Welcome to the E. C. Kraus Official Wine Making Blog. An informal place where you and other home winemakers can find relevant and interesting information about making wine at home.

Posts are made to this wine making blog on a regular basis. So, add us to your "Favorites", come back often, and keep up-to-date with what's going on in the home wine making community.

Best Wishes,
E. C. Kraus

Niagara Mist already has a sensational selection of winemaking concentrates for the home winemaker. Now they've added two new great flavors: BluePom White Merlot and Sangria Zinfandel Blush.

BLUEPOM WHITE MERLOT
This hot, exotic new blush wine combines the rich aromas and berry flavors of the Merlot grape with the tangy Blueberry and tart Pomegranate. The resulting wine is an eruption of sweet and juicy flavors that leaves you wanting more.

SANGRIA ZINFANDEL BLUSH
This sweet and easy drinking summertime wine is a medley of fruits blended with the jammy flavors of the Zinfandel grape. Your nose will be enlightened by scents of orange, lemon and lime that marries with the flavors of berries and cherries on the tongue. A sensational sipper with well balanced sweet, fruity flavors! A great brunch beverage!

Niagara Mist wine kits make uniquely refreshing wine beverages with a bold splash of fruit. Niagara Mist combines famous wine varietals with sassy fruit flavors. Delightfully light and refreshing combinations that are perfect for any occasion. Ready in as little as 28 days.

Getting wine bottles ready to use is a task that can make some beginning winemakers nervous. "Am I preparing my bottles correctly?", they might think to themselves, "And, if I'm not, what is it going to do to my wine?". These are legitimate concerns, but they are also concerns that can be laid to rest fairly easily.

There are two overlying rules that must be appreciated when preparing wine bottles for their task: bottles must be clean; and bottles

must be sanitized. Follow both rules and you will have no problems; ignore them and you'll be rolling the dice with the potential spoilage of your wine.

THE BOTTLES MUST BE CLEAN
What this means is the bottles must be made clear of any visually detected dirt, grime, etc. In the case of new wine bottles this is taken care of for you. Except for a little dust that may have collected on the outside of the bottles, they are clean and ready to go.

If you are reusing wine bottles, then they must be cleaned with dish soap. To use an example, you want to clean them in the traditional way you would think of cleaning your dishes. Use a bottle brush to get inside the bottle and scrub in the bottom corners of the bottle with soapy water. Use a wash rag on the outside of each bottle.

BOTTLES MUST BE SANITIZED
When you sanitize a bottle what you are doing is eliminating almost all of the germs that are on and in the bottle.

If the bottles have been previously used, we recommend using a strong cleaner such as CleanPro SDH to sanitize the bottles. CleanPro SDH is a bleach that rinses away very easily with cold water. Just soak the bottles for 20 minutes in a solution of water and CleanPro SDH as directed on the label and then rinse.

If the bottles are new then using CleanPro SDH is not necessary. In this situation you will want to use Sodium Bisulfite. Just mix up a solution with water as directed on the label and then pour one or two inches worth into each bottle and let sit for 20 minutes. The gas from the solution will do the sterilizing. After 20 minutes just drain the bottle--no need to rinse--and it is ready for the wine.

USEFUL ITEMS
A couple of items we offer that helps make sanitizing your wine bottles easier is our Bottle Sulphatizer and Bottle Tree. The Bottle Sulphatizer is used to spray Sodium Bisulfite solution into each bottle and the Bottle Tree is used to easily drain the bottles.

Strawberries make an absolutely wonderful wine. The aroma is pleasant and distinct; the flavor is very fruity and elegant, and unlike some fruit wines, it tastes delicious sweet or dry.

Here's a wine recipe that is simple enough that even a first-time winemaker can make it. The recipe is for making 5 gallons of strawberry wine. To

get started prepare the strawberries by cutting off the stems and any bad spots and then coarsely chop them up into quarters.

STRAWBERRY WINE
18 lbs. Fresh Strawberries
10 lbs. Cane Sugar
Water as need to make 5 gallons
2 Tablespoons Yeast Nutrient
1 Teaspoon Pectic Enzyme
5 Teaspoons Acid Blend
1 Teaspoon Wine Tannin
5 Campden Tablets (Add 24 hours before the yeast)
1 Packet Wine Yeast (Lalvin ICV-D47 recommended)
5 Campden Tablets (Add right before bottling)

If you've never made wine before . . .
You can find specific procedures for making wine on our website. Take a look at the article, "7 Easy Steps To Making Wine". It explains all the steps you need to make the wine--from beginning to end.

