Last update:  October 15, 1995

This is the FAQ for rec.crafts.winemaking.  If you have any additions,
deletions, corrections, comments, questions or the like, please direct
them to r.c.w. or Don Buchan at malak@cam.org

Copyright notice:

Copyright (c) 1995 by Don Buchan, all rights reserved.  This FAQ may be
distributed to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, or BBS or by any
other means otherwise, electronic or physical (such as, but not limited
to, floppy diskettes and printouts) as long as:

A) it is distributed in its entirety, including the following credits,
the date noted above, and includes this copyright statement, and
B) no fee is charged to anyone
     i) downloading this file beyond nominal online fees, or
    ii) receiving the information beyond nominal format charges.
C) it is not distributed for financial gain.  To be included in
commercial collections or compilations (except online services as
allowed above), express permission from Don Buchan (malak@cam.org) must
be requested.

Academic use and accuracy:

In the case of academic use, follow the guidelines set out at your
institution for referencing electronic texts, provided that my name,
Don Buchan, and email ID, malak@cam.org, are referenced as
editor/compilor.  I suggest as title "FAQ List for Usenet Usegroup
rec.crafts.winemaking".  I am not an oenologist, nor is this text
guaranteed to be 100% accurate.  If you see an error, please point it
out to me.

While the text does treat the actual procedures of making wine to
varying degrees, it is assumed that you already have a basic knowledge
of how to make wine.  If you don't, request the primers mentioned in
the NET RESOURCES posting for wine & winemaking.

Spelling conventions & editing:

The editor has tried to edit for brevity in some cases, therefore
contributions may be shorter than submitted or as originally posted in
the newsgroup.  As well, the word "I" when used is the contributor, not
necessarily the editor.  Text in {} is the original question.  Further,
British (and Canadian) spelling conventions are used.  Please don't
point out "f" instead of "ph" or "gh", that there's no "u" in words, or
it's "s" instead of "z".

Contributors:

Don Buchan (editor)    malak@cam.org
Eric Garrison          ericg@iquest.net
Peter Rosback          peterr@wine.tv.tek.com
Tony DeVito            tonyd@dorsai.org
Brian Carty            bcarty@bnr.ca
David B. Gibson        aj749@freenet.carleton.ca
Rick Regan             rdr@law.cua.edu
Jack Ziebart           jziebart@bbs.sd68.nanaimo.bc.ca
Richard Castle         rcastle@gpu2.srv.ualberta.ca
Christopher Sawtell    chris@gerty.equinox.gen.nz
Brian Hiebert          bhieber@adminbldg.lan1.umanitoba.ca
Greg Owen              gowen@cs.tufts.edu, gowen@xis.xerox.com
Don Schiller           daschiller@mmm.com
Dave Kehlet            david.kehlet@eng.sun.com
K.D. Colagio           kdc5072@ultb.isc.rit.edu
Robin Garr             rgarr@iglou.com
Mark Levesque          levesque@nacto.lkg.dec.com
Philip DiFalco         sxupjd@fnma.com
Anthony Hawkins        hawkins@bigvax.alfred.edu
Patrick J. Tierney     projexis@ottawa.net
Scott Arighi           sarig@teleport.com
Victor Reijs           reijs@surfnet.nl
Tamiko Toland          veraison@aol.com
Tim Hodkinson          timothy@lerhost.demon.co.uk
Paul                   placitas76@aol.com
Michael Arthurs        fqcx72a@prodigy.com
Bob Konigsberg         bobk@3com.com
Warren Vidrine         75113.3343@compuserve.com, vidrine@aol.com
John Katchmer          74542.3312@compuserve.com

GENERAL:

G01. Newsgroup Charter
G02. Definitions
G03. How is wine made?
G04. Yeast
G05. Possible ingredients
G06. BTW, can I use jam?
G07. The recipe calls for tannin.  What's the conversion dry to liquid?
G08. What equipment is required?
G09. Sucrose vs. corn sugar
G10. Kits vs. Grapes or Fruit
G11. What are the usual sizes used in home winemaking?
G12. Barrels
G13. Sanitation
G14. Procedure
G15. Why am I adding the bentonite at the beginning?
G16. Egg white clearing
G17. Higher alcohol levels
G18. Sparkling your wine
G19. Ice wine
G20. Different kinds of fermentation used in winemaking
G21. Acid balance
G22. Chillproofing
G23. Do all wines contain sulphites?
G24. How much sulphite is needed?
G25. Topping up your wine
G26. How to know when a wine is ready to drink
G27. Vinometers
G28. How to measure alcohol levels in your wine
G29. What's the best paper and adhesive to use for labels?
G30. Bottles & Corks
G31. How about distilling my wine?
G32. What are good references for winemaking?

TROUBLESHOOTING:

T01. I didn't rehydrate my yeast.  Is that bad?
T02. Why hasn't my wine started bubbling yet?
T03. My wine stopped bubbling.  What's wrong?
T04. Foaming problems
T05. My wine just won't clear.  Why not?
T06. My fined and filtered wine is hazy.  What's wrong?
T07. How do I get rid of the strong paper taste in filtered wine?
T08. The wine I bottled is fizzy.  Why?
T09. Ornery bottle labels
T10. My wine smells bad.  What happened?
T11. I've got vinegar.  Any hope?
T12. Mycoderma (Flowers of Wine)
T13. I rinsed with cold water after sulphiting.  Is that bad?

NET RESOURCES -- Can be found in the seperate posting NET RESOURCES for
wine & winemaking.

*******
GENERAL
*******

G01. NEWSGROUP CHARTER

Name: rec.crafts.winemaking
Moderation status: unmoderated

Rec.crafts.winemaking will be a news group dedicated to the discussion
of the process, recipes, tips, storage, techniques and general exchange
of lore on the process, methods and history of wine making.  The above
list is not considered exhaustive, and if a discussion is of interest
to wine makers it may be deemed as appropriate.  This group is to be
general enough to encompass both traditional grape wines as well as
wines which are generally described as country wines, sparkling wines,
and champagnes.  In general, the appropriateness of a particular
beverage will be determined by the process involved in its making. 
Essentially, if the process used is that of wine making, then the
discussion is considered appropriate.  This may include such beverages
as cider or mead.  It is recognized that there are topics which are of
interest to both wine makers and brewers, and posting or cross posting
of such topics is considered both appropriate and desirable.  Personal
stories and experiences shall be welcome as long as they pertain to the
craft of wine making.

G02. DEFINITIONS

Not all these words appear elsewhere in this FAQ; but those that don't
are still useful or at least interesting.

Acid Blend:  A blend of (usually) tartaric and malic acids in crystal
form.

Bracket (braggot):  An alcoholic beverage made with malt and honey;
thus it bridges the gap between mead and ale.

Campden Tablets:  Tablets of a standard amount of compressed sulphite.

Carboy:  A container of five imperial gallons.  It is the next commonly
used size smaller than a demijohn.  Carboys are made out of glass or
plastic and, like a big bottle, have a constricted neck.

Clearing:  Clearing is getting the wine to go clear by either fining,
repeated racking or both.

Cyser:  A mead with apple juice added (and thus you might consider it
either an apple melomel or a cider with honey).

Demijohn:  A container identical in function and similar in shape to a
carboy.  They typically hold 25 to 64 litres, about 5 to 14 imperial
gallons, though come in various sizes as small as 1 imperial gallon.

Fermentation:  The anaerobic (no oxygen) digestion of various
microflora and microfauna.  In our case, yeast are anaerobically
digesting sugar, water and nutrients to produce alcohol.

Fining:  Fining is the use of some agent that will collect the
cloudiness out of the wine and then fall to the bottom so that the
clear wine can be racked off the top.  These substances are usually
isinglass (ground fishbladders) or a gelatin substance.

Hydrometer:  A glass bulb with a weight in the bulb, a narrow stick
like end with a scale inside it that is used to measure properties such
as liquid density, and in the case of fermentation, usually other
scales such as Brix, Balling and potential alcohol.

