How did I get into Winemaking?
The History
I had a brother-in-law, Steve Kaiser, who had dabbled in beer making quite a few years ago, so I knew that "homebrewing" was possible in the U.S.A., but I hadn't heard of winemaking at all. The first I had heard of winemaking, was when some co-workers of mine, Tony Soulier and Larry Armstrong, opened up their own small beer and wine making supply store, "Emerald Isle Brewing". It was through this association that I first gave the thought of making my own wine some serious thought.
My brother, John, and I decided we would like to get into winemaking ourselves, so we went in together and bought our first wine kit. We bought wine grape concentrate at the same time (which comes in 46 oz. cans and makes about 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of wine) and headed home to give this new project a go. So, like a couple of chemists, we mixed our ingredients into our "primary" fermentor, and then put it into my brothers' bedroom to begin the magic process of turning grape juice to wine! Needless to say, it didn't take long for John and his wife to begin to experience the first affects of this turning. It is called fermentation!! And what a terrible smell that process gives off! So, off to the garage went our first batch of wine to finish its duty there! After a week or so, we "racked off" (transferred) the wine juice (must) into our secondary fermentor to finish off the process. Well, to make a long story short, we were so anxious to get out first batch of wine bottled, that we did not allow all of the fermentation to take place, and within a few days, our newly bottled wines began popping their corks!!
Needless to say, from that point on, we tried to be sure that all of the fermenting was done before bottling!!
The Process?
I should point out that when wine juice, or "must" as it is now called, ferments, it gives off carbon dioxide gas. This gas is created when the yeast (which is added to the juice, or is naturally present on fresh grapes) begins to "eat" the sugars present. (The amount of sugar determines the potential alcohol content in the finished wine.) You are probably wondering what the heck this has to do with winemaking!! Well, I'll tell you. The yeast, after eating the sugars present in the juice, gives off two by-products, or waste, in roughly equal amounts. One of these by-products is carbon dioxide gas and the other is alcohol! That's right, without the yeast, no alcohol. No alcohol, no wine! Anyway, the carbon dioxide gas is released during the fermenting process through an airlock. (This airlock allows the carbon dioxide gas to escape, but does not allow outside air, or flys or bacteria, or anything else which can ruin the wine, in.) If the yeast hasn't completely finished eating the sugar before bottling, then it will continue the process in the bottle.
The Wine Kit
The wine kit I bought, was a basic kit which included most of the things need to make wine. I can't remember exactly what was in it because I have added to my inventory, items which are just as necessary as what came with the kit. The cost of the kit, back in 1993 was around $50. I am sure it must be higher by now.
Here is what I know came with the kit:
* 7 gallon plastic primary fermentor with lid and airlock, and a spigot on the bottom.
* 7 gallon plastic secondary fermentor with lid and airlock.
* Racking cane (fits inside fermentor to siphon off the must).
* 6 feet of plastic tubing (fits on the racking cane to transfer must from one container to another).
* Acid titration kit (to determine the acid level of juice).
* Triple Scale Hydrometer (to determine sugar content of juice).
* Bottling adapter (stops wine flow into bottles while bottling).
* Corking Tool.
