I've decided to start making my own wine. I'm goign to give it a go and see how I get on. I've been researching it online, and this is what I have come up with. I'm wondering if anyone here has done it and can tell me if this is correct? Have I missed out any steps or is anythign incorrect? What does fermentation actually mean?

1. Sterilise/Clean all equipment properly. Use only boiling hot water…never use washing up liquid.
2. Add fruit into one of the airtight buckets. Fruit can be blended/mashed first if needed. No limit to how much fruit you can add.
3. Add 3 litres of cold tap water.
4. Add sugar…the more sugar the sweeter the wine will be.
5. Add more cold water to fill up the bucket.
6. Add yeast.
7. Seal the bucket.
8. Keep bucket in a warm place.
9. At the end of fermentation add two crushed Campden tablets with potassium sorbate. Refit airtight lid to bucket.
10. Leave in a cool place.
11. When the wine is clear, filter It through into another bucket using a syphon/tube.
12. Wash the syphon/tube and sue it again to filter the wine from the bucket, into sterilised/clean wine bottles.

Hi,

I started making my own wine in September- it is a most rewarding hobby.

If you haven't already started I would suggest buying a starter kit from Wilkinson's or Lakeland. You will get a demijohn, tubes, a hrydrometer, and a CabSav or Sauvignon Blanc. The resulting wine is quite drinkable and you will be able to do so within 6 weeks. I began with the Wilko CabSav kit- it was about £25 (iirc) and from there I went on to start a pomegranate and an elderberry and blackberry- both of which are still clearing, I have a parsnip which is still fermenting. Also one made of Ribena- which is incredibly strong

I would highly recommend a book by CJJ Berry- First Steps in Winemaking. Berry wrote this in the 60's but it has been invaluable to me. I also have Booze for Free by Andy Hamiltion- which is a good guide for making fruit or country wines.

Your steps are generally right but if you want to make fruit wine I would find a recipe and follow it straight through for your first wine- it can be a bit finicky and follow a tested recipe makes life a bit easier.

I use sodium metabisulphite for sterilising/sanitising. More sugar doesn't necessarily equal sweeter wine- your yeasties will metabolise the sugar into alcohol so all being well more sugar should equal more potent wine. You also need things like citric acid, yeast nutrients, tannin, pectolase (depending on the fruit you use)

Hope this has helped- and not put you off. It really is awesome when you start to see your airlock bubbling away and you know the yeasties are munching through all that sugar and making lots of lovely alcohol.

If you have any questions I will endeavour to help

All the best
xxx

It's a process your mixture goes through.

Yeast is a living fungus that needs food. When added to fruits (which contain fruit sugar called fructose) the yeast transforms the sugars into ethanol, hence the fruit mixture becomes alcoholic.