Kit:  A package containing juice concentrate and other ingredients used
to make wine.  Add water and follow the instructions in the box.  Format
varies quite a bit:  Some kits are a can of concentrate (add your own
sugar, yeast, some other ingredients); some are 5kg to 7kg of
concentrate in a bag, complete with everything needed either in the
concentrate or seperately in the box, except water and; others are 15
litres of concentrated juice you bring up to 23 litres.  Sometimes the
concentrate is actually a hybrid with the concentrated juice of more
than one kind of grape (California requires at 51% of a given grape to
be present to call it that variety, for instance.  Other areas require
75%.)  Quality is discussed in section G10. KITS VS. GRAPES OR FRUIT.

Lees:  The solids that have fallen to the bottom of your fermentation
vessel.  Among much else, they contain live and dead yeast.

Mead:  An alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of honey and
water.  Many ingredients can be added to the basic recipe.

Melomel:  A mead with fruit or fruit juices added.

Metheglin:  A mead with herbs and/or spices added.

Must:  Unfermented wine (ie. grape juice).

Pectins:  Pectins are large binding protein molecules that don't clear
properly.  They're important in jam making, but annoying and
undesireable in winemaking.

Pectic Enzyme:  Pectic enzymes break up pectin to make smaller
molecules that clear more easily.

Primary Fermentation:  The stage during which most fermentation takes
place, usually in a covered widemouthed vessel.

Pyment:  Honey and grape juice fermented together.  This can be either
a fermented combination (as a melomel) or grape wine to which honey is
added after it is finished.  (Current use of the term is inconsistent.)

Racking:  Transferring by siphoning the clear wine/mead off the top of
a vessel into another closed vessel without transferring the lees at
the bottom of the first vessel.

Secondary Fermentation:  The stage during which fermentation is
completed, usually in a closed vessel such as a carboy.  This period
commonly refers to the completion of sugar fermentation by yeast, but
also refers to the time when other fermentations, particularly
malolactic fermentation (a bacterial fermentation which converts malic
acid to lactic acid) takes place.  See section G20. DIFFERENT KINDS OF
FERMENTATION USED IN WINEMAKING.

sg:  Specific gravity.  The reading taken from your hydrometer that
measures the relative density of your must/wine to water.  Rarely will
the reading go above 1.100 as this makes it very difficult for yeast to
work and this will produce a wine with 14% alcohol, getting in the area
that yeast have difficulty tolerating.

Sorbate:  Potassium sorbate.  A substance that is noxious to yeasts
and as such is used as a stabilizer.  It should be noted that sorbate's
effectiveness depends on low yeast counts in the wine; if it's high, it
will be inneffective.  Clear your wine properly, and ferment out to sg
1.000 or less.

Sulphite (or sulphate):  Referring to sodium metabisulphite or
potassium metabisulphite.  A substance that is noxious to many spoilage
microorganisms and wild yeasts and as such is used as a microbiological
and oxidative inhibitor and stabilizer.  It should be noted that
sulphite's effectiveness depends on low yeast counts in the wine; if
it's high, it will be inneffective.  Clear your wine properly and
ferment out to sg 1.000 or less.  Chemically, sulphite is S03(-4) while
sulphate is SO4(-6); the desired form in winemaking is sulphite,
however, the two are often used (or confused) interchangeably.  Since
sulphate is oxidized sulphite (ie. sulphite reacts with oxygen in the
air), sulphite also prevents unwanted browning in wine; further, too
much sulphate in a wine will cause bitterness.  Therefore as a rule
avoid letting your wine contact the air as much as possible.

Vapour lock:  A simple device that looks like a wide letter 'S' laying
on its side (this is the standard form, there are others).  It is
filled with water (enough that there is no way for air or contaminants
to flow through it) while allowing the pressure from the fermentation
to push out.  These are also known as fermentation locks and air locks.

Wine:  The fermented juice of fruits having an alcohol content of 7% to
14% (though higher levels are possible).

G03. HOW IS WINE MADE?

Essentially, wine is the product of fermented fruit juice, usually
grapes.  Generally, it has an alcoholic content of 7% to 14%.  Further,
this alcoholic content is only derived by fermentation, ie. no
distillation, and as a general rule distilled products are not added to
fortify the wine.

The process of fermenting is basically feeding sugars and nutrients to
yeast, which return the favour by producing carbon dioxide and alcohol.
This process goes on until either all the sugar is gone or the yeast
can no longer tolerate the alcoholic percentage of the wine.  Different
yeasts produce different results, and have different tolerance levels.

The fruit is crushed to give free-running juice; red wines are usually
fermented with the skins to maximize colour and tannin extraction.  The
must is sanitized, usually with sulphite, and is innoculated with a
domesticated yeast; occasionally, the must is allowed to ferment from
the wild yeasts found on grapeskins, though this method can be
unreliable and may allow for the growth of undesireable bacteria.  The
wine is racked part way through the process to a closed vessel to
complete fermentation in order to avoid contamination and oxydation.
The wine may or may not be stabilized to prevent further fermentation,
as well as allowed to clear either naturally or with the aid of fining
agents, and may be further racked off the lees to avoid foul smells and
tastes from the lees.  The wine may be bulk aged before filtering and
bottling.

G04. YEAST

Here's a nice list of different kinds of yeast often used with different
kinds of wine.  Ask your dealer for further recommendations.

Epernay 2

Slow fermenter and leaves a delicate, perfumey aroma without tropical
overtones of UCD 594, and a smooth, fruity flavour.  Temperature should
be kept cool to preserve fruitiness.  Good for whites and fruits.  May
have trouble going to dryness if used with too-cold or nutrient poor
wines (like Chardonnay).  Sometimes used for Pinot Noir.  Foams very
little.

California Champagne, UCD 505

Flocculates superbly, leaving large chunks if left to settle
undisturbed.  White wines have a simple, clean, yeasty quality similar
to champagne.  Recommended for sparkling wines and very aromatic
fruits.

Fermivin

Very fast and vigorous fermenter.  Good for stuck fermentations.  Never
use if you want to leave some residual sugar.  Provides clean, varietal
wines.  Often used for Cabernet.

Montrachet

Can produce varied results.  When good, it's very, very good.  When
bad, it's very, very bad.  Never use if fruit has been recently
dusted with sulphur.  Yeast has a tendency to product H2S.  Starts
fast, attaining a very high temperature, then slows and sometimes
sticks if stressed.  Very good for reds and full bodied whites that
need a hot fermentation.  Flavours are full and complex and intense in
colour.

Beaujolais

Intended for carbonic maceration of fresh, fruity red wine.  Ferments
strongly but leaves a grapey sort of fruitiness.

Pasteur Champagne

An all purpose white wine yeast sometimes used for reds as well.
Usually a fast, complete yeast.  Do not use for slow fermentations
needing residual sugar.  Flavours are clean and pleasant while body and
complexity are not emphasized.   Sometimes used for stuck fermentations.
Despite the name, it is not used for sparkling wines.

Prise de Mousse

Ferments evenly and usually goes to completion.  Clean, slightly yeasty
aroma does not interfere with varietal flavours.  Used for both reds and
whites.

Assmanshausen

Slow fermentation rate with an austere fruitiness.  Wines are spicy,
complex, with medium body and dark colour.  Often preferred for Pinot
Noir.  Sometimes needs balancing with oak ageing.

Beerenauslese

Used for grapes infected with botrytis.  It intensifies the
apricot/honey flavours produced by the mould.

Chanson

Ferments evenly, low H2S production, floculates well, makes compact
lees.  Flavours are refined and elegant with emphasis on varietal
fruit.  Often used for Chardonnay.  Prone to sticking in nutrient-
poor musts.

Etoile

Usually used as a tirage yeast but could be used for innoculating the
cuvee in sparkling wines as well.  Has subdued yeastiness with
crispness.

Pasteur Red

Very popular for reds.  Fast, strong fermenter used for full bodied
reds.  Yields wines that are complex with cabernet style concentration
of fruit and colour.

Pasteur White

Intended for dry, crisp, white wines.  The yeast provides complexity
instead of fruitiness emphasizing acidity.  Sensitive to sudden
chilling.  Foams spectacularly.

Steinberg

Produces a distinctive, flowery, complex combination of scents when
fermented cool.  Slows with sudden chilling but usually completes.
Good for riesling and other german style wines.

