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Q: What
happens if I use inadequate equipment?
A: Winemaking
equipment - such as pails, carboys and spoons - often
seems similar to items that may be around the home.
However, in many cases, proper winemaking equipment
and utensils are made of special materials, and this
can influence your finished product.
Q: Why is it necessary to add
the fining agents (package #4) before transferring the
wine must off the sediment that has built up in the
carboy bottom? Wouldn't it be more efficient for
package #4 to be added after the sediment has been
removed? It seems the clearing agent has to do more
work to clear the wine by adding it with the sediment
still in the carboy, especially when you're stirring
this sediment up in the process.
A: This one fools
a lot of people, as it does seem at the outset that
you'd want to get rid of the sediment first and then
add the clearing agent, particularly when the wine in
the carboy otherwise seems clear. The temptation is so
great, many winemakers DO switch the steps themselves.
This is not wrong - it's just less efficient, believe
it or not.
The clearing, or fining, agents used in Winexpert's
wine kits, whether it be chitosan or isinglass, both
act more efficiently in clearing wine when they have a
base of sediment to begin with. The sediment acts as a
trigger mechanism which sends the finings into action
in clearing out the mix of proteins, pigments,
phenolics, dead yeast, etc.
Both the fining agents and the particles to clear out
from the wine have either a positive or a negative
charge. And just like in the movies, opposites
attract. A negatively charged fining agent like
bentonite will serve to bring together those particles
having a positive charge, while positively charged
fining agents like chitosan or isinglass will attract
negatively charged particles. This process allows for
the molecular weight structures of the particles to
become larger: smaller particles join together to
become larger particles, which in turn fall to the
bottom of the carboy when their mass becomes great
enough.
If the fining agents do not 'find' enough particles
present in the wine must to join together into larger
particles, the clearing process may stall, as there
will not be enough small particles present to
conglomerate into the larger particles which will fall
out. Small particles on their own will remain
suspended in the must, and the fining's efficiency is
reduced.
This is why you must thoroughly stir the sediment when
adding package #4, as it effectively mixes the fining
agents and the particles together to start the
clearing process.
Resist the urge to jump the gun on transferring, or
racking, the wine! Trust the method behind the madness
of Winexpert's instructions, and stir up that sediment
with confidence!
Q: Can I reuse equipment that
has held other food products?
A: Re-using
plastic pails from other sources, like buckets that
previously held food products, is always a mistake.
The food odours will have sunk into the plastic, and
will taint the wine. Also, plastic items not intended
for food purposes, such as brand-new garbage pails
must never be used for winemaking. The pigments, UV
protectants and plasticisers (chemicals used to keep
the plastic from becoming brittle) will leach into the
wine, and could affect your health.
Your retailer will be able to direct you to equipment
appropriate for winemaking. Saving a few dollars by
using suspect equipment is not worth it.
Q: What happens if equipment
isn't properly cleaned?
A: 90% of all
winemaking failures can be traced to a lapse in
cleaning or sanitation. (Cleaning is removing visible
dirt and residue from your equipment. Sanitising is
treating that equipment with a chemical that will
eliminate, or prevent the growth of, spoilage
organisms).
Everything that comes in contact with your wine must
be clean, and properly sanitised, from the thermometer
to the carboy, from the siphon hose to the bung and
airlock. One single lapse could cause a failure of
your batch.
Q: Can I cut corners or
simplify a process to save time?
A: Wine kit
instructions may seem to be long and complicated, and
the urge is to simplify them, or to standardise steps
between different kits. This is always a mistake, for
several reasons.
First, the kit instructions are based both on sound
winemaking techniques, and empirical trials.
Development of the specific steps employed in the
instructions came about through both learned
theoretical winemaking practices and through repeated
wine laboratory testing. Following the instructions to
a 'T' affords the maximum opportunity for success.
Second, if your kit fails to ferment correctly, or
clear sufficiently, there may be no easy way to
correct it if you have not followed the directions.
