Winemaking Fun

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Steve Kroll

Wine Guy
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
6,345
Location
Twin Cities, Minnesota
I thought it might be fun to show DC'ers how I make wine. It's a great hobby and not all that difficult to do. We make around 150 gallons a year of assorted red, white, and fruit wines (legally, the government allows us to make up to 200 gallons, or about 1000 bottles a year). What does one do with that much wine, you might ask? Well, we drink much of it. Rarely a night goes by that we don't have wine with dinner. But I also give a lot away to friends and neighbors. I've also used it to barter services. We typically go through about 300-400 bottles a year.

What doesn't go out the door is put into cases to age. Some of my wines are now approaching the 10-year mark and are still quite drinkable.

One of my favorite things to do is enter competitions. I've done very well overall, even beating out some commercial wines like Chateau Ste. Michelle and Louis M. Martini.
 
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This is how the grapes come to me: flash frozen in 5 gallons pails. Here we have 450 lbs of Merlot and 100 lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon. Each pail contains 50 lbs of crushed and de-stemmed grapes. Although we can also get fresh grapes from California, the frozen ones are far superior because they don't degrade on the trip across the country. Once thawed, they are in pretty much the same state as they were when picked.

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After two days of thawing, the grapes are separated into larger bins. I use a different yeast strain in each bin. This is where winemaking becomes less science and more art. Each yeast strain imparts different characteristics on the finished wine. Some enhance fruity characteristics, while others bring out more structure and tannin. Note that when making red wine, we include the grape skins. Red grape juice begins clear. It's the skins that give it the color.

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About two days into fermentation. The regular "punch downs" are my favorite part. It really smells great. My wife says it reminds her of fruit cobbler baking in the oven. The temperature during this stage reaches 85-95 degrees.

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After about 5-7 days of fermentation, the yeast has converted all of the sugar to alcohol and now it's time to press. Pressing separates the skins from the finished wine. Everything is dumped into a wooden basket press where a piston compresses the grape skins to extract any remaining wine and unfermented juice.

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The finished wine is allowed to settle for 24-48 hours. This allows any sediment to drop to the bottom, and the clear wine is siphoned off, leaving the sediment behind. Here we have new Merlot in the 15 gallon drums, and Cabernet Sauvignon in the 8 gallon pail in front. They will be mixed to create a blend. From this point on it's important to keep the wine away from air as much as possible, since it causes the wine to oxidize.

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The wine then spends 12-18 months in barrels, where it undergoes a second "malolactic" fermentation. The bacteria involved are the same as those used to make sauerkraut and cheese. It's amazing the changes that happen during this period. Young wine is very acidic and harsh on the palate. Barrel aging softens them.

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The wine comes out of the barrel crystal clear and ready to bottle. At this point, it's run through a .45 micron filter to remove any remaining yeast and lactic acid bacteria, and bottled.

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I also make white wines, though we don't drink as much of those (our red-to-white ratio is about 3-to-1). Here is 24 gallons of various whites. To make white wine, you only ferment the juice, not the skins.

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Steve, thank you so much for posting this. I've often wondered just how you do it, and although I've toured many wineries, it's so much more interesting to see how a friend does it at home. Pass me a glass of your favorite white please...*clink*
 
You're very welcome, Kay! I know it's not something that everyone is into, but people that come over to the house always seem interested and have a million questions about how it's done. :)
 
Very interesting !

Do you have a tasting room :yum: :ROFLMAO:

I remember a neighbor - when I was very young - who did this in his basement along with beers.

My parents visited them a lot but never took up the hobby.
 
That really is very interesting indeed, thank you for sharing the process with us Steve....now for some tastings :w00t:

Is this all done at your home Steve?
 
Very interesting !

Do you have a tasting room :yum: :ROFLMAO:

I remember a neighbor - when I was very young - who did this in his basement along with beers.

My parents visited them a lot but never took up the hobby.

They didn't need to.

Steve you have answered a question I have had for years. The same question applies to cheese making as well. The yeast strain. It was quite by chance I found the answer to the cheese. How do you make the difference between cheddar and Swiss? It is in the yeast strain. Each one, like wine has their own strain. I never thought to apply the same answer to wine as it was in cheese making. Now I know how the differences in white and red are made. Thank you for the information. I guess I am not to old to learn something new and interesting. It is a shame I don't drink.

I do remember you telling us about your winning and beating out some of the top known names in wine. Quite an accomplishment. Kudos to you kid! :angel:
 
Thanks for showing us how you do it. When I slow down a bit I would love to try this.

You should write a step by step book with lots of photos.
 
I was thinking that too PP...Steve should do a wine book, he is pretty good at all this stuff :)
 
This is what's left after pressing: a 60 lb cake of skins called pomace. In Italy, they ferment and distill this stuff to make the drink known as Grappa. :)

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Wow,thanks for doing this step by step instruction on wine making Steve.

Grappa I have tasted with my Italian relatives & afraid its not to my liking at all! A very lethal drink :LOL: It used to burn my mouth so to speak. Definitely an acquired taste I think.
 
Sasroc said:
Wow,thanks for doing this step by step instruction on wine making Steve.

Grappa I have tasted with my Italian relatives & afraid its not to my liking at all! A very lethal drink :LOL: It used to burn my mouth so to speak. Definitely an acquired taste I think.

I've had grappa once, that was more than enough!
 

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