UCD 594

Starts very very slowly and ferments evenly.  Fermentation temperature
does not change much nor is activity that apparent.  Provides a highly
aromatic character called 'fruit salad' or tropical flavour.  Not
generally used in reds.  Sensitive to SO2.  May produce excess H2S if
sulphur dust is on the fruit.

Some suggestions (depending on styles)

White wines

Chardonnay (regular)        Chanson, Prise de Mousse
Chardonnay (heavy)          Montrachet
Chenin Blanc                UCD 594, Epernay 2
Gewurztraminer & Riesling (young/fresh)
                            Epernay 2
Gewurztraminer & Riesling (complex)
                            Steinberg
Muscat                      UCD 594 or any white wine
Sauvignon Blanc             Chanson, Pasteur White, Prise de Mousse
Semillon                    Chanson, Pasteur Champagne

Red Wines

Cabernet (regular)          Pasteur Red
Cabernet (other)            Pasteur Champagne, Montrachet, Prise de
                            Mousse
Merlot                      Pasteur Red, Assmanshausen
Merlot (for blending)       Epernay 2, Beaujolais, Assmanshausen
Gamay                       Beaujolais
Petit Sirah                 Doesn't matter
Pinot Noir (light)          Beaujolais
Pinot Noir (regular)        Assmanshausen
White Zin                   Epernay 2, Prise de Mousse
Zinfandel, claret style     Pasteur Red
Zinfandel, fruity           Prise de Mousse
Zinfandel, heavy            Montrachet
Zinfandel, over 25 brix     Fermivin

French/American hybrids

Aurora                      Epernay 2
Cayuga                      Chanson, Prise de Mousse
Red fruity (Chelois, Foch, etc)
                            Epernay 2, Beaujolais
Red full bodied (Baco, Chambourcin, etc)
                            Pasteur Red, Fermivin, Assmanshausen
Seyval/Vidal Blanc (dry)    Chanson, Prise de Mousse
Seyval/Vidal Blanc (sweet)  Epernay 2

Special types

Blanc de noirs and Rose     Epernay 2, Prise de Mousse
Carbonic Maceration         Beaujolais
Late Harvest (Botrytis)     Beerenauslese, Steinberg
Port                        Pasteur Champagne
Sparkling (cuvee)           Eperney 2, Prise de Mousse, Pasteur
                            Champagne
Sparkling (tirage)          Etoile, Calif Champagne, Prise de Mousse
Stuck fermentations         Fermivin, Pasteur Champagne

Non Grape wines

Apples                      Epernay 2, Chanson
Berry, Cherry               Pasteur Red, Beaujolais
Peach, pear, apricot, plum  Epernay 2, C. Champ, Prise de Mousse
Other                       Epernay 2

G05. POSSIBLE INGREDIENTS

Besides the basic grape juice that most winemakers use, the following
is a non-exhaustive list of possible additives or even bases for your
wine.

Honey, Sugar (sucrose -- white table sugar), Corn Syrup (glucose) (most
commercial corn syrup has vanilla added), Corn Sugar (dextrose), Fruit
(dried or fresh), Fruit Juices (can be concentrate, but no
preservatives: Sorbate is often mentioned in small print even in "100%
juice"), Molasses, Maple syrup, Acid blend, Citric acid (Vitamin C, you
can use lemon or orange juice), Tannin (can be purchased), Yeast
Nutrient (you can boil yeast from previous batch for this, but
commercial nutrients work best), Spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc),
Pectic Enzyme (needed for fresh fruit pulp, as some fruit juices (pear
and apple notably) require this to clear).

G06. BTW, CAN I USE JAM?

In principle, you could.  Recipes you may come across for jam wines
may call for pectin-free jams -- something rather rare unless you make
the jam yourself and don't use pectin.  Fruit jams naturally will
contain pectin from the fruit anyway.  Further, the jam need not be
pectin-free to work -- that's what pectic enzyme is used for.

The big questions is, though, WHY?  If you make the jam yourself, why
not just make the wine directly?  If it's old jam, it's probably
oxidized and not appropriate for winemaking (and if opened, probably
contaminated, too.)  It would take about twice as much pectic enzyme to
break down the extra pectin added to the jam.

Expect fair wine only from this method. 

G07. THE RECIPE CALLS FOR TANNIN.  WHAT'S THE CONVERSION DRY TO LIQUID?

The conversion is 1/4 teaspoon dry tannin equals 0.338140227 fluid
ounces.  This is about half a gram dry tannin to 10 millilitres liquid.

G08. WHAT EQUIPMENT IS REQUIRED

Standard Kit (all necessary):

- 6.5 imperial gallon bucket (7.74 USG; 29.25 litres)
- 5 imperial gallon carboy (6 USG; 23 litres)
- plastic spoon
- airlock & bung
- sheet of plastic
- sulphite
- hydrometer
- J-tube and plastic tubing
- J-tube holder for carboy
- basic instructions

- You should also get a 20 litre (5 USG) food grade plastic jug to carry
distilled water if you make kits.  It may also be used to carry your
juice if you purchase it straight from a market press.

- If you are using fruit and preparing it at home, you may require a
fruit press.

- One 1-gallon (4 litre) glass jug to hold your sulphite solution

- Bottle steriliser -- used for sterilising bottles, is pump activated,
as in by hand (put the bottle over the nozzle, and push down.)
  - optional if you use the dishwasher and the water is HOT! (65 C or
  HOTTER!) (use sanitizing cycle)

Needed sooner or later (especially if you make a lot of wine), but optional:

- Wine filter set AND glass carboy
- These can often be rented -- don't buy it until a) You're really
hooked on wine making (~3 batches) and b) You find you make a lot of
wine would save by purchasing the system.

- Floor corker (often can be rented)

Optional, but very strongly recommended:

- Jet spray water bottle washer AND tap adapter -- better than a brush

- J-tube holder for carboys -- makes it easier to siphon off the wine
by making things less awkward and keeping your hands from tiring (may
come with the set)

Optional, but very useful:

- Large plastic box(es) for storage of your equipment.

- Hand held bottle corker.  It's mainly useful if you make small
bottles or little wine.  It is a pain in the wrist to use for large
scale bottling.

- Several extra airlocks and bungs, and extra gallon jugs to take up
the wine that the carboy won't take.

G09. SUCROSE VS. CORN SUGAR

For those of you with really distinguishing palates, sucrose (table
sugar) will give a beverage a fruity character; corn sugar, a malty
character.  Both will nonetheless ferment well in your wine.

3/4 unit of sucrose equals 1 unit of corn sugar; therefore if your
recipe calls for 1 lb of sugar, you should use 1 1/3 lbs corn sugar.

G10. KITS VS. GRAPES OR FRUIT

{Do you have any preferences on wine kits, or should I make wine from
grapes or fruit?}

Kits vary in quality, usually according to price:  The more expensive
it is, the better the quality.

When buying a kit, don't buy a cheap one just to minimize your
financial risk.  Cheap wine kits might resemble watery grape juice with
fire in them.  An expensive kit uses the same principles, but the
product is usually far superior.  Experiment; often, paying a premium
pays off.  Look for a kit that has a lot of concentrate.  The ideal
would be a concentrate that has 16 litres (3.5 imp. gal.; 4.25 USG) of
concentrate.  The next best would be about 10 kg (22 lbs).

Some people swear by kits, while others by fresh juice.  As a steady
rule, high quality wine that lasts for decades is made from high
quality fresh juice from fruit that was grown and picked under optimum
conditions.

That being said, there are good kits out that are of great quality that
can beat out fresh juice wines, but again, usually only the more
expensive kits.  Experiment and decide for yourself what you want.

G11. WHAT ARE THE USUAL SIZES USED IN HOME WINEMAKING?

It should be noted that the US and Britain use the Imperial system
(though Britain also uses the metric system), but the measurements of
each system do not necessarily correspond to those of the other.  The
rest of the world uses the Metric system.