If you do not have any equipment or ingredients of any kind, then a simple solution would be to get our starter kit for making wine from fresh fruits. We call it the "Your Fruit" Necessities Box. Just as the name implies, it has all the necessities for making wine with "your fruit", including each of the ingredients listed in the strawberry wine recipe above.

This is an area where some home winemakers can get into trouble. The winemaker assumes that their wine is done fermenting just by looking at the liquid. Then they go on to bottle their wine only to have it ferment in the bottles some time later on. Not good.

When there are no visible signs of fermentation activity you need to be careful about jumping to the conclusion that your wine has completed its fermentation. If you can not see any signs of life in your fermenter, all you

When it comes to grapes and their various wine styles there are all kinds of funny words, with awkward spellings, originating from languages other than just plain English. I'll be the first to tell you that I--still to this day--can not remember how to say many of them.

Talking with a wine-snob is where these words can get very frightful. A wine-snob can throw these words at you like flying daggers. They enjoy watching you squirm as you are huddled into submission, not by their knowledge of wine necessarily, but by their ability to say words. The intimidation factor can become quite intense.

Well, now you can "sound like" you know what you're talking about too. Below is a list of the more common wines you will run across along with their proper pronunciations. Learn how to say these words and not only will you be the impressive winemaker in the family, but you'll be the wine expert too.

Fruit season is quickly coming upon us. You may want to consider stocking up on some basic winemaking ingredients. By having just 7 essential ingredients on hand you will be prepared to make any of the wines that are listed on our wine recipe page. Everything from raspberry to rhubarb. So stock up now and be ready for when a fruit windfall comes your way.

Dear Mr. Kraus,

Did not receive any instructions with Bottle Sealing Wax . What is the best method to melt the wax granules. Have never used wax before. Do you sell some type of melter. If you would please let me know how to use.

Thanks,
Sammy L.
_____

Dear Sammy,

We recommend melting the wax in a soup can or something similar. Sit the can in a pan of water to make sort of a double boiler on the stove. Once the wax is melted it will be in that container permanently, so don't actually put the wax in any good pots or pans themselves.

Many people are under the impression that homemade wines do not keep as long as commercially made wines. This is simply not true.

There is no difference between how long your homemade wine will last and how long a winery's wine will last. The process the home winemaker goes through is virtually the same as a winery's, just on a smaller scale.

The important thing to understand is that sanitation must be given its due respect. Not only do you need to clean the fermenting vessels and other winemaking equipment with dish soap, they need to be sanitized as well. For this purpose we recommend using CleanPro SDH.

Wine bottles should be sanitized with a sodium bisulfite. Used wine bottles are only recommended if they have been scrubbed both inside and out and then sanitized.

Campden tablets or potassium bisulfite should be added to the wine right before bottling to keep any missed microbes from spoiling the wine while in the bottle.

If you make a concerted effort to follow these simple and basic sanitation procedures your wine will keep for years.

Hello:

Maybe you can answer a question that I have. When using yeast, do you need to place it in hot water as the directions say on the package, or can you just sprinkle it on the must?

I noticed that some recipes call for it to be placed in hot water first, and other recipes call for the yeast to be sprinkled on the top of the must. What is the best thing to do?

Thank you for your time,
Leonard
_____

Dear Leonard,

You are correct. Most all ingredient kit directions and wine recipes will say to sprinkle the dried yeast directly on top of the must, but if you look at the packet of dried yeast itself, it will have directions saying to put the yeast in warm water first. This is a process called rehydration. What rehydration does is bring the dried yeast back to an active state before it is put into the must.

If you pitch the dried yeast directly into the must it will rehydrate and eventually start fermenting anyway. So why do the yeast producers recommend this extra step before pitching?

When a yeast cell rehydrates, its cell wall is swelling and gaining back the elasticity, its ability to flex. This is a process that is prone to leaving a few cells damaged. A percentage of them don't make it. By using plain water at an optimal temperature you are reducing the number of cells that are being damaged.

The reason ingredient kit producers, wine recipes, and even the directions on our website do not mention rehydrating before pitching is that many home winemakers, particularly beginners, do not perform the rehydration correctly. This can cause more problems than if they had just pitched the dried yeast directly into the must.

The typical directions on a packet of dried yeast goes something like this:

"Dissolve the dried yeast in 2 ozs. of warm water (100 - 105 F). Let stand for 15 min. without stirring. After 15 min. stir and add to must."

This is perfectly fine as long as you follow the directions.

