A friend had given me a wine-making recipe that I have used for
several years. It doesn't call for special yeast's, but one regular
pack of bread yeast. One quart of Cranberry Juice; two cans of
Concentrated Grape Juice; One pound of white cane sugar. Plus one
gallon glass jug, rubber cork & economy-lock.
I dissolved the yeast first, place in the jug first. Then I
semi-dissolve the sugar in the juices, and place that in the jug.
Fill the rest of the jug with water to an inch below the neck of
the...
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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...
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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...
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Customer
Service:
One of my wine making kits seem to be slow in starting & after
a few days, we added another yeast pkg. to the wine......which
finally begin activity. With 2 wine yeast pkg. in the wine, will it
effect the taste or final product. Is there anything else we
should add in this case to get the wine brewing?
Thank you
Chris D.
-----
Hello Chris,
Whether you use one, two or even three packets of
wine yeast, it will not have a direct impact on the flavor
of the wine. When a single...
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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...
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Hello Kraus,
I'm hoping you can help me. Do you know where I can get a stone
crock? I just broke the one I was going to use. We have a lot of
elderberries this year and I don't want to see them go to
waste. I need to get my wine brewing.
Thank You Very Much
Tim B.
----------
Hello Tim,
I'm very sorry, but we do not have a source for stone crocks.
I would like to point out that a stone crock is not necessary for
making wine. In fact, stone crocks are rarely used these days
for making wine. Today,...
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Quick
question,
If you have frozen fruit (like I do) for months do you need
to use Sodium Metabisulfite when you start the wine
brewing process or does the freezing kill all the bad
stuff.
Thanks,
Steven
----------
Hello Steven,
Unfortunately, freezing does not destroy mold,
bacteria or other "bad stuff". It simply puts its growth into
suspension, or hibernation if you like. Freezing will
damage some of the cells with freezer-burn, but not nearly
enough to save your fruit from needing a sulfite...
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The
Wine Institute, a California based organization
representing over 1,000 wineries throughout the state of
California, stated in it's recent
report that the U.S. has now surpassed France in the
amount of wine it consumes. In 2010, we
Americans consumed some 330 million cases of wine, topping
France's 320 million cases for the same year. This makes the U.S.
the largest consumer of wine in the world.
While France is still the biggest consumer of wine on a per
capita bases, this report still...
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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...
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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...
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Hello,
I am just getting ready to get my first batch of wine
brewing with one of your
wine making starter kits. I have a quick question. Is it was ok
to use tap water from my sink to make this wine kit? Do I need to
get bottle water from the store or what? We have good water here in
our town, but I'm sure it has chlorine and other stuff in it.
Thanks,
Gerald
__________
Dear Gerald,
This is a great question that many beginning winemakers ask. Water
is one of the main ingredients in any wine, so...
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Finally,
the numbers are in! We have tallied, checked, scrutinized,
scratched our heads, double-checked some more, and
licked-our-pencil-sharp to come up with:
The Best Selling Wine
Ingredient Kits of
2010!
Yes, that's correct! Listed below are the 2010 winners of
each brand
of wine ingredient kit we offer. These are the wine varietals
and blends that have smacked across more lips than any other
type in their particular product group.
This may be an eye-opener for some and a breath of fresh...
Read More » »
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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Hello
My name is Lee and I have been making wine from your recipes for
awhile. I was wondering what I could do to lower the alcohol
content. If I used half the sugar the recipe called for would
that do it? If you could help i would appreciate it.
Thank You Lee
__________
Lee,
A very short answer to your question is, yes, however there is
a lot more to this question than meets the eye.
It sounds like you understand that when a wine ferments it is
turning sugar into alcohol. Less sugar in the...
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Hi,
I have a question. This is day 5 of fermentation for my
apple wine. It's been in plastic fermenters. I just
siphoned it into a couple of glass jugs and put the
air-locks on. How long should it take for the air-locks
to start peculating. I do not see any signs of the wine
brewing. If it doesn't start in 24 hours does that
mean my wine is bad?
Thanks, Bill
__________
Hello Bill,
Before we can really answer your question we need to get a
hydrometer reading of the wine must. It is very possible...
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Doing
the 7 easy steps from your
website - did before - did everything the way it said.
With the must, put campden tablets in, etc... day 6
discarded the pulp, put in secondary fermentor, put airlock on,
wine brewing very slow, airlock hardly bubbling. Took a test
with hydrometer, almost no alcohol. The alcohol scale says about 1%
content, not really bubbling the way it should, what should I
do??
Thank you, Bill R.
__________
Hello Bill,
It actually sounds like everything is going good. I just...
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Good
Morning,
I recently made some apple wine. It is now in secondary
fermentation, and still looks very “milky”. There seems to be a lot
of tiny fruit particulate in suspension. Very little seems to be
settling out. I will need to rack this wine next weekend, what
should I do to clarify the wine?
Ken H.
__________
Hello Ken,
The reason your wine is still milky or cloudy is because it is
still fermenting. You will not see any signs of clearing until the
fermentation has completed, or its activity...
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Hello,
At times my plum wine will appear to have stopped fermentation, and
then after bottling it will start up again causing a big
mess. Is there something I can add to the wine that will
ensure that fermentation has stopped?
Albert W.
----------
Dear Albert,
It sounds like you are experiencing a
stuck fermentation.
There are several wine making books that cover this topic
in fair detail. One that I might
suggest is
First Steps
In Winemaking.
A stuck fermentation is when the yeast stop...
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Oh
OH, Mr.” wineproblemsolver”,
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