This is sometimes a problem in that kit instructions
are very different from those for wines made from
fresh grapes. Trying to use the techniques described
in winemaking textbooks will usually lead to problems:
wine kits are another kettle of fish entirely.
Q: Is water a factor in the
success of my wine?
A: Water is not
quite as critical as many people think. In fact, if
your water is fit to drink, it is usually just fine
for winemaking. However, if your water has a lot of
hardness or a high mineral content, especially iron,
it could lead to permanent haze or off flavours. Also,
if your house is equipped with a salt-exchange water
softener, that water can't be used for winemaking. If
you're in doubt, go ahead and use bottled water to
make your wine: you'll appreciate the difference.
Q: What is the best way to
handle the yeast?
A: If you look at
the instructions in your wine kit (and please, do),
they will likely instruct you to sprinkle your packet
of yeast directly on to the must. Yet if you read the
yeast package (and many winemaking textbooks) they
recommend rehydrating the yeast. If the objective is
to deliver the maximum number of yeast cells to the
must, which technique is best?
It turns out that the answer is not as simple as one
or the other, but the main point is that rehydration
is not really necessary. You can rehydrate your yeast
if you absolutely want to, but be sure to do it
accurately and precisely, as explained further below.
The rest of us will tear open the package and dump it
in, and spend the extra time sampling our last batch!
When performed correctly, rehydrating gives the
highest live cell counts, and the quickest, most
thorough fermentation. The catch is, it has to be done
precisely correctly. Lalvin EC 1118 champagne yeast,
for instance, asks you to add the yeast to 10 times
its weight in water at 40-43°C (104-109°F).
Breaking it down, the amount of '10 times' is
important if you're trying to maximise live cell
counts. That's because the yeast is dried on a
substrate of nutrients and sugars. At a ratio of 10:1
water/yeast, the osmotic pressure allows for maximum
nutrient uptake (osmotic pressure is influenced by the
dissolved solids in the water, like nutrients and
sugars). If too much water is used, the yeast will
grow only sluggishly. If too little water is used, the
cells may burst from the flood of liquid and nutrients
forced into them.
Secondly, the temperature range is inflexible. The
outer integument of a yeast cell is made up of two
layers of fatty acids. These layers soften best in
warm water, much as greasy film will come off of
dishes best in warm water. Once it has softened up, it
will allow the passage of nutrients and waste products
in and out of the cell much more efficiently. If the
water isn't warm enough, the cell won't soften. If
it's too warm, generally anywhere above 52°C (125.6°F)
the yeast cell will cook and die.
The next thing you have to worry about is temperature
shear. Yeast is terrifically sensitive to
environmental conditions. If it goes too quickly from
a favourable temperature to a less favourable one,
weakened cells may die, and others may go dormant, in
an attempt to ride out the temperature shift. This
reduces the numbers of live, viable cells available to
ferment the must, and gives spoilage organisms a
chance to get a foothold, and potentially ruin your
wine. So if you are rehydrating your yeast, you'll
have to wait as the yeast cools to within two degrees
of your must temperature before adding it: accuracy
counts!
On the other hand, simply dumping the yeast onto the
top of the must should result in lower cell counts.
Empirical evidence shows this isn't the case: the
yeast appear to know what they're doing. Generally, a
five-gram packet of yeast will have less than a
six-hour lag phase on an average wine kit. This is
perfectly acceptable, and isn't long enough to allow
spoilage organisms to get a foothold in your wine.
Plus, it's a heck of a lot simpler than going through
the rehydrating process, fraught as it is with risks.
Q: My basement is cold. Is
this a good place to make my wine?
