Thread: Wine making

Originally Posted by barn

Made 12 litres of moorepark apricot wine this year , used the fruit of the tree in the yard. It's now 4 months old and nearly settled out in the demijohn. Realy nice apricot flavour and colour.
Have also made this season 12 to 50 litre batches of Red currant wine, stella cherry wine + 2 cab savs, merlot, shiraz and chardonay. All seem ok except the chardonay has a slight off smell- Hope it will go away with time.
Wine making is great fun and tasting your own wines maturing over years has obvious benefits.
My personal taste is to not use any wood at all as the fruit flavour tastes better without it. There should be more commercial non wooded red wines available. It seems odd that there isnt.

That is a lot of wine, what do you do with it, leave it in wooden casks or bottle it and if you bottle it, what sort of bottles????
My reason for asking is I am trying to stock up on cork style bottles so I can make some wine and a lot of wines these days have screw caps which I am told are not suitable.

Colin.

Chippy and funkychicken- I ferment the wine in 20 litre plastic buckets for 1 to 2 weeks with a piece of coreflute on top to keep the vinegar fly out then strain and press the wine into demijons which are beautiful large round glass bottles with a bung and airlock to let gas out but no air in. The demijons cost around $2 per litre and are available in 5,10,15,20 etc litre sizes from wine supply shops. I also use 2 litre flagons with bungs and airlocks. The 5,10, and 15 litre demijons are the best sizes as 20litre and above can get to heavy to move around.
The wine clears in the demijons for aprox 6 months, as the sediment settles to the bottom the clear wine is syphoned off the top. This Racking normally has to be done 3 or 4 times at 1 to 2 month intervals before the wine is clear. The sediment is thrown away so each time the wine is racked you loose a bit. The wine should be stored with a minimum air gap in the demijohn / 2 litre flagon and thats why you need 2, 5, 10 etc litre storage containers.
After the wine has cleared its put into 700ml wine bottles. I used to use second hand bottles but got sick of scraping labels off and trying to clean dried sediment out of them. Now I buy new bottles in one dozen cartons for around 70c each and reuse them in house. It's nice to know that there have not been any nasties stored in them. Check the yellow pages for suppliers.
Synthetic corks are better than cork- corks as the bottle can be stored upright and the synthetic corks can be used more than once without tainting the wine. I have never had a problem using synthetic corks on screw cap wine bottles. A good stand corking machine makes life much easier and is a great investment at around $100 to $150.
Funkychinken- This is only part of the storage side of small scale winemaking and as mentioned earlier it would be best if you purchased a book or 3 on the subject, My first was " Home winemaking the right way" by Kenneth Hawkins.
If you do decide to have a go I would be glad to help with any problems.

hey FC , did ya find a virgin to trample those grapes yet ?

Originally Posted by barn

Chippy and funkychicken- I ferment the wine in 20 litre plastic buckets for 1 to 2 weeks with a piece of coreflute on top to keep the vinegar fly out then strain and press the wine into demijons which are beautiful large round glass bottles with a bung and airlock to let gas out but no air in. The demijons cost around $2 per litre and are available in 5,10,15,20 etc litre sizes from wine supply shops. I also use 2 litre flagons with bungs and airlocks. The 5,10, and 15 litre demijons are the best sizes as 20litre and above can get to heavy to move around.
The wine clears in the demijons for aprox 6 months, as the sediment settles to the bottom the clear wine is syphoned off the top. This Racking normally has to be done 3 or 4 times at 1 to 2 month intervals before the wine is clear. The sediment is thrown away so each time the wine is racked you loose a bit. The wine should be stored with a minimum air gap in the demijohn / 2 litre flagon and thats why you need 2, 5, 10 etc litre storage containers.
After the wine has cleared its put into 700ml wine bottles. I used to use second hand bottles but got sick of scraping labels off and trying to clean dried sediment out of them. Now I buy new bottles in one dozen cartons for around 70c each and reuse them in house. It's nice to know that there have not been any nasties stored in them. Check the yellow pages for suppliers.
Synthetic corks are better than cork- corks as the bottle can be stored upright and the synthetic corks can be used more than once without tainting the wine. I have never had a problem using synthetic corks on screw cap wine bottles. A good stand corking machine makes life much easier and is a great investment at around $100 to $150.
Funkychinken- This is only part of the storage side of small scale winemaking and as mentioned earlier it would be best if you purchased a book or 3 on the subject, My first was " Home winemaking the right way" by Kenneth Hawkins.
If you do decide to have a go I would be glad to help with any problems.

Hi barn,

Many thanks for your info!

I have a few questions, what brand of corking stand do you have and from where did you purchase it?

What other books have you found that are worth buying on the subject?

Your comment on using synthetic corks in screw top bottle is interesting, I thought they would have been too thin and would break, have you had any break?
I had not considered buying new bottles as thought it would be too expensive, maybe I have been looking in the wrong places.

I would be interested in more information on your methods and types of fruit you use.
Pictures of your setup would be of interest too.

Colin.

Chippy- there are many types and prices of corking machines available, the one I purchesed in 2005 is a Ferrari ( Italian of coarse) stand corker that does normal and champagne corks. It holds wine bottles of any size,compresses a cork and via a large handle - stamps it into the top of a bottle to an adjustable depth. It cost $100 on special from globe imports in Adelaide.
I dont know what state you are in but would guess Qld (mango ).In Adelaide there are a half dozen wine making shops but I dont know how many there would be in Qld.
If you can - have a look at the equipment available at the closest wine or home brew shop.
There are plenty of wine making books around to purchase. Library books are ok but I find that I need to refer to them each season so buying them is better.The best books that I use are Winetech publications buy Alex Summut and Winetec Titled "Red wine making for the small scale wine maker" and "White wine making for the small scale wine maker".Winetech is a shop in Adelaide.
Have never had a problem corking screw cap wine bottles, I alwayse meant to compare the top of the wine bottles with a set of verniers but never got around to it.
Sorry but I dont own a digital camera, I have not been able to part with the medium and large format film equipment- must be a bit retro.
Have made some other fruit wines- lemon &lime, nectarine, pear. There nice but the best wines are grape wines.
This season we put on a lunch and had a few friends over to help destem and crush the grapes. Set it up in the shed between the woodworking machines. It was a nice day- good fun, if it does start to get boring then I look at it as wine therapy.
There are 1000s of tones of grapes grown around Adelaide. so I phone the wineries and beg them to let me pick a few boxes of there grapes. Most of them don't want to know about it but the odd nice people enjoy giving or selling some and talking about wine in general.
Have you made any wine Colin ?

Hi Barn,

To answer you last question first..........No, I have not made any wine as of yet but promised myself I would start ths year.

I have looked at a Home Brew shop locally and the equipment they sell for wine making.
They have a bit of a cheat method where they sell you 15?litres of grape concentrate so you are starting sort of one step ahead.
I am told it makes a reasonable drop of wine.

Originally Posted by barn

Chippy- there are many types and prices of corking machines available, the one I purchesed in 2005 is a Ferrari ( Italian of coarse) stand corker that does normal and champagne corks. It holds wine bottles of any size,compresses a cork and via a large handle - stamps it into the top of a bottle to an adjustable depth. It cost $100 on special from globe imports in Adelaide.

The corking machines the brew shop sells is fairly basic and costs around the $30/40.
I have a bit of gear from beer and alchohol making so I would not have to buy too much, mainly the demijohns and some bottles.
I had a look on the web for companies that sell new bottles and there are a few locally.

I dont know what state you are in but would guess Qld (mango ).In Adelaide there are a half dozen wine making shops but I dont know how many there would be in Qld.

Yes.........nailed it one, I am in Qld. not far north of Brisbane. I have not seen a specific wine shop, they seem to be all Home Brew shops that sell some wine making gear. I will check a few of them out and see if there are any that sell mainly wine making equipment

If you can - have a look at the equipment available at the closest wine or home brew shop.
There are plenty of wine making books around to purchase. Library books are ok but I find that I need to refer to them each season so buying them is better.The best books that I use are Winetech publications buy Alex Summut and Winetec Titled "Red wine making for the small scale wine maker" and "White wine making for the small scale wine maker".Winetech is a shop in Adelaide.

I will have a look at our library and see what books they have, failing that I will check out some of the bookstores, failing that I will try Winetech

Have never had a problem corking screw cap wine bottles, I alwayse meant to compare the top of the wine bottles with a set of verniers but never got around to it.

I will check the sizes of the bottle tops in the morning with a set of verniers and see what the difference is.

Sorry but I dont own a digital camera, I have not been able to part with the medium and large format film equipment- must be a bit retro.
Have made some other fruit wines- lemon &lime, nectarine, pear. There nice but the best wines are grape wines.

Many years ago when I was based in NZ, the local bus driver was an avid wine maker. I couldn't believe the setup he had an a big old shed out the back, rows of wooden kegs full of different wines. He made wind from just about every fruit you could think of, some vegetables too. He even made sparkling wines and they tatsed pretty good to myuneducated palate in those days.

This season we put on a lunch and had a few friends over to help destem and crush the grapes. Set it up in the shed between the woodworking machines. It was a nice day- good fun, if it does start to get boring then I look at it as wine therapy.

Sounds as though it would have been a fun day!

There are 1000s of tones of grapes grown around Adelaide. so I phone the wineries and beg them to let me pick a few boxes of there grapes. Most of them don't want to know about it but the odd nice people enjoy giving or selling some and talking about wine in general.
Have you made any wine Colin ?

I would like to try making wine with actual fruit but may try the "cheat" method first and see how I go.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions, I will see if I can find someone locally that sell the books you mention or are Winetech the only ones to sell them?

Colin.

Colin- Winetec is a company and the publications are there own.
The grape concentrate will taste like- well- grape concentrate wine.
Here is my fruit wine recipe that has evolved over a few years, maybe you could start with mango wine ? If you do then send me a bottle.

This is an apple wine recipe but you can substitute the apple and apple juice for any other fruit and corresponding fruit juice. Strong flavoured fruit like citrus or currents require less fruit and more water- eg- 3kgs citrus flesh, 1kg citrus peel and 9.5 kgs/litres of water.

Steralise the fruit and containers with a sodium metabisulphate (smb) solution- containers 1 teaspoon(ts) per litre of water. Fruit 1 ts per 10 litres of water.

Barns apple wine recipe
15 litre mix for a plastic 20 litre bucket - yield around 12 litres of wine.

1 litre of apple juice without preservatives.
6.5 kgs of sliced cored apples
7 litres of warm water (rain water is best)
6 lemons - juice of
750 mils of red grape juice without preservatives.
2.5 kgs white sugar.
250 grams of sultanas
250 mils of strong black tea.
1/3 ts of tannin powder (optional)
1 ts tartaric acid powder.
+ depectiniser -read instructions on packet. (this helps to clear the wine at the racking stage)
1 heap ts of general purpose wine yeast
1/2 ts of yeast nutrients.

method
1- In the CLEAN kitchen sink -add 1 ts of smb per 10litres of water. add apples, swish around and leave to soak.
2-Steralise a CLEAN 20litre PLASTIC bucket and add water and lemon juice then dissolve sugar into mix by stiring. Add sultanas, black tea, depectiniser, apple juice, red grape juice. tannin and tartaric acid.
3- Clean, core and slice apples - add to bucket and submerge as you go to stop the apples going brown. Do not add any apple cores or rotten apples. slice at aprox 3 to 5 mm.
4- Activate yeast powder- Heat 100 mils of water + 1 ts of sugar to 30 - 35 degrees celsius. Add yeast and yeast nutrients. Let stand for 15 minutes then stir occasionly and gently for 15 mins. Slowly add some of the apple mix (must) from the bucket to equalise temperature gradualy. Then add yeast mix to 20 litre bucket. do not stir.
5-Cover the top of the bucket with apiece of coreflute- note -the fermentation gas must be able to escape but insects not get in. put the bucket out of the sun, a fermentation temperature of 15 to 25 deg is best.
Leave the mix for 1 day then stir twice per day for 1 to 2 weeks.
6- Strain the solids off and press the juice out of them. place juice in a demijon with bung and air lock and wait for fermenmtation to finish. The sediment will gradualy settle to the bottom. Syphon clear wine off into another demijon- this racking normaly has to be done 3 or 4 times. Keep air in demijons to a minimum.

This is just a fruit wine recipe so if you have not made wine before then read a book on the subject first. Most of the ingredients are available from the supermarket.
Barn.

Barn,

Apologies for taking so long to get back to you, I have been out of action plus I have had big problems with my network and Gateway /Router, hopefully that is now fixed.

Originally Posted by barn

Colin- Winetec is a company and the publications are there own.

I rang the number in the Yellow Pages for Winetech at Magill(08 8332-1400, is this the right one?) and discovered they went out of business about two year ago.
Have you any suggestions as to who I should contact about the books written by Alex Summut. Were they published by the SA Government or privately. I believe he lectures at Regency TAFE.
What are the prices for these books?

Who do you buy your demijohns from now? I have rung around up here and very few companies sell them and if they do, only 5l for $10 10L for $32, 15L for $42 and 34L for $64, considerably dearer than you paid at $2 per litre.
Bottles are dearer too around 85c plus GST except for one company that will sell me thinner glass bottles(not sure by how much yet) for $19-93 incl. GST per 24 bottles delivered if I spend more that $275 which is about 14 dozen.

There is a dearth of shops that sell winemaking equipment up here, they are mainly HomeBrew shops that cater to beer and spirit making and their prices are a tad high for any winemaking equipment
There is a company called Winequip with a branch in Adelaide and their Head Office is in Melbourne, have you dealt with them?.

The grape concentrate will taste like- well- grape concentrate wine.
Here is my fruit wine recipe that has evolved over a few years, maybe you could start with mango wine ? If you do then send me a bottle.

When I make some I will certainly send you some, the problem here is the Asian/Indian community take all the green mangos of the trees before they ripen. We have Mango trees growing alongside the road and before they get chance to ripen they are all gone, presumably to make chutney or some sort as they would be too green to eat.

My thanks for the apple recipe, I will certainly give that a go!

I took out two books at the Library (which was all they had on home winemaking), both written by the English author C.J.J.Berry, "First Steps In Winemaking" and "130 Winemaking Recipes" published in the 1980s.
He has a fairly basic Apple wine recipe with mixed apples, sugar, water, yeast and nutrient and Pectic enzyme.
The recipes in this book cover a wide spectrum of fruit and vegetables, I was quite amazed at what can be used to make wine.

This is just a fruit wine recipe so if you have not made wine before then read a book on the subject first. Most of the ingredients are available from the supermarket.
.

What books do you suggest apart from the two by Alex Summut? I haven't had a chance to get into one of the big book shops yet but will try and do so tomorrow afternoon.

Colin.