It is important to note here that at 100 - 105 F a small portion of the yeast are dying every minute, and as the temperature goes up an even larger number begin to die. What this means is if a thermometer is not used to make sure that the water stays below 105 F, or the yeast cells are allowed to stay in the water for longer than 15 minutes, most or all of the yeast can potentially be killed.

Regardless of what you do, sprinkle on the must or rehydrate, some of the yeast cells will die before going into action. That's just the way it is, but that's okay. The number of yeast cells that are provided in each packet allow for this attrition. Just remember that if you do decide to rehydrate your yeast first, please be sure to follow the directions closely with regards to temperature and time. Otherwise, just sprinkle the yeast on the must.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

This is a question we get at least once a week. People are desperately seeking out how to make their own wines without sulfites. Usually it is because they are suffering from headaches that they are attributing to sulfite allergies.

The major foil to making wines with no sulfites is that sulfites are a natural byproduct of fermentation. In winemaking we talk about sulfites in terms of ppm (parts per million). Fermentations will naturally produce sulfites somewhere on the order of 10 to 30 ppm.

This amount may seem small, but compare it against the fact that the average bottle of wine on the market only contains about 65 ppm or the fact that any wine in the U.S. that has more than 10 ppm must have on its label, "Contains Sulfites." Then it starts to become clear that the amount of sulfites made by a fermentation is, in fact, significant to the wine's total content.

So the answer is, "no." You can not make sulfite-free wine. Now lets move on to the next logical question...


Can I make wines without adding sulfites?

The answer is, "Certainly you can, but do you really want too?" Sulfites are added to a wine for a reason, to keep it from spoiling. If the level of sulfites are too low, then it is susceptible to being overcome with bacteria, mold and other detrimental spoilers.

Because wine has alcohol, the amount of sulfites needed to keep it from spoiling is very small as compared to amounts we find in the foods we eat everyday. Fruit juices, for example, can have on the order of 200 to 300 ppm; dehydrated fruits, conservatively around 1,000 ppm; and salsa around 1,000 to 2,000 ppm. These are much higher amounts than the 45 to 85 ppm you will typically find in wine.

So it doesn't make sense to short your wine the miniscule amount of sulfites it needs to help guarantee its safety from spoilage, and it doesn't make sense to blame such small amounts of sulfites on headaches when so much of it is in the foods we consume everyday. That brings us to the next logical question...


So Why Do Some Get Headaches From Wine?

There are a certain number of people who do get headaches from drinking wine, but as explained above, blaming this on sulfites just doesn't add up.

There are a couple of other reasons why this doesn't add up too. One is sulfite allergies are much more rare than there are people having headaches from wine. According to the medical industry, there is somewhere between 500 thousand to 1 million sulfite allergy sufferers in the U.S. This equals only about 1 in 300 to 600 people.

Secondly, a headache is not the primary symptom of a sulfite allergy. Asthma or having trouble breathing is the very first problem to show up.

A great article on this subject is titled, "Red Wine Headaches." It covers in fair detail the real possible reasons why someone might get a headache from drinking wine.


What Can I do?

If you are still not convinced that sulfites are completely innocent of all charges, then you might want to consider taking a sulfite level reading at bottling time and add potassium bisulfite accordingly. Shoot for a total level of 55 ppm for reds and 70 ppm for whites just before bottling.

You can take readings with a Titrettor Hand Tool and Titret Test Vials. By taking control of your sulfite levels in this way, you can be certain that no more sulfites are in the wine than absolutely necessary to keep it fresh.

Hello Kraus,

I was looking at the County Fair Fruit Bases, and am confused at how many cans it takes to make a batch. It says it takes one to four cans. How do I know how many cans I need to make a good batch?

Thanks Wendy
_____

Dear Wendy,

The first thing I would like to point out is that the number of cans you use to make a 5 gallon batch is not a question of quality, or good or bad. It's a question of style. A real question to ask yourself here is, "what style do you like"?

As you increase the number of cans in a batch what you are really doing is increasing the body and intensity of the resulting wine. Body is the thickness or the mouth-feel of the wine. To put an analogy to it, it's the difference between skim milk and whole milk.

If you use just one can of County Fair to a 5 gallon batch, you will be making a light-bodied wine. It will have a crisp, refreshing character, a nice quenching wine to drink during the warm summer months. At the other end of the scale is the four can batch. This wine will be very full and aggressive. A rich, hardy wine with lingering flavors that will be able to stand up to any meal.

