Homemade & Commercial

Wine, Beer, Spirits, Cider & Mead Guides

Alcoholic beverages; most commonly beer and wines made at home. Brews made from brewing kits purchased at shops specialized in spirits. The Beer Pirate features homebrew recipes, equipment requirements, and commercial productions information; and all the best practices needed to make that perfect batch!

Basically, it is the acidity that makes a wine taste dry. Wine contains a number of acids including citric (the same as lemons) and malic (green apples). Unripe grapes or grapes from young vines will be contain higher acidity than ripe fruit from mature vines.

Acidity is very important to wine. Without sufficient acidity you would only taste the sweetness of the fruit. It would seem flabby and without structure. Acidity defines the wine and prolongs the flavor on the palate.

What do Sugar Codes tell about a wine?

Not as much as you think they do. A wine that is rated as zero (0) will have up to 0.49 grams per litre of residual sugar.

• Sugar Code (1) 0.5 – 1.49 grams per litre of residual sugar
• Sugar Code (2) 1.5 – 2.49 grams per litre of residual sugar
• Sugar Code (3) 2.5 – 3.49 grams per litre of residual sugar

Certain wines that are rated as zero on the Sugar Code will have very different tastes in terms of their sweetness. Lindeman’s Chardonnay Bin 65 from Australia is rated as (0); so too is Sauvignon Blanc de Haut Poitou from the Loire Valley. But, if you compared them side by side, you would find the French Sauvignon Blanc tastes like a tart grapefruit whereas the Australian Chardonnay tastes of sweet oak and butter.
The driest champagnes are rated as (l) on the Sugar Code, but they will taste drier than most table wines rated as (0) because of their high acidity.

What determines the perception of dryness in a wine is the amount of fixed acidity (the different fruit acids – citric, malic, tartaric, lactic, etc.) and its pH – the measure of the intensity of this acidity. The lower the pH of a wine, the sharper the wine will taste.

The pH of lemon juice is around 2.3. Dry wines will range from 2.8 to 3.3. A Muscat from a warm growing region will have a pH close to 3.95. A wine with this high a pH will taste soft and rather flabby. Connoisseurs would say such a wine lacks acidity.

Is there a totally dry wine?

In a word, no. The yeast will not ferment grape sugars to zero sugar. Some sugars are unfermentable so there will always be a minimal amount of sweetness left once the fermentation has stopped. This could be as low as 3 grams per litre. But high acidity will make certain wines taste as if they have no sweetness at all.

How are sweet wines made?

1. By allowing the grapes to get super-ripe on the vines after the normal harvest (late harvest wines).
2. By adding lavish quantities of sugar to the grapes prior to fermentation and then stopping the yeast to ensure residual sugar in the wine (old-style Kosher wines).
3. By drying the harvested grapes in boxes or on mats to concentrate the grape sugars (Vin Santo, Recioto della Valpolicella).
4. By adding brandy or neutral spirits to the fermentation to kill the yeast (sherry, port).
5. By allowing the grapes to freeze on the vine and pressing the frozen bunches (Icewine).
6. By fermenting a wine to dryness and then blending back 10 percent to 25 percent of unfermented grape juice (widely practiced in Germany where they call it Suss-reserve or sweet reserve).
7. By filtering out the yeast during fermentation before it has finished converting the grape sugars to alcohol.
8. By allowing the grapes to be attacked by Botrytis cinerea, a noble rot that occurs in warm, humid conditions. The fungus punctures the skins of certain grapes and allows the water to evaporate, thus concentrating the sugars and acids. (Examples: Sauternes, German Auslesen, Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen).

Wine is the fermented juice of freshly picked grapes – most of the time; because some people make an alcoholic beverage from fruits and flowers (elderberries, plums, rhubarb, dandelions, etc.) that they call “wine.”

Also, sometimes the grapes used in winemaking are not freshly picked. In some wine-producing regions, the vintners won’t press and ferment the grapes when they are newly harvested. The grapes will be dried on trays indoors for a few months in order to concentrate the grape sugars which will be used to make sweet wines.

But, for the purposes of this book, think of wine as the fermented juice of freshly picked grapes.

Fermentation

How much alcohol does wine contain?

Most wines contain at least 8% alcohol. Anything less than this amount of alcohol will mean the product is not really stable and will taste thin in the mouth. The average high-alcohol content in wine is 14%.

