Home Brewing and Winemaking Blog

Making Wine from your own Grapes

Posted on

51 Comments

Making Wine from Grapes

It is fairly straightforward to make wine from your own grapes and there are many online guides showing you how to do it. Unfortunately, many of them “over simplify” the process or take a “natural” approach, which is absolutely fine if you are prepared to gamble with the results, but not much use if you are hoping to produce consistent, repeatable, drinkable results.

In essence, many guides suggest that all you need to do is:

  • Pick your grapes.
  • Crush and press them to extract the juice.
  • Leave them to ferment using the natural yeast.
  • Leave to clear and then bottle when fermentation has finished.

Whilst this is more or less accurate, not all grapes are actually suitable for wine making straight from the vine, not all have sufficient levels of sugar or acidity and, depending when you pick the grapes, you may or not have any natural yeast present to undertake the fermentation. Using the method above gives you a 50/50 chance of obtaining fermentation and a less than 50% chance of obtaining anything that is either a) drinkable or b) repeatable.

Whilst requiring a bit more effort, you are more likely to obtain better results if you use the following method, though, if you have never made wine before, I would heartily recommend that you make up a wine kit first in order to learn the "processes" of fermentation, clarification and storage, before you embark on using your own ingredients. The reason for me saying this is that the sugar content and acidity of home grown grapes vary from year to year and from variety to variety, so you will probably always need to "adjust" your juice to make it suitable for producing wine, whereas the concentrated juice that comes in the kits has already been "adjusted" and is designed to make the rest of the process as simple as possible.

I know that you will probably have many questions about this topic, and MOST of the common ones are dealt with in the posts at the bottom of the page, but please DO NOT POST any additional questions after 1/2/2024 as I will no longer be providing answers.

  • Pick your grapes - you will need around 6-7kgs per gallon.
  • Strip them off their stalks, wash them in clean water if necessary/desired and then crush and press them to extract the juice. For small quantities, this can be done with a potato masher. It will often be easier if, after stripping and rinsing them, you freeze the grapes whole and then allow them to defrost before crushing.
  • Check the sugar content of the juice with a hydrometer and add extra sugar, if required, to obtain a start gravity of 1080-1085, which represents a total sugar content of approx 215-230g/l. This will produce about 11-12% alcohol in your finished wine, depending upon your finishing gravity. You may well find that your grape juice already has enough sugar to give you a reading of 1080-1085, but if it doesn't you will need to add extra sugar to bring the gravity up to the required level. A "three scale" hydrometer will include a scale that gives you the sugar content in g/l corresponding to your gravity reading. From this you can easily calculate how much extra sugar per litre you need to add to get this up to the required start point. If you don't have a "three scale" hydrometer, you can either adjust the amount in 5g/l batches until you get the required gravity, or look up a sugar/gravity table and calculate the additional amount from there.  
  • Check the acidity with a pH strip. You should aim for a pH level of 3.1-3.4, so you may need to add Citric Acid to increase the acidity or Precipitated Chalk to lower it.
  • Add 1 crushed Campden Tablet per gallon of juice and leave for 24 hours to kill off any natural yeast that may be present.
  • Add your preferred Wine Yeast (some people also add yeast nutrient to encourage a rapid ferment) and leave to ferment at room temperature (18-24°C) or as per your yeast's preferences/tolerances.
  • If you are making Red or Rose wine, you will generally need to leave the skins in contact with the juice for 4-10 days depending how dark a colour you want. Once the juice has become the colour you want, strain it into a clean demijohn or bucket and allow it to continue to ferment.
  • Once fermentation has finished, or you have reached your preferred finishing gravity, syphon the wine into a clean demijohn or bucket, add 1 crushed Campden Tablet per gallon and leave to clear.

It will normally take 2-6 weeks for the initial fermentation, depending upon the initial sugar content and the temperature in which it is fermented and then "however long it takes" to clear, unless you speed up the process by using finings. The finished wine should then be stored and matured for 3-6 months to obtain the best results. Wine tends to mature best "in bulk", so a secondary fermenter/demijohn should be used, but you can put it straight into bottles if you don't have access to a spare demijohn.

PLEASE NOTE : This is designed to be a simplified guide to allow you to obtain predictable and repeatable results if you are starting from scratch with little/no experience of making wine before. It is NOT designed to be a comprehensive discussion of all the techniques surrounding this topic. Many of the processes are discussed more fully in the following Comments/Questions. If you want a FULL winemaking course, I would recommend tracking down "Winemaking for Dummies" as it is a fantastic resource.