There are a couple of other issues that should be noted here as well:

-- Four cans will not make a wine that is twice as strong as two cans. Because of the way us humans perceive things, there is a factor of diminishing returns. As you go up in the number of cans you are only marginally increasing the fullness of the wine, so it would be incorrect to expect that a wine made with four cans would be four times as strong as a wine made with one can.

-- The more cans you use, the more aging the wine will require. Typically, a one can wine will completely age out in 3 to 6 months. A four can wine may take up to 2 years to reach its best. That is not to say that it won't be enjoyable before this time, that's just how long it may take before it stops mellowing.

Best Wishes
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hello!

Does filtering wines Help remove that harsh taste I keep getting with my strawberry wine. I have never had a filterer and was thinking of getting one. Now I only do less then 500 bottles of wine a year. for gifts and for family. I soon will think bigger. a filter will speed things up for bottling and what will negs of filtering be.

Richard
_____

Dear Richard,

We usually suggest letting the wine age to reduce any harshness. With strawberry wine, 6 to 9 months is usually optimal, but most of the improvement should be realized within the first couple of months.

If your wine is harsh even after 9 months, then it may be that you are processing the strawberries too finely or you are leaving the strawberries in the must too long. Doing either of these things will allow too much tannin or "zest" from the fruit to get into the wine. It is this zest that is causing the harsh flavor you are experiencing.

Just coarsely chop up strawberries into quarters. Thin slices is over-kill and using a food processor of any kind is way, way too much processing.

The amount of time you leave the strawberry pulp in the wine can vary some. We recommend leaving the pulp in for the first 4 to 6 days. Anything longer than this can cause a harsh flavor in the wine.

Filtration does reduce harshness to some degree, but before you do that, you might want to try treating the wine with bentonite. This product will reduce harshness as well. It does so by collecting the excessive tannins in the wine and dragging them to the bottom of the fermenter.

If you want to reduce the harshness as much possible, then you would treat the wine with bentonite and then filter the wine a week or so later. For this purpose we would recommend using the MiniJet Wine Filter.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Dear EC Kraus,

Is it ok to make wine from grapes you get at the store? We are not able to find any other kind around here.

Thanks
Marco
_____

Dear Marco,

The grapes you'll find at your local grocer will make wine even though they were not cultivated for that purpose, however there are some things you should know...

Grapes produced for eating such as Thompson, Ruby, and others are typically harvested at a lower sugar concentration than wine grapes, so some sugar will need to be added to the must before fermenting, otherwise your ending alcohol level will be too low. This is unlike making wine from wine grapes where all the sugars needed come from the grapes themselves.

Table grapes will ferment just fine; the wine will clear up beautifully just as any wine. The only real question is flavor. Once the sugars are fermented away, what resulting flavors are left exposed in the wine?

Most eating grapes are not grown because of their flavor. They are grown because of the tons-per-acre their vines produce and their ability to stay fresh while in transit across the country to local markets. Flavor is last on the list of importance.

The other issue is price. I'm sure it varies in different parts of the country, but around here table grapes run about a $1.50 per pound. Not a bargain when considering their quality and the fact that you need about 80 pounds to make 5 gallons. If you would like to see a Thompson seedless wine recipe, we do have one on our website.

If you are unable to find actual wine grapes in your area your best option is to use concentrated grape juices, ones that have been prepared specifically for the purpose of making wine. The selection available to home winemakers is vast and they are available every month of the year. We currently offer over 200 different grape juices that have been collected from around the world. If you would like more information about these grape juices, just visit our website.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Dear E C Kraus,

Before i launch these questions at you, i wanted to thank you for your excellent customer support. It is very helpful.

i wanted to add some toasted French oak chips to my red wines. i understand it varies with individual taste, but on the average how many packages do i need per 6 gallon container? Your catalog sells 4 oz packages.

Is it better to go with the real chips or how does the Oak Wood Extractive compare to this? Is one better than the other?

Also, i seems to think that oak chips just go with red wine. Is that correct or can/should i add oak chips to my white wines too? Again, thank you so much for your support.

Looking forward to your answers,

Mariette
_____

Dear Mariette,

Thank you for the positive feedback. It's always good to hear that we are doing something right.

These are very good questions. I'll take them one at a time:

Most people will be happy using 2 ounces of oak chips for every 5 or 6 gallons of wine. It can be added any time after the fermentation has completed and the wine has had time to clear. The amount of time to keep the oak chips on the wine does vary, but it is usually somewhere between 2 and 4 months. The general rule of thumb is the "bigger" the wine the more oaking it can benefit from.

