Hi You All,

My name Charles, I live in NC, I have been making wine for about 7 years and have made all kinds, by the way you all got a great web site, what I would like to know is how do you make brandy. I looked for a recipe but can't find one. Can you help me?

Thank you
Charles
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Dear Charles,

Making brandy is more of a process than a recipe, and it is certainly more involved than wine making, but if you'd like to know...

Brandy is essentially a wine that has gone through a distillation process. Distilling is when the alcohol and certain essences are steamed off the wine and collected into a separate container. Alcohol will steam off at a lower temperature than water so by controlling the temperature it is possible to leave the water behind. What you end up with is a liquid that has a much higher alcohol concentration.

This is obviously an over-simplification, but essentially this is how a brandy is brought to life. It is an additional step beyond wine making.

Most people are surprised to know that the brandy is a clear liquid at this point. It taste rather harsh and gives off somewhat of an oily impression in the mouth--something that you definitely would not enjoy. To bring the brandy to a form that you and I would recognize as brandy it must be aged extensively.

Depending on the quality and style of the brandy being made, it will need to be aged anywhere from 3 to 50 years in barrels. The toasting of the inner wall of the barrel is where the brandy will get its familiar color.

So as you can see making brandy takes some serious dedication, maybe even more so than wine making.. I personally leave it to the Hennessy's and Martell's to bring brandy to my world.

It is important to note here that -- unlike wine making -- distilling an alcohol is illegal in the United States unless you have registered with the ATF which means bringing your operation up to their rigorous code. It also involves a tremendous cash bond that basically makes it impossible to impractical for any individual to set up a operation for personal use.

If you would like to read more about distilling we do have a couple of books on the subject. The "Lore Of Still Building" has a lot of information about distilling principals as well as how to build various styles of stills. We also have the book "Secrets Of Building An Alcohol Producing Still". In it you will find specific plans for building a full-fledge still.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Greetings-

We did a Chardonnay wine making kit lately. The results were very good, by all accounts. What is your position on mixing peach, apricot or even persimmon into a batch of that? Wondering……

Thanks in advance for your time.
Jeff
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Dear Jeff,

Mixing fruits into wines is a great way to enhance any attractive characteristics that a grape may possess when making your own wine. Raspberries with Merlot, Strawberries with Zinfandel, the options are endless and there is always room for experimentation. It's just really a great way to have fun with wine making.

Usually when a home winemaker wants to make a wine in this style they will mix the grapes [grape concentrate] and fruits together in their fermenter and take it from there, however there is another, more professional, way to tackle this type of wine making that will give you much better control over the end product. In other words, less chance of messing up.

Instead of mixing up all the grapes and fruits in the fermenter at the beginning of fermentation, make the fruit into its own wine, separately. In the case of your Chardonnay you could make some peach wine. When it comes time to bottle the Chardonnay, then add some peach wine to it to taste.

This will give you total control over how much "peachy" flavor is in the wine. It will also allow you to safely mix blending samples together without risking your entire batch.

You may also want to take a look a the article "Blending To Improve Homemade Wines" which covers this topic in more detail.

As far as whether to try peach, apricot or persimmon, all I can say is that I have seen the most success using peach verses apricot and I have never tasted persimmon in a Chardonnay, but having said this, I would never tell you not to try any combination. Home wine making is about having fun and experimening.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

To who it my concern,

I have an old wine making recipe that came from Germany, through the family, but it doesn't call for yeast of any kind... What does the wine yeast do and is it essential in home wine making?

Thanks Connee
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Dear Connee,

Simply put, wine yeast is where the rubber meets the road. Without wine yeast you'll have no fermentation, and with no fermentation you'll

have no alcohol!

What is happening when you make wine is sugar is being turned into alcohol by a process called fermentation. Wine making yeast is what performs the fermentation. It is a single-celled, living organism that literally eats the sugars in the fruit and makes alcohol with it. This is what wine making is all about.

Older wine recipes, like the one you have, will often not call for wine yeast. This is because the yeast is expected to come on the fruit naturally. This was an expectable practice way-back-when because wine yeast was simply not readily available.