Add a comment:

Leave a comment:
  • This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Comments

  1. Mohale Manoko

    Thank u 4 the guidelines

    Posted on

  2. Tony leggett

    Hi. I have all the equipment now but just need to find out where the best place is to get my grapes from as not grown any also im in south essex are there any courses going Regards Tony Leggett --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Tony, The guide was actually written for people who have grown their own grapes and wanted to make use of them. You could, I suppose buy 5 or 6kgs of grapes from a supermarket or greengrocer (if you can still find one), though you may be better off trying to track down a fruit and veg merchant. There are also several vineyards around the Maldon/Burnham area who may be prepared to sell you some, but they may require you to buy in bulk. I know that there is a winemaking group based in Tiptree, known as the "Tiptree Tipplers" and I suspect that you may find other clubs in South Essex. The Tipree club details can be found on their community webpage: https://www.tiptreecommunity.uk/our-organisations/social/ Andy,

    Posted on

  3. Duncan

    Hi Andy, thanks for a great article. I admire that you are still answering questions! I've done a fair bit of brewing over the years, mostly wine kits, but also plum wine from our bottled plums and lately sweet ginger wine. However, this year I'm looking at using actual grapes for the first time. We have friends with an wineyard where they grow grapes for winemakers on contract. He's going to let me take some of the grapes before the harvesters come through, which will be good as he tests to check ripeness. I've recently bought some large nylon mesh bags that fit inside a 30litre pail. Do you think it would be useful to put the initial grape mash inside one of these bags, and then lift it after a few days to leave the juice behind? Do you see any disadvantages of doing this? Any advice appreciated. Thanks in advance. Duncan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    That will be absolutely fine

    Posted on

  4. Leslie A Amador

    In the end, where you say it should be stored and matured for 3-6 months, in what form do you mean? A secondary 'fermenter' or In bottles? Thank you for the article. I would very much like to try this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Wine tends to mature better "in bulk", so a second fermenter is best, but bottles will be fine if you have nothing else.

    Posted on

  5. BrendaK

    Recipes for a small half pint or pint size of wine. Just for me to try for the first time. Do I use seed or seedless grapes. Making fermented wine is a project I would like to try at home in my kitchen only for me. So what ingredients and materials should I use? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Brenda,
    Technically, you would simply divide all the stated quantities above by 8 if you only wanted to make a pint, but apart from producing less than one bottle of wine, from a practical point of view, quantities that small would be less stable and lose proportionally more each time you racked off the sediment. A gallon is generally the smallest quantity that it is worth producing. The "ingredients" are grapes (seedless or seeded - it makes no difference provided you only crush them rather than "blitz them" with a blender) and the various chemicals listed in the post.

    Posted on

  6. Adrian Ball

    A really useful guide - thankyou for posting

    Posted on

  7. Andrew M

    Thank you for your straightforward guide :) I've been fermenting 10ltrs of juice for around 2 weeks now to make some white wine, with grapes that I harvested from a neighbour's garden at the start of October. The first week had a brown froth on top about half an inch thick from the liquid. I added some more yeast in the 2nd week not thinking the first lot was doing much. I've noticed after the second dose of yeast that the froth has disappeared and the dark murky juice I started with is now turning clear and looking more like wine. There's also some clumps floating on top of the liquid which I assume is the yeast. Question I have is whether the yeast has deteriorated at this point and if the batch is ruined? Any advice appreciated :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Andrew. Without seeing the must, it is virtually impossible to say, but it is LIKELY that the foam you witnessed during the first week was produced by the first batch of yeast, doing EXACTLY what it was supposed to do. The second batch you pitched was probably completely unnecessary, though without a gravity reading at that time, everything is essentially nothing more than a guess. If there are no bubbles coming through the airlock, I would be inclined to take a gravity reading and see if you are close to the finish point. If so, I'd rack it off the sediment into a clean demijohn, stabilise it with a crushed campden tablet and a spoonful of "Fermentation Stopper" (Potassium Sorbate powder) and then leave it to settle and mature.

    Posted on

  8. Mark Spence

    Hi I have got as far as my red to second fermentation, wine in demijohn. This is my first time making wine and a scum as been produced on top of wine in the demijohn. Is this normal? Thanks in advance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Mark,
    It's difficult to say without seeing it, but generally scum of any sort is bad and should usually be removed as quickly as possible. If it's a white layer that looks like opaque cling film, it's an infection and should be removed immediately.

    Posted on

  9. Carol

    You state above that for red wine, the skins must be left in contact with the juice for 4-10 days. 1. Is this after pressing? 2. Is it OK to leave the pips in too? 3. Is a Campden tablet put in at this stage or after the skins have been taken out? Thanks ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Carol, All of these questions are answered either in the original post or in previous comments, so I would direct you to there as you will also find lots of other information amongst those replies/

    Posted on

  10. Jim Sherifi

    Some advice please. Fermentation has finished to the required SG, 1 Camden tablet added to 1 gallon in demijon but liquid still cloudy after 24 hours. What should I do before bottling? Should the Demijohn be on its side? Many Thanks (for advice and excellent initial instructions). -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Campden Tablets merely act as anti-oxidants/yeast inhibitors and will have no effect on the clarity of your wine. Now that you have achieved the required finish gravity, you should rack the wine off the sediment into a clean demijohn (or into a temporary holding vessel whlst you clean the demijohn you have been using up to this point) and then allow the wine to sit for 3-6 months to clear down and mature before bottling. If you are not prepared to wait long enough to let the wine clear naturally, you can add a fining solution, but you will need to choose carefully if you are vegetarian or shellfish intolerant as several fining agents will be unsuitable for you. Wine matures beter in bulk than in individual bottles, so once clear I would be inclined to rack it again and leave it for a few months to improve. Wine bottles, with traditional corks, that are being laid down for several years to mature, will usually be laid on their side to ensure that the cork doesn't dry our and allow air to ingress and ruin the wine. With your demijohn, regardless of what type of airlock/cork it is sealed with, the wine is usually only going to be in there for 3-6 months so you stand it upright so that the sediment settles on the base prior to bottling.