Having said this, we always recommend sampling the wine throughout this maturation process. What you do not want to do is over oak the wine. We also recommend boiling the chips before using them. This is to release the excessive tannins that are in fresh oak chips. Doing this will put a less woody, more toasty character in the wine.

Most people would agree that oak chips are a better benefit to the wine than oak extractives, however the oak extractives have an immediate effect on the flavor whereas oak chips take time. This is a big benefit for someone who is ready to bottle their wine now. While you would want to lean towards using oak chips, oak extractives are certainly a viable solution for any wine that has no oak character at all.

Oak chips can be used in any white wine, however traditionally only heavier whites such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc are considered for oaking. Unless you are using a wine ingredient kit that provides a pre-tested, specific amount of oak, oaking a white wine can be a treacherous endeavor--the biggest risk being over-oaking. White wines are very delicate and can be easily overcome by the oak. If you do decide to oak a white on your own we recommend using only one ounce per 5 gallons, and definitely monitor the flavor very closely.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Now you can create your own professional-looking wine labels and share your wines with pride. These labels can be customized for any type of wine or for any occasion--weddings, birthdays, holidays, etc. It`s a personal touch that makes a grand statement and one that allows you to present your wines with a more attractive look.

You can customize them by

using your computer's word processor and then running them through any sheet-fed printer. You get a total of 28 labels. Seven pages of 4 labels on a standard 8-1/2" by 11" sheet. Each label is pre-gummed and die cut. They adhere very easily to any wine bottle. Just peel and stick. The actual size of each wine label is 4-3/4" by 3-5/8".

You can get more information and see the styles we offer by visiting our website.

Dear Kraus,

I recently made KenRidge Chilean Chardonnay and bottled it at the end of December. While the taste of the wine is fine, any wine left in the bottle (re-corked) for two days turns the color orange.

The wine fermented correctly, all directions were followed, and the wine was filtered prior to bottling.

What is the cause of the wine turning orange in color? is this a

health hazard?, and is there anything I can do now to prevent this colorization?

Thanks,
Terry
_____

Dear Terry,

The answer is very simple. Your wine is oxidizing.

Oxidation is a process that occurs when a wine is exposed to excessive oxygen for too long of time. Once the cork is pulled from a wine bottle, you are allowing air to enter the bottle which starts the oxidative process.

The first signs of oxidation will show itself as light orange tinge that will later turn to a light amber, then dark amber, then brown. It is perfectly safe to drink, however you will probably notice some deterioration in the wine's overall character.

There are some things you can do to help reduce the occurrence of oxidation:

Add sulfites to the wine at bottling time. Doing this will delay the oxidative process once the bottle is opened. It will also help the wine to keep better while in storage.

Keep partial bottles in the refrigerator. Cooler temperatures will slow down the oxidative process.

Use a Vacuvin Wine Saver on partial bottles. The Vacuvin Wine Saver allows you to pump the air out of the bottle, keeping it fresh for weeks. Very effective.

-- And, then there's the most effective solution of all... drink the whole bottle!

If you want to read more about oxidation and how it effects a wine you may want to take a look at the article, "Controlling Oxidation In Your Homemade Wines."

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hello Kraus,

Can I make my wines sweeter than the wines I buy at the store?

Thanks,
Dewayne
_____

Any wine you make can have the level of sweetness you desire. You have complete control.

This is one of the major advantages to making your own wine. You can create it to your own liking. It's a much nicer situation than rolling-the-

dice at your local wine shop. There you can only make a rough guess as to how a wine will taste.

It's really very simple. Any sugars that are available to the yeast at the start of fermentation will be turned into alcohol. Any sugars you add after the fermentation, when it's time to bottle, will contribute to the wine's sweetness. You simply add to taste.

The only thing you need to remember is that wine stabilizer must also be added at the same time you sweeten the wine. This is to prevent any chance of refermentation while in the bottle.

What you sweeten the wine with is up to you. Most home winemakers will use table sugar, but you can use honey or even sweet grape juice that's been held back from the fermentation. It's your choice.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hello EC Kraus,

I want to know what is the difference between bread yeast and wine yeast, what are the benefits of one against the other.

Sincerely
Thomas G.
_____

Dear Thomas,

This is a question we get quite often. Many people have been making wine with bread or baker's yeast and have done fine to meet their own satisfaction. But, the fact of the matter is they could be doing so much better if they would use the correct strain of yeast for the job. Certainly, money could not be the issue with a packet of wine yeast costing around a dollar.

