I have often been accused of complicating simple mat­ters. This is untrue, for wine-making is a very compli­cated business, yet simple enough when it is fully un­derstood. Thousands of people believe that making wine is merely a matter of producing a liquid containing sugar, flavoring mediums and yeast and then allowing the wine to make itself under any sort of unhygienic conditions. Readers will know by now how false this belief really is, and they will not be surprised to learn that there is quite a lot of chemistry in the 'know-how* of wine-making.

The average home producer need not bother about much of this - indeed he will most likely make better wines for knowing nothing of it. But some familiarity with the chemical processes involved is necessary.

The partial sterilization of juices and the chemical preservation of wines which I am about to describe I use myself with complete safety and unfailing success. In using such methods we are merely copying those used by the trade.

Sterilizing the juices

To destroy all the harmful bacteria in a fruit-juice-and-water mixture, it would have to be boiled for at least fifteen minutes, and the natural flavor of the juice would be ruined. The wine would have a 'cooked* flavor. The long periods of boiling when bottling fruits are intended to destroy bacteria which might begin to turn the bottled fruits into sour wine; the consequent stewed-fruit flavor is the natural and desired outcome.

Our aim then, as is the trade's, must be not so much the complete destruction of harmful bacteria, but the bringing about of conditions in which they cannot do their work, and in which the yeast can ferment the juice unmolested.

In Chapter 1 I advised boiling the juice for short periods, and this gives excellent safeguard. This, to­gether with the use of sulphur dioxide for sterilizing bottles, etc., has always given me 1oo per cent success.

But even boiling for very short periods sometimes has an adverse effect on certain fruit juices, and here is where sulphur dioxide comes in. As it is used for the home preserving of fruit it is quite safe to use in wine-making. Campden fruit-preserving tablets contain 50 per cent sulphur dioxide; two of these tablets, when crushed and dissolved in a cupful of juice, can be added to one gallon of fruit-and-water mixture to sterilize it and at the same time allow a suitable yeast to ferment the juice. I am fortunate in always having a vigorous dried yeast available and I find that this will ferment a 'must* containing the above amount of sulphur dioxide. Wine yeasts (of which I have something to say on page 97) are propagated under laboratory conditions and in the proximity of sulphur; these yeasts will then with­stand this small dose of sulphur.

Readers unable to obtain a sulphur-dioxide solution from their chemists can easily make up a solution for themselves by dissolving an ounce of sodium metabi-8ulphite (about 8d. from any chemist) in half a gallon of warm water. If you do this, try to use a glass-stopper half-gallon bottle (about is. 6d.) and leave a couple of inches to spare at the top. This solution can be used and re-used for ages - until there is no whiff of the gas when smelled carefully. Never take a good sniff of this stuff as it can knock some people off their feet. I find that the odor is strongest when the bottles are rinsed out (see p. 12), so be careful. Where Camp-den tablets are recommended to be added to a must it is best to use them instead of some of the stock solution diluted, as these give greater accuracy.

Should you prefer to rid the juice of this sulphur and to ferment, say, with baker's yeast, you have merely to pour the *must' from one vessel to another once or twice to liberate the gas. It should be borne in mind that harmful bacteria reaching the fermenting 'must* during later stages might not be prevented from doing damage if the sulphur has been removed. It is best to leave the sulphur dioxide where it is for the time being.

The advantage of using sulphur dioxide is that we are enabled to ferment the whole mixture, skins, pips and fleshy pith, with the result that we get much more flavor and more desirable chemical matter from our fruits. Besides all this, since we are not boiling our juices and therefore have no need to fear pectin, the tedium of straining through a jelly-bag is done away with.

Straining the fermenting 'must* after fourteen days' fermentation will liberate excess sulphur dioxide, leaving a pure, healthy, fermenting 'must*.

After straining, fermentation may slow down or stop for a little while, but it will soon get going again. The airing given during straining often gives rise to a very vigorous ferment, which, at this stage, is not to be encouraged.

Safety of the wine from now on is