    Posted on

  11. Lisa Morgan

    Hi, Thank you for such a concise and informative post. I have a vine in my garden that was planted by previous owners in about 1980. It's VERY productive! This year I think I'm going to harvest about 20kg of Pinot Meuniere grapes (and that's after cutting it right back earlier in the year). I usually use them to make jam and jelly but am wondering about trying wine. I'd like to try the "natural" way. Do you think that would work reasonably given that I'm using an old, established wine variety or would I be wasting my time? Thank you :) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The major "downside" of using the "natural" method, is that you have no idea whether or not there is any yeast present and, if there is, what its characteristics are. This means that it will either fail completely, or produce unpredictable results (ie, you don't know how alcohol tolerant the yeast is and thus can not reliably predict when fermentation will finish). If you like to gamble, that's fine, but once you've crushed the first 7kg of grapes to get a gallon of juice, I suspect that you'll want ensure that you get something drinkable for all your effort. If you have 20kgs to play with and desperately want to try the "natural" method, I would probably be inclined to follow my method with 2 gallons of juice and "experiment" with whatever juice is left over.

    Posted on

  12. Mike Singh

    Hi, I followed your initial steps for winemaking but forgot to add the Campden tablet before adding the yeast! I'm now on day 2 of initial fermentation, should I add a Campden tablet? If I do, then will I have to add the yeast again? Would appreciate your help. Regards, Mike S ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    You are better off leaving it alone now Mike and hoping that it is your yeast that is causing the fermentation rather than any natural yeast that may or may not have been present. If you add a campden Tablet now, you will probably kill off whatever yeast is present, but any that you then introduce from now on may well be inhibited by any alcohol that has already been produced. If you start interfering now, you risk causing additional problems, so you're better off just letting it go and seeing what happens, whilst making a note to do it properly next time. Andy

    Posted on

  13. Dean Shearsmith

    Hi Andy. I had a bumper crop of red grapes on my vine this year. I've had a first attempt at making wine somewhat following your guide above. We pressed grapes and put hydrometer in the must. It showed 255apx sugar per litre (just before the blue (start wine) section. Didn't have pH strips to check.. (kind of taking this first time as a suck it and see/experiment) We had 6-7litre of must in the bucket.. I added Campden tab and left 24 hours then added half teaspoon of yeast nutrient and gave a stir then added half a 5g pack of gervin gv8 yeast. Popped top on and left for 5 days.. very active fermentation was occurring.. Racked/strained from bucket into demijohn.. just short of 5l.. now very slow fermentation. I tipped some into a beaker and tested with hydrometer.. now at yellow 'bottle stage' where have I gone wrong? And can it be saved? Regards Dean -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Dean. I'm not entirely sure WHY you think you've "gone wrong". If it started at 1080-1085 (225g/l of sugar) and is now at around 1010 (the yellow section of the Stevenson Reeve hydrometer) then the yeast has done what it is supposed to have done and eaten the sugar and converted it to alcohol. As the must is now less dense than it was, the hydrometer will sink further into it and give you a lower gravity reading. If it is still fermenting, I'd let it continue for another couple of days until it gets down to around 996-1000 and then stays stable for two days on the trot, and then move on to the "stabiisation/clearing" phase of the process.

    Posted on

  14. Bud Abraham

    Have a question. Have a 22 liter pail of crushed white grapes. They were carfully washed and then de-stemmed and then crushed with a potatoe masher. 1. Do I put yeast in now? 2. So I add a crushed campden tablet now? 3. How do I get the juice out of the 23 liter pail, it has no drain? 4. How long do I leave the skins, seeds and pulp in the pail? 5. Once the juice is out do I add more yeast and a Camlden tablet now or should I have done that after they were crushed? 6. How long do I let the juice ferment, normally? Thanking you in advance for your kind help, Bud Abraham -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Bud.
    All of your questions, except no 3, are answered in the blog post where the full process is explained. Most people usually start off by making only a single gallon and thus their bucket is small and light enough to pick up so that you can pour the contents through a sieve/strining bag into a single 5l demijohn. If you are strong enough to do so, you could simply do this with your 23l bucket, pouring the juice into 3 or 4 standard demijohns and straining the pulp out as you go. If the full bucket, which will probably weigh around 30-35kgs, is too heavy, you can simply use a large capacity jug to transfer one jugful at a time into your sieve and then dispose of the pulp once the juice has run through.

    Posted on

  15. Michelle

    Hi, Do you add water after crushing or is this made just with the juice from the grapes? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Michelle,
    As stated eslewhere, it depends on how much juice you get out of the grapes and what the sugar content is. If you only have 3 litres of grape juice and you water it down to 4.5 litres (1 UK Gallon) so that you improve your chances of geting 5-6 bottles, the resultant wine will be thin and watery and will probably have a low ABV if you haven't adjusted the sugar content to compensate for having diluted it. If you have 3 litres of grape juice and you leave it as neat grape juice, you'll ony end up with about 3-4 bottles of wine, so ultimately, it's your choice based on what you hope to achieve.