To say, "yeast is yeast" and it all makes alcohol, is close to saying that a dog is a dog and one can hunt as well as another. When you make wine with baker's yeast, you are hunting with a Chihuahua.

Different yeast have different characteristics. There are thousands of strains that have been identified and they all behave differently. Some are only capable of fermenting up to 6 or 7 percent alcohol. Others will ferment to higher levels, but will also produce foul tasting enzymes in the process. Some are more sensitive to temperature than others.

In the case of bread yeast there are several issues that should be brought to light:

Baker's yeast will only ferment up to around 8% with ease. After that, the yeast must work much harder, producing all kinds of off-flavors that are normally associated with an over-worked yeast.

Baker's yeast is packaged under food-grade conditions not sterile conditions. This is perfectly acceptable when the yeast only needs to be active for an hour or so to rise a batch of dough, but when making wine, the yeast will be working for days not hours. You need it to be packaged with no traces of contaminants such as mold or bacteria that will have plenty of time to grow as well.

Baker's yeast does not clear out very well. When you open a pack of yeast, you will see little granules. These granules are not the individual yeast cells themselves, but rather, each granule contains millions of yeast cells dried together. Once the granules are saturated within a liquid, they will break apart to a consistency that is as fine as flour. In the case of baker's yeast, this silty mix is so fine it has a hard time settling to the bottom of a fermentation vessel. What you end up with is a cloudy area towards the bottom that never seems to clear out all the way.

Wine yeast is trained or bred to cling together through a process of "selective mutation". This "clinginess" is referred to as flocculation. The more the yeast flocculates, the faster and more firmly it will settle out. This allows you to have a clearer wine sooner.

With all this being said it is hard to imagine why someone would want to use a baker's yeast. There is simply no upside to using it, and with all the hard effort you are putting into your wine why would you not give your wine the best.

Hope the helps you out.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

We still have in stock a few of the video "Making Wine" on VHS tape. This is the exact same video that we now sell on DVD for $19.95, but only in the VHS cassette tape format. We have lowered the price of this VHS version to only $9.95.

If you've been toying with the idea of making wine at home but are just not sure, this is a great opportunity to learn all about it. It is a great introductory video that clearly shows you how to make wine at home. It covers all the basics, step-by-step, and then goes into some of the finer details. Plenty of information to get you started.

VIEW SAMPLE PREVIEW: Double-click on the picture below with your mouse to preview a sample of the "Making Wine" video.

For more information go to the following link on our website:
http://www.eckraus.com/VD110VHS.html

GOOGLE GROUPS
The amount of information on the internet today is astonishing. It's getting to the point that you would be hard pressed not to find an answer to your question or a fulfillment to your curiosity just by doing just a bit of typing.

This has been a liberating revelation for home winemakers. In the past, a source for information was always the one thing lacking within the hobby. If you had a question, you could ask your supplier or thumb through the two or three books you had picked up. If the answer wasn't there you'd end up scratching your head--at a total loss as to what to do next.

One great resource on the internet is Google groups. Google has set up an incredible number of groups that act as forums for individuals to either contribute to or learn from that cover different topics from computers to home health. One of these groups is "Winemaking". They currently have over 600 members and are continually discussing a variety of topics surrounding home winemaking.

While becoming a member and posting your own questions is strongly encouraged, one does not have to become a member just to simply read through all the valuable posts. You can even do a search through the postings to find information on a specific subject such as "bottling" or "wine yeasts."

Dear EC Kraus,

I really enjoy the information in your newsletters. I bottled my first wine, a California Merlot, last Oct (picked 2006, bottled 2007). It aged in 6.5 L carboys and had 8 months of French oak chips. I racked it twice. It is still a bit young, but interestingly, if I decant the wine and drink it 24 hours later, it is a much better wine. Can you speculate as to why letting it breath for 24 hours improves it so much?

Thank James

-----

Dear James,

What is really going on when a wine "breathes" is it is being introduced to fresh air again, something that it hasn't had contact with for quite some time. By pulling the cork and simply letting the bottle stand or by pouring the wine into a carafe, the air will start a mild oxidative process that will soften the rough edges of the wine's tannins. It also allows time for any odd gasses to escape that may have developed during aging. Allowing a wine to breathe has also been known to intensify both the flavor and bouquet of a wine--something that can be a problem for wines that have not been fully aged.

