Techniques in Home Winemaking is a resource for home winemakers looking for information or help on making great wines, including troubleshooting winemaking problems, and to share that knowledge with fellow winemakers. This resource is based and builds on my book by the same title and my newly released book titled Modern Home Winemaking, which has been updated to reflect the newest techniques and products for making outstanding wines.
Much of my experience is derived from extensive literature search as well as from my experience both as a home and a commercial winemaker.
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Daniel,
I am a new but avid winemaker, and I have used your Techniques in Home Winemaking book as my main source of information and authority on the winemaking process. I have a specific question regarding my first (although now totaling five since September of 2020) batch of wine. It is a plum wine, with an alcohol level of about 12-13%, pH of 3.54, and TA of 8. It has been bulk aging for about 4 months now and cleared about 3 months ago. I have kept the free SO2 levels at around 20-30 ppm, with occasional drops to the teens, at which point I re-introduced more SO2. The current level should be around 30 ppm. A week ago, I added lysozyme at a rate of about 250 mg/L for extra protection. The wine immediately became lighter and developed a haze. It slowly regained its previous color over the next week and the haze somewhat cleared, but then came back a bit when I racked the wine. It also created a good amount of foam at the racking, which I completed a week after the lysozyme was introduced. I am not sure why the foam appeared and initially thought that it was due to using Star-San, but the foam persisted for a few hours before slowly dying down. There are now a few large bubbles left at the top but no new bubbles are appearing. I added bentonite at a rate of 25 g/hl to try to clear the wine, and it seems to be clearing a bit (it has been one day). I also did a chromatography analysis, suspecting that perhaps it was undergoing MLF, and the lactic acid blotch came out just a tad yellow. Very very light, but I think that it is there. The malic was the big one, with a tad of citric and tartaric (I used a bit of acid blend before fermentation). My question is twofold – 1) I plan to back-sweeten the wine since it is a fruit wine but am hesitant to use potassium sorbate due to the potential malolactic activity. I do have a Buon Vino filter, so I was planning to filter it to 0.5 microns, perhaps even twice, before back-sweetening, and perhaps skip the potassium sorbate. Do you have any suggestions on how to back-sweeten it safely? and 2) Do you have any suggestions regarding the haze or foam issue? I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions in hopes that my first wine turns out alright.
Matt Barczyk
Hi Matt,
I don’t know why you chose to treat the wine with lysozyme if it had not gone through any kind of MLF. The lactic spot you see on your paper chromatography test is likely due to succinic acid, an acid produced during alcoholic fermentation — it is not a sign that MLF started. The acid appears in the same spot as lactic acid. (I will make this all much clearer in my new book.) So I don’t think there was any lactic acid bacterium activity, and therefore you should be safe with sorbate.
Since it seems you did not treat the wine for proteins, the lysozyme created a protein instability and made the wine hazy. Bentonite clears that up as you noticed, though I’m not sure if 25 g/hL is enough. So keep a close eye on the wine until you bottle.
If you have access to good water, I always recommend rinsing following a Star-San treatment, ALWAYS. It’s possible the foaming came from that. It’s possible it came from the lysozyme too depending on how you added it, but it’s unlikely.
I think you are safe to backsweeten with sugar. First add sulfite and sorbate . . . if you are sure the wine had no MLF.
The Buon Vino 0.5-micron pads are not absolute rated, i.e. they are nominal, which means that they won’t provide for what you think is sterile filtration. This means that if you don’t use sorbate and you filter once or twice with 0.5-micron Buon Vino pads, you will likely get refermentation if you backsweeten with sugar.
Good luck.
Daniel
Thank you very much for your reply. I used the lysozyme because I thought it would provide extra microbial protection protection, but it turned out to be a lesson learned! It has been clearing fairly well, but I will try another 25 g/hl if any haze remains. Thanks for all of the tips, and I look forward to your new book!
Lysozyme only works on certain kinds of bacteria, predominantly lactic acid bacteria. Treatment with another 25 g/hL of bentonite might be necessary.
Good luck
Daniel
Hi,
Can somebody suggest a wine recipe for 2 litres of
Tropicana red grape juice
Ingredients : Water + Concentrated red grape juice
Reconstituted : 100 % grape juice (No added flavors + No preservatives
1) Will drink as soon as ready no ageing required.
regards
Bharat Amarnani
9820563306
Hi,
You would process as any other red wine once the concentrate is reconstituted, i.e. add yeast to ferment, clarify and stabilize, optionally filter, bottle and drink.
