Month: November 2012

Posted on

The Anatomy of a Grape

Knowing and understanding grapes is absolutely essential to making good wine. After all these little berries are what it all starts with right?

By their very nature grapes are the perfect winemaking fruit. No other fruit contains the perfect amounts of sugar, acidity, and phenolic compounds to create such an amazing beverage. Any other fruit requires additional sugar or other ingredients to even produce alcohol.

Let’s get to know our little friend a little bit better. Shall we? Continue reading “The Anatomy of a Grape”

Posted on

How to Use a Racking Cane

A racking cane is simply a hard plastic tube used to siphon wine from one container to another. Despite their simplicity they can be a bit tricky to use.

The most difficult part of using this device is getting the flow of wine going. While you could suck on the end of the tube like a straw to get the siphon started this is hardly a sanitary way to make wine.

I’ll show you the best way I’ve found to use the racking cane. It takes a little practice but once you get the hang of it it’s really easy.

Continue reading “How to Use a Racking Cane”

Posted on

The Differences Between Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Sterilizing

While this may seem like a trivial distinction to make different wine making resources will use these terms interchangeably and it can get confusing.

Cleaning

Simply put, cleaning wine making equipment is to remove dirt and debris. This can be done by using warm water and your hands or a sponge to remove the big stuff. You don’t want to use soaps or detergents as these can leave behind a residue of their own.

What cleaning does not do is remove any micro-organisms. Cleaning by itself is not enough to ensure that you won’t have any undesirable tastes due to rogue micro-organisms. Continue reading “The Differences Between Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Sterilizing”

Posted on

Using a Hydrometer for Making Wine

Using a hydrometer is key to determining the amount of alcohol potential in must and content in finished wine.

The hydrometer is the testing instrument you’ll use most when making wine. While it looks simple enough it does take some practice to fully understand both how to use it and what it’s telling you.

I’ll show you how to use a hydrometer as well as what the results mean in this three and a half-minute video. You’ll get to actually see the hydrometer used to measure the specific gravity of tap water, a sugar solution, as well as a finished wine so you’ll see the differences.

After the video I’ll share some additional tips on getting the best reading you can from this extremely useful instrument. Continue reading “Using a Hydrometer for Making Wine”

Posted on

First Impressions of My Shiraz and the Mistakes I Made

You’re really supposed to wait six months after bottling a red wine before you taste it…but I couldn’t resist!

When I bottled my Shiraz I wound up with 29 full bottles and about a half bottle left over. Needless to say I couldn’t store the half bottle for any length of time without oxidizing it. So, the only thing left to do was drink it!

I wanted to taste the wine as bottled for two reasons. First, I wanted to know what it tastes like in the beginning so that I have something to compare it to as it ages. Second, I wanted to see if I made any mistakes that I could learn from. Here’s what I found when I tasted my wine. Continue reading “First Impressions of My Shiraz and the Mistakes I Made”