Some information found here was found in Alan Marshall's FAQ on sizes,
which can be found at:

ftp.stanford.edu in /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/rfdb/beer-capacity.faq

Bottle:  750 mL, 1/5 USG, 1/6 imp. gal.
Barrel:  36 imp. gal. (UK barrel), 31 USG (US barrel)
Carboy:  5 imp. gal., 6.5 USG
Demijohn:  25 to 64 litres, 5.6 to 14.2 imp. gal, 6.6 to 16.9 USG
Gallon (imperial):  4.5 Litres (abbreviated imp. gal.)
Gallon (US):  3.78 Litres (abbreviated USG)
Magnum:  1.5 litres, 2/5 USG, 1/3 imp. gal.

The usual primary fermentor used by home winemakers holds 6.5 imp. gal.
(7.74 USG; 29.25 litres) and the secondary fermentor is a carboy.
However, there are various other sizes, such as 5 USG, as well as other
sizes that are most convenient to the individual.

G12. BARRELS

Why bother with a barrel?

Oak adds a compelling complexity to wine.  You should make sure the
kind of wine you want to make is well suited for oak, since it is more
expensive and trouble.  For example, just about any high tannin red
wine will benefit.  Many whites such as chardonnay or sauvignon blanc
will also.  However, riesling should be left alone.  Oak barrels also
have an aesthetic quality that other materials can't match.

New and Used Barrels

Look in a commercial listings phone book for oak barrels, barrel
coopers, wine suppliers or the like.  Check a wine trade flyer or
magazine.  You can also contact a winery and ask for their source or
ask to purchase one of their used barrels.

A trade advertising flyer may carry advertisements for used barrels.
Often famous wineries will advertise in them.  These are generally for
full sized barrels.  One may assume that it is the responsibility of the
buyer to pick up used barrels.  Purchase only from a reputable source.
Some people have had bad experiences with used barrels; if you purchase
one, "Buyer Beware".

Oak barrels are generally good for two or three years as a source of oak
in and of itself.  At that point, you can either keep it as a neutral
barrel, or you can have a cooperage take it apart, scrape it down to
fresh wood, and re-toast the barrel, at which point it's good for some
more.

Barrel Care

Usually empty unused barrels can be stored indefinitely.  Once filled
with wine, the barrels must either be always full or specially treated
when emptied.  The recipe for storing solution (for a 40 imp.gal; 50-60
USG) is about 454g (1 lb) citric acid crystals, 454g (1 lb) sodium or
potassium metabisulphite and enough water to fill the barrel.  Then bung
it tight.

A new barrel should be filled with water for a week or so before
filling with wine as a new barrel will often leak.  For leaks there are
three things to do.  First, wait a few days.  Swelling will stop a lot
of between stave leaks.  Second, if it still leaks between staves, then
you'll need to pound the hoops towards the middle of the barrel to
tighten up the pressure.  Third, if your leak is from a defect in the
wood such as a small hole, you can whittle a small plug out of a piece
of oak and jam it into the hole.

Bleach and other cleaners not specifically labelled for wood barrel
cleaning shouldn't be used to clean your barrel as it could remain in
the wood and affect the wine you put in it.  If the barrel is dirty,
then scrub it with water.  One trick to clean a barrel is to drop a
length of chain inside and shake the barrel around.

Don't reuse a barrel in which wine has turned to vinegar; it's
impossible to get rid of the vinegar bacteria from the wood.  Use the
barrel as a planter in your yard.

It's generally not a good idea to mix wine types in a barrel, or even
white vs. red wine.  You'll taste the previous wine in the subsequent
wine.

Barrels need regular topping off with wine to keep them full.  Since a
barrel is porous, wine evaporates through the wood.  Once a week for
topping off works fine; some wineries top off twice a week.  Keeping
the humidity up in your winery cuts evaporative loss.  Losing half a
litre a month is normal.

The bung stave, the one with the hole in it, often cracks just at the
hole as this is the weakest part of the barrel.  Either replace the
stave or seal the crack with melted wax.

Wipe the area around the bung hole often with a sulphite solution.
This is the area that gets seepage and spills, and the sulphite keeps
this area from being a source of spoilage.

Five gallon barrels are discouraged because of the high surface to
volume ratio.  The wine can get too oaky relatively quickly.  When using
a five gallon barrel, keep the wine in for a shorter period of time,
then blend it with wine from the same vintage that was not in barrel.
It seems to work fine.  The key is to not let it sit too long.

G13. SANITATION

Yeast is tough and tends to beat out most competitors because of its
ability to live in a solution of alcohol, while bacteria and fungi tend
to die even at low alcoholic percentages (though some can live almost as
well.)  It also survives well because of its rapid reproduction rate as
compared to other microflora and fauna.  However, survival isn't
everything, since even a small infection can spoil the odour and flavour
of your wine.  You're unlikely to get sick from these infections, since
anything bad will almost always SMELL bad too, and taste worse.  To
avoid this, keep everything that comes in contact with your wine very
clean.  This is especially critical when cleaning the fermenting vessel.
You don't need to sterilize, as it is impossible to keep things sterile
anyway.  A solution of bleach water (one capful per gallon) will kill
almost anything.  You'll need to be very sure all the bleach gets rinsed
off since yeast will have trouble living in the presence of chlorine and
even the tiniest amount of bleach can produce awful flavours and odours
when it reacts with other things in your must.

If a fermenter has just been in use and you're rinsing it out to put
more wine in immediately, scalding hot water out of the tap will do
nicely, no need to use bleach.  Note:  You SHOULD bleach if this last
batch had vinegar in it.

G14. PROCEDURE

Prepare the yeast.  You can either start from a package of yeast or
the leftover yeast from a previous batch.  If you're using a package of
yeast, it can just be thrown in the must, but works better if you
rehydrate it in a (sanitized) glass of water, covered with a plate or
plastic wrap.  You can also give it something to do by tossing in a
spoon of sugar or by substituting some fruit juice for water, but this
is not necessary.  Re-hydrating only takes about 15 minutes.

Prepare your must.  Crush your fruit and, where appropriate, add water,
sugar and other ingredients.  An easy way of preparing non-grape fruit
is to put them through a food processor or blender.

Must sanitation.  There are different schools of thought on how must
sanitation should be done:  Some people boil their must, others use
Campden tablets (2 per gallon), others freeze their fruit (which helps
to extract juice and flavours better, and is usually done in
conjunction with a dose of sulphite), others pasteurize (raising the
must temperature to a given temperature for a period of time), and
others don't sanitize at all, but rather allow the wild yeasts to
ferment the must.  Boiling helps to fend off infections and blend
ingredients, but can change the character of whatever you're preparing
and caramelize some sugars, producing less desirable results, sweet
wine, or both.  Often it is sufficient to pour boiling water over pieces
of fruit to get wild yeast and bacteria off the surface of the fruit and
makes the fruit easier to crush and extract juices.

Most fruit juices, especially apple and grape, will ferment out to 7%
or 8%, possibly up to 11%.  Adding sugar or honey will make a more
potent wine or cider.

Mix juices, tannins, acids, nutrients in fermenting vessel.

Add the yeast, and let it ferment the must.  This can take anywhere
from 2-3 weeks for a kit to several months with some fruit.

Clear the wine.  Some people rack the wine from one vessel to another
every three months after fermentation is complete until clear; others
use a fining agent such as bentonite, gelatin or isinglas.  Most people
fine and filter their wine before bottling to give the wine a final
polish.

Aging.  Quality improves a lot with age.  It is usually best to wait at
least a month on anything, and the longer you wait, the better it will
be.  Most references say wait at least six months or a year but many
wines can be drinkable earlier.  Keep the bottles in a cool place out
of direct sunlight.  Wines age better if not jarred or disturbed.  Kit
wines tend to be best at a year.

To determine the optimum aging time required for a wine, make a lot of
small bottles and open one up every three months or so and taste it.

G15. Why am I adding the bentonite at the beginning?

{As I understand it, bentonite is a clearing agent.  However, in the
instructions for my kit it says to add the bentonite at the same time as
the yeast.  Why?}

It helps to get rid of a lot of stuff (including millions of dead yeast
cells) during the primary fermentation by having it all fall out before
clearing ever starts.  Doing so optimizes the actual clearing process by
taking care of a lot of it before you even try.  It also helps avoid
foul smells from decomposing yeast -- a potential problem when your wine
is in the carboy for several weeks or even months -- when you transfer
the wine into the secondary by having them all fall out to the bottom in
the primary, therefore avoiding their transfer.