The resulting wines made from these "wild yeasts" were marginal at best. Typically, the yeast found out in the wild have trouble fermenting to an expectable alcohol level and what's more the flavors and aromas they put in the wine could be enough to make you hold your nose.

But today it's different. Wine making yeast is readily available from wine making shops like us for a buck or two a pack. These are the same strains of wine yeast used by professional wineries. They are able to ferment to an acceptable alcohol level and produce a much cleaner flavor in the wine. So why settle for something from the wild.

My advice to you, without seeing the recipe you have, is to go ahead and follow it, but I would also add a pack of wine making yeast for every 5 or 6 gallons of must. You may also want to take a look at the article, "Why Should I Use Wine Yeast" listed on our website for a little deeper explanation about yeast and its role in wine making.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E.C. Kraus

Here is an email we received that is questioning, why, when you add more fruit to a wine making recipe you need less sugar. The example he uses is the two concord wine recipes listed on the recipe page of our web site.

Dear E. C. Kraus,

I have a question about your wine recipe chart.

Concord 40 lbs shows 6 1/2 lbs of sugar
Concord 80 lbs shows 2 lbs of sugar

Is this a typo?

Tom H
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Dear Tom,

This is not a typo. The whole idea here is to have the amount of sugars available to the yeast be the same in both wine making recipes. In each recipe some of the sugar is coming from the grapes and some of the sugar is added by you.

In both wine making recipes we are assuming that 40 pounds of concord grapes will contain about 4-1/2 lbs. of sugar. This is only an estimate but a fairly good one. If you follow through with this estimate, you will see that the total sugars available in the 40 lb. recipe is 11 lbs. (4.5 lbs. plus 6.5 lbs.) This is enough sugar for the yeast to produce about 11 percent alcohol. In the 80 lb. recipe you will notice, again, that the total estimated sugars is 11 lbs. as well. (4.5 lbs. plus 4.5 lbs. plus 2 lbs.)

I hope this helps you out.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E.C. Kraus

In the last blog entry (see October 29th) we went over the generalities of fortified wines. In this entry we dig a little further and take you through the basic logic of how the home winemaker can make their own fortified wines.

The first thing the home winemaker needs to understand is that making a fortified wine can be somewhat costly. For a five gallon batch of wine it takes five fifths (750ml) of brandy to raise the batch by 6-2/3 percent alcohol. With a typical fortified wine being about 20% alcohol and the cheapest bottle of Brandy being about $10 to $13 a bottle, making fortified wines can be somewhat cost prohibitive.

With this in mind, the best strategy for the home winemaker is to get as much alcohol as you can from the fermentation itself. Then use less Brandy as needed to fortify your wine.

To learn how to get the most alcohol out of a fermentation to go over the article, "Making High Alcohol Wines" listed on our website.

The following is a listing showing how much the alcohol is raised in a 5 gallon batch with each additional fifth (750ml) bottle of Brandy, assuming the Brandy is 40% alcohol by volume.

1 Bottle adds 1.5%
2 Bottles add 3.0%
3 Bottles add 4.3%
4 Bottles add 5.5%
5 Bottles add 6.7%
6 Bottles add 7.7%
7 Bottles add 8.8%

You will want to shoot for a total alcohol level of 17 to 22 percent. So if you have a batch of wine that has fermented to 14 percent alcohol, you might add 4 bottles to raise the total alcohol level to 19.5% (14.0 + 5.5).

You can use a regular Brandy made from grape wine such as E&J and add it to a red wine you have made. This would be the most common avenue. But there are also some other things you can do.

You could take a Blackberry Brandy and add it to a blackberry wine, or a Peach Brandy to a peach wine. You could also take a Merlot wine and add to it a Raspberry Brandy. With all the different types of Brandys that are available, you are only limited by your imagination.

Be sure to add the Brandy after the fermentation has completed then continue on as you would with any other wine. If you are using a wine kit continue following the directions. If you are making wine from fresh fruit, give the wine plenty of time to clear and bottle as you normally would.

