Making Wine from Grapes.... Portuguese Style
Montreal Bob
Equipment:
1 pkg. Baking soda
1 6-8' Link chain
1 pkg. 250g sodium of metabisulfite (meta)
1 brush & bucket
Dilute 50g of meta in 4L of warm water. This solution will be used to was
all equipment.
To wash the barrel, use water and baking soda solution: 1/2 box and 1/4
water. Put 6' chain inside the barrel and gently rock back and forth. Do
this a few times to loosen the particles inside the barrel. Then place a
strip of meta suspended in the middle of the barrel and light it. After this
has burned out, cap it and was the next day with baking soda...rinse and the
barrel is ready to use.
2nd Step: Making the wine (crushing)
Equipment:
Crusher, Press, Pails & Fermenter
We begin by mounting the fermenter about 18-24" off ground. Place the
crusher across the open top. Empty grapes into the hopper and crush. You may
disgard some of the badly rotten grapes, although some rot is actually good
and will not hurt.
When crushing is done, remove and rinse crusher. Then using both hands,
scoop out about half of the stems from the fermenter. The fewer the stems
the less tannic there will be in the finished wine.
The next step is to mix some meta in a glass of warm water and stir it into
the fermenter. 3.5g per 100lbs of grapes. This meta dose is essential if
California grapes are used. This will kill off bacteria and give the good
yeast their chance to ferment. Once this done, cover fementer with a plastic
sheet or plywood to keep fruit flies and dust out.
3rd Step: Fermentation
With the fermenter 3/4 full of crushed grapes, symptoms of fermentation will
show up in the next 24 to 48 hrs. These are: Odor, formation of the cap,
bubbles along the edges & the mass begins to increase. If not, add a dose of
yeast which you may purchase at a wine specialty store.
Once fermentation gets going, the cap is then broken up twice a day
and stirred into the must. This will distribute the yeast and improve the
future of the wines color and taste.
At this point it is very important that the must does not rise above 90 F.
To cool down, insert plastic bags of ice into the must.
Fermentation is over when a reading of 0 or just below is read on a
saccharometer. Do not ferment any longer. The fermentation period would be
about 5 to 7 days maybe 8 no longer.
4th Step: Pressing
A good rule to follow is to press when the saccharometer gives a reading
of 0-4 degrees. Before proceeding, scrub the press with hot water and soda
and rinse well with hot and cold water; as well as all pails and funnels.
Next drain juice from fermenter and put into barrel, then take the wet
pomace and place it into the press. Now press the pomace but this must be
done slowly. With a strainer and a pail, catch the juices and pour it into
the barrel.
When the flow of juice stops, reopen the press basket and loosen the pomace
and press again. When the pressing is finished wipe up the barrel opening
and wash the press. Disgard the leftover pomace into the garbage. The barrel
should be closed now using a rubber stopper fitted with a fermenting valve.
This will enable fermenting gas to escape, but not let any air in. The
barrel should be checked daily to be sure that it is always topped up.
5th Step: Barrel Fermentation
The wine barrel should be placed in an area where the temperature is always
uniform and between 60-70 F, until time of racking. The duration of barrel
fermentation should last about 8-10 weeks. At about 8 weeks check and taste.
6th Step: Racking
1Racking is possible but 2 would be ideal. The first racking should be done
right after the barrel fermentation is complete. i.e. Late September
vintage, 1st racking may be done in early December.
Racking is best done in bright clear weather. This usually coincides with a
full moon, which means that high atmospheric pressure will cause lighter
lees to be disturbed and drawn from the barrel when racking.
To rack, place empty gallons lower than the barrel and insert a siphon tube
into the barrel. Start the flow by sucking the wine through the tube and
insert the tube into a gallon. Direct the flow of the wine down the side of
the gallon. This is done to aerate the wine. This is done only in the first
racking only!!. when this is all complete ,store gallons in a cool dark
place. You may also choose to filter the wine and bottle the wine as well.
this is done simply by renting a filter at a wine hobby shop and transfer
the wine from their gallons to the bottles via a filter...and enjoy!
--
Cheers,
Montreal Bob
" To all Virgin's out there...
....Thanks for nothing "