There are exceptions at both ends of the scale. The lack of alcoholic strength can be compensated by high acidity as in certain German Rieslings, and by natural grape sugar as in some Italian sparkling or still Muscat wines that can have an alcohol content as low as 5%.

Certain wines from warm growing regions can have an alcoholic strength of 16.5% if the grapes are dried before fermentation.

How is alcohol produced?

When grapes are crushed, their juice is released. When this juice comes into contact with yeast, a fermentation starts: the natural grape sugar is converted into alcohol giving off a by-product of carbon dioxide gas. This gas usually disperses into the air. If any CO2 gets bound into the wine, it will give a slight prickling sensation on the tongue. (This happens quite often with Beaujolais Nouveau, Muscadet and certain northern Italian white wines.)

Why does one wine contain more alcohol than another?

The amount of alcohol in the finished wine depends upon the amount of sugar in the grapes at the time of harvesting. Low grape sugars will mean low alcohol; grapes that are rich in natural sweetness will be high in alcohol. (Unless, of course, the fermentation is stopped before all the sugar has been converted to alcohol. This will leave residual sugar in the wine.)

Grapes grown in warmer climates will generally have more sugar than those grown in cool climates. Sunshine, direct or indirect, builds up grape sugars. (Cool nights build up acidity.) For instance, a wine such as Chateauneuf-du-Pape grown in the southern Rhone Valley will have higher alcohol than a Beaujolais grown in southern Burgundy because of the amount of sunshine the respective regions enjoy during the growing season. The French wine law recognizes this fact of Nature and states that for a red wine grown in Beaujolais to be labeled as such, it must contain a minimum of 9 percent alcohol. Chateauneuf-du-Pape, on the other hand, must have a minimum of 12.5% alcohol.

Can a winemaker artificially boost the alcohol content in a wine?

In poor or mediocre years in many wine regions of the world, winemakers will add granulated cane or beet sugar directly to the crushed grapes before or during fermentation to increase the amount of alcohol. These sugars will usually augment the alcohol content by 1 or 2%.
This practice of adding sugar is called chaptalisation after Napoleon’s Minister of Agriculture, Baron Jean-Antoine Chaptal, who first sanctioned the process in France although it had been practiced for centuries. The Romans used to add honey to their fermenting wines to build up the alcohol.

Cold climate wines by definition will contain less alcohol than those grown in hot climates. German wines grown at the northern limit of grape production are generally low in alcohol. Some German Rieslings grown in Mosel, for example, contain as little as 7% alcohol. Contrast this with southern Italian reds that can register as high as 16% alcohol.

What effects does alcohol have on wine?

Alcohol is a great preservative. As an antiseptic it will kill certain bacteria. It will also allow the wine to age without deteriorating if the bottle is properly cellared.

Alcohol also gives the wine weight and substance: the higher the alcohol content, the heavier the wine will feel in the mouth. Although alcohol has no smell, you can detect high alcohol content by the thickness of the residue left on the side of the glass when you swirl it. The heavier the “tears” that fall back to the surface of the wine, the higher the alcohol.

High-alcohol wines will also give the sensation of heat when you smell them and you can feel hotness in the mouth and throat.

A wine with the fragrance and delight of apple blossom.

Ingredients:

4 lbs. pink rhubarb – cut into dice
4 lbs. sugar
1 lb. maize
1 lb. raisins
1 egg white
I slice of toast
1 oz. yeast
1 lb. crab apple blossom
½ lb. barley
4 quarts water

Method:

Put all, except the flowers, into a big jar and stir daily for 14 days. Keep covered and warm.

Add the flowers and stir a further 6 days.

Strain, bottle and cork.

Keep for 6-12. months. See that the wine is clear, add the bubbles for “making sparkling wines” and keep for a further 1-5 months before drinking.

This is a refreshing wine, deep gold in color.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. vegetable marrow
2 lbs. apples-chopped up
½ lb. sultanas
½ lb. prunes
½ lb. maize
1 beaten egg white
1 slice of toast
1 oz. yeast
5 quarts water

Method:

Put all into a big jar and stir daily for 10 days. Keep covered and warm.

Strain-stand for 2 hours. Pour the clear off, measure it and add 1 tbsp. sugar to each quart of liquid. Stir well.

Bottle and cork.

Keep for 6 – 12 months. See that the wine is clear, add the bubbles for “making sparkling wines” and keep for a further 1-5 months before drinking.

Tasty and strong. Each ingredient in this amber-colored wine enhances the other.

