Tips for Making Wine from Kits

 

2. Do not use the Potassium Metabisulphite that comes with the kit as the sanitizer. It is needed for your wine on Stage #3 of the instructions. Instead, use the Easy Clean or other no-rinse sanitizer.

 

3. The airlock should be filled about halfway with water to create a barrier from oxygen and bacteria while allowing the co2 to escape.

 

4. If your wine is being fermented between 70-75˚F, then there isn’t a real need to take hydrometer readings. Just go by the timeframe in the instructions. If your fermentation temperature is below 70˚, the fermentation will go slower and taking hydrometer readings is a good idea to ensure your wine is ready for the next stage.

 

5. Longer is better. If you aren’t able to go to the next stage according to the timeframe in the instructions, then wait till you can. Don’t go to the next step before the recommendations in the instructions. Extending the time between stages will not affect the quality of your wine.

 

6. Stir the wine vigorously during stage #1 before you pitch the yeast. The concentrates are so viscous that they don’t actually mix easily with the added water. Unless the must is well whipped, it will stratify, with the top layer being very dilute and the bottom layer extremely concentrated. So mix well!

 

7. De-gassing your wine. Stage #3 is the most important stage of the winemaking process. In order to prevent a fizzy wine, it is very important to vigorously stir the wine to drive off any co2 that is in the wine. Excessive co2 not only causes a fizzy wine, it can also prevent the finings from effectively clearing the wine. We strongly recommend a Mix-stir that attaches to a power drill and is used in stage #3 to stir and de-gas the wine.

 

8. Take your time! Wine kits are ready to bottle in 4 or 6 weeks, but most aren’t ready to drink. 4-week kits will improve immensely with 3 months of age, and many of the 6 week kits will show the huge improvements if aged over a few years.

 

9.  When making dry wines, eliminate the potassium sorbate when doing stage #3.  Potassium sorbate kills the yeast, which is very important when making sweet wines.  However, sorbate has a sweet flavor which can give the perception of a slightly sweet wine.  Since dry wines have no fermentable sugars left to ferment, there isn't need to kill the yeast.