G16. EGG WHITE CLEARING

{How is egg white clearing accomplished?  Are the egg whites raw?  How
does one go about fining with egg white?  Any problem with salmonella?}

The egg whites are raw.  Add about 2 whites per barrel, with a pinch
of salt; mix the whole thing to get the salt mixed in -- the salt helps
solubilize some proteins in the whites that aren't water soluble.
Don't whip the whites, though, or it'll just float on the top like a
meringue and require counterfining.  Salmonella is a good question,
although it likely can't stand the environment of wine for too long
(ethanol and low pH).

If you're doing very small batches, you don't need to add much at all.
You really don't want to add too much.  This method should only be used
for red wines.

G17. HIGHER ALCOHOL LEVELS

If you wish to increase your alcohol content, such as for ports,
sherries and the like, try syrup feeding.  Prepare your must like a
regular wine (but keep your initial sg below 1.095) and ferment using a
high alcohol tolerant yeast.  Rack to secondary as usual at 1.010.  When
the sg is at 1.000, bring it up to 1.010 with a 2 to 1 sugar to water
syrup.  This can be done several times, but production will usually
stop at roughly 18%.  Don't worry about excess sweetness if you're
careful as higher alcohol levels tend to mask sweetness, and in order
to get the same sweetness as a wine with a given lower alcohol level,
you need more residual sugar.  If you put in too much sugar, A) deal
with a slightly sweet wine and B) experiment to see what works best for
you in the future.

According to "The Lore of Still Building" by Kathleen Howard and Norman
Gibat, you can accomplish this by putting the wine in a freezer until it
turns mushy.  It can then be poured or ladled into a large strainer
cloth and squeezed dry.  The liquid squeezed out will be higher in
alcololic content than the residue in the strainer cloth.  This method
should yield a fortified wine (20% to 30% alcohol) from ordinary wines.
Unfortunately, the book does not give a good indication of freezer
temperature or how long the wine should be frozen.

Please note that this is effectively the same as distillation and can be
quite dangerous with regards to methanol concentration.

G18. SPARKLING YOUR WINE

Champagne can be made by several methods:

Traditional method:

For 20 litres:

Wine should be fermented to 10% alcohol.  When still and clear, but
without any sorbate or further sulphite added, add 1 cup sugar and
champagne yeast to the wine.  A couple hours later, bottle wine in
champagne bottles with crown caps.  Let bottle rest on its side for 1
month.

When disgorging and corking, 12oz (360ml) of this wine is to be added
to 8oz (240 ml) of vodka or brandy (preffered) and 12oz (360ml), wine
conditioner and 1/2 tsp sulphite crystals.  This is the "dosage".

Over a period of 6 weeks after the initial 1 month period, gradually
shift bottle angle from near horizontal to near vertical (neck down)
using planks with holes large enough to place the necks in.  Then chill
the wine to about -1C (30F) without disturbing the sediment (this can be
done in a large bucket of ice or outside in the winter.)  Place several
alternating layers of crushed ice and salt in a bucket and place the
necks down in the ice.  When the sediment has frozen, carefully point
the bottle in a safe direction (such as into your primary) and uncork.
The sediment should come out cleanly.

After the wine is disgorged, the "dosage" is added to the sparkling
wine.  The wine is recorked.

Articicial carbonation:

WARNING:  This method can be dangerous.  IF YOU AREN'T SURE, ASK YOUR
DEALER FOR HELP!

Artificial carbonation avoids the nuisance of sediment.  The only
problem is that it is comparatively a pain in the a$$.  You will need
to rent the carbonation setup from a local store.  You will have to
place your wine in the freezer until it is 0C.  You will have to charge
the tank with CO2, shake, charge, shake, charge, shake.  Then each
bottle has to be filled under pressure.  Estimates for 23L are in the
2-3 hour range not including chilling time, the extra two trips to the
store, extra time cleaning, and so forth.

When you look at natural carbonation, there is no need to sterilize
your solution (less chemicals in your product), it takes two minutes
extra to add the 1.5 cup sugar, and the bubbles in your wine will be
finer, longer lasting, and they will thread like champagne.  So what if
you lose an ounce of wine on the bottom of the bottle?  Even so, yeast
sediment is good for you!

Note:

Make sure that you use bottles that are designed to be under pressure
(such as soda bottles or champagne bottles) and that if you're using a
cork that it's secured to the bottle with a wire.  Alternatively you
can use large beer bottles or other bottles that can use crown caps.

G19. ICE WINE

{Has anyone had any experience in fudging ice wine?}

The owner of a brew-on-premises shop combines a 15 litre juice kit and
a 3kg to 5kg concentrate kit instead of water to bring the batch to 23
litres.

In order to make it the traditional way, the grapes must be left on the
vine late in the season until they are partly frozen, usually when the
temperature has reached -7C (19F), and then quickly harvested and
pressed to get only the concentrated juice in the centre of the grape,
while avoiding allowing the ice crystals to melt and/or directly join
the must.  Alternatively, you can partially freeze your grapes in your
freezer.  Ferment the juice as you would a regular wine.

If you have any further comments, please send them to malak@cam.org

G20. DIFFERENT KINDS OF FERMENTATION USED IN WINEMAKING

Red wine fermentation: the trick with red wine grapes is to hit a peak
temperature near 32C (90F) for at least a short time to optimize colour
extraction.

Pros naturally achieve temperature -- the large fermenters they use
don't allow the heat of fermentation to escape easily.  Some go to
lengths to try to prevent overheating!  With our small tubs, we
amateurs must resort to trickery.  The best heating system is a
"brewbelt" which should be available from a local brewing supply store.
A simple trick is to wrap an electric blanket around the fermenter.  A
submersible thermometer will tell you when you've got the right
thermostat setting.  Other heat sources are: aquarium heaters (clean
well!), space heaters, and waterbed heaters.

A good fermentation regimen is to hold the crushed/stemmed must at 40F
for 5 days, innoculate and warm to 32C (90F) for a day, then drop the
temperature down into the 15C to 26C (60F to 80F) range for a long
fermentation, pressing a couple days after cap fall.

Cold fermentation:  Some white wines benefit from a cooler
fermentation, producing a clean, fruity wine that many consumers love.

Again, cooler fermentations are difficult for amateurs, and we must
resort to trickery.  An old fridge run warm (about 10C (50F)) is perfect
for a carboy at a time.  Icebags suspended in must or placed in a tub in
which a fermentation vessel sits can be effective.  You can place
carboys in tubs of water on the basement floor if it's cool.  The water
draws warmth from the carboy to the floor.  A good target temperature
for white wines is 10C to 13C (50F to 55F).

Barrel fermentation:  It's not hard once you get past the expense of
the barrel.  Press the grapes in the usual fashion, settle the juice
overnight.  Rack the juice into the barrel (previously swelled to
prevent leaks) to about 80% full.  Inoculate with yeast, jam an airlock
in the bunghole and wait.  After about 2 to 3 weeks, when vigorous
action has slowed, top the barrel off and keep it topped.  Leave it in
the barrel for anywhere from 3 weeks to a year, depending on many
factors (age of oak, desired amount of oak flavour, etc.)

Malolactic fermentation:  MLF, as it is abbreviated, is a bacterial
fermentation where sharp malic acid in wine is converted by bacteria to
mellower lactic acid.  MLF is usually good, especially for high acid
Chardonnays.  Pinot Noir, which has a high natural malic acid content,
almost always undergoes MLF and benefits from it.  The MLF bacteria
comes in with the grapes sometimes, can be present in your facility and
equipment and is available for purchase at most wine supply shops.