A: Kit
instructions tell you to ferment your wine within a
specific temperature range. We recommend 18 to 24°C
(65°F to 75°F). Yeast thrives between these
temperatures. This is one of the situations where
Winexpert's instructions are different than commercial
winemaking techniques. In commercial wineries, some
white wines are fermented cooler than this, sometimes
below 55°F. Commercial wineries have the luxury of
taking a year (or two, or three) before they bottle
their wines, so they don't have a problem. For the
home winemaker though, if the fermentation area is too
cool the wine will ferment very slowly. This will lead
to an excess of CO2 gas (fizz) in the wine, and it may
not be ready to stabilise and fine on the appropriate
day. Even worse, the kind of fining agents included
with Winexpert kits don't work well at temperatures
outside of the 18 to 24°C (65°F to 75°F) range. Below
17°C (64°F) your wine kit may not clear at all!
Q: I added sulphite and
sorbate too early in the process. What will it do to
the wine?
A: Sulphite and
sorbate - the stabilisers in the kit - work to inhibit
yeast activity. If, by mistake, you add them too early
your wine may not finish fermenting. If you add the
sorbate on day one, the yeast will never become
active, and the kit will not ferment.
Q: Can I leave sulphite out
of my wines?
A: Some people
believe that they are allergic to sulphites, and want
to leave them out of their kits. While this is their
option, it's a bad idea. True sulphite allergies are
terrifically rare, and if someone has a reaction to
drinking wine, it's almost always due to some other
cause (for a complete discussion on this topic, see
our handout "Sulphites: the Facts"). Besides, yeast
make sulphites themselves during fermentation, so no
wine can ever be sulphite-free, no matter what.
Without added sulphites the kit will oxidise and spoil
very rapidly. It will start to go off in less than 4
weeks, and be undrinkable in less than three months.
Also, if the sulphite is left out, but the sorbate is
added, the wine will be attacked by lactic bacteria,
which will convert the sorbate into the compound
hexadienol, which smells like rotting geraniums and
dead fish.
The bottom line is this: if you do not add the
sulphite to the kit, neither your retailer, nor
Winexpert can guarantee the wine, so think carefully
before you do it.
Q: How long do I stir the
concentrate mix?
A: On day one, the
kit needs to be stirred very vigorously. This is
because the juice and concentrate are very viscous,
and don't mix easily with water. Even if it seems that
dumping the contents of the bag into the primary with
the water has done the job, it hasn't. The wine lies
on the bottom of the pail, with a layer of water on
top, throwing off any gravity readings, and making the
yeast work extra hard.
When it comes time to stabilise and fine the wine, it
has to be stirred vigorously enough to drive off all
of the CO2 it accumulated during fermentation. This is
because the dissolved gas will attach to the fining
agents, preventing them from settling out. You need to
stir hard enough to make the wine foam, and keep
stirring until it will no longer foam. Only then will
the gas be driven off so the fining agents can work
their magic.
Q: The kit says 28 days. Is
that when it's ready to drink?
A: Wine kits are
ready to bottle in 28 or 45 days; they're not ready to
drink! If you really, really can't wait, the minimum
time before a kit tastes good is about one month. This
is long enough for the wine to get over the shock of
bottling, and begin opening up to release its aromas
and flavors. Three months is much better, and the
wine will show most of its character at this point.
For most whites, however, and virtually all reds, six
months is needed to smooth out the wine and allow it
to express mature character. Heavy reds will continue
to improve for at least a year, rewarding your
patience with delicious bouquet.
Think of your wine like a gourmet meal: you wouldn't
take your omelette out of a pan before it was
half-cooked, and you wouldn't want to eat a cake that
was only half-baked, so let the magic ingredient
(time, of course!) do its work! For further
information on ageing, click on the section called
'Ageing and Storage' within this Answer Box section.
Q: My kit has two packages of
oak chips in it. Am I supposed to add both?
A: Yes. Wherever
Winexpert's instructions call for the addition of a
certain item, you are required to add ALL of the
packages of that item found in the kit. This goes for
packages of oak, fining agents like isinglass, and so
on.
Courtesy of Winexpert, maker of our
popular wine kits.
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