermentation temp should be 65-75? How about the secondary fermentation and subsequent processes? I am wanting to make my wine in my basement but it might be too cool.
Thanks.
Todd
----------
Good Afternoon Todd,
This is a great question. The answer to it is quite often what
trips up many beginning home winemakers.
The effect that temperature has on a fermentation is enormous and
greatly underestimated by many. This is
particularly true for...
Good
Morning:Most of my "fresh fruit" wines are dry. I was talking with a gentleman who also makes his own wines. He told me to double up on the sugar to sweeten my batches. Right now I have a batch of grape wine (brewing since mid-August). It needs to be racked again. If I add sugar to this batch now, will it start fermentation all over?
Thanks,
Marlene
----------
Hello Marlene,
The short answer to your question is, "yes." Continuing to add more sugar to your wine must while it is still...Read More » »
This
is the conclusion of a two part blog on how to making your fruit
wines fruitier.One of the reasons you dilute fruits and their juice with water and sugar in most fruit wine recipes is because of the fruit's acidity. If you use too much of the fruit you can end up with a wine that tastes too sharp or sour.
But wine recipes can only guess as to how much the fruit should be diluted. The fruit's acidity can vary from year-to-year and from one variety to the next. This can make for a...Read More » »
Hello
E. C. Kraus:I’ve read a lot of the articles on your site concerning wine making. The one titled “Wine Making With Grapes” mentions that there is a different method of processing red grapes than there is for white grapes, but I’m not sure I completely understand the process for red grapes. What does it mean when it says that they are to be “crushed and fermented with the skin and pulp for several days and then later pressed”?
First what does it mean to crush them? Does it mean to just...
Hello
Kraus Folks:First of all thank you for your excellent service and products.
My question is related to both Muscadine and Scuppernong 100% pure juice. I have an opportunity to obtain 100% pure juice for both products with a Brix range between 22.0-23.0.
I have always utilized real fruit in all my batches and I am not sure if there are recipe differences when using pure juice. Do you have any wine recipes that I could follow utilizing 100% real juice? Is all the same ingredients the same?...Read More » »
Hello:
I'm getting ready to bottle my wine and noticed that it has a
bubbly taste. Like champagne. Is this because I need to degas it?
Or is there something else going on?
Ken
----------
Hello Ken,
It is very possible that you are correct in your assumption.
The wine may simply need to be degassed. But you should also
verify with a gravity
hydrometer that the wine has actually completed its
fermentation. It is possible that the bubbles you are
experiencing are from a slight, but still...
Hi
Kraus,
What kind of alcohol tester other the vinometer can I buy to
measure the alcohol of my finished homemade wine?
Thanks Joshua
----------
Dear Joshua,
Of all the wine making products that exist, the vinometer is the
only one that home winemakers can practically use to test
the final alcohol level of a finished wine. It is somewhat
accurate when testing a dry wine, but if your wine has
any residual sugars, the reading will be thrown way
off.
Most wineries rely on a refractometer
and/or a gr...
Hi,
When is the best time to filter a wine? I have a wine that is about
4 months old and I'am wondering if it is to early to filter
it.
Don
----------
Hello Don,
When first learning how to make your own wine it is important
that you don't become too impatient, however since the wine
has been bulk aging for 4 months, I would say you've been patient
enough. It would be fine to filter your wine at this
time.
One of the more common wine making tips I share with beginning
winemakers is:
"Only filter...
This
is the question every budding home wine maker wants to know,
"How can I tell how much alcohol is in my wine?" The problem
is, this question is usually asked about the time
they're ready to bottle their wine. Unfortunately, for
the amateur winemaker, this is far to late in the
process to make any accurate determinations.What Needs To Happen
To know how much alcohol is in your wine, you need to take two readings with what's known as a gravity hydrometer. One reading is taken before the...Read More » »
[This
is the conclusion of a two part blog post. See the
previous entry for the beginning of this post.]
The Alcohol Level Needs To Kept In
Balance.
In general, the fuller the flavor of a wine,
the higher the alcohol level must be to keep it in
balance. Wines that do not have enough alcohol as compared to their
flavor intensity, will taste harsher. The astringent
characters of the wine will be highlighted in the wine's final
flavor profile.
To help put this into better perspective, lighter white...
Dear
Kraus --
I have started 5 gals. of wine using your SunCal concentrate along
with 6 ½ lbs. of sugar and one pack of wine yeast. It has
been fermenting for 3 weeks. I have racked it and checked it
with a hydrometer. It had a reading of about .995 SG. When It
started it was at 1.075. That is enough sugar to make 10%
alcohol. I then added 2 lbs more of sugar and another pack of
yeast. Now it has stopped fermenting. Is the batch ruined or
what can I do to start it back to fermenting.
Please...
Hi
Kraus People -
How is the best way to tell when your wine is ready to
bottle?
Thank You,
Rick
----------
Hello Rick,
Great question, and an important one too. The last thing anyone
wants to do is bottle their wine too soon. This is especially
important if you plan on handing any of it out as
wine making gifts. A significant amount of sediment could
eventually form in the wine bottle, or corks
could possibly push out causing a mess.
Fortunately for us winemakers, it's very easy to determine if...
Of
all the pieces of homemade wine equipment in which
you can invest, the gravity
hydrometer ranks as one of the highest as being money
well spent. Not only can the hydrometer tell you how much
alcohol your wine is going to have, it can tell you how
far along your fermentation has progressed and even
whether or not the fermentation has completed.Yet, many beginning winemakers do not use a hydrometer. I can see their eyes glaze over as I begin to explain to them how the hydrometer works and its...Read More » »
As
2010 draws to a close, and a new year comes into view, I thought it
would be nice to take another look at the blog entries that
have proved to be most helpful to home winemakers this years.
These are the blog entries that everyone here has gotten the most
response from, or has been able to utilize the most when helping
a customer.
As I result here is the list of the top 10 most helpful posts
of 2010:
Kraus,
I have a couple of questions about using the hydrometer and when I
should remove the wine from the primary fermentation to
the secondary fermentation and also after the wine
brewing is done. As I take readings I am a little
confused about when do you move the wine to the second
fermenter. Is it a certain number of days or are we measuring for a
specific reading on the gravity hydrometer? On the secondary
fermentation I know you are looking for a reading a
specific of 0.995. Is that true?
Te...
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