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
I have several gallons of white wine made from grapes, such as chardonnay, riesling , sauv. blanc, and pinot gris, and the fermentation was completed Sept 15, 2020 and it is dry. Is it too early to cold stabilize it now since we still have some very cold days here in Alaska?
Thank you for your comments. Mike
Hi Mike,
You can stabilize whenever you want/can, just make sure that you don’t change the chemistry of the wines that may affect tartrate stability. That means clarifying/treating for proteins first.
Daniel
good morning Daniel,
Thank you for answering my question about cold stabilizing. I used bentonite in making of these white wines. Will the Bentonite clarify and treat for proteins? I ask this question because I have not done anything else to the wines other than KMS and racked once after fermentation and they have been in the cold now for 10 days and the temps have gone below freezing . How long must I wait before I rack after this cold treatment? The wines will be stored at 55F once they are taken out of the cold shed.
thanks Mike
Hi Mike,
Yes, bentonite will clarify wine and deal with proteins. One would normally perform bench trials to determine how much bentonite is needed to completely deal with proteins, but that’s a lesson for some other time. If you added at least 0.5 g/L, you should be ok.
If temperatures have been below freezing consistently, you’re good to get the wines back into the cellar. If temperatures fluctuate significantly between daytime and nighttime, you may need to cold stabilize longer.
Good luck
Daniel
I am new to wine making and have a simple question. After 4 days in my 6 gallon fermenter my bubbler is flat, I have stirred the batch to try to get it going but I’m concerned it’s not fermenting. Is there any harm in adding more yeast? I have a different yeast than was initially used and was thinking of adding it.
Are you measuring SG (specific gravity)? Before doing anything, you really need to determine the status of fermentation — that involves measuring SG. It’s unlikely that fermentation completed in 4 days, though not impossible if temperature was on the hot side.
I got a measurement of .990 but unfortunately I didn’t check it prior to adding yeast.
Ok. So you don’t know how much alcohol was produced but fermentation is definitely complete if you measured SG 0.990.
Thanks, my new bucket lid has a crack so that’s probably the culprit. . .and maybe a little too warm temperature. Definitely will keep better tabs on SG!
Ah! That will do it. You should also transfer the wine to a carboy when the SG reaches around 1.020-1.030 and finished off fermentation there. Unless you are making reds from grapes, you’ll typically want a cooler fermentation. Too fast a fermentation is not good.
Hi Daniel,
I have a question about 6 gallons of Pinot Noir that I am making, which I started in January of this year. I am a first-year winemaker, so as I continue to learn, I would retrospectively have done some things differently with this wine (less tinkering). The must for the wine was initially a pH of 3.6 and a TA of 5.6, and I applied Opti-Red to it at that time. I was going according to your Pinot Noir section in the Techniques in Home Winemaking book, so I wanted to bring the pH up to at least a 3.5. I added 16 grams of tartaric acid to the must, which brought the pH to 3.5, and then 8 grams, which combined to bring it to 3.4. However, after fermentation, and after I purchased a pH meter that measures more precisely, the pH unexpectedly went down to 3.32 and the TA was at 9.79. Needless to say, the wine was quite sour. I completed a malolactic fermentation, which brought the pH to 3.44 and TA to 8.2. I used potassium bicarbonate, which brought the pH to a 3.50 and the TA to around 7.3. I then cold stabilized the wine, which resulted in a pH of 3.46 and a TA of 6.0. The wine was significantly less sour, but still somewhat sour. I then added potassium bicarbonate again, which brought the pH to 3.54 and the TA to 5. I then fined with egg white and am currently oaking with oak cubes. Now the wine is about 7.5 months old, crystal clear, with a pH of 3.54 and TA of 5. The numbers are pretty good on paper, I think, but the wine is still somewhat sour. I compare it to a Zinfandel that I made (it is 10 months old with the same TA of 5.0 but a pH of 3.69) and it is significantly more sour. Do you have any recommendations about how to proceed? Should I just let it be for another year? (I plan to age it for 12 more months). Should I cold stabilize it again since I didn’t cold stabilize after the second potassium bicarbonate addition? (Which I assume would bring down the TA and raise the pH a bit). I would appreciate any suggestions. Also, I am looking forward to your new book. I pre-ordered it, but Amazon seems to be a bit late in getting it out. Thank you for your guidance!
Hi Matt,
Personally, I would not have made any adjustments with a pH of 3.6. I wish my grapes/juice would be that low; I most often receive fruit with pH > 4.0!
