Wine making

[Carl Bert]

WHat are the absolute best conditions to make wine in. Temperature, ventilation, dampness, mold, radon. Any of these good or bad?

I made about 30 gallons in 2009, and it came delicious. I bottled it and within 6 months it went bad, undrinkable. In 2010 I made about 60 gallons, of 4 different wines, all came bad, but all had a very similar bad taste. The 2011 batch, which I just dumped last night (60 gal) again had a very similar bad taste.

My dad has been making wine all his life and made the last batch with me. He had no idea what went wrong. Unfortunately my dad passed away about a month ago, so I am on my own now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[zonta223]

WHat are the absolute best conditions to make wine in. Temperature, ventilation, dampness, mold, radon. Any of these good or bad?

I made about 30 gallons in 2009, and it came delicious. I bottled it and within 6 months it went bad, undrinkable. In 2010 I made about 60 gallons, of 4 different wines, all came bad, but all had a very similar bad taste. The 2011 batch, which I just dumped last night (60 gal) again had a very similar bad taste.

My dad has been making wine all his life and made the last batch with me. He had no idea what went wrong. Unfortunately my dad passed away about a month ago, so I am on my own now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Would need a few more details of how you actually made the wine to try and help.
When I used to work in a winery the head winemaker made a very informative statement.
"Making good wine is easy........Sadly making bad wine is even easier"

So some details.
What kind of wine...........what kind of fermenter.........fermented in what way?............wild or cultured yeast?....how long did you ferment it for.....how did you press it.......Did you use use sulfur in the wine?....new wine bottles?......red or white?......after the wine finished fermenting how did you treat /store it?......corks or screw caps?

sorry for the long list of questions but you need to start a process of elimination.

If you want I am happy for you to PM me and we can take it from there.

Bob

 

[jinman]

Carl, I wish I could help you, but I'm a wine consumer instead of a wine producer. However, as I read your post, I couldn't help but wonder why you continue to make such large quantities of wine that goes bad? Why not make small batches until you get a system that works? I'm sure there is a reason, but not knowing your method or situation makes me wonder why you went from 30 gal to 60 gal if the 30 gal was unsuccessful.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

What did you use to kill they yeast? Whatever it was, it sounds like it didn't work.

 

[mjarrels]

I always used a airlock system to prevent air from coming into contact with the fermention process. I just used frozen cans of welches grape juice, five pounds of sugar and powder yeast. Always had sucess.

mark

 

[Carl Bert]

Would need a few more details of how you actually made the wine to try and help.
When I used to work in a winery the head winemaker made a very informative statement.
"Making good wine is easy........Sadly making bad wine is even easier"

So some details.
What kind of wine...........what kind of fermenter.........fermented in what way?............wild or cultured yeast?....how long did you ferment it for.....how did you press it.......Did you use use sulfur in the wine?....new wine bottles?......red or white?......after the wine finished fermenting how did you treat /store it?......corks or screw caps?

sorry for the long list of questions but you need to start a process of elimination.

If you want I am happy for you to PM me and we can take it from there.

Bob

You may wind up regretting that last statement. I have a list of questions for you.

I just came back from the winery, which had a head winemaker there who walked me through the whole wine making process. Great talking to him, but very confusing and hard to take in, in one sitting.

I will get back to you with as many answers to your questions as possible. I don't know the answers to all.

Thank you very much for offering your expertise. I will get back to you very soon.

 

[Carl Bert]

Carl, I wish I could help you, but I'm a wine consumer instead of a wine producer. However, as I read your post, I couldn't help but wonder why you continue to make such large quantities of wine that goes bad? Why not make small batches until you get a system that works? I'm sure there is a reason, but not knowing your method or situation makes me wonder why you went from 30 gal to 60 gal if the 30 gal was unsuccessful.

A very valid question. I guess I am a glutton for punishment. My wife is actually sitting here laughing out loud, as I read your post.

The way I see it, if the batch winds up coming good, then I will regret not making enough. So I shoot for the stars and barely make it past the clouds.

So far I have poured over $2000 in undrinkable homemade poison, down the drain. I guess in retrospect I could have bought a lot of fine wine with that money, but then there is no challenge. I am determined to learn how to make a wine, that is at least as good as my dads, if not better.

Wish me luck.

 

[zonta223]

You may wind up regretting that last statement. I have a list of questions for you.

I just came back from the winery, which had a head winemaker there who walked me through the whole wine making process. Great talking to him, but very confusing and hard to take in, in one sitting.

That's fine......any time your ready. I own my own vineyard and a small scale winery producing a few 100 gallons of wine a year. I'm sure we can get you to producing good wine, you just have to follow some basic steps.

regards
Bob

 

[forgeblast]

Use "one step" its a sanitizer, stanitize everything, I use it in my air lock also.
I use one step, starsan, and blc for my lines.

 

[coyzstze]

Hi there. First time poster here.

I've made ~400 bottles of wine. All of which have been from various wine kits, so the juice has the correct PH balance and such already. So it's an easier version of what you're doing.

