Try Fail Try Succeed

A friend who was making some red Zin had siphoned his wine and had it sitting in a carboy waiting for bottling. But his stopper popped out more than once. Of course this is not what a wine maker wants to occur, this will expose the wine to the oxygen in the air and cause oxidation of the wine.

He asked me why this was occurring.

My reply was there are only three things that could be causing his stopper to be blown out.

1. Fermentation. The yeast were continuing to ferment. But he had to me the specific gravity on his wine making hydrometer was .995. Water is the standard by which specific gravity is measured, water has a specific gravity of 1. If the specific gravity of your wine reads above 1, this means there are sugars left in your wine. The sugars make the wine heavy than water so the specific gravity will be above one.

But since his wine was below 1, there was no possible way sugars were left in his wine for fermentation to occur. So the yeast would not be producing gas by metabolism to produce the pressure to blow off the stopper.

2. Change in temperature. When a liquid is cooled it contracts. But when a liquid warms it expands. If you move your wine into a warmer area there will be a an expansion of the liquid resulting in an increase in pressure inside the carboy. This increase in pressure will pop the cork.

I asked if if he had recently moved his wine carboy into a warmer area or if the area it has been in had experienced any significant increase in temperature. And he assured me this was not the case, he has had his wine in his cold basement during the entire process.

So what could there answer to his problem be. I could only think of one more thing that could be causing his problem.

3. Malo-lactic fermentation. Malic acids, Malolactic fermentation, this occurs through the metabolism of a latic bacteria. This isn’t the normal fermentation wine makers go after or want to occur but still it does occur. Just as yeast metabolize sugars and produce gas (the bubbles you see) lactic bacteria metabolize malic acids and they will produce gas, which can cause an increase in pressure blowing off a cork.

The way this type of fermentation is stopped is by the addition of potassium bisulfite. This will kill the lactic bacteria. So I asked my friend if he forgot to add this potasium bisulfite. And… His answer was yes.

But also keep in mind temperature changes. Did you go from colder to warmer.
What is the specif gravity of your wine? If it is higher than 1 then there are sugars still left in your wine that are being fermented by yeast and gas is being produced.

For centuries French winemakers have used Oak barrels or casks to age red wine. I say French winemakers because they were probably the first wine makers to use oak barrels for the wine aging process but of course, now winemakers in most every country use method. Compared to aging wine in glass or plastic, aging wine in Oak barrels adds remarkable flavor, character and complexity to the wine being aged.

The insides as Oak barrels have lightly toasted would. Toasting the wood loosens up the word and allows it to breath, it also allows important molecules within the wood to more easily defuse out of the wood and mix with the wine. Aging wine in Oak barrels has without a question massively improve the quality of the wine produced.

Are Oak barrels the only choice

Aging in Oak barrels is the best possible option for aging red wine. But are there other choices? Yes, there is one choice that can produce almost the same positive effect when aging red wine. This choice would be toasted Oak chips. These Oak chips are made from the same type of wood as the Oak barrels, they are also toasted just as the insides of the barrels.

Why Correct Oak is very important

Using the correct type of of is very important to the aging red wine. If you use the wrong type of you will do more damage to the red wine during the aging process than good. The bad that you will do if you use the wrong type of Oak is you will be left with a red wine that is in high tannic acid. This wine will be too harsh and bitter for you to be able to stand to drink. You also want to make sure that he Oak chips have been dried completely so that they have been clear of sap, this usually takes several years.

So what is the correct type of Oak chips to use when aging red wine? There are two choices, you can either use French toasted Oak chips or American toasted Oak chips. So when you go to buy Oak chips make sure they are French or American Oak.

How do you use oak chips

Oak chips are used once your wine has cleared and now it is ready for aging. The normal preparation of Oak chips is to boil them in water around 10 min. Then once you have racked your cleared wine into a clean container would want to add around 2 to 4 ounces of beer Oak chips for every 5 gallons of wine. The aging process usually takes between three and nine months.

How big is the Australian wine? The wine industry in Australia has actually had its fair share of problems. But Australia is a very strong exporter of wine. This value is the largest wine world. As a whole, the country exports approximately 400,000,000 L each year. And also, domestically there is a market for Australian wines. Amazingly, people of Australia drinks about 400,000,000 L, of Australian produced wine each year. Before I looked into this I thought Australians only drank beer. It’s funny, if you actually read and research subjects, it is amazing how much you can actually learn and also surprising how often you learn your previous thoughts were. So if you want to learn then read.

But make sure, if you want to read a specific book, make sure you research this book before you spend your money to buy the book. Because guess what, there is a a lot of crap published. Yes I know, if you would read through my posts on this website. Your pricing this guy has no idea, his writing style is horrible, yes I do understand your opinions. And actually, I do agree with your opinions. I am just waiting now winemaking. I am a chemist, but I’ve never made wine, but I have been reading books after book on winemaking, wine in general, and wine and food pairing.

Why do I do that? Well I need, I like to learn. Being a chemist, I also learned that there is a lot of chemistry in winemaking.

Have I made wine

After I started to read about winemaking, I understood how yeast grew in what conditions they grew best in, and what conditions were best for yeast to perform fermentation of sugars in your grape juice when you make wine. I was able to read and understand all that, but I still had not made wine.

So me and my father decided we would go by a wine. And start making our own wine so I least I had real-world experience in making wine in sharing this information. Too many people on the internet, like to talk about a subject, but they have never actually performed the action. So my two years ago me and my father, decided we would start making our own wine.

This is what the site will be about, the problems and successes that me and my father had while making wine. We hope that the information that we provide on winemaking, will be helpful to you.

As a home wine maker, you have the choice between fresh grapes, grape juice, or frozen juice (or must). Which one of these choices is the best choice for a wine maker? The answer is not straightforward but depends on the wine maker himself. Depends on if you are seeking the highest quality of raw materials for use in your wine making or maybe you are less worried about wine quality but more looking for convenience in wine making?

Fresh grapes for wine making

What choice offers the highest quality in wine making?  This should be a no-brainer! Obviously using fresh grapes for wine making will offer the wine maker the greatest potential for producing high-quality wine. You just cannot beat the quality of wine fresh grapes are capable of producing.

However there are certain draw backs on using fresh grapes in wine making.  The use of fresh grapes is not always very convenient. This is because only during fall grape harvest can you can obtain fresh grapes for use in winemaking.

Also, using fresh grapes requires having some knowledge on grapes, such as, which varietal of grape is best for the wine you desire to produce and you will also need to know where to obtain these grapes.

So using fresh grapes is definitely the best choice when producing the highest quality of wine is the number one goal.

Using Grape juice, or Frozen juice (or must) in wine making

So what what if a person wants to use grape juice concentrate or frozen juice or must in their winemaking protocol?  These two choices do present advantages over using fresh grapes.

The number one advantage of these two choices is, convenience.

You not have to wait for fall grape harvest to use either of these choices. There are numerous vendors across the country and in the world that sell both grape juice and frozen foods, all you need to do is find a vendor, he will supply you with information on which is best for the wine you are interested in making.  Then buy what you need and follow the instructions that the vendor will supply.

What about the quality of wine can produce from the grape juice for frozen juice? Well, the potential to produce high quality wine using either one of these options is as great as if his fresh grapes. But many expert winemakers evaluate use of grape juice or frozen foods as except for making high-quality wines.