making wild wines and meads 1999 - vargas & gulling

[...]... you won’t have any cork popping, and then use a mallet and several thicknesses of folded cardboard to pound the corks completely into the bottles For large quantities, however, this process is tedious A bottle corker is a device that looks a little like an old-fashioned pump, with a handle and a plunger that forces the cork into a bottle Wine Filter Wild wines and meads are sometimes quite difficult... of perfectly acceptable jug wines When you bottle and cork your own wild wines, the designation becomes academic If you entertain frequently and would normally consume more than one 25-ounce bottle of wine in the course of an evening, by all means bottle your wine in jugs Just remember that wines are more prone to oxidize, or turn, once they have been opened, so bottle your wines in quantities that are... bottle holds is fairly standard Most winemakers — and wine buyers, for that matter — assume that the standard bottle, holding approximately 25 ounces (750 ml), is what is meant by a “bottle” of wine True, some wines are sold in half-gallon (1.9 L) containers, but these wines are usually called jug wines Bottle shapes Left to right: bottles of Rhine wine, claret, Burgundy, and champagne QA CAN YOU USE... clear Finally, many winemakers simply chop or crush the fruit and pour boiling water over it to remove the juice and the flavor This also kills most wild yeasts and bacteria Many of our wild wine recipes suggest this method, but you can use whatever suits your situation Making the Must Making the must is the basic process of combining the sugar and flavoring ingredients with water in the fermenting bin... the fun of making your own wines Home winemakers were once fairly limited in the kinds of yeasts they could buy Today there are dozens A few of the better ones and some suggestions for their use are listed in the following table MAKING THE MOST OF YEASTS Yeast Nutrient Yeasts need certain organic compounds to grow and reproduce efficiently, just as do all plants and animals Most of the time, wines made... which ingredients fall into the low-, medium-, and high-acid levels on the chart above ACID LEVELS Tannin Another ingredient that you will find listed in some of our recipes is tannin, or grape tannin A component of the skins and stems of some fruits — especially red fruits like grapes, plums, apples, and elderberries — tannins do a number of nice things to your wines First of all, they give wine a... tannins, available from winemaking suppliers THE WINEMAKING PROCESS The chart below outlines the seven basic steps in the winemaking process It also estimates the time it will take you to complete each step For a more detailed description of the winemaking process, see pages 20 to 37 THE WINEMAKING PROCESS Step One: Sterilize All Winemaking Equipment About the only mistakes in winemaking that cannot be remedied... Ingredients, Prepare Must Winemaking, even in small quantities, is ingredient intensive You’ll find the process less expensive if you keep stable ingredients such as pectic enzyme or yeast nutrient on hand, and then make wine when the fruit or honey is in season — berry wines in late spring or early summer, for example, and apple wines in the fall Washing the Fruit Old-time winemakers who made wine... times and conditions have changed drastically since the early wine-makers grew grapes without sprays and in air that was free of environmental pollutants Now, yeasts are added to the must, and the only reason for not thoroughly washing fruits is gone We suggest that you place in a colander whatever fruit you are going to use, and run cool water over it for several minutes before you begin winemaking... whether dyes will affect the quality or flavors of wines White and clear plastic containers are easy to clean and sterilize, and psychologically, they seem to feel cleaner Measuring Cups, Measuring Spoons, Stirrers, Funnels, and Strainers These may be found in most kitchens If you are buying them especially for winemaking, make sure that they are large and made of glass, metal, or plastic so they can . class="bi x0 y1 w0 h1" alt="" MAKING Wild WINES & MEADS MAKING Wild WINES & MEADS 125 Unusual Recipes Using Herbs, Fruits, Flowers & More PATTIE VARGAS & RICH GULLING The mission of. WINEMAKING MADE EASY 2 MAKING WINES FROM FRUITS 3 MAKING WINES FROM FLOWERS, NUTS & VEGETABLES 4 MAKING MEADS, MELOMELS & METHEGLINS 5 MAKING WINES FROM HERBS 6 MAKING WINE COOLERS &. index. ISBN 97 8-1 -5 801 7-1 8 2-3 (paperback: alk. paper) 1. Wine and winemaking Amateurs’ manuals. 2. Mead Amateurs’ manuals. I. Gulling, Rich, 1961– . II. Title. III. Title: Making wild wines and meads.