Hello Kraus folks,

I have about 100 pounds of concord grapes and would like to make a merlot wine. Do you have a recipe?

Thanks Boyd
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Dear Boyd,

Making Merlot wine from Concord grapes is an impossibility. Merlot is a

type of grape just like the Concords you have. A Merlot wine is made from Merlot grapes. The character of the wine comes from the flavor of the Merlot grape.

This is also true in many other cases. Cabernet Sauvignon is made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape; Chardonnay from the Chardonnay grape; Zinfandel from the Zinfandel grape, and so on.

In all the above cases the wines are considered to be "varietals". They are wines that are made up mostly from the grape after which they are named.

In the United States law even requires that a Merlot wine be made up of at least 75% Merlot grape. Anything less would typically be labeled as a Bordeaux, the region in France where the grape was developed.

On the Wine Making Recipes page that is on our website, we have a recipe for making 5 gallons of wine using 80 pounds of Concord grapes. This is the wine recipe I suggest you use. It will give you a wine that is dry and full, like a Merlot wine, with about the same level of alcohol, but it will still taste like Concord grapes not Merlot.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

This is a question we get quite often from beginning winemakers:

"How many pounds of grapes do I need to make 5 gallons of wine?"

The answer depends on what kind of grapes we are talking about...

Many novice winemakers are surprised to learn that when making wine from viniferous grapes such as Cabernet, Zinfandel or Chardonnay--true wine grapes--that 70 to 80 pounds are required to end up with 5 gallons.

When making wine from these types of grape no water is added. Only 100 percent juice is used. The batch will start out around 8 to 9 gallons, but once the pomace (the spent pulp) has been removed you will end up with about 5 gallons.

Making wine from non-viniferous grapes is a little different story. If they are wild grapes such as fox or mustang, you should only need about 20 to 25 pounds. If they are domesticated, non-viniferous grapes such as Muscadine or Scuppernong, you will probably need about 30 to 35 pounds. In either case the difference in volume is made up with sugar and water.

The reason for the dilution of these grapes is two-fold. First and foremost, non-viniferous grapes are usually too acidic to make wine from their straight juice. This is particularly true in the case of wild grapes. The second reason for dilution is because the flavor of these grapes are usually too astringent or harsh for drinking. The wine would simply be overwhelming.

For more information you may want to take a look at the article, "Winemaking With Grapes". This is a beginners overview to making wine from grapes.

Hello E. C. Kraus

I have heard of people who will make wine from the pressings of an existing batch. I am sure they will need to add sugar and other nutrients to do this but I was wondering if anyone has heard of this, has a recipe, knows if it is possible or if it is any good?

Thank You,
Bob
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Dear Bob,

What you are referring to is something called "Second-Run Wine". Some people may also refer to it as a "False Wine" or a "Second Wine".

The reason for doing a Second Wine is to get as much wine as possible out of every pound of grape. Once the grapes have been pressed for the initial batch, water and other ingredients are then added to the spent pulp to start another wine.

This is not normally done with white wines, only reds. What this means is that the pulp will have already gone through several days of fermentation. Most if not all of the sugars will be gone from the pulp and a fair portion of the body and color will have been extracted as well.

Because of this, Second Wines tend to be lighter in color and with very little body. This gives the wine a cleaner, crisper overall character than the first-run wine. Second Wines also tend to mature quicker than their elder counterpart.

There are a couple of ways you can approach making a Second Wine. Some winemakers will lightly press their first run so as to leave a bit more color and body for the Second Run. In essence they are sacrificing some of the first for the second. Then there's the school of thought that the first-run wine should be made to it's normal level of par excellence. Press the pulp as hard as you normally would. Get all you can. Whatever body and color may be left can go towards the second wine. If the Second Wine turns out good, so be it. If it doesn't turn out so good, no real loss. How you approach it is up to you.

