STARTING TO PRODUCE A BEAUTIFUL RED WINE

I have taken the few remaining bunches from my greenhouse vines as of yesterday, Saturday, the total weight from the three vines adds up to eighty four pounds (around 38kg if my maths serves me right) which is ample to produce a five gallon batch of the most gorgeous wine you could ever taste.

I also have the harvest from my outdoor vines available, but that will be fermented separately from this indoor batch for my own benefit, along with any surplus from the greenhouse batch of grapes.

The last bunches of the Black Hamburg were added yesterday to those in the freezer, again in re-sealable plastic freezer bags, that way allowing me to keep out any bacteria-laden air, water, or whatever, from being in contact with the fruit once it is defrosted, so I shall be defrosting all those frozen grapes (in their sealed bags) and that should be completed by Monday evening, just in time for me to get cracking (squashing them while still in the bags).

Once all the fruit is crushed, the bags will be opened and the contents, skins, pips and all, tipped into a clean five-gallon fermenting container that will easily hold six gallons (plastic, glass or stainless – nothing else) and stirred.

Once this is done, an amount is poured through a sieve into a clean, tall container to release just liquid so that the Specific Gravity can be tested with the hydrometer.

The hydrometer is simply a tube of glass (or plastic) with a weight at one end, and when it is placed into a liquid it sinks down to a certain level, according to the density (thickness) of that liquid.

The scale on the side of the hydrometer is calibrated so that if using clean drinking water, then the reading at the surface level should be 1.000. If the liquid is denser, then the hydrometer will float higher and the reading will show a denser liquid by having the 1.000 above the surface level.

So the reading at the surface level of the liquid is the key, but I do not worry at this stage as to what sort of alcohol level it will produce as I simply keep adding any surplus sugar until the fermentation stops altogether and I end up with an S.G. of 1.004 (I like my wines medium-sweet!).

On some batches in the past at this first check stage I have had a reading just below the 1.000 mark as you look at the scale, around 1.006 to 1.008, which means the fruit was not very rich in sugars (I perhaps took the fruit a little too early rather than leaving it to mature for longer) but this was no problem, as the sweetness (sugar) can be added either initially, or as the fermentation proceeds (as I did at that time), and the ‘body’ produced by the grapes themselves will still be in the must.

From here the aim is to have a must (your grape mixture about to be fermented) starting with an S.G. of around 1.020 to 1.030. If you do not have that reading, then sugar should be added to your must to bring it up to this level so that the starter will have something to go at when you add it.

Once you have your must at the correct S.G., then is the time to check your acidity level, and the simplest way to check it is by your taste buds, as some folk like acid drinks and some folk like them sweet.

If it tastes sharp because you picked your grapes too early, or perhaps the type of grape is sharp, then you may have to add some precipitated chalk to make it more palatable, whereas if it tastes almost bland (you picked your grapes at full maturity) then a small amount of citric acid should be added to taste and mixed in, say a quarter of a teaspoon at a time in the five gallon must.

My initial reading this time I have yet to see, but if it is higher than this reading (1.030 plus), again there is no problem, it’s just a case of not adding any sugar, and by following this method you should produce a magnificent wine.

I should add, that a day before the must is to be started into fermentation, a starter seed is needed, in that a half pint of boiling water is placed into a clean container and allowed to cool. Once at room temperature approximately, then a few ounces (50 grams) of sugar is added and stirred until dissolved.

Then one or two heaped teaspoons of yeast and nutrient are added and the container left, covered, in a warm place to allow the fermentation to start.

Once the fermentation is vigorous and the yeast is activated it can be added to the must and covered with a cloth to keep out bugs and flies, providing the must is at room temperature or a little warmer - 70 degrees F (around 20 degrees C) is a reasonable temperature.

This is the start of what is called the maceration process, where the fruit flavours and tannins from the skins and pips are absorbed by the liquid within the must, and what I usually do is leave it for a week, pushing the flotsam down below the froth on a daily basis, stirring it to mix it all together, but not to fiercely as a little air swirled into the must is not a good idea at this stage.



As an ongoing thought, the grape harvest in Australia, which provides around a quarter of the UK wine imports, according to the BBC news, has been very good this year owing to the dry (read drought) summer, but next year, as the ground is short of moisture, the harvest is expected to be poor, which will mean higher prices down at the local shops.

So….

Isn’t that a good enough incentive to get cracking and grow your own?



Be seeing you,

George