While allowing time to breathe can benefit some wines, for most it will have no benefit at all and for others it may even bring damage, particularly with older wines whose flavor structure has been known to collapse very shortly after decanting. The wines that are most likely to benefit from breathing are younger, heavy reds that have not yet had time to take complete advantage of the aging process.

How long you should let the wine breathe is another question. Usually we are talking minutes, not hours. More than likely, 60 minutes would have been just as good as the 24 hours you mentioned with your Merlot. As a general rule-of-thumb the younger the wine the more time it may need to take full advantage of breathing and vice versa, but to say a wine needs 24 hours is excessive from any perspective. Think in terms of 10 or 20 minutes.

With all this being said, unless you have previous experience with decanting a specific wine, giving it time to breathe is a crap shoot. In the case of your Merlot, you have specific experience with it, so I would not hesitate to let it breath for 30 minutes and see what you think. In the case of an unfamiliar wine, if it is white, breathing is pointless; if it has been aged more than 4 years, not necessary; and if it has been aged 8 or more years, risky. Stick with the red wines that are heavy in tannins and short on aging.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

hi:

i want to use honey in my wines so i have a few questions: do i put the honey in the must to start with, or, to sweeten after the wine is done. Also one pound of sugar equals how much honey?

thank you Tom

----

Dear Tom,

There are different ways honey can contribute to a wine. You can add it to the must, before fermentation, and have its sugars ferment into alcohol, or you can add it just before bottling and have its sugars contribute to the sweetness of the wine.

When you add honey before a fermentation, what will be left when the fermentation is complete is the herbal character of the honey. No sweetness will remain. For example, if the honey was spun off of wild flowers then a wild flower character will be added to the wine. If it was spun off of strawberries then you will notice a strawberry character in the wine, and so forth.

What this means is you can alter any fruit wine recipe you find by replacing some or all of the sugar called for with honey. As a general rule-of-thumb you can replace 1 pound of sugar with 1.2 to 1.3 pounds of honey, or if you use a hydrometer you can keep adding honey until you get to the appropriate S.G. reading--usually between 1.070 and 1.090.

If you use honey at bottling time you are contributing to the sweetness of the wine instead of the alcohol. The herbal characters of the honey are being added as well but along with its sweetness. It is important to note here that any time you add a sugar to a wine at bottling time you must also add potassium sorbate (wine stabilizer) to eliminate any chance of refermentation later on in the bottle.

We recommend using pasteurized, filtered honey--the kind you typically find on the grocery shelf. This type of honey has been cleared of wild microbes and various solids that you do not want in your wine. If you do plan on using raw honey you will need to heat it up to 170F. for a full 30 minutes. During this time you will also want to skim off the top whatever rises.

You can find more information on our website in the article, "Making Wine With Honey". It gives a basic run-down of how honey has been used in wine over the years along with some basic recipes.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hello EC Kraus!

Love your site, learning a lot about home winemaking; haven't taken the plunge yet but I am still researching. I had a question for you folks. What is the going opinion of making wine with fresh grapes and crushing them, as opposed to using a wine ingredient kit? Is

one better than the other by default, or would you say either method can produce excellent or horrible results?

How is the quality of the juice that comes with the kits? Can you say that some kits are better than others? Or does it, like the method used, depend on the variables surrounding the grapes, where they came from, etc, which, in my opinion, would apply to either method.

Thanks for your time,

Phil B.
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Dear Phil,

Thanks for the great question!

Whether you are making wine from grapes or ingredient kits the quality of the wine starts with the quality of the grapes. There is an adage in the wine making industry that says, "You can never make a wine that is better than the grapes used to make it." What this means is that you'll never make great wine out of cheap grapes. Quality wine always starts with the grapes.

When making wine from fresh grapes the individual winemaker usually has a limited selection of grapes to choose from. Quality can suffer when dealing in the take-it-or-leave-it type market that often arises for the home winemaker.

The quality of grapes that you will find in ingredient kits vary from great to outstanding. It is not in the interest of these kit producers to spend time packaging poor grapes, so great care is taken to locate and acquire grapes that are above average quality. This is one of the major advantages to using a wine ingredient kit. You are able to rely on the kit producer's expertise in selecting quality grapes. So on the whole you'll be starting with a better quality grape when using a wine ingredient kit versus obtaining grapes on your own.

We offer an array of different brands. As you go up the ladder in price the finer your selection of grape--starting with our California Connoisseur line which produces fine, everyday drinking wines on up to our KenRidge Founder's Series which features specially selected grapes from specific wine regions (appellations) around the world.