Keep in mind that alcoholic fermentation produces an acid called succinic acid, in the order of 1-2 g/L though I’ve seen as much as 3 g/L, and that alone can increase your TA significantly, which is what likely happened in your wine. You started with 5.6, added about 1 g/L, which puts you at 6.6, then you went to 9.79 g/L. I explain all this better in my new book, which should be out next week, likely a while longer before it hits the Amazon warehouses.
Your TA is (should be) good at 5.0 g/L, but you say it’s still too sour.
So what to do with your wine?
I would not do anymore carbonate-salt treatment, not at this stage, and not that much. Since you have introduced more potassium that can react with tartaric acid, yes, you can try another cold stabilization treatment, but only after trying a fining with egg white or gelatin to reduce tannins; that will reduce sourness. Tannins and acidity reinforce each other. You can add mannoproteins to smooth it all out when done, if required.
I suggest you age the wine for at least 6 months after the fining, taste and evaluate, and then cold stabilize if you need to reduce sourness further.
Good luck!
Daniel
Got it. After reviewing the various comments in your blog, I will definitely have a different approach with the acid additions this year. That is interesting info regarding the succinic acid – I thought that maybe I miscalculated the acid addition, but that would not be likely since I tripe-check everything, so this explains what happened. I actually did fine with egg white a couple of months ago (made it crystal clear and reduced the sourness a bit), so I will proceed with another cold stabilization. Do you think that the initial acid addition or the succinic acid can account for the sourness? Does added tartaric acid have a different effect on the taste of a wine compared to the natural tartaric acid within the grape?
Yeah! I remember long ago how I could not explain large TA jumps from the AF. Now I measure tartaric, malic, lactic and succinic acids, so I understand how these change during winemaking, and I’m seeing large jumps, larger than textbook jumps, in succinic acid. Succinic acid is quite a bit milder than tartaric acid, so it is likely the tartaric acid and the relatively large amount of succinic acid (in all likelihood) that are causing sourness. You may have also extracted more tannins than your palate likes; again, tannins reinforce acidity. Enological, food-grade tartaric acid is the same as the naturally occurring tartaric acid, so that does not make a difference.
Interesting. Thank you for the feedback and info!
You’re welcome. Good luck!
Hello Daniel,
I recently received your new book, and I have a question about the end of malolactic fermentation. You mention to wait 10 days to 2 weeks after the end of MLF before stabilizing with SO2. Back in late winter, I used VP41 on a Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, and Pinot Noir. I monitored the progress of the MLF with paper chromatography. At the end of the MLF, I began to smell a slight ascetic acid/vinegar-like odor, mostly on the Pinot Noir, but also slightly on the other two. Based on my research regarding VP41, it may have occurred because the malolactic bacteria was finished metabolizing the malic acid into lactic acid and began metabolizing citric acid into ascetic acid. I was a bit alarmed by the smell, and stabilized the wines with SO2 at that point without giving them any extra time. The odor disappeared from all of the wines soon after the stabilization, and they are doing well. Is my analysis correct? What is the proper procedure if this happens again?
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt,
I’m glad you received my new book.
I don’t know why you would have acetic acid from citric acid right after MLF unless you added citric acid to raise TA. The amount of naturally occurring citric acid typically found in grapes will not cause MLF to convert it to sufficiently high amounts of acetic acid, and so I am wondering if there was some acetic acid bacterial infection possibly due to excessive oxygen exposure. You will need to do a root-cause analysis to see what caused the problem.
But you did the right thing by sulfiting as soon as you detected acetic acid. You will need to monitor FSO2 and make necessary adjustments.
The wait period I mention before sulfiting after the AF/MLF — and I discuss this in my book — is to allow acetaldehyde to metabolize. Otherwise, you sulfite additions become quickly bound, making SO2 additions ineffective, and then, you have to add more.
Again, a root-cause analysis is important here. You may find that your process is perfect, but check your equipment too, as meticulously as possible. It can be as silly (and hard to find) as a hairline crack in a fermentation lock. It happened twice to me.
Good luck.
Daniel
Got it. I didn’t add any citric acid, so perhaps it was a bacterial infection. I just found it peculiar since it happened right after each wine was done with MLF (some a few weeks apart, and I had around 7 different containers). I will keep any eye out for equipment issues though. Thank you for your input.
As you know, the wine is most vulnerable and at higher risk when waiting for the MLF to complete as there is no protection from sulfite, and so, you have to be extra vigilant and maintain very strict sanitary conditions.