    Posted on

  16. Andrew Parker

    Thanks for answering questions on your site. I am interested in getting one of your starter country wine kits with a glass demijohn (which appeals more to me more than plastic) and plan to get started, armed only with 'Winemaking for Dummies'. We have a very small harvest of Sylvaner grapes from a vine in our garden- the first year it has given a good crop. I have a simple question- after destemming by hand - i.e with just the berries themselves, which we have now frozen to buy time, we have about 6kg total. How much wine can we expect to produce with that, allowing for losses along the way? Most wine per kg weight estimates appear to include the full bunches, prior to destemming. With thanks, Andrew -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Andrew,
    Depending on how enthusiatically you crush/press them, and how "full" the grapes are, you would normally expect to use around 6-7kgs of grapes to give you a full UK gallon of juice to ferment. You can, of course, top up the DJ with either grape concentrate, water or a sugar/water syrup mixture if you get less than the full UK gallon you are aiming for. Just bear in mind that if you are adding extra sugar, you only want to add enough to give you a starting gravity of around 1085-1095.

    Posted on

  17. Emmitt Hawkins

    Do you sale the kit I need? I have made wine over the years which turned out great measure up to 16% Alcohol Volume content. I would like to get the taste quality as stores sales. My wine is good but unable to strain debris from it. Cheese cloth is a pain in the ass because it clogs immediately. What is good to totally rid the extra trash. Also lookin for the real Concord Large Grapes to plant. Do you sale them also? Thanks! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Emmitt
    I sell all of the equipment needed to make wine. The bulk can be found in the "Brewing and Storing/Making and Storing Wine" category or in the "Equipment" category. Items such as yeast or chemicals can be found in the "Ingredients" category.
    We have straining bags to clear the bulk of the pulp and fining agents to help remove the yeast from most wines, but you may also need to consider usng a filter system to fully clear and "polish" the wine. These items are all in the "Equipment/Clearing and Fining" category.
    We do not supply grapes/vines and I suspect you would have to track down a specialist grower/merchant for these items.
    Regards Andy

    Posted on

  18. George

    Thanks for your excellent article. If the ph is high can one add lemon juice to adjust ph. Thanks
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The pH scale is odd in that the lower the number, the more acidic the liquid is, so a pH of 3.1 is actually more acidic than one on 3.4. As a result, adding extra acid (in the form of lemon juice, citric acid powder, malic acid powder or tartaric acid powder) will make the the liquid more acidic, but will make the pH have a lower "numerical" value. If your current pH reading is outside the standard 3.1 to 3.4 range you will need to adjust it by adding chalk if the reading is "numerically less" than 3.1 and adding acid if it is "numerically higher" than 3.4

    Andy

    Posted on

  19. Brent

    I'm just getting grapes from the grocery store why would be the best grape to choose from? At the moment there are these dark purple grapes that are really sweet and was thinking of using those especially since I like a sweeter wine.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Eating grapes" aren't normally used for winemaking as they often lack sufficient acidity, so you will probably need to measure and adjust this, as described in the post. If you measure the sugar content with a hydrometer you should be able to tell what sort of wine you are going to end up with depending on the characteristics of the yeast you are planning to use. You can always stop the yeast whilst there is still unfermented sugar in the must or backsweeten the wine once you've finished the ferment. I would probably be inclined to only make up a gallon of must to start of with until you know what the grapes flavour and sugar characteristics are and then upscale only when you are happy with the results.

    Posted on

  20. Richard A

    I transferred my wine from the bucket into demijohns but it is flat ie not working what can I do?
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sadly, you haven't really given me a great deal to work with here. Without knowing:

    a) If you are relying on natural yeast or introduced yeast,
    b) Whether or not there was any fermentation before the transfer,
    c) How long it was in the bucket before transfer to the Djs,
    d) Whether or not you filtered it during the transfer process (and thus removed too much of the yeast),
    e) The current temperature,
    f) The Starting Gravity and Current Gravity etc,

    It is virtually impossible to diagnose what may be happening and whether or not any action needs to be taken to remedy it. I would be inclined to check the temperature to ensure that it isn't too hot or too cold, and adjust if need be. I would then test the gravity to see whether fermentation has already finished or has merely stalled. If it has stalled after having a substantial gravity drop (60 points more), then, assuming that the temperature is correct, I would give the must a vigorous shake and leave it alone to get on with it. If it has stalled after a small initial gravity drop (35-40 points or less) you could try using a "Restart" yeast. Repitching with additional original yeast MAY NOT work if there is already alcohol in the must as this COULD inhibit the newly added yeast. "Restart" yeast is a lot more robust and will USUALLY work if the gravity drop has been less than 35-40 points.

    Posted on

  21. stephen frank shine

    If you freeze the grapes, do you do this when they are whole?
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    There are two main reasons for freezing grapes and when you do it really depends upon your own circumstances and preferences :

    1) Freezing whole in order to use them at a later date. This will also break down the cell walls so that when they defrost, they are easier to crush and press, and will often then give a slightly higher yield.

    2) Freezing them once crushed or pressed simply because you have realised that you don't have enough time (or sufficient space or demijohns) to process them straight away.

    Posted on

  22. Terri

    Thanks for the easy to follow instructions. My apologies if this is a dumb question, but... If my juice isn't sweet enough and I need to add "sugar", is there a specific "sugar" that vintners use or would common granulated white sugar dissolved in water work? Thanks, Terri
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Granulated sugar is absolutely fine, Terri.