If you want MLF to happen, keep sulphite down.  MLF is sensitive to
sulphite, low pH's (especially below 3.0), and cool temperatures (below
15C (60F)).  So, inoculate early -- many do it soon after yeast
fermentation has started (the must is warm and has little sulphite).  If
your pH is very low, the wine can be partly neutralized to raise the pH.
Be careful at this point as adding too much chalk can add a chalky taste
to the wine.  Refer to section G21. ACID BALANCE.  MLF survives very
well in barrels, so if you are putting your Pinot in a barrel that has
held a wine that has undergone MLF, it will take off on its own.  This
has historically been a common occurence in the spring following
harvest.

The lees in the barrel or carboy harbour the bacteria, so leaving wine
on the lees until late spring can give MLF encouragement.  Some wines,
like Riesling, don't like MLF.  A moderate sulphite dose almost always
provides adequate protection against it and all the other bacterial
fermentations.

You can tell that MLF is happening in 3 ways.  One is to use
chromatography to measure relative malic and lactic acid levels.
Another is to notice the onset of renewed CO2 action (bubbles) well
after the yeast fermentation is done.  Another is to taste the change
in the wine from more sharp to more mellow and buttery.

Lee Stirring

When this is done this in a winery, it's usually in conjuction with
barrel fermentation.  Hence, the primary lees are the ones that are
stirred.  Having said this, it should be pointed out that the juice has
been racked once before inoculation so the solids are in the less than
2% range in the juice at inoculation.  

Stirring frequency is up to the winemaker but even no stirring will
result in what is described as a greater mouthfeel.  This can lead to a
sense of richness, softness and definitely better integration of oak,
malolactic character and fruit.  Many wineries start off stirring weekly
(originally the stirring was done to encourage malolactic fermentation)
and then gradually tapering to once every two weeks to once a month with
usually the end being at 6-9 months depending on taste.  And that's the
most important indicator.  Sometimes, there can be a sulphide problem,
so you have to taste the wine throughout the process.  If you push the
wine through MLF you shouldn't have a bacterial problem.  Also, once MLF
is complete you should add some sulphite to avoid bacterial spoilage.

G21. ACID BALANCE

Finished wines usually should have the following acid levels (expressed
as tartaric acid):

Fruit wines          0.60%     6.0g/L
Red grape wines      0.65%     6.5g/L
White grape wines    0.75%     7.5g/L
Sherry types         0.50%     5.0g/L

1 ounce of acid blend will raise 5 imp. gal. by 0.13%.  1/4 ounce
calcium carbonate chalk or 1/3 ounce potassium carbonate chalk per
gallon will lower acid by 0.15%.  Maximum recommended chalk is 0.5
ounce calcium chalk per gallon to avoid a faint chalky taste.
Potassium bicarbonate produces better results with less taste then
calcium carbonate, and will work better with cold stabilization.

If your wine is really high in acid (VERY low pH), add some water.

G22. CHILLPROOFING

Tartaric acid crystals may fall out of solution to form a white,
crystalline sediment after a while, particularly if your wine gets
chilled.  They're harmless and do not add any taste to the wine.  To
avoid the problem, chillproof your wine for a couple of weeks in the
carboy in a cool to cold place -- an old fridge or a cold cold room is
appropriate.  Desired temperature is 4C (36F).

G23. DO ALL WINES CONTAIN SULPHITES?

All wines do contain sulphur compounds, and almost invariably sulphur
dioxide, a common additive preservative.  Yeast produce sulphur
compounds as a byproduct of metabolism.  The level they produce is
usually enough to require the "contains sulphites" addition to labels.
Yeast typically produce around 10 ppm (10mg/L) but may produce more.  It
is thought not to be harmful unless one is very allergic to sulphur
compounds.  There are varying degrees of sulphite sensitivity, ranging
from sinus inflammation to, in extreme cases, respiratory failure.  Many
winemakers, both commercially and at home, are trying to reduce sulphite
levels.

Sulphite is often added to the wine as a microbiological and oxidative
inhibitor in wines, the amount wildly ranging depending on the producer.
Often the value may as well be related to the colour of their eyes or
their height. :)

G24. HOW MUCH SULPHITE IS NEEDED?

Neither SO2 nor sorbate kills yeasts; they inhibit them, and can prevent
microbial activity, but only if the cell counts are low.  If you have a
mounting problem, they won't do a good job in controlling it.  The
amount of sulphite needed depends on the pH of the wine -- the lower the
pH the less you need (at pH 3.2, you need 21ppm (21mg/L) free SO2; at pH
3.5, you need 50ppm (50mg/L) free SO2.)  This has to do with A) the fact
that the active form that inhibits bacteria forms better at lower pH's
and B) the lower the pH, the better the acidity in the wine is in itself
able to protect the wine.  The following is the pH dependant equilibrium
for those of us who actually understand it.  The forms depicted in the
left are favoured by higher pH's; the right by lower pH's.

SO2 + H2O <-----> HSO3- + H+ <-----> SO3-- + H+

1 ppm = 1 mg/L, therefore for 5 gallons of wine with a pH of 3.2, you
need:

5gal*4.5L/gal = 22.5L

21mg/L*22.5L = 472.5mg

Since this is free SO2, we need a conversion for potassium and sodium
metabisulphate, (K2S205 and Na2S205 respectively) which are 3.47 and
2.97 respectively.  So we need 1.6g or 1.4g of each respectively -- a
little under a quarter of a teaspoon.  Through the same process you
need half a teaspoon for a wine with pH 3.5.  One campden tablet is 0.55
grams, or about 1/12 of a teaspoon.

It's always important to remember that both of these products work
better with low pH's, so a non-standard wine (i.e. fruit wine) may
require really large amounts due to high pH.

There is unfortunately no handy way to actually kill yeast in your wine
at home.

G25. TOPPING UP YOUR WINE

Topping up your wine is the process of making your carboy as full of
wine as possible to make sure that there is as small a contact with air
as possible, therefore minimizing oxidation risks.

Some suggestions follow:

A) Make more than five gallons, particularly if you're using fresh
fruit; when racking, squeeze the berries to get the liquid out to
maximize wine volume to begin with.  Keep the extra wine in the fridge
until needed.
B) Add water.  This can change the sweetness and acid of your wine.
C) Add a honey/water mixture
D) Top off with some commercial wine of the same type as you're making.
This will keep the taste from being watered down
E) Use an inert gas such as CO2.  This can be gotten from a supplier, or
if you have access to it, use dry ice.  Some suppliers also have cans of
inert gas used to top up bottles of wine.
F) Added clean marbles or aquarium gravel to reduce the amount of room
in the carboy so the wine is closer to the neck.

When you do rack and you introduce something to your wine to top it up,
add some sulfite.  Sulfite also helps reduce oxidation and will help
kill any bacteria introduced when racking.  

G26. HOW TO KNOW WHEN A WINE IS READY TO DRINK

By no means is the following meant to be complete or authoritative;
however, it does contain some means of determining maturity.  If you
know any more, please let the editor (malak@cam.org) or r.c.w. know.

Kit wines tend to peak at 1 year.  Check that the acid balance and
tannin level is high enough if you want it to last longer.  Many other
fruit wines peak at 3 to 5 years.  Most fine wines that take time will
still usually peak long before 25 years unless tannins, acids and fruit
flavours are unusually concentrated.

Two of the easiest ways of assessing a wine's maturity are tasting the
wine at intervals and holding a bottle up to the light to assess the
wine's colour.  Assessing the wine by tasting is your responsibility;
however, acidity and astringency (the latter from tannins) will
gradually diminish with age, while ruitiness will typically diminish and
give way to more subtle and developed aromas with age, so look for
smoothness and complexity.  But watch out!  After a certain time, the
wine can actually get tired and move past its peak.  Watch out for wines
that have a tired, thin, flabby taste.  A practical way to do this is to
make a lot of small bottles.

You should also be careful:  In the reductive environment of the bottle,
many wines develop hydrogen sulfide smells, and if it smells bad
initially, swirl the wine around in a glass.  Decanting can help, but
it's tricky because you can overdo it with a delicately-balanced wine.

You should also be inspecting the corks for A) leakage B) rot, and C)
dryness.  Outside development of mould is not bad, but escape of some
wine through the cork is bad.

As for colour, with age, red wine goes from a deep red or even purple
to lighter shades of red.  Typical descriptors for an aged red are
"brick," and "orange."  White wine goes from a pale straw colour to
amber.