Hi Daniel
My name is Elli i live in Jerusalem Israel, as a home winemaker i was looking for a good book, i must tell you that your book ‘Techniques in Home Winemaking’ is the best book i have ever read, and it’s still my hand book during vintage all the year round,
I just saw you have published a new book ‘Modern Home Winemaking’, I want to ask you if you think i should read this book after i had read the previous one? is any thing new or more up to date in this new book?
Please let me know!
Thank you!
Hi Elli,
Thank you for your message and your kind words.
My new book, MODERN HOME WINEMAKING, is an updated reference. It has a lot of new and updated material. I would say you can go straight to this new book and use my other book, TECHNIQUES IN HOME WINEMAKING, for topics not covered in the new book. These topics include making sparkling, and barrel use, care and maintenance.
You will find more details about the differences and overlaps on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ModernHomeWinemaking.
Cheers,
Daniel
Thank you Daniel!, i did order the book from bookdepository.com (they deliver to Israel with no cost) i hope I’m going to get it really soon, my patience is not the best…
Hahahaha! Great! Happy reading . . . when you get the book. Thank you!
Daniel
Hi Daniel! Hope the wine making is going well so far this season! Was curious if/when you may be scheduling classes again. Am very interested in attending one of your events to continue learning and improving my wine making 🙂
Hi Kevin,
Yes, I am planning to restart my seminars and in a new format in 2022. I will announce via my website and my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ModernHomeWinemaking.
Cheers!
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
Do you think that sealing bottles with wax cold be a topic of interest to your readers?
We are a British wax manufacturer and we have put together a quick “how to” guide, here: https://www.britishwax.com/how-to-seal-bottles-with-wax/
I hope this is useful and not inappropriate.
Cheers,
Pietro
Hi Pietro,
It is useful, but not here on my blog. You can join and post the link in my Home Winemaking Facebook group where you will actually have a much larger audience, close to 13,000 members. I have read the article and it would be appropriate to share in that forum.
Cheers,
Daniel
Good AM Dan. What is the usual dosage and protocol for Albumex (Calcium Bentonite) for counter-fining (prefining) Chardonnay preferment? It appears that the calcium-based Bentonite usually needs about 8-9 times the amount as the sodium Bentonite? I usually do Bentonite fining post-ferment but have concerns about mildew in my Chardonnay this year and plan to counter-fine after I press the Chardonnay, overnight settle, and rack off the gross, then will rack the juice off the Albumex before fermenting.
Thanks
Hi Steve,
Go with the lowest dosage of 1 g/L, then test for proteins at the stabilization stage and treat again if needed (you’ll likely need to). Bentonite won’t help with mildew. If you have spoiled berries or bunches, you should remove those before crushing/pressing.
BTW, my name is Daniel, not Dan.
Cheers,
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
I noticed that you used Plaato airlock to monitor fermentation of one of the frozen pails you wrote about. Given that this device reportedly measures CO2 release do you think it could be used to monitor MLF?
Hi Ken,
I ended up not using a Plaato. I had one that I wanted to try but it broke shortly after installation and so I never did use it. I assume your question refers to a sequential MLF as the Plaato would likely not detect the small extra amount of CO2 during a concurrent AF and MLF. In a sequential MLF, the amount of CO2 from outgassing is probably greater than CO2 from MLF, so I don’t think it would be useful to track MLF.
Daniel
Hi
I’m looking for a quick-and-easy way to make a dry sparkling wine.I have a book which gives a recipe for adding sugar to a finished dry white and bottling. It does not say to add yeast. Does this make sense?
You need to add yeast to enable that second, bottle fermentation. The recipe might be expecting residual yeast to start the sugar you add, but that will fail.
It’s all relative, but there isn’t a quick-and-easy way of making sparkling wine using the bottle fermentation method. I give specific instructions and details on how to make sparkling wine in my book Techniques in Home Winemaking.
Hi Daniel,
I’m currently in the process of making Sauvignon Blanc from California grapes. The clusters were basket pressed in lieu of crushing/destemming/pressing The juice yield was approximately 11 gallons. I usually let the pulp/solids settle out for a day or two in the fridge, then rack & ferment. However, this time, due to the amount of pulp/solids, I left the carboys in the fridge (34⁰F) for 6 days, which allowed the sediment to become more compact (50% more). What I also noticed was that both carboys had accumulated quite a bit of bitartrate crystals. Didn’t give it much thought at the time. I racked, made a minor Ph adjustment and cold fermented (50 – 60⁰F) over the next 2 months. After racking off the lees, both carboys went back in the fridge (34⁰F) for a couple weeks for cold stabilization. When I removed them from the fridge I immediately racked again, only to find that there was no noticeable traces of bitratrate crystals present. Then I checked my notes I recorded back in October, and found what I mentioned above regarding the crystals noticed after cold settling the juice. This never happened to me in the past. I searched in your books and did some internet searches but couldn’t find any info on cold stabilizing that mentioned anything about possibly cold stabilizing prior to fermenting. Is this possible?