    Posted on

  23. Sab

    Hi Andy Have got approx 6l of must but want to make 30 l of wine , I do have grape juice concentrate to add , 1.75 l I checked the Sg before adding which is 1064 then after the concentrate was 1092. I'm planning to add water to make the 30 l bit stuck on when to check SG again to work out how much sugar (dextrose)to add and after adding the sugar would checking the SG after this help work out the Abv I'm aiming for around 12% thanks. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If you have a three scale hydrometer, such as the Stevenson Reeves one that I sell, one of the scales will show you the "equivalent grammes of sugar per litre" your must contains at each specified SG level. ie, at SG 1064 the EGSL reading is approximately 165g/l. If you want an alcohol content of around 12%, you will need an SG of around 1075-1085 (depending on whether you are making red or white wine, how dry or otherwise you want it to be and which yeast you are using). This corresponds to an EGSL reading of around 195-225. Take the reading for your must once you have added all the water and made sure that it is thoroughly mixed so that you have a consistent density.
    However, if you make up the must to 30l from a starting point of 1092 at 7.75l you are going to get a thin and watery must that will probably end up with an SG of around 1025 and will need an awful lot of sugar adding to get it up to 12%. Assuming an SG of 1025 (based on 30l), to get to the required alcohol content you would add 130-190 extra grammes of suger per litre to your must to raise the SG to the required level, and then pitch your yeast as normal. You may be better aiming for 23l or instead, in which case the SG before adding sugar will be nearer to 1032 and only require you to add 110-140 grammes per litre. In either case, the resultant wine will be thin and watery, with very little body.
    If you want it to be a fuller bodied, richer wine, then, realistically, you would probably be better off only adding enough water to bring the starting volume up to around 10l and adding no sugar as this would give you a start gravity of around 1075 and produce the 12% wine you are looking for.

    Posted on

  24. Jeralene Boettcher

    Can i freeze grapes first as I do not have the time to make wine this month
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Yes, as long as you make sure that you have defrosted them and brought them back to room temperature beofre you pitch the yeast.

    Posted on

  25. Rick

    I have 20 lb of blue grape I know they are not the best for wine but I want to try it. How much sugar do I put.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The answer is, sadly, as much as is needed to bring the start gravity up to 1080-1085 (or your preferred level), depending upon the amount that is naturally present in your grape juice. This varies from year to year and from grape variety to grape variety, which is why the method only suggests a "start gravity", not an amount per litre/per gallon that "needs" to be added.

    Posted on

  26. Clive

    Hi, I have a wonderful crop of smallish red (Italian) grapes, with very many large seeds. But the grapes are very sweet this season (Sept 2022). It seems that for best result I should sift out the seeds. Is that right? But to get a deep colour, I should leave skins in for the first 10 days or so - sifting out the seeds won't be very practical? Any suggestion? Thx, Clive
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As with much of winemaking, whether or not you have to do it "depends" on what you are working with. Many winemakers happily leave the seeds in place, especially if the skins are low in tannin. Most of the bitterness of the seeds becomes more noticeable if they are broken, so a lot will "depend" on how rough you are during the pressing. This may be why, traditionally, commercial winemakers used the "treading the grapes" method rather than mechanical presses to prepare the must. As the seeds will usually sink, leaving the floating pulp and skins on the surface, if you have access to a conical fermenter or a fermenter fitted with a tap, you can drain the liquid wine every 24 hours (leaving the skins and pulp behind) and filter the seeds out through a screen or filter bag, before returning the liquid to fermenter on top of the skins. Commercial winemakers do this and call the process "delestage". If you don't have a suitable fermenter, you could simply remove the floating pulp to a second fermentation vessel and then syphon the liquid on top of it, leaving any seeds behind in the original fermenter.

    Posted on

  27. James Kirkbride

    Hi. Just getting my gear ready for this year's harvest. Not used Ph strips before and see you have a few with different Ph ranges - which are best for white wine please? Do you sell the citric acid and 'chalk' to adjust as well please? TVM Jim K.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The pH value for wine should generally be between 3.1 and 3.4, so any strips that read this will be fine. Ours are marked "2.8-4.6 for wine and cider" in the "Equipment/Testing" category. Citric Acid and Precipitated Chalk are both in the "Ingredients/Other Wine and Beer Ingredients" category on the website.

    Posted on

  28. John laibe

    If I'm reading right crush then press? Last year I just put whole grapes in the press and didn't have a lot of success, (actually broke it) ended up using a juicer, color was really light should I put some of the pulp minus the seeds in to get a darker wine?
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi John.
    Yes, to both questions.

    Posted on

  29. Nigel

    Hi Andy. Great instructions! Really clear. We've a Seyval vine (nearly 20yrs old) and thanks to lockdowns and your blog have just harvested 9.5kg grapes which gave us about 7.25L of must. It's been in the bucket for 7 days going bananas and we've transferred it to a demijohn to complete fermentation. SG has gone from original 1.087 to 0.992 now (so fermentation is presumably nearly done?). We didn't have anything to test pH so just went for it! Just had a little sip during transfer and it was pretty tart?. Is it too late at this stage to test the pH with one of your clever litmus strips and add Precpitated Chalk if needed, or does that have to be done before fermentation begins? Thanks, Nigel
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Nigel.
    At 0.992, its probably pretty much finished and it will be very dry and fairly strong. Its usually better to adjust the pH before fermentation, but you can test it afterwards and adjust with precipitated chalk as you suspected.