To make a Second Wine, add one gallon of water to the pulp for every gallon of wine that was removed for the first batch. Then, for every gallon of water you add to the pulp, also add the following:

2 lbs. of Sugar
2 Teaspoons of Acid Blend
1 Teaspoon of Yeast Energizer
1/4 Teaspoon Wine Tannin

Yeast does not need to be added when making a Second Wine. There is still plenty of yeast remaining with the pulp from the first run. The amount of sugar and Acid Blend listed above are only good approximations. The actual amount needed can vary some depending on how hard you press. For this reason you may want to add sugar based on hydrometer readings, and add Acid Blend based on an Acid Test Kit reading.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service At E. C. Kraus

Our website provides many winemaking recipes for a number of various fruits. Jack Keller's website is also another great resource for winemaking recipes. In fact, you can find a winemaking recipe for just about any type of fruit imaginable somewhere on the internet.

Most of what I have seen are decent recipes. They'll say how much fruit and sugar to use: pectic enzyme, acid blend, nutrients, tannin and such. Follow the recipe and you'll turn out a pretty good wine, but there is a way to improve on any wine recipe. A way to tweak it, so to speak.

A wine recipe can only get you so close. This is for the simple fact that any particular fruit that is being called for in a recipe will always vary in sweetness and in acidity. The recipe can only guess as to what these variables might be for the fruit have on hand

Because of these variables, the amount sugar and Acid Blend called for by the wine recipe can only be a very good guess.

But you can take the "guess" out of the recipe. By taking just a couple of actions on your part you can put in the correct amount of sugar and Acid Blend in the mix and make a perfectly balanced wine.

For example, let's say that you have a 5 gallon wine recipe that calls for 10 pounds of sugar. Go ahead and put in most of the sugar, say 8 pounds. Then use the "Potential Alcohol" scale found on most hydrometers to put in the correct amount of remaining sugar.

As you dissolve more sugar in the juice, the reading on the hydrometer will go up. Shoot for somewhere between 10 to 13 percent alcohol on the scale. Shooting for more than this may bring you trouble by way of a stuck fermentation; shooting for less than this will make a wine that's easy to spoil.

The same technique can be used for tweaking the Acid Blend. Put in most of the Acid Blend called for, then use an Acid Testing Kit to help you put in the correct amount needed. Shoot for a reading between .55% and .70% TA. The directions that come with the Acid Testing Kit will tell you how much Acid Blend to add to get from point A to point B.

Hello,

I have numerous Elderberry bushes/trees on my ranch. I have made Elderberry jelly many times and found that I have to use quite a bit more sugar than most other fruits/berries I have used.

This year I want to try to make Elderberry wine for the first time. Do I need to use more sugar than for

other fruits used for making wine? The recipe on your website doesn't indicate this but my Elderberries are the "wild" variety and are VERY tart.

Thank you!

Regards,
Andie
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Dear Andie,

Elderberries and other tarter fruits do not require more sugar. The sugar that is added to the mix at the beginning of the process will not contribute to the sweetness of the wine in any way. This sugar will all be turned into alcohol by the yeast during the fermentation.

The tartness of the wine is controlled by how much fruit and Acid Blend is called for by the recipe to be mixed with water to total 5 gallons. These two elements combine to make up the total acidity of the wine. Having too much total acidity is what makes a wine too tart.

This recipe assumes that the Elderberries are wild. If you follow the amounts listed below you will be fine. The 15 pounds of Elderberries combined with 5 teaspoons of Acid Blend will get you to the right tartness for 5 gallons.


Elderberry Wine
(Makes 5 Gallons)

15 Pounds Elderberries
10 Pounds Sugar
Water To Total 5 Gallons
2 Tablespoons Yeast Nutrient
5 Teaspoons Acid Blend
5 Campden Tablets (Added 24 hours before yeast)
1 Packet Wine Yeast (Lalvin RC 212 recommended)
5 Campden Tablets (Added At Bottling Time)


For directions on what to do, follow "The 7 Easy Steps To Making Wine" that is listed on our website.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

Hello Kraus People,

All of the wine recipes I see call for water to be added, why do you have to add water? What happens if you use just the juice?