Hi Frank,
Yes, it is possible. Potassium bitartrate solubility in juice at around freezing temperature is about the same as in wine at cellar temperature. Cold stabilization is not performed at the juice stage because you would lose too much time and energy; you want to start fermentation as quickly as possible, at least from a commercial winery perspective. But you also don’t want to mess with acidity and pH and throw off balance that early in the process. You may find yourself with too little acidity and having to add back tartaric acid at the juice stage, and possibly make large adjustments if left completely at the wine stage.
Regards,
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for the quick response. My main goal was to settle as much sediment as possible & maximize the juice yield. It worked, but I never realized that cold stabilization would kick in. I should have, but I didn’t record the Ph prior to cold settle, but afterwards the Ph was 3.31. TA was a bit low at .44g/L. Prior to fermentation I adjusted the Ph to 3.21. Couple months later, after cold ferment, the Ph is now 3.31 and the TA is .6g/L. While the TA may seem a bit below the “recommended range” of .7 – .9g/L for Sauv Blanc, the taste is amazing. For curiosity sake (and the fact that I’m retired with lots of time on my hands), I may do a few bench tests to see if a little rise in TA will improve things.
Thanks for your insight. I’ll be a bit more cautious in the future when cold settling my whites.
Cold settling should be done at temperatures in the mid-40s for 24-48 hours. If taste is amazing, don’t mess with the wine just to hit some target number. Always go by taste, and only use the numbers to guide you. You’ll still have to cold stabilize the wine to make sure it doesn’t drop tartrates once bottled. You can easily perform a freezer test to see if cold stabilization is required. Good luck!
P.S. TA numbers are expressed as g/L or % where 1 g/L = 0.1%. So the numbers you state are really %.
Hello Daniel. After 4 years of sitting on the winemaking sidelines I started again with a couple of whites.
I have a question about degassing white wine. The wine has completed alcoholic fermentation and will not be undergoing MLF. I started to degas it yesterday. I applied a vacuum to the carboy by inserting a siphon hose into a 6.5 rubber bung at the carboy and one of those manual vacuvin pumps at the other end. It does work, lots of foam and bubbles. After an hour of pumping and waiting there is still C02 in the wine.
My question is, do I continue this process until there are no more bubbles or do we just expect to have some residual C02 in the white wine? I believe I removed a lot of the C02.
Thanks
Hi Vince,
Welcome back to the hobby!
I always recommend to age wine and let it degas naturally. This will happen as you rack and process the wine, for example, when/if you filter. But if you are really intent on degassing because you want to bottle the wine as soon as possible, you can use a similar technique as yours but with an electric vacuum pump or compressor with an appropriate attachment; otherwise, you’ll be pumping until you turn blue. There are other efficient options too, for example, the stirring rod with flip paddles that you attach to a drill, Headspace Eliminator (from the make of the All in One Wine Pump), or the Gas Getter. I describe all these in my books, the most recent one too I just published just for beginners. You can search my website or Amazon.
You’ll want to degas until there is no prickly sensation on the tongue when you taste the wine. You still want to keep some CO2 in the wine for freshness. And you have to be careful not to overdo it, depending on the technique you use, as you don’t want to start introducing a lot of oxygen into the wine.
Cheers!
Daniel
Thanks Daniel.
I do have a wine whip which attaches to a drill and spins the wine. I’m just concerned about oxidation with the whites. Also does the degassing remove S02?
Now you understand why I’m recommending letting the wine degas on its own, naturally. The whip-and-drill method is fine as long as it’s not excessive, but that’s the problem, amateurs don’t know when to stop. There are pros and cons with every method. You are dissipating whatever is volatile, depending on several factors, primarily temperature, and how volatile each substance is. So you are removing SO2, yes, and some aromas too. Commercial wines don’t degas. You know why now.
Daniel
Thanks again Daniel. Although it would be nice to have some white wine available early, think I’ll leave it to degas itself naturally.
Have a great weekend.
You can’t rush wine. Make more, hold on to it, let it age, and in the meantime, buy some to drink.