I make wine every year when the grapes are ripe. This is the whole process of making wine. It’s easy to do if you have the patience. It is a pleasure to make the wine, to watch the fermentation process and to drink it. Read my introduction carefully, look at the photos, and if you’re interested, give it a try.
(Only a few dollars per pound of wine)
There are only two types of ingredients: grapes, rock sugar, and nothing else (mountain grapes are better than house grapes, and rock sugar is better than white sugar. The latter two things can also be made, but the quality of the wine is a bit poor. Mountain grapes make real wine)
Grape seeds and skins must be preserved because they contain tannins that are very good for the body and pigments that determine the color of the wine. (Peeled grapes do not make red wine.)
Glass and ceramic containers that can be sealed are fine, but glass containers are better, as it is easy to see the changes inside and you can observe and understand how the wine is formed. If there is localized contamination (usually on the surface), it can be removed immediately. When overflow is about to occur due to fermentation and expansion, you can find out some of it.
The mouth of the container should not be too large and consideration should be given to sealing and preventing contamination.The ratio of grapes and icing sugar is: 10 pounds of grapes and 2 pounds of icing sugar. (If you don’t like sweetness, you can put less icing sugar.)
Production process.
1. Wash and dry the container and grapes (grapes do not cool easily and are very dry, so use multiple baskets, tubs, etc. to place the grapes flat on the ground so that the surface water can evaporate quickly).
2. Pull off the seeds and pinch them gently to break the skin, but do not let the skin and flesh separate. (This way, the skins will not float as quickly and the nutrients will dissolve in the wine as much as possible.) Throw them one by one into the container. When there is a certain thickness, put some icing sugar, then grapes, then icing sugar.
3. Leave a certain distance between the surface of the grapes and the mouth of the container, three or four fingers high, to prevent overflow during fermentation.
4. Do not seal the container too tightly and do not press anything to prevent the container from expanding. Don’t move, don’t sunbathe, let it stand. From 3 to 5 days, the fermentation starts, there are air bubbles, liquid in the lower part, and grapes floating. You can see the ups and downs in 7 days.
After two weeks, the fermentation ends and the wine is separated from the lees. After two weeks (it doesn’t matter how long it takes, six months is fine), try to take out the top lees (lees), strain the wine through a clean white cloth (not gauze) (it may be as hard as squeezing a dumpling filling because the lees are sticky), pour it back into the container, cover it with a lid and let it sit.
After a period of time (about 1 month), the small impurities settle in the lower part of the wine and the upper part gradually becomes clearer. Use a straw to pump the wine into a clean bottle, seal it and store it at 14-17 degrees Celsius. The longer the time, the better.
Here is a photo of the process: (40 kg of grapes, 8 pieces of rock sugar, 33 kg of wine)
There are only two types of ingredients: grapes, rock sugar, and nothing else.
Wash and dry the grapes. (Mountain grapes in the photo)
Pull down the grape kernels and pinch them to break the skin, but do not let the skin and flesh separate. (This way, the skins will not float as quickly and as many of the nutrients will dissolve in the wine as possible.) Throw them one by one into the container.
When there is a certain thickness, put some icing sugar, then the grapes, then the icing sugar. From left to right, the production time is 2.5 hours later. Observe the decrease in grape juice leaking from the lower part of the bottle.
Looking at the two bottles, the left one is 2.5 hours earlier than the right one, and more juice is leaking out. The white one is icing sugar.
After 8 hours, the grape juice sinks and the grapes float (left and right are different)
After 24 hours (there is a difference between the upper and lower levels)
After 10 days, the fermentation was in progress and you can see the rising bubbles (the left side took longer to ferment, the right side took less time to ferment)
After 10 days, (the vial on the far right was made two days later) it is fermenting vigorously.
There is a yeast on the surface of the grapes that ferments naturally without the need for additional yeast, winemaking yeast, etc. Do not put white wine, let alone heat it.
After 34 days, the fermentation is over, the skins are completely floating, the upper part is dry, and the alcohol kills the bacteria. If the fermentation continues, it will not deteriorate.
Remove the floating matter and filter the liquid (wine) through a clean white cloth.
The filtered wine is ready for drinking. To improve the quality of the wine, place the wine in a bottle, seal the cap, and store at 14-17 degrees Celsius (C). The longer the time, the better. (There is powdered sediment at the bottom of the bottle. After a period of time, put the wine in another bottle with a straw and remove the sediment.)
If you can’t buy mountain grapes, you can also sell home grown grapes at the market. The process is exactly the same. The fermentation process is more intense in home grapes. You can see the seeds rolling up and down and the wine is more precise, but lighter in color.
Winemaking is so easy. If you want to make it, do it! I drink 75 grams a night with dinner and my 20+ blood count is 100% normal (except for those with alcohol allergies, alcohol makes grape enzymes).