    Posted on

  30. Roger Kemp

    Hi Andy followed your instructions using half my own grapes altered the pH and added a Camden tablet per gallon to get rid of natural yeast waited 24 hours then added Gervin G V 2 yeast fermentation has failed to start the other half is fermenting well any suggestions would gratefully be appreciated . Regards Roger Kemp
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Roger. I would check the temperature to ensure that it is between 18-24°C and then give the must a shake to get some oxygen back into the mixture. If it still hasn't started after a further 24 hours, then I would take a new pack of yeast, make up a starter solution and then add it to the must once you are it is actively bubbling.

    Posted on

  31. Tim Young

    Hello. I have used wine kits in the past and have been pleased with the outcome. Now, I have a wine kit and I'd like to add grape juice from our home grown grapes. Other than adding campden to the home grown grape juice before adding it to the kit juice consentrate, is there anything else we need to do before adding this grape juice to the mix ?
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Tim, I would leave it 24 hours after adding the Campden Tablet before mixing it with the kit concentrate and you will need to test the specific gravity so that you don't end up with too much sugar in the final mix, otherwise you risk overwhelming the kit yeast and may end up with either a stuck fermentation or a lot of residual sweetness.

    Posted on

  32. Sandra Beeman

    Do you leave the seeds from the grapes in the mix ? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If you have time on your hands and nothing better to do, I suppose you could try and remove them, but generally, during the crushing, yes you would leave the pips in. If you are leaving the juice to sit on the pulp in the hope of making red or rose wine, then yes, BUT you would want to ensure that you didn't over-run the 4-7 day suggested timespan as you might end up with strange flavours. A lot, of course, would depend on the type of press you use and whether or not it was able to squash and break the pips, as any that can do that will potentially cause problems.

    Posted on

  33. marcy jones

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! this is SO helpful!

    Posted on

  34. Peter Stuart

    I sometimes make wine from kits and am interested in trying to use real grapes. You mention the use of Campden tablets early on to kill off natural yeast. Will this keep 'nasties' at bay? I'm not clear how else you maintain hygiene after freezing and washing the grapes etc. Thanks Peter ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Campden Tablets suppress any "natural yeast" on the grape skins and increase the chances of it being your introduced yeast that caries out the fermentation, rather than any of the "natural yeasts" that may or may not have been present. Once fermentation is underway, any "nasties" are kept out by simply following the standard procedures you would follow when making wine from a kit.

    Posted on

  35. Rich Cronin

    Yes. Very clear and concise . Thank you very much. Also answers below are equally good.

    Posted on

  36. graham

    At last, instructions, help, information, questions that I can understand. Many thanks

    Posted on

  37. Marian Barwell

    Hi, for past 3 years 2017, 18 and 19 we have made wine from our unheated greenhouse very well established red grape vines. The first year the wine was delicious, 2018 not so good and 2019 again not good. Before the first year the vines had been neglected and grapes left on the vine to wither, then we started to prune. Following picking the same procedure has been used. Do grapes have good and bad years? Or perhaps we pruned too hard? This year we are considering leaving the grapes to wither and not pruning to see if 2021 will produce a good crop followed by good wine. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    All grapes vary from year to year depending upon climatic conditions, but not all are absolutely suitable for winemaking as some are "ornamentals" and bred to simply look pretty whilst others are "eaters" and have high sweetness but low acidity. You can generally "adapt" their juice to winemaking, but you will still never achieve the same level of quality that you would if using "appropriate" grapes. Whilst some winemakers deliberately allow their grapes to "wither" to increase the sugar concentration, similar to allowing then to stay on the vine until the first frost when making "ice wines", the trade off is that you will get less juice so will need more grapes per gallon than if you harvest at peak ripeness. It may be worth contacting your local Winemaking association to see if any of their members can give you an assessment of the type of grapes you have and how they should be cared for. The National Association of Winemaking clubs has a website that SHOULD be able to point you towards your nearest club : http://www.nawb.org.uk/index.html.

    Posted on

  38. jim mallows

    Andy, great site, thanks! What is the ideal temperature [in my dining room] to keep air-lock of grape wine bubbling?
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It really depends upon your yeast, but generally standard room temperature of 18-24°C. If you have never done it before, it may be worth making a wine kit first as all the technical stuff will have been done and you can learn how fermentation works and what to look out for.