Thanks,
AL
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Dear Al,

You are correct. Most all fruit wine recipes require water. There are some exceptions. Straight apple juice can be used to make a very good wine. No water needed. If you are using actual winemaking grapes you do not need water. But when it comes to wines made from fruits such as blackberries, plums or even muscadine grapes, they always call for water.

The first possible reason water needs to be added is because the fruit is too acidic. If you take straight blackberry juice and just drink it you will find that it burns from it's acidic concentration. It's not the same as eating the blackberries. Dilution is required to lower the acidity level.

A second possible reason for adding water is because the flavor of the fruit is too astringent. Elderberries would be an extreme example of this. The flavor elements are just too strong to be pleasant in a glass. Dilution is required to make the fruit's flavor more palatable.

With most fruit wine recipes water needs to be added for both acidity and palatability. In some cases, a fruit's flavor may require so much dilution that acid needs to be added back for proper balance.

Whether you use a wine recipe on our website or somewhere else the story is the same. These recipes are developed through experience. There is some wiggle-room for varying the amount of fruit called for, but in most all cases the range of fruit you can use does not equal 100 percent juice.

Best Wishes,
Customer Service at E. C. Kraus

It looks like this is going a to be a good year for peaches. A refreshing bit of news considering how Mother Nature squashed last year's crop in many parts of the U.S.

Last year's bitter, late freezes destroyed peach buds dead in their tracks leaving many home winemakers to scurry for what they could find. This year appears to be the opposite. With the peach trees getting a rest last year combined with the more moderate temperatures we've been having this year, a bumper crop seems to be on the horizon.

With that being said, I'd thought it would be nice to post a peach wine recipe on the blog. This recipe is simple enough that even a first-time winemaker can make it. The recipe is for making 5 gallons. To get started prepare the peaches by peeling them; then remove the pits; and then coarsely chopping them up.

PEACH WINE
13 lbs. Fresh Peaches
10 lbs. Cane Sugar
Water as need to make 5 gallons
1 Tablespoons Yeast Energizer
1 Teaspoon Pectic Enzyme
2-1/2 Tablespoons Acid Blend
1 Teaspoon Wine Tannin
5 Campden Tablets (Add 24 hours before the yeast)
1 Packet Wine Yeast (Lalvin EC-1118 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 peach wine recipe above.

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.

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
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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

We would like to stop and take time to wish you the very best this holiday season. We sincerely hope that your Christmas holiday is full of joy and excitement, and that the New Year brings you the brightest of days and provides you with all for which you strive.

In keeping with the holiday spirit I have listed below an eggnog recipe that I have used for many years. I'd like to share it with you in hopes that it might bring a little warmth to your holiday season.

HOLIDAY BREAKFAST EGGNOG
10 ounces of Apricot Brandy
3 ounces of Triple Sec
1 Quart of Eggnog
Mix together and sprinkle with Nutmeg

*MERRY CHRISTMAS!*
From Everyone At E. C. Kraus

Dear E. C. Kraus

I just ordered your catalog and am wondering if you have a recipe for a new berry I have found in the woods. It is devils walking stick I don't even know if people make wine out of it. Is it ok to make wine out of it or is it poisonous?

Thanks

John
_____

Dear John,

The Devil's Walking Stick grows wild and is also used ornamentally in landscaping. The berries are considered mildly toxic when fully ripened and toxic when unripened. We would not recommend making wine from this fruit.

We have no experience with anyone who has made wine from this fruit nor can we find a recipe for it. Also realize that the fermentation may alter this fruits composition in a way we don't understand making it even more lethal.

These berries are not necessarily known for eating and would more than likely create a poorly flavored wine anyway. So in short, stay away from the Devil's Walking Stick he just might beat you with it.

AS A SIDE NOTE:
North Carolina State University has a great resource for toxic plant information. Not only does it list toxic plants, it also lists edible plants that have parts that are toxic with complete details including just how toxic the plant or plant part may be.