Also, when examining the bottles in the light, check for clarity --
haziness can indicate A) protein haze B) metals casse (haze) C)
microbiological activity, or D) pectin haze.  The worst of these is, of
course, microbiological activity.  You should also check the ullage
(fill level) -- if that has decreased, it could indicate excessive
evaporation or leakage, which could oxidatively deteriorate the wine or
indicate the possibility of microbial incursion.

G27. VINOMETERS

{Could someone tell me the principle of how a vinometer works?}

Water's structure causes it to have a very high surface tension and
exhibit marked capillary action.  In other words if you stick a narrow
tube in the water the water is pulled up the column.

The more alcohol present the more the capillary action is affected thus
the height of the column changes.  Add graduations based on standard
solutions of water and alcohol and you have a reasonably accurate
method of determining the concentration of a water alcohol solution.

Problem is that wine has lots of other things that can affect capillary
action and surface tension.  The most prominent of these are residual
sugars.  That's why the instructions that come with the device probably
say to only use it on dry wines (wines with minimal residual sugar).

G28. HOW TO MEASURE ALCOHOL LEVELS IN YOUR WINE

To calculate Alcohol by Volume:  Subtract the last reading from the
initial gravity and divide the result by 0.0074 this gives the
approximate alcohol content in %.

Ex.:
S.G. = 1.070  F.G. = 0.995
1.070 - 0.995 = 0.075
0.075 / 0.0074 = 10.15%

It does not matter what the first or last reading is, both mean little
alone.  The difference between the two does!

Usually there is also an alcohol scale marked directly on a hydrometer;
subtract initial potential alcohol reading from final, and the
difference is the approximate alcohol content.

Another method is the boiling method: 

- take 250 ml of wine
- measure specific weight and temperature
- boil the wine down to half of its volume
- get the same volume of liquid by adding boiled water
- cool to the same temperature as above
- measure specific weight
- the difference between the two is related to the alcohol level; use
the following table:

diff.  alcohol
 s/w   volume %
  8      5,63
  9      6,40
 10      7,18
 11      7.98
 12      8,80
 14     10,51
 16     12,30
 18     14,10
 20     16,00
 22     18,00

spec. weight is in gram/litre

G29. WHAT'S THE BEST PAPER AND ADHESIVE TO USE FOR LABELS?

Paper:

Any paper will do -- printer paper, copy paper, whatever.  Envelope
labels are more difficult to take off.

Inkjet printouts may run if exposed to the slightest moisture; try
photocopying.

Adhesives:

Typically, you should use a water soluble adhesive that is easy to
apply and allows for quick, easy removal of labels.  

Milk:  Use a small brush and lightly coat the back of the label, then
press it onto the bottle.

Stick glue (UHU or Pritt or the like).

Water/sugar/flour:  The old kid-paste trick.

G30. BOTTLES & CORKS:

Any glass bottle without defect that will hold a cork firmly in its neck
will do.  However, bottles that used to contain wine are recommended.
Sources are home use, friends, relatives, restaurants and recycling
bins.

TIP:  Use one style of bottle for your wine, or at least one style per
batch of wine.  That way the "whole experience" is more visually
appealling, and it may help you when storing & handling the bottles
(uniformity = easier).

There is a multitude of methods and general procedures for preparing
bottles for bottling; basically, they involve washing the bottle and
sanitizing them.  To wash, soak the bottles in soapy hot water (which
incidentally will remove most labels without any labour) for half an
hour, rinse the outside, rinse the interior with a jet-spary bottle
washer, sanitize with a sulphite solution, and bottle your wine.
Dishwashers with HOT water can replace the rinsing of the outside of the
bottle (but NOT the inside) and sanitizing with sulphite.

Using soap to wash the bottles is not a concern as long as you rinse the
bottles thoroughly on the inside to remove any residue.

Corks should not be reused.  When preparing, soak the corks in just
boiled water with sulphite in it for at least half an hour before
bottling.  This will soften the corks and the sulphite will avoid
contamination from the corks and their handling.

Short corks are for short term storage, long corks are for long term
storage.  Composite corks are for short term storage.  The editor has
had more corked bottles from composite corks than whole ones.

Short corks are easier to pull, and often have fewer defects than longer
ones.  End bevelling is only important for hammer corkers & the 
both-end-bevelled ones allow hammer corking to proceed somewhat beyond
sobriety.  The narrower corks (and silicone lubricated ones) are easier
for hand corking, and the wide ones are more secure and allow slightly
carbonated wines to be made without too many corks popping.  Pure corks
are a little easier to put in and take out, but they have a lot more
defects than composite corks.

Plastic corks appear to be mildly inadequate, although useable for
short term storage.  Problems include difficulty in retraction and
leakage.  Some people have found that they work well and that
they are less expensive.

And it is suggested that you use a floor model corker if you make any
large amounts of wine and bottle it all as a hand corker can be tiring.

G31. HOW ABOUT DISTILLING MY WINE?

Distillation is basically heating an alcoholic beverage to the boiling
point and cooling its steam, with the intention of concentrating the
alcohol.

Though at perfectly safe levels when you ferment your wine, distillation
will concentrate the methanol content in your beverage to levels that
may be dangerous.

Because of the dangers of not properly removing the minute amounts of
methanol present found in most fermented products, home distillation is
illegal in most Western countries, and likely most others.  There is a
remote possibility that it may also invite the government to your house
for an unwelcome visit.

THE EDITOR THEREFORE STRONGLY RECOMMENDS AGAINST ANY HOME ATTEMPTS AT
DISTILLATION.

G32. WHAT ARE GOOD REFERENCES FOR WINEMAKING?

For the beginner:

Modern Winemaking by Jackisch

Grapes into Wine by Philp Wagner

For the more advanced:

Winemaking Basics by C.S. Ough.  Don't let the title fool you, although
there are basics in there, some areas look like a chemistry course.

Wine Analysis and Production, Zoecklein et al., Chapman & Hall, and is
available through the magazine PWV (Practical Winery and Vineyard) for
$79.95 + shipping.

For both:

Winemaking:  Recipes, equipment, and techniques for making wine at
home.  Stanley F. Anderson and Dorothy Anderson.  A Harvest/HBJ
Original.  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.  San Diego, New York, London.
1989.

You Made This?  A Guide to Making Wine No One Knows is Homemade.
Thomas Bachelder.  Kylix Media Inc.  Montreal, Canada.  1992.

BETTER WINEMAKING MAGAZINE, a quarterly, NON-PROFIT publication,
dedicated to the home winemaking, cidermaking and brewing enthusiast.
Write to Paul Jean at jeanpaul@magi.com for further information.

GETTING STARTED WINEMAKING, Paul Jean Jr. Published by JE Underhill,
1993.  Covers all aspects of winemaking from kits, introduces winemaking
from juice and grapes and gives recipes for wines from 48 non-grape
fruits.  Instructions on the use of a hydrometer, acid testing (6 easy
steps) calculating parts per million (ppm) and proper use of sorbate to
stabilize wines.  Also are items on how to fix problem wines.  $5.00 by
mail.  Write to Paul Jean at jeanpaul@magi.com for further information.

On cellars:

How and Why To Build a Wine Cellar" by Richard M. Gold, Ph.D.

For Winery startup:

Practical Winery and Vineyard 
15 Grande Paseo
San Rafael, CA 94903-1534
(415) 479-5819
Subcription is $30US/year for 6 issues (1995)

***************
TROUBLESHOOTING
***************

T01. I DIDN'T REHYDRATE MY YEAST.  IS THAT BAD?

Not generally.  It is recommended to rehydrate your yeast, however, as
this will give it a greater advantage in innoculating your wine and
avoiding contamination by other nasties.  That means that the wine will
begin fermenting sooner.  Rehydrate for at least 15 minutes; even better
overnight in a sample of the juice.

T02. WHY HASN'T MY WINE STARTED BUBBLING YET?

{I put the yeast in about 12 hours ago and I don't see any signs of
fermentation.  Does wine yeast take longer to kick in?}

YES.  The sugar level is higher in the wine must than in a beer wort,
and thus the yeast takes longer to get going.  Float your rapidly
fermenting starter (rehydrated yeast) onto the top of the must.