How much you spend depends on your level of appreciation for wine. Some people are completely happy with the California Connoisseur and could not tell a difference even if they did go up the ladder in price. For others the California Connoisseur simply would not do. So how far up the ladder you go is very much a personal issue.

Unfortunately, quality grapes do not guarantee a stellar wine, it's just the first requirement necessary to get there. Between the grapes and the bottle is a whole host of other factors such as: acidity, alcohol, sweetness, etc.

Making wine from an ingredient kit alleviates you from these factors. They have already been taken care of for you by the kit producers. They balance the acidity, sugar content and many other features such as clarification and oak treatment to match the character of the wine you are making. By eliminating as many variables as possible they are insuring that you will make a remarkable wine every time.

So while making wines from grapes or concentrates each holds its own rewards, by starting with a wine ingredient kit you are virtually eliminating any chance of producing a bad wine. Add to that the incredible kit selection that is now available to the home winemaker and it starts to become apparent that a winemaking ingredient kit is the way to go for the beginner.

I hope this covers all your question and curiosities. Please realize that regardless of which road you decide to take we will be more than happy to help you in any way you need.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hi,

I am about to bottle some Red Zin I made from fresh juice. Since it has finished working (S.G. .996 ) I had it sitting in a glass carboy waiting for the time to bottle it. I went into my garage and found that the stopper had blown out of it. I put it back on and put a small weight on top of the stopper to keep it in. I filtered it a few days later and the same thing happened again in my kitchen. What is causing this? I stabilized it with Potassium Bisulfite and i thought all was well. I had this happen with some Johannisberg Reisling also. I tried stirring it for about a minute to see if that makes any difference. Can you shed some light on this?

Thanks
Rick
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Dear Rick,

There are only three things that could be causing this to occur:

1)  A continuation of the fermentation,
2)  An unexpected malo-lactic fermentation,
3)  Expansion of the wine due to temperature fluctuation.

We can almost rule out number 1 because you have a specific gravity reading on your hydrometer of .996. This confirms that there are nearly no sugars left to cause a fermentation, however it is possible that the wine is still fermenting ever-so-slightly and you'll eventually end up with a reading of .994 or something like that instead of .996. A very small amount of fermentation can cause a lot of gas.

Number 2 can be ruled out simply by the fact that you have used potassium bisulfite on the wine. Wild MLF bacteria is very sensitive to sulfites and would have been easily destroyed by the addition of potassium bisulfite.

This leaves us with number 3. When a liquid cools it contracts; when it warms up it expands. With a volume as large as 5 or 6 gallons, like you have, it only takes a rise in temperature of 3 or 4 degrees to pop a rubber stopper out of a carboy. More than likely this is what is causing your problem.

There are a couple of things you can do. First try to eliminate the temperature fluctuation as much as possible. And second, keep an air-lock on the container during this time instead of using a solid stopper. You can fill the lock with glycerine instead of water if you are concerned about the water evaporating over this longer period of time. Also, if the glycerine does happened to get sucked into the wine because of it contracting it will not be harmful in any way.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hello EC Kraus,

We like sweet wine, I have ordered (KC501) IceVine White twice. We were very happy with it! In the KenRidge Classic what would be the sweetest kit. I'm not fond of strawberries.

Thank You
Darlene
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Dear Darlene,

In our KenRidge Classic brand of winemaking juices there are 5 different types that come out sweet: White Zinfandel, Port, Sherry, IceVine Red and also the IceVine White which you have already tried. The reason all these five come out sweet is because each includes a sweet reserve pack that is to be added after the fermentation has completed.

Of these five the sweetest is the IceVine White which has a sugar code of 20. The sugar code of the others is as follows:

18  IceVine Red
8    Port
8    Sherry
2    White Zinfandel

It is important to understand that while all of our wine making kits are pre-designed to come out balanced and true to their commercial counterparts, you can sweeten any wine that you find is too dry for you. This can be done right before bottling. The only requirement is that a stabilizer be added to the wine first. In the case of the KenRidge products this is packet #4.

Just add regular cane sugar to taste. We recommend making a syrup out of if first by heating it with equal parts water. Or, you can use Wine Conditioner which is a combination of fructose and glucose sugars.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Dear Kraus,

After reading your emails for the past year and receiving a kit from the kids for Christmas I am finally ready to take the big step and produce my own wine. Most questions I had from sanitizing to first fermentation considerations have been answered either in your emails or on your blog. One remains however: filtering. The

directions with my kit recommends filtering the wine before bottling. however I take it that it is not absolutely necessary if I am careful with racking. Would appreciate your input on