Wine Making Recipe for Homemade Wine
This wine making recipe is a general one, which can be used both to make red and white wines. I have provided some alternative ingredients if the first choice in this wine recipe is not available in your area.
Ingredients:
- 5 Campden Tablets or ¼ cup Sodium Bisulfite
- 5-6 kg of sugar
- 9.5-11.5 litres of Water
- 11.5 kg of Grapes
- 25 drops of liquid Pectic Enzyme or 2.5 tsp dried Pectic Enzyme
- 5 tsp Yeast Nutrient
- 6.5 tsp Sparkalloid
- 1 pkg Wine Yeast (standard)
- Extra Water for mixing
- Extra Sugar for stabilizing and sweetening
Materials:
- Crushing Grate or Wooden Paddle or Crusher
- Primary Fermenter
- Hydrometer
- Secondary Fermenter or Carboy
- Siphoning Hose
- Airlock
- Stirring Rod
Wine Making Recipe Method:
1. Dissolve 5 Campden tablets, or ¼ cup of sodium bisulfite in a big pitcher of water. In order to sanitize your working area and materials, you must treat all work surfaces and utensils with the prepared solution, allowing it to work for at least 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, you must rinse the solution off with cool water, a let air dry.
2. Inside a fermenter and using a grate you must crush your grapes to extract the juice for the yeast to act on. Using a grate is highly recommendable as stems are innately left behind, without having to pick them after crushing.
3. Add 4.5 kg of sugar to 7.5 litres of warm water. Dissolve and incorporate to primary fermenter.
4. Top off the fermenter with cool water, all the way up to the 21 litre (5.5 gal) mark. This will offer extra room for the must as it begins to ferment and aerate.
5. Test the unfermented must in a hydrometer by filling the test jar with the must, sugar and water mix. Tap off any bubbles and allow to sit still.
HYDROMETER READING
Once the reading shows, this mixture should yield a measure of:
SG (Specific Gravity): 1.114-1.122
PA (Potential Alcohol): 15-16
If specific gravity lies below the range shown above, you must add sugar to restore the proper measure. To do this, add 0.5 kg of sugar at a time, mixing it in with a sample of must or water before adding it to the primary fermenter.
You must test the must in your hydrometer after every half a kilo of sugar you add, until SG reads within the allowed range. You must obtain around 24.6 L of must, with a PA reading that varies between 15 and 16.
6. Once proper gravity levels are established, let mixture rest for 24 hours.
7. Without mixing, add yeast and yeast nutrient to 85 ml of lukewarm water and a pinch of sugar. Allow to sit for 10-20 minutes until it becomes cloudy and airy.
8. Stir the yeast mixture slightly and add to primary fermenter. Mix in well and cover to prevent oxidation.
9. Maintain temperatures between 18°C-24°C for proper fermentation. After 48 hours you will notice evidence of yeast activity in an airy must with a layer of pulp on the very top. After activity begins you must stir the mixture two times a day for about a week. Once a hydrometer test shows a SG of 1.030. you can cease the stirring and get ready for the next step.
10. You must remove the all pulp from the top and using a mesh strain, and squeeze out all the liquid that remains back into the primary fermenter.
11. Siphon, or rack, the mixture into a secondary fermenter, or carboy and equip the top with a water-filled airlock to keep oxygen out. To ensure a proper seal, make sure both the airlock and the neck of the carboy are dry before attaching them together. A second and third racking will be required at the second and third months, so as to remove any lees (solid residues and sediments) from the bottom of the container.
12. In order to remove the solid particles that weren’t removed during racking, you must add a fining agent to clarify the wine. For 24.6 L of wine you will add 6.5 teaspoons of Sparkolloid that have been boiled for 3 minutes in 3 ¼ cups of water. The mixture must be added to the wine while it’s hot, allowed to act for 2 weeks for full clarification (hydrometer must read <0 or =0).
13. After clarifying and before bottling, the wine must be kept at a temperature of 4.5°C-10°C for best preservation.
14. If your wine is not as sweet as you would want it, you can add some sugar at this time. To do so, prepare a syrup that is 1:2 water-to-sugar and allow it to cool thoroughly before adding. In order to prevent the reemergence of fermentation, add the suggested dosage of Campden tablet or sodium bisulfite (check the label for accurate instructions). If you choose to sweeten your wine, you must wait a week before bottling.
15. Bottle, Age and Enjoy!