    Posted on

  39. Terry

    Hi there, I have just picked 17.5kg of white eating grapes .I have just crushed them ready for next step in wine making. I'm new to this , so unsure where to go from here regarding adding water, sugar, yeast etc ( the volume and type of yeast.) Can you help Regards Terry
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Terry
    Personally, if you have never made wine before, I would highly recommend that you freeze the juice for now and start with a standard 6 bottle wine kit in order to learn the basics of fermentation/stabilisation and clearing before you go down the line of following the instructions in this blog post.
    Whilst your grapes may well be "eating grapes" and thus likely to have sufficient sugar of their own for fermentation (though you won't know this unless you test them with a hydrometer as stated in the method listed above), they are probably unlikely to have the correct acidity and any wine made from them is likely to end up fairly insipid unless you test and adjust it.
    If you add water, you will thin out the body so would only really do that if they were excessively sweet and you were trying to reduce the starting gravity to the level listed above.
    I would personally recommend an all purpose white wine yeast with yeast nutrient or the Youngs Super Wine Yeast compound listed on our website (pre-blended yeast and nutrient). It might also be worth acquiring a copy of CJJ Berry's book "First steps in Winemaking" in order to learn the theory before you go any further, especially if you decide not to try using a "kit" wine first.
    Andy

    Posted on

  40. Sandy

    Hi. I've just been given a large amount of grapes for winemaking. They taste lovely and sweet, most are red and some are green (not as ripe and not as sweet but still edible). Quite a few of them are mouldy - can I include these in my wine if I add the campden table? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Sandy,
    Campden Tablets are an anti-oxidant and yeast suppressor. I would personally be inclined to dispose of the mouldy grapes rather than risk ruining the rest of the batch. Regards, Andy

    Posted on

  41. Bobby

    Nice article I have a question, what are the dangers involve for not using a Campden Tablet and directly adding wine yeast in grape juice(obtained from pressing fresh red/black grapes)? thanks
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Bobby,
    In essence, you could simply add your preferred wine yeast immediately at this point. However, if you don't add the Campden tablet in order to inhibit any naturally occuring yeast that may or may not be present on the skins (or thoroughly wash the grapes to ensure that you have removed any yeast that may have been present), you can't be ABSOLUTELY sure that it is YOUR yeast that is doing the fermentation and thus can't predict where the finishing gravity is going to be, or the flavour/body characteristics of the finished wine. As a result, if the fermentation finishes before your expected finishing point, you can't be sure if that's because the yeast has died, the temperature has dropped or its simply stalled. This is a problem as if you don't know what's caused any curtailment, you can't decide what steps to take to attempt to remedy the situation.
    If you want to gamble, feel free to go ahead, but unless you are allergic to the sulphites in Campden Tablets, personally, if i'd put that amount of effort into growing, picking and pressing the grapes, I'ld want a little more certainty over the next part of the process. Regards, Andy

    Posted on

  42. Baz

    Hello, I'm making red wine (my grapes) without commercial yeast (hopefully). I have crushed the grapes and fermenting started quite soon after covering the vessel. I have a reading on the hydrometer of 5.3%. Today is day four since starting, I would like to make/finish this red wine with just the natural yeast. I have made "Kit-wine" many times but curious as to how this way will turn out any advice, please. p.s. I have made cider for years with just the apples and natural jeast and quite nice too. Thanks & regards.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Baz,
    Hydrometers don't normally give actual alcohol readings, they merely indicate the amount of alcohol that will potentially be produced if the sugar present at that point is all fermented, so unless the figure you quote is a calculated figure or from a different type of hydrometer, I would suspect that your gravity reading is probably around 1.040 or there abouts and that there is still quite a bit of fermentation still to complete.
    However, relying on natural yeast makes it impossible to accurately predict what is going to happen as you have no way of knowing which particular strain of yeast is carrying out the fermentation and what its characteristics and alcohol tolerance is. Because of this, all that can be said with certainty is that it will be finished when it is finished and if that happens when there is still unfermented sugar present, the wine will end up sweet. If this happens, there is no real point trying to pitch additional yeast as it is likely to be inhibited by any alcohol that has already been produced, unless the alcohol present is less than about 7%, in which case you MIGHT be able to introduce a "RESTART" yeast. If you have to do that, it is usually better to rehydrate the restart yeast and make up a starter solution and then add the must to the yeast solution in small amounts, rather than adding the yeast to the must, so as to not overwhelm it.
    Regards, Andy

    Posted on

  43. Steve Burnett

    Hi i hope you can help please.I have purchased a 25l starter kit with 2 buckets.This came with little to no instructions and this is my first attempt. My question is...which bucket goes with which lid (bucket with tap hole with lid with hole or what) and which bucket to use first? So many tutorials on line i'm totally confused. Regards Steve B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Steve,
    Starter kits that are purchased without a wine kit rarely include "instructions" (as the instructions are provided with the wine concentrate) because as suppliers, we have no idea what you are going to be making and can not be certain which of the various production methods you are going to be undertaking - different ingredients require different treatments.
    Unless it was purchased by someone else as a present for you, I can't actually find any orders in your name within the last few months and, as my starter kits don't generally come with buckets that have holes in the lid, I'm not ENTIRELY certain what you have actually got within your kit. However, assuming that what you have is similar to the equipment that I supply, after you have prepared the "must" from whatever ingredient you are using and in accoredance with your recipe, you would generally use the "solid" bucket for the primary fermentation, covered with the lid with the hole in it (having plugged this hole with an air lock containing water) and would transfer the finished wine to the bucket that has the tap fitted once fermentation has completed and the wine has cleared. The bucket with a tap is designed to make it easier to carry out the bottling and may or may not have been supplied with a 12"-14" rigid bottling stick that is operated by pushing the bottom of your bottle against the needle valve that is at the end of the rigid tube. If your tap doesn't have a rigid tube, attach a piece of silicone tubing to the tap and use this to fill the bottles.
    Andy

