Tips and Techniques
The following items, in no particular order, are some things that I thought might be helpful to fellow wine makers. I hope to update this page on a regular basis with the help of user input. Please E-Mail me with your own tips at the address
at the bottom of this page.
- After Bottling and Corking, leave your bottles standing upright for 24 hours
before putting them down on their sides. This allows the pressure inside the
bottle to equalize to the outside pressure. You will have less leakers if you do.
(From my friends Kevin Kelehan & Don Simmons)
- Before Corking I microwave my corks 25 at a time in a large bowl of water
for about 5 minutes. This softens the corks sufficiently to make inserting them in
the bottle easier. I have been told that this is bad practice but I have bottles of
wine done this way 4 years ago that are holding up just fine. Question Authority!
- For a minor Hydrogen Sulphide problem, pouring the wine over a copper
bowl or other clean copper surface may take care of the problem. If this doesn't
work, a more drastic copper sulphate treatment may be needed.
- For High acidity grapes such as Eastern U.S. Seyval and Vidal in a difficult
year (1996 for example) the addition of as much as 20% water and sugar is an
acceptable method of acidity correction. I know that sounds like a lot! To do so
use the following formula. The amount of water to add per gallon is (the current acid level divided by the desired acid level) minus one [(C/D)-1].
- I clean my glass carboys with a few tablespoons of clear household
ammonia and about two gallons of water. They come out sparkling clean and
are easy to rinse unlike with washing soda that took me forever to get all the way
off. Even if some ammonia is left behind, which I don't think it is, it makes a
good yeast nutrient for the next batch. My friends that wash with bleach can't
say that.
- Speaking of rinsing, if you don't have a jet bottle rinser yet get one
immediately. They do a great job of thoroughly rinsing bottles and carboys and
make the worst part of wine making, cleanup, a lot easier. They are available through most wine and beer making mail order catalogs if your local shop doesn't carry one.
- When making an apple wine from fresh fruit or cider consider adding a few containers of frozen apple concentrate to help bring the sugar level up. This will also add to the body of the wine. Also adding a large box of white raisins will help add nutrients needed by the yeast not found in apples.
Send in your tips and suggestions to dtb@geocities.com
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