Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Aging Method In Homemade Wine Making

I understand people are anxious to know how long a wine matures, whereas the truth is they just want to have a good drink of it. A number of people will not simply believe that wines improve with age. Going about the process of making wines with urgency should not exist and impatience like that is hard to believe. People truly believe that wine can be made, matured and drunk in six or seven weeks- that's way too young. You might barely get fermentation done and your wines clear and bottled in that time, but truly they can't be drinkable.

You know it very well that you will be itching to get your teeth into these wines and you cannot blame yourself for that because you are not alone; winemakers have these eager feeling to sample the latest batch to be bottled off. And for some reason, keeping the homemade wine at least a year before you manage to drink it is a waste of time, especially after when you had a taste of it when siphoning it into bottles. But, you have to remember this for your own sake. At bottling time, put two bottles in the attic or some other place where they cannot be reached easily or you can send it to your special someone to keep it if you like. Seriously, those two bottles of each lot made will soon amount up to a nice little stock.

Building up a stock collection means to be making numerous lots at the same time. In the middle of the process of one batch, you start another. This way, you will always have a couple gallons fermenting, several bottles for use as needed and a dozen slowly growing into a nice reserve. These saved wines will have become so magnificent in that time that your lesson will be learned.

It is also a good idea to keep some of the wine for five years at least. For at five years it is better than age our and at three years old it is better than age two. Do not worry, these maturing times have been proven by expert winemakers. Now, are you ready to keep your wines long enough to have a delightful taste?

Lastly, wines should be stored at a temperature that remains constant throughout the year. Differing changes in temperature should be avoided, so if you can store your wines on a stone floor or in a cupboard which has a stone floor, that's best; if you can't do this, store your wines where you can and hope for the best.

Homemade Wine Making Maturing Process

Would you believe there are people who are so anxious to know when or how long a wine matures whereas the truth is they just want to have a good drink of it? Actually, it is surprising that the number of people will not simply believe it that wines improve with age. They set about making wines possessed of urgency which should not exist and an impatience that is hard to believe. People really believe that wine can be made, matured and drunk in six or seven weeks. Of course with luck, you might get fermentation done and your wines clear and bottled in that time, but truly they can't be drinkable even so young.

I understand you will be itching to get your teeth into these wines and I can't blame you for that because you are not alone; winemakers are eager to sample the latest batch. For some reason, keeping the wine at least a year before you manage to drink it is a waste of time, especially when you had a taste of it when siphoning it into bottles. However, for your own sake, at bottling time, put two bottles of you homemade wine in the attic or some other place where they cannot be retrieved easily. Those two bottles of each lot made will soon amount up to a nice little stock.

A good secret to building up a stock is to make numerous batches at the same time. When a jar is emptied at the bottling stage, start again with new lot. In this way, you will always have a few gallons fermenting, several dozen bottles for use on hand and a dozen or so making a nice reserve. When the first two bottles are put away for a year or two you may sample them. They will have become such wonderful wines in that time that your lesson will have been well learned.

It's also definitely a good idea to keep some of your wine for five years. For at five years it's better than four and at three years it's better than two. Also you can be rest assured that these times have been proven by many winemakers and trusted for years. So, are you ready to keep your wine long enough to have a better taste?

Lastly, wines should be stored at a temperature that remains constant throughout the year. Differing changes in temperature should be avoided, so if you can store your wines on a stone floor or in a cupboard which has a stone floor, that's best; if you can't do this, store your wines where you can and hope for the best.

Friday, April 9, 2010

An Inside Look At The Natural Enemies Of Homemade Wine Making

Airborne yeast and acid loving bacteria are two enemies of wine-making. Most acetic bacteria convert alcohol into acid thereby turning homemade wine to vinegar. Similarly, the yeasts and spores of fungi that turn wine flat or turn it sour are also in the air. If you're using fresh fruit and other ingredients from the garden or shops, these bacteria, yeasts and fungi are also present, but no worries because they are easily destroyed.