Ingredients:

1 lb. figs
4 lbs. sugar
3 lbs. rhubarb-peeled and cut into dice
2 lbs. rice
1 egg white
1 slice of toast
1 oz. yeast
1 lb. crab apple blossom
4 quarts water

Method:

Put all, except the flowers, into a big jar. Stir daily for 14 days. Keep covered and keep warm.

Add the flowers and stir for a further 5 days.

Strain, bottle and cork.

Keep for 6 – 12 months. See that the wine is clear, add the bubbles for “making sparkling wines” and keep for a further 1-5 months before drinking.

This recipe includes balm which is a noted cure for headaches and imparts a pleasing fragrance.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs, rhubarb-peeled and cut into dice
• ½ lb. raisins-shredded
• ½ lb. barley
• ½ lb. maize
• 1 egg white
• 4 lbs. sugar
• 1 slice of toast
• 1 oz. yeast
• 1 lb. balm (lemon scented mint)
• 4 quart water

Method:

Put all, except the balm, into a big jar. Stand. Stir daily for 14 days. Keep covered and warm.

Add the balm-stand for a further 4 days.

Strain, bottle and cork.

Keep for 6 – 12 months. See that the wine is clear, add the bubbles for “making sparkling wines” and keep for a further 1-5 months before drinking.

This is dark amber in color and more mellow than the preceding recipe. It is a champagne-type wine.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. tea
• 1 lb. figs-shredded
• ½ lb. maize
• ½ lb. barley
• 1 egg white
• 1 slice of toast
• 1 oz. yeast
• 1 lb. rhubarb-peeled and cut into dice
• 1 lb. privet flowers
• 4 lbs. sugar
• 5 quarts water

Method:

Put tea bag into 3 quarts of water and boil for 5 minutes and then remove bag. Put all, except the flowers, into the liquid and stir daily for 14 days. Keep covered and warm.

Add the flowers and stir for a further 4 days.

Strain-stand for 2, hours. Pour clear liquid off.

Bottle and cork.

Keep for 6-12 months. See that the wine is clear, add the bubbles for “making sparkling wines” and keep for a further 1-5 months before drinking.

Find personalized wine gifts at The Tipsy Grape.

As the name implies, this is an amber-colored wine.

It has a “bite” in it and even without the flowers it is very good.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. dates shredded
• 3 lbs. rhubarb-peeled and cut into dice
• 1 egg white
• 1 lb. bread-toasted
• ½ lb. rice
• 5 quarts water
• 4 lbs. sugar
• 1 oz. yeast
• 1 lb. yellow mimulus

Method:

Put all, except, except the flowers, into a large jar. Keep covered and warm. Stir daily for 10 days, squeeze the bread out.

Add the flowers and stir for a further 5 days.

Strain, bottle and cork.

Keep for 6 – 12 months.

See that the wine is clear, add the bubbles for “making sparkling wines” and keep for a further 1-5 months before drinking.

Whilst many recipes will make good wine without the flowers, the addition of the flower petals, with careful management, will give a delightful fragrant bouquet which is so desirable in a sparkling wine, and make it distinctive from the ordinary still wines.

To get a sparkling wine, you make the wine, clear it, turn it over and then add the sparkling agent. When ready for drinking it will bubble and sparkle, leaping joyfully in the glass on being broached.

Wine making is an educational hobby with a pleasing ending. You learn to appreciate the bounty of the earth and in time you realize what a pleasant effect it can be on the body without being a drunkard or abasing one’s self in any way, and you get really full enjoyment when you offer the glass you’ve made in hospitable generosity.

How does one launch a brew of wine? You need a big jar-one to hold 2 or 3 gallons. Those old-fashioned ware bread mugs or a cream jar, such as farmers use to gather cream in, are ideal. An old fashioned potato masher is grand to mash fruit; then you need a wooden spoon to stir with and a sharp knife to shred up dried fruit.

You must also have bottles and corks arid a place to keep the wine undisturbed at a temperature of 50°-60°F for 6 or 9 months.

Use an aluminum steam pan to strain the rough flowers out, then you lose no liquid. 2 yards of muslin double is an excellent strainer.

Always keep a brew well covered with a thick cloth. Flies will strike wine in hot weather in the same way as they strike meat, so carelessness in protecting the bowl or jar could result in a mass of maggots forming, as the winey smell attracts flies. Also, letting the air to the brew means you make a sourness impossible to cure and the whole lot turns to vinegar.