Beginner wine making FAQ

This FAQ answers common questions about home wine making so that new wine makers can identify ingredients, tools and processes to get started quickly.

How can I get started making wine at home?

Start by reading.

There are many resources available for new winemakers. Here are some suggested reading/viewing options:

• Midwest Supplies How-to-Guide
• City Steading Brews Winemaking 101 video
• Wine Yeast Guide
• The Jack Keller Archive
• Wine Maker Magazine

What basic equipment do I need?

In addition to ingredients, specialized wine-making tools and equipment are necessary to get started. A hydrometer, glass carboys, and airlocks are just a few. The easiest way to get all of the necessary equipment at once is to purchase a wine making equipment kit.

Kits like this one come with basic tools plus all of the ingredients to make one batch of wine.

Here are some additional kits for 1 gallon winemaking.

What specialized equipment should I consider?

Invest in a good corker.

Bottling and corking finished wine is nearly impossible using cheap, hand-held corkers. Most hobby wine makers recommend a floor model such as this one: Floor model wine corker

Consider a wine filtration system.

To get the clearest wine, filtration is necessary. Electric filtration systems for larger volumes of wine use an electric pump system. For smaller batches a gravity-fed filtration system is sufficient.

Upgrade to 1+1 corks.

The corks that come with starter kits are often the cheapest corks available. They may not be rated for longer than 6-9 months in a bottle and can begin to leak even before that. 1+1 corks provide longer wine aging times and superior sealing. There are multiple grades of 1+1 corks available.

What is the easiest wine to make?

Traditional grape wine recipe kits are easy, because they come with wine-quality juice that doesn’t require additional sugar. These kits also include wine yeast, refining agents, and instructions. Choose a style you like and drink on a regular basis so that the end results can be compared to a familiar style or brand.

What is the hardest wine to make?

In terms of effort, floral and real fruit wines require more gathering and preparation time than those make with grape juice. However, dry red wines are difficult to make at home for different reasons.

Floral wines

Floral wines, like those made with Honeysuckle or Dandelion take a lot of time to gather and prepare. Flowers have to be picked and individually trimmed to remove everything but the petals. Petals are then made into a “tea” which steeps for several days before the fermentation process is started. Additionally, floral ingredients do not contain enough sugar on their own to create a good wine. Sugar or simple syrup must be added. After fermentation, the fermented tea must be strained and racked multiple times before all petals are removed.

Fruit wines made with real fruit

Peach, pear, melon, and berry wines need prep time for washing, peeling, and chopping. Additionally, these types of fruit do not contain enough sugar on their own to create a good wine. Sugar or simple syrup must be added. If wild ingredients, like wild raspberries or blackberries, are used, gathering time can be lengthy. It can take multiple days to gather enough wild ingredients for a single 1 gallon batch of wine.

Dry red wines

Commercial dry reds use high quality grapes which are often aged for long periods of time in oak barrels. A similar wine is difficult to reproduce at home, even with a good wine ingredient kit and oak chips. Extensive aging in the bottle, up to 2-5 years, may be required before an at-home dry red develops the right flavors to compare to that of a commercial winery.

Can I make wine from bottled juice purchased in the grocery store?

Yes! An inexpensive alternative to wine ingredient kits is bottled grape juice from the grocery store. This can be grape, or any other fruit juice, as long as it’s 100% juice.

Test the amount of sugar in the juice with a hydrometer. Sugar or simple syrup will often be needed to increase the starting sugar level.

The only downside of bottled juice is that it won’t come with the additional ingredients needed to make wine. Keep a supply of wine yeast, refining agents and additives on hand to use with bottled juice.

Can I reuse old wine bottles when I bottle my own wine?

Yes! After finishing a bottle of wine, soak it in warm water with a mild dish detergent. Remove the existing label with a razor blade. Allow the bottle to dry thoroughly. When your own wine is ready to bottle, sanitize bottles with your favorite surface sanitizer.

Bottles can be used over an over again, as long as they are not cracked or damaged.

What’s one important piece of advice for new wine makers?

Keep a journal.

Thoroughly document steps and recipes along the way. This should include:

1. Ingredients and ingredient amounts, including type of wine yeast and any additives (nutrient, acid blend, etc.)
2. Starting figures – specific gravity, PH, volume
3. Dates when wine is racked, filtered, fined, back-sweetened (if applicable), bottled, etc.
4. Ingredients/additives used to fine and back-sweeten (if applicable)
5. Results. What did the wine taste like at bottling, at 6 months, an 12 months, and so on