The key to wine making is cleanliness. You must sanitize everything that touches the wine. To include fermenters, stirring rods, air locks, wine bottles, siphon tubes, etc. You can use one step as one gentlemen suggestesd, or you can just use a strong solution of potassium metabisulfite ( very cheap ). I use the latter in a spray bottle ( 2 tbs per gallon of water ).

You also need to use metabisulfite to prevent the wine from going bad. This usually happens before you bottle at a rate of 1/4 tsp per 5 gallons. This is not a precise measurement though. You can buy kits to test the levels, but I don't. I've had wine on the rack for 2+ years w/o issues. There are allot of info available on the web. I'd suggest starting at: Fine Vine Wines Forum.

Good luck!

 

[Carl Bert]

Would need a few more details of how you actually made the wine to try and help.
When I used to work in a winery the head winemaker made a very informative statement.
"Making good wine is easy........Sadly making bad wine is even easier"

So some details.
What kind of wine...........what kind of fermenter.........fermented in what way?............wild or cultured yeast?....how long did you ferment it for.....how did you press it.......Did you use use sulfur in the wine?....new wine bottles?......red or white?......after the wine finished fermenting how did you treat /store it?......corks or screw caps?

sorry for the long list of questions but you need to start a process of elimination.

If you want I am happy for you to PM me and we can take it from there.

Bob

Ok to start, I am making a white muscot. It's a very sweet white wine. I am fermenting it in 5 and 15 gallon carboys. So far I am making approx. 40 gallons, but I am sure I will be adding to that.

I bought the grapes and the winery crushed and pressed them for me. I added 2 different nutrients so far (will let you know the names tomorrow). The first I added just before the yeast and the 2nd when the sugar dropped to 5%, which I just finished adding.

Each of these carboys is only 3/4 filled right now, and have air locks on them. I am supposed to top each one off when the alcohol level hits 0, or is that the sugar content. Anyway that should be tomorrow. Problem is I still have a lot of sediment on the top. I was told it should have dropped to the bottom already, but because of the temperature of my wine cellar, it hasn't yet. The wine cellar supposedly should be about 65 degrees, during this process. Unfortunately mine is about 72. I don't know what I can do to help the situation. I put a fan in there, it helped a bit, but not enough.

If everything seems ok after consolidating it into fewer and larger carboys, then I may start over again with a malvasia, which is also a sweet white wine.

Anyway that's where I'm at right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[zonta223]

Ok to start, I am making a white muscot. It's a very sweet white wine. I am fermenting it in 5 and 15 gallon carboys. So far I am making approx. 40 gallons, but I am sure I will be adding to that.

I bought the grapes and the winery crushed and pressed them for me. I added 2 different nutrients so far (will let you know the names tomorrow). The first I added just before the yeast and the 2nd when the sugar dropped to 5%, which I just finished adding.

Each of these carboys is only 3/4 filled right now, and have air locks on them. I am supposed to top each one off when the alcohol level hits 0, or is that the sugar content. Anyway that should be tomorrow. Problem is I still have a lot of sediment on the top. I was told it should have dropped to the bottom already, but because of the temperature of my wine cellar, it hasn't yet. The wine cellar supposedly should be about 65 degrees, during this process. Unfortunately mine is about 72. I don't know what I can do to help the situation. I put a fan in there, it helped a bit, but not enough.

If everything seems ok after consolidating it into fewer and larger carboys, then I may start over again with a malvasia, which is also a sweet white wine.

Anyway that's where I'm at right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Carl
I take it that the fermentation is going well/vigorously?
Unless the grapes are short on nitrogen there is really no need for nutrients..........other than a little DAP.
What yeast are you using?

if you want to make a very sweet wine there are 2 options.
Let the wine finish fermentation then add a sweetener (sugar/grape sugar etc) to taste afterwards.
Then you run the risk of the wine starting to re ferment unless you treat it with chemicals and sterile bottle it. Is this what you are doing?

The other way is to fortify the wine with alcohol. This can be done at any time during the fermentation. the earlier you do it the sweeter the wine. The idea is to add enough alcohol to kill the yeast and leave a lot of the grape's sugar unfermented.
Some of the very sweet white wines (we call them sticky wines. they have so much sugar in them its like honey) made here are never allowed to ferment.....the grapes are crushed then pressed and alcohol is added immediately. then its just a matter of clearing and bottling them.
The percentage of alcohol varies between about 11 and 15%.

Don't panic to much about room temperatures. I have successfully fermented wines from temperatures in the teens to 40 deg c.
White wines can "suffer" from having large amounts of pectin in them. This leaves a pectin haze which makes the wine look cloudy and also leaves scum on the top. It is normally treated during fermentation by the addition of pectinase.

As other people have already stated cleanliness is important especially if you are making sweet wines. Bacteria love sweet wines.....Make sure everything that comes in contact with the wine is sanitized. Never use wooden "tools" in the wine they can harbor lots of baddies even if you think they are sanitized.

Keep us informed of your progress

regards
Bob

 

[czechsonofagun]

I grow grapes and make wine from it. There is an excellent forum:

WinePress.US Winemaking and Grape Growing Forum

with a lot of helpful information and friendly people.

The wine I make I store in wine cooler, it is a natural wine, it is not supposed to be left outside controlled environment.