Making Delicious Wine in Your Home is Easier Than You Think
Posted: Sunday, January 24, 2010
by Mark Hester
Here's a statement you won't believe - But it is true:
Making wine at home is super-easy.
However...Making wine at home that you would actually want to drink -- that's a little harder.
Microscopic foes are just lying in wait to ruin you best efforts.
But it is still easy if you follow the right steps and pay attention to the details.
Most of the time -- if you have not messed up in the details or have used an inferior recipe or ingredients -- it is wild air-bourne yeast and bacteria.
Acetic bacteria -- which is in the air all around you all of the time -- can convert your delicious alcohol into acetic acid. That is what turns wine (and apple cider) into vinegar. That's a good thing if you want vinegar. But a bad thing if you are trying to make wine.
Unfortunately, yeasts and fungi are also in the air of every home and these can turn an otherwise beautiful wine flat and sour very quickly. These living organisms are also present in the fresh fruits and the water you use to make the wine. Wild yeast can also ferment in a totally undesirable way and knock off you best efforts at taste.
So you can't win, right?
Wrong.
There are a few easy steps you can take to successfully combat these microscopic foes. Otherwise, we would have no wine at all, right?
1. Maintain a clean working environment as free of dust as possible.
2. Sterilize all bottles, containers, corks (or other toppers) and utensils before using and keep all fermenting wines covered or sealed.
The idea here is to keep out the bad air-bourne particles while letting the good bacteria do its magic. Wine makers call this a "fermentation lock." Its whole purpose in life is to prevent the air and those airborne baddies from reaching the wine.
Check with your local wine supply shop or online for fermentation locks and instructions.
You should also check out my new site Wicker Garden Furniture if you get a chance.
It really has nothing to do with wine -- unless you consider that you could really relax on your patio in your new Wicker Patio Set with a glass of your delicious homemade wine.
Yeah, that would be nice. Wouldn't it?
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