    Posted on

  44. John

    Hi, I have a white grape vine in my green house that produces small grapes that are full of juice but have started to split, does this mean that its ready for harvesting ? They taste very sweet but has a very thin layer of white dust over them, if I wash them can I make wine as per your method ? rgds J
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi John,
    The "white dust" is likely to be "bloom" which is a natural product produced by grapes (and many other fruits) to protect themselves while ripening. If the grapes are sweet and the stems have gone brown (rather than green), then its likely that they are ripe and you can wash the bloom off and attempt to use them as described. The results will, of course, depend on whether or not they are suitable for wine making rather than simply ornamental varieties, but the only way to find out that is to try it and see.
    Regards. Andy

    Posted on

  45. Sarah Norman

    Hi, I've a huge grapevine in my garden that produces green grapes, I'd love to attempt to make wine as I've watched them grow and then fall away for 15 years and thought what a waste. When would you recommend picking? I'm in London and they still seem darkish green and small. Could I use a juicer to extract the juice? Sarah ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Sarah,
    As mentioned in an earlier post, they are ready when they are ready. It varies from year to year depending upon the climatic conditions. The only way to tell is to regularly pick them and taste them. If they make you pucker, they're not ready. Keep an eye on any birds in your garden. They ALWAYS know when fruit is ready and will devour it quicker than you can pick it if you let them have access to it.
    Assuming that they are a suitable variety and not just an ornamental grape, you could use a juicer, but if it isn't an industrial strength one, you may well overheat the motor if you have a lot of grapes. It may be easier to just freeze them in a single layer and then defrost them when you are ready to try making wine. The freezing/defrosting process will break down the cell walls and make it easier to extract the juice manually.

    Posted on

  46. Stephen

    I have a large old vine, probably 80 years old, with lots of white grapes. Do you sell a kit to make wine please, without the grape juice? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Stephen,
    Our Standard 30 bottle wine making starter kit, which contains all of the "equipment" that you need to make wine and has the option of being purchased without a "wine kit"

    Andy

    Posted on

  47. Maria

    Hi Andy, I have a grapevine in my garden which is laden with fruit so I thought I would try some winemaking. When is the optimum time to pick the grapes? Thanks
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Maria,
    The harvest varies from year to year based on temperature and your latitude. In southern/mid France, it usually starts mid-late September, whereas in Northern Germany it can be towards the end of October. It also varies based on the local microclimate.

    For most people in the UK, if the birds are starting to eat them, or you can eat them without them tasting sour and acidic, then they are normally ready.

    Andy

    Posted on

  48. Liz

    Hello. Thanks for your site. Would you sterilise the first bin that you crush the grapes in please? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Liz,

    I would always sanitise (clean, immediately before use, with your preferred cleaning solution and then rinse with clean water*) every piece of equipment that is going to be used during the process, in order to minimise the risk of any external contamination of the juice/must.

    Andy

    *There are "No Rinse" cleaners available that break down to leave only water and thus nominally don't need to be further rinsed, just emptied or left to drain from your equipment. Personally, I don't use them as I prefer to have the certainty that I have rinsed away any residue from the cleaning process.

    Posted on

  49. Goodfellow

    Hi - you don't mention washing the grapes before crushing... ? Regards, Ned :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Ned.

    The main problem with posting any form of "guideline/methodology" is that you have to make a few assumptions as to the common sense of your readers in order to tread a fine line between providing simplified, logical, reasonably easy to follow instructions without being overly patronising or attempting to "second guess" every possible combination of individual wine maker's circumstances.

    By and large, as long as the grapes being used aren't covered in bird droppings or industrial chemicals (in which case I would hope that common sense would kick in), washing isn't absolutely necessary and is more or less completely unnecessary if you've grown them in a greenhouse without chemicals or bought them from, or been given them by, a greengrocer. This is because the process described uses Campden Tablets to suppress any natural yeast, which is the only real benefit of washing them if they are already clean. I will, however amend them to clarify that it may be necessary to wash them in certain circumstances.

    Andy

    Posted on

  50. Valerie

    If I don't produce enough juice from my white grapes can I top up with something else ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Valerie,

    You can top up with anything you like, eg fruit juice, grape juice, grape concentrate, sugar solution etc, as long as it is preservative free (as the preservative will probably inhibit your yeast) and as long as you take account of the sugar content of whatever you have introduced in order to make sure that the start gravity remains where you want it to be as per the recipe you are using.

    Andy

    Posted on

  51. Neil

    Many years ago i attempted my hand at Grape wine, didn't realise the effect of not checking with hydrometer ! Very messy. I stick to other fruit wines now, elderberry, gooseberry, damson, plum and raspberry....to name a few.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hi Neil
    As with "Cider Making from their own apples", people tend to think that making wine with their own grapes is easy and straightforward and it is really furstrating to see their enthusiasm sucked away because they tried to go down the "all natural route", rather than stack the odds in their favour by following a few simple(ish) steps to ensure success. I'm glad to hear that your setback didn't stop you from sticking with the hobby and finding success with alternative ingredients. Andy

    Posted on

Add a comment