Grape Juice will naturally ferment into wine. Also before we start I would like to say it is not illegal to make your own wine. As long as a person does not start producing mass quantities for everyone without a license that would get you in trouble. But you can make several gallons for yourself before anything is ever said. Now that is just making several gallons at one time. You can actually store as much as you like in your cellar there is no law against that. It’s when you try and sell it is when the legal problems begin or questions. Now that we have that out of the way lets dive in and get started.

It is said that the science around creating a great Wine through the years has become a passion for a lot of people and a way of life for others. Most people believe that you can only get an excellent wine from a winery. That is simply not true. There are thousands of people that find Wine making a rewarding hobby and have had excellent results in producing their own wine.

Another good point about making your own wine is that once you get the concept of making wine down you can experiment with other ingredients in your wine making tactics. This will set you apart from others because now you have created something that is unique to you and you’re the only one in the world that has that type of wine that you have made. Whereas a winery only focuses on the commercial product and only produces the wine they make from grapes. Some wineries don’t even grow their own grapes they buy the grapes from grape farmers. Don’t get me wrong there is really nothing wrong with that except they really don’t know what pesticides are used and so forth. Some wineries have specific guidelines for the farmer and will only accept that grade of guidelines for their grapes. This is good but it is also expensive because now natural pesticides and other precautions have to be met that cost even more money which in turn they charge you the consumer. Also not all wineries are like this. There are still winery’s out there that grow their Grapes. But how the economy has gotten lately it is cheaper and much less time consuming to just buy the grapes from the grape farmers.

When you grow your own grapes and choose your own ingredients to make your own wine this will often result in the most exotic flavors one has ever tasted. And being unique yourself you will have a unique taste that you may like or dislike until you fine tune it to your taste. It is a good idea to keep a log on what ingredients you choose and how much you use. That way you can track yourself and learn what works and what does not. And you will eventually learn from that and have a successful wine that you can be proud of. Start off by making small batches until you find the right ingredients that are right for you. This way you have less waste.

Now you could grow your own wine grapes, but most people don’t know that it takes two years from the time you plant a grapevine to the time you have a decent harvest. That would be good for a future project and you could see the process from the beginning all the way through and that is a very rewarding feeling. Or you can go to your local city’s fresh produce market or you can turn to the internet for your wine grapes. This is entirely up to you. It does not have to be complicated it just has to be done to get started.

The first step is to simply smash the fruit and create an extraction. Depending on the grape, wine can be made from the juice without adding liquid or sugar. Although it is common practice to add additional sugar and fruit juices as well as water will need to be added to get the desired fruit flavor before fermentation. Let your recipe be your guide. During next steps yeast will be added to the mixture to ferment the juice.

The second step is the main fermentation. In this second step yeast that is added to the juice consumes the sugars. As the yeast eats the sugar it creates alcohol as a byproduct. You can control the overall flavor texture and sweetness of the wine that is being made at this point.

The fermentation has two basic steps. In the first step the yeast builds up. This means that the juice is exposed to air during this primary fermentation. During this step, the juice along with the pulp is fermented in a fermentation bucket. Now the amount of time that it spends in the fermentation bucket depends on your specific recipe and what type of wine you want. There are plenty of recipes on the internet to choose from just find a recipe that suites you and tweak it a bit to meet your taste. Now once you have decided what recipe you are going to use and how long it is going to take in the primary fermentation. Now it will need to be filtered to get the pulp and solids out and transferred into a closed container for the secondary fermentation. After filtering out all of the pulp and any other debris the wine is poured into a closed container designed to keep air out. Most people use a five gallon bucket that is made for the wine making process. There will be a list to follow this article for specific tools to get the job done. Again follow the recipe you choose in order to get the right amount of sugars and water and yeast needed to get the results you want.

Now that the wine is in the closed container, the yeast will begin to eat and the secondary fermentation will begin and this is where most of the alcohol will be made. Bubbles of carbon dioxide will bubble off of the liquid while the sugars turned the yeast into alcohol. This second fermentation is slower than the first fermentation step, but this depends on the recipe you choose to follow. The recipe for the type of wine you are making should be your guide.

As the secondary fermentation continues, you will see that the wine will begin to get a little lighter in color and a small layer of sediment will fall to the bottom. This is normal. At this point the wine is getting stronger in its alcohol content. Be careful at this point unless you choose to have a stronger alcohol content.

After this step is finished you simply strain the wine again being careful not to get any of the bottom sediment that is lying on the bottom of the bucket mixed back up with your good wine again. If so you have to let it stand for a while until it separates again. Now at this point you will want a container to age your favorite spirit in and a One liter or two liter oak barrel would be great for this application depending on the amount you have made. There are bigger sizes if needed. If you don’t have a Oak barrel available for aging, you can use a bottle as well. But one of the secrets for your more expensive wines are using Charred oak barrels. They are better than bottles because it actually picks up a better flavor while aging in a wine barrel and can be stored for up to but not to exceed three years in a charred oak barrel.

Once you have bottled or barreled your wine, it must be aged. New wine does not taste that good at first but can become mellower with age. To age your wine, store it in a cool dry place. Try and keep a constant temperature of around 54 degrees F. Let it age for at least a few months. Of course you can sample it every once in a while to see how it taste to hone in on your personal preference. There are many Home Brewing Kits available but you can make wine simple by using basic tools found at any hardware store. The tools you will need are one five gallon bucket with a lid that fits securely on top. One spoon for stirring, One pot that is big enough to boil the ingredients, one fine mesh strainer. One fermenting vessel with the rubber bung with airlock. One funnel. One oak barrel either a one liter size or a two liter size or bigger your choice. One hydrometer to keep an eye on the temp and humidity.

You can also find this equipment at any wine making specialty shop or from a online supplier but to save yourself some money most of this stuff can be found at either your hardware store or your local wally world. My reason for this article was to share and show how easy making wine is and to enjoy something that you have created. Like everything else in life the more you practice the better you get.

Misty Clover has always had a passion for Oak Barrels and fine wine and spirits along with her passion for growing her own grapes to make her own wine. She currently helps run a web site, Well they sell Oak Barrels all kinds of Oakbarrels Wine Oak barrels, Charred Oakbarrels. Different sizes and more!

Misty Clover has always had a passion for Oak Barrels and fine wine and spirits along with her passion for growing her own grapes to make her own wine. She currently helps run a web site, Well they sell oak barrels http://www.Oakbarrelspro.com all kinds of Oak barrels, Wine Oak barrels

Author Bio: Misty Clover has always had a passion for Oak Barrels and fine wine and spirits along with her passion for growing her own grapes to make her own wine. She currently helps run a web site, Well they sell Oak Barrels all kinds of Oakbarrels Wine Oak barrels, Charred Oakbarrels. Different sizes and more!

Category: Food and Drinks
Keywords: Oak barrels, Charred oak barrels, Wine barrel