Your
Wine
If the racking has not made the wine as clear as you like, you could rack it again and give it some more time in the carboy. You also could use a wine filter system. Some winemaker like them, some do not. We have one and use it when needed.
Most wines will be quite dry at this point. If you want to sweeten you wine, you may do so at this point. Some winemaker prefer not to sweeten wine at all until it is served.
To sweeten the wine, make a syrup of table sugar and boiling water in equal portions. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved and allow the syrup to cool completely.You may now add the syrup the wine to sweeten to taste.
It is very important that you stabilize the wine now to prevent the new sugar content from fermenting! (Trust us on this one. Not only will the new fermentation cloud the wine and spoil the taste, the resulting carbon dioxide will build a pressure in the bottle that will result in flying corks and spraying wine!)
To stabilize the wine dissolve a couple of tablespoons each of Potassium sorbate and Sodium metabisulfite and blend it thoroughly into the wine.
Now you can bottle your wine. We recommend recycling commercial wine bottles. Just clean them well and sterilize them with sodium metabisulfite. You can use screwtop bottles, but we prefer to use real corks. Soak them in advance and then nuke them in the microwave prior to use.
You can get an inexpensive hand corker from your wine makers shop, but we recommend a good floor model. the Portuguese make the best corkers. It will cost you $70-80, but it is worth it!
Please do take the time to design and print labels for your wine. It adds a nice touch when you give a bottle to someone and it is a lot of fun.
Those are the basics.
There are a lot of details you will pick up as you get into the hobby.,
Talk to other wine makers. They are always will to help.
You may contact us with your questions at:
[email protected]
Most importantly...enjoy the fruits of your labor!