The editor has also found that inadequate mixing of water and
concentrate plays tricks on the sugar/water concentration in different
parts of the fermentor, making ignition of the wine difficult for the
yeast.  The solution is to properly mix the must, and as a safety
precaution add another packet of fresh yeast.

If your wine still refuses to start, the starter or wine could be too
hot or too cool, or the yeast too old.  Ideal temperatures are between
20C to 22C (68F to 72F).  If the starter or wine was too cool, move it
to a warmer location.  If it was too warm, then move to a cooler
location.  Note: you may need to reinnoculate if it was too warm, as
excessive warmth could kill your yeast.

Stuck ferment can be cured by, in the following order, A) moving the
wine to an area with an appropriate temperature, B) adding yeast
nutrient, C) adding yeast energizer, D) adding 1 gallon of the wine to
5 gallons of a similar wine during a healthy ferment.

T03. MY WINE STOPPED BUBBLING.  WHAT'S WRONG?

{My wine was bubbling furiously for 3 weeks but has now stopped.  I
moved it to a warmer room but still nothing.  Any suggestions?}

The operative clue here is "3 weeks".  Check your sg, and if it's less
than 1.000, then the wine has fermented out.  Go to the next step.
Another possibility is that you have a very high alcohol wine (starting
sg higher than 1.100) and the alcohol level has gotten so high that the
yeast can't tolerate it anymore (and you might have a slightly sweet
wine.)  If not, follow the instructions for stuck ferment in the section
T02. WHY HASN'T MY WINE STARTED BUBBLING YET?

T04. FOAMING PROBLEMS

{I just racked my kit wine from the primary into the carboy.  The
problem is there is a lot of foam.  When I had the bottom of the cork 1
inch from the top of the wine the foam came all the way up the cork
spout and into the air trap.  I lowered the wine level to 2 inches and
it's not coming out anymore.  Is this foam OK?}

Probably.  Some kits foam a lot.  If you stretch the kit beyond the 5
imp. gal. mark, the last gallon has to be transferred into a glass jug.
When there's too much foam in the secondary (usually 2-3 inches), start
the transfer into the jug.  By the time the jug has been filled, most
of the foam in the secondary has subsided.  The foam that forms in the
carboy during secondary or stays after transfer is annoying but
harmless.  To avoid it being a problem in the air lock, keep the level
of the wine about two inches from the top.

You can use a sanitized drink stirrer from a restaurant to break up the
foam.

T05. MY WINE JUST WON'T CLEAR.  WHY NOT?

{I'm in the middle of making a kit and am concerned about the time it's
taking to clear.  The wine was racked after the primary and again after
10 days.  The instructions say the wine should clear within 14 days
after the second racking and can be bottled then.  There is a
disclaimer that if the wine hasn't cleared within the stated time, it
may be filtered.}

It could be related to stretching your clearing agents; don't.  Buy
extra gelatin for extra wine over the 5 imp. gal. mark.  In any event,
any wine may not clear 100%, and certainly even 2 weeks may not be long
enough.  It could be that the fermentation is going slowly due to a cold
room.

It won't hurt the wine at all to leave it longer in the secondary.
Wine can be left an extra month at times with no problem.  Racking
repeatedly won't help much as long as the secondary is left undisturbed
between rackings.  As for filtering, always filter regardless of how
clear the wine is.  Even if the wine isn't 100% clear, the resulting
bottled wine will usually be perfectly clear.

T06. MY FINED AND FILTERED WINE IS HAZY.  WHAT'S WRONG?

{I made some Blackberry wine; the fermentation has now stopped and most
of the 'bits' have settled but there is still a lot of stuff sort of
hanging in the demijohn.  What is this, what may I have done wrong, and
how can I prevent it next time?}

If you didn't use pectic enzyme during your fermentation to get rid of
it, the cause could be natural pectins in the fruit.  Bentonite is also
helpful in clearing such haze.  Activated charcoal may also work, but
may also strip your wine of other components if you put in too much or
use it for too long.

If all else fails, try leaving the finished wine outside overnight on a
cold, frosty night.  Those who don't live in such cold climates can use
a refrigerator on a very cold setting.  The cold will help it to clear.

T07. HOW DO I GET RID OF THE STRONG PAPER TASTE/PAPER FIBRES IN FILTERED
WINE?

When filtering your wine, the instructions should include a part on
running a couple of gallons of water through the filter first in order
to remove these problems.

T08. THE WINE I BOTTLED IS FIZZY.  WHY?

{I opened some wine I bottled about 3 months ago and found it to be a
little fizzy.  It can be just felt in the mouth, and is easy to see on
the sides of the glass.  I have opened 3 bottles before this one and
didn't find the problem.  Is it just beginning to show in all the
bottles, or is this bottle a fluke?}

There could be several "problems":

A) You didn't get rid of the carbonation sufficiently (stir it a little
harder and add an extra day of stirring before stabilizing.)  This
usually presents itself from the first bottle opened on.
B) You didn't stabilize the wine correctly, and there may have been
some fermentation of residual sugar or MLF in the bottle.  Don't
stretch stabilisers; buy extra for the extra wine.  MLF can (and often
does) happen in the bottle.  It happens because of low sulphite levels
at bottling.  MLF will also cause cloudiness, followed by sediment.
C) When you filtered your wine (assuming you did it under vacuum) the
vacuum was insufficient to remove 100% of the carbonation.  Not much
you can do except refer to A) and B).

T09. ORNERY BOTTLE LABELS

{Some labels are miserable ... even after soaking you have to pick the
label off a little at a time and no amount of scrubbing or scraping
removes all of the glue.  Is there an easier way?}

A) Soak all your bottles in HOT soapy water with soap in it for a few
hours; most labels will come off readily.
B) Some glue isn't water soluble, so use some turpentine to dissolve
it; then use powdered soap to wash off the turpentine.  Wallpaper
remover can also work well.
C) Occasionally expect to scrape off labels.

T10. MY WINE SMELLS BAD.  WHAT HAPPENNED?

There are three major problems:

A) Somewhere along the line, you didn't keep things clean.  The wine
could have been infected by something that produced off flavours and
smells.  REMEMBER:  Everything that touches the wine in any way has to
be very clean and sanitized first.
B) It's possible that your wine is corked.  In this case, it will have
a strong cork smell and taste.  The cause is that the cork you used
either wasn't properly sanitized before use or when it was made it
didn't get cleaned properly.
C) Rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulphide) can come from low acid wines in
which dead yeast start to lyse ("explode") and live cells feed on them
or when there is not enough yeast nutrient.

In cases A & B, your wine has gone bad.  HOWEVER:  It may be a bottle
by bottle problem, particularly with corked wine, so be careful about
wasting good wine.  In case C, pour (do not syphon) the wine into a
clean vessel and add 1 campden tablet per gallon as well as some yeast
nutrient.

T11. I SEEM TO HAVE VINEGAR.  ANY HOPE?

Nope.  Throw it out or cook with it.  It would be advisable to bleach
the infected containers as well.  Your wood barrel should NEVER be used
again for winmaking, as the vinegar bacteria will never get out.  Use it
as a planter in your yard.  REMEMBER TO CLEAN ANYTHING THAT TOUCHES YOUR
WINE!

T12. MYCODERMA (FLOWERS OF WINE)

This is when grey islands appear on the surface.  Before they
completely cover the surface (in which case it's too late, and you'll
have to throw it out) strain the wine through cotton mesh and add 2
campden tablets per gallon.

T13. I RINSED WITH COLD WATER AFTER SULPHITING.  IS THAT BAD?

Usually this shouldn't cause a problem, unless your water supply isn't
potable or is unreliable.

Pros:

A) You can rinse out any extra dirt loosened by the sulphite solution
rinse
B) You can avoid as much bitter taste from sulphate (oxidized sulphite)
and reduce problems with sulphite allergies by rinsing it out

Cons:

A) You have a very mild risk of contamination which is contrary to the
process of sulphiting in the first place

The NET RESOURCES section is in a seperate posting.