Most ingredients used in making wine are supplied in containers and they will not be contaminated by these causes of spoilage. But, the water that you might use can contain harmful bacteria that can spoil the wine or possibly the wild yeast can cause poor ferments and these ferments could give 'off' flavors such as sour tastes.

It is not usually known that the molds on cheese, half-empty pots of meat paste and jam are often yeasts growing there for it is the yeast floating about in the air that ruins the wines that you make. So, in order to beat these souring yeasts, you must keep the fermenting wines and finished wines covered closely. Treatment of such finished wines is covered under the heading 'storing' and it is important that you cover fermenting wines.

As soon as the prepared yeasts have been added to the prepared liquid, the top of the jar should be covered with a piece of polythene and this should be pressed down all around by hand and a strong string should be tied tightly around. Through this you can keep airborne diseases away from the wine. It is also a good idea if you use a Fermentation lock instead of polythene.

Keep in mind that the whole idea in using a fermentation lock is to keep airborne diseases from contaminating the wine, so be sure that the bung and lock are airtight. When these are loose, the gas leaking will prevent air from reaching the wine during the early stages, and it slows down the outgoing stream of gas through the leakage holes which wouldn't be strong enough so the airborne diseases can easily reach the wine.

After fitting the lock to the bung and jar, run a little sealing wax where the bungs enter the jar and where the lock enters the bung. This precaution may not be necessary, but it's better to be safe. Remove one piece of the lock and bung and insert a new one when fermentation stops.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

T'Noirot Extract Homemade Wine Recipe

Flavoring world famous wines, and liqueurs can be a cumbersome job unless you use T'Noirot extracts. These extracts are scientifically mixed to give flavors equal to the world-famous liqueurs of the same name. You are guaranteed the natural taste and nothing fake or synthetic tasting in your homemade wine. It's also so easy to use.

T'Noirot extracts are potent and should not be judged by their pure scent. Anyone smelling the raw undiluted extract is likely to think that something is off or bitter. Do not pay any attention to the strength of the odor and do not taste any wine being made from the extract until it is done fermenting. The flavor will also improve immensely as it ages.

T'Noirot extracts are made from aromatic plants. The flavors are unique which makes them excellent for the use of wine making. When making wines using the extracts, your result will be a light but deep flavor and will be less expensive than using all fruit.

Unlike many wine making processes, this one should be carried out over a period of ten days in a one gallon jug. Do not rack the wine into different containers. The sediment in the bottom is where much of the complexity develops with the T'Noirot extracts.

One more item of importance is also to not divide the Wine, let's say, into two half-gallon lots because half-gallon jars happen to be available. Keep it as one until all fermentation has ceased. When this has happened the clearer wine may be siphoned off the deposit into another jar and put away to clear. When clear, it should be bottled.

Try the following recipe to start off:

Delicious Wine from T'Noirot extracts

Ingredients: 6 bottles of cherry brandy extract, 3 lb. sugar, 1 gal. water, yeast and nutrient.

One-third of the sugar should be boiled in a half gallon of water for two minutes; after cooling, pour it into the gallon jar. Add the extract, & yeast. Cover as directed and ferment in a warm place for ten days. Boil the rest of the sugar in remaining water for two minutes and when cool add this to the rest. Ferment in a warm place for a further fourteen days. Cover and leave in a cool place until all fermentation has ceased.

Basic Homemade Wine Made Using T’Noirot Extracts

An excellent reward of homemade wine making is to be able to flavor your wines with very little effort. This can be easily done with what is called T'Noirot extracts. No extra work is needed, the stuff is ready to use. T'Noirot extracts are blended to give flavors identical to popular liqueurs, thus you are assured of the real thing and not a fake substitute.

These flavorings are highly concentrated and should not be judged by their scent. Anyone smelling the undiluted extract or sampling the extracts is likely to imagine that something is not quite right. You have to ignore the pungency of the odor and don't taste any wines being made from the extract until fermentation has ceased. Like all wines, the flavor improves with age.

These specialty extracts contain unique blends of a variety of aromatic and bitter plants. The wine produced as a result ends up having a very unique flavor which has a lighter body to it than a wine made from all fruit. The cost can be much less expensive also.

Unlike many wine making processes, this one should be carried out over a period of ten days in a one gallon jug. Do not rack the wine into different containers. The sediment in the bottom is where much of the complexity develops with the T'Noirot extracts.

Also, dividing the wine batched is not a wise idea. Even if you have two half gallon jars on hand, resist the urge because the flavors will not be able to develop proportionally. Instead use a larger vessel if you must but only rack the wine one time and only do so after all fermentation has stopped.

Here's a basic recipe to get you started.

T'Noirot extract Wines

Gather the following: 6 cherry brandy extract bottles, three pounds of sugar ,1 gal. purified water, one packet of yeast.

One-third of the sugar should be boiled in a half gallon of water for two minutes; after cooling, pour it into the gallon jar. Add the extract, & yeast. Cover as directed and ferment in a warm place for ten days. Boil the rest of the sugar in remaining water for two minutes and when cool add this to the rest. Ferment in a warm place for a further fourteen days. Cover and leave in a cool place until all fermentation has ceased.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Best Homemade Wine Recipe from Ribena

A wonderful syrup made of excellent quality Ribena could well be added to fermenting 'must haves' to get special results. If you use Ribena in winemaking, you should reduce the amount of sugar accordingly in whichever homemade wine recipes you have in mind. The addition of one or two bottles of Ribena per gallon can make a vast improvement to the flavor and even quality of the wine.

Best of all, there is no expensive fruit to buy, no crushing, nor much to do at all. Most importantly, Ribena is treated with pectin-destroying enzyme, which means that you could boil it if you wished without fear of pectin clouding the wine. What you wish to achieve when making wine with Ribena is to lessen the amount of sugar to about three and a half pounds per gallon. In doing this, you will lessen the preservative and not likely prevent fermentation. Here are the steps to use for the addition of Ribena syrup. The water used in the procedure was first boiled and cooled naturally.

Stage 1: Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of H2O (four Ribena bottles full). Yeast was added and the mixture was allowed to ferment for ten days.

2: Next, after ten days, two additional bottles of Ribena and one additional bottle of water are added and the batch is allowed to ferment for another ten days.

Step 3: Finally, after twenty days of fermentation, add two more bottles of Ribena and one bottle of water. This should be allowed to ferment until completion, usually, three months. The result is a good, round wine flavored of fresh blackcurrants.

Now, the whole fermentation was carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool and fermentation locks being fitted after ten days. Racking was not carried out until one month after the last addition while monthly racking followed until fermentation ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved enormously at the age of 6 months.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

A Homemade Wine With Low Alcohol Content

Few people know this but a high percentage of alcohol is not everything. Some wines are made in the region of eight to eleven percent alcohol. There are wines made, of course, a good deal stronger than the others made for commercial consumption.

Apparently, a good percentage of alcohol ensures that wines keep well and that the lower percentage of alcohol wines those under twelve percent might begin to ferment again at any time. This is true in a case where a stray yeast spore, either left in the homemade wine or one reaching it at some later stage, will begin to reproduce and live on any sugar present. However, not all of us like bone-dry wines.

Some people prefer teir wines to be medium dry to medium sweet or even sweet.

The wine will be dry if you use less than two and a quarter pounds of sugar in one gallon. Suppose you have decided on making wine of ten percent of alcohol, the amount of sugar must be one pound fourteen ounces per gallon.

Very well then, you can now take any recipe in your winemaking book but not those containing dried fruit as these contain lots of sugar instead use one pound and fourteen ounces of sugar. If invert sugar is being used, remember that invert sugar contains some moisture, so for every pound of household sugar, you must use one and a quarter pounds of invert sugar. In addition, invert sugar is typically supplied in tins containing seven pounds or in blocks by whatever weight is ordered. If weighing this proves awkward, dissolve it and measure it again by the pint, considering that one pint represents two pounds of sugar.