What's a wine buff who cannot make their own wine? Wine making may be an art to many but for most of us it isn't that difficult to produce a half reasonable bottle from our own efforts. First understand what steps are involved in making wines at home, and then you will definitely be able to make it for yourself.
You will need either grapes or their concentrate to begin making wine at home. It is excellent if you have some land to grow grapes on, because then the wine you get from these grapes will be really truly yours. Grape concentrate of a lower quality must never be used in making wines.
You will find exceptional grade concentrates online or in home brewing stores. You will then have to get some yeast and the wine brewing tools and equipment. If you haven't prepared wine before, you may want to buy a wine kit to make things simpler for you or you will need to buy things individually. Do not buy individual wine making equipment for making large batches of wine until you have made certain that your wine has brewed well and you really want to continue doing this.
There are five to eight basic steps involved in the process of wine making, depending on whether you are using grapes or concentrate. Pluck the grapes off the vines if you are using fresh grapes. Pull out every individual stem from the grapes that have been harvested. If you leave them, they can adversely affect the taste of the wine.
When you are sure not a single stem fragment is left, crush the skins of the grapes so that the juices from them will ooze out. This can be done in various ways. Crushing grapes is the most popular method used by professional wine makers. The taste you get from the wine will depend on the extent to which you crush the grapes. Leaving the berries almost whole will get you a wine that has a fruit like aroma.
This is followed by the step known as primary fermentation. During this process, the yeast will act on the sugar and ferment it. Alcohol and carbon dioxide will be produced so check if you will have to add more yeast. If you depend only on the yeast present in the grapes, your conversion won't be continuous so you will need additional yeast.
More juice can be squeezed out of the grapes after the primary fermentation is over. However, the juice extracted in the second crushing will not be of as superior quality as the juice extracted earlier. The juice got from the first crushing did not come in contact with the stem and skins as it ran freely. Still, you will find great use for this press juice. Press juice is used in the large wineries to increase the total output.
A secondary fermentation occurs in the wine following the pressing process as it is aging. Wine makers decide according to their personal needs how long to allow their wines to ferment.
The final stage of wine making is bottling. Add wine directly to the bottles and then add some sulfites as this will stop the fermentation process and help to keep the wine preserved. Finally, the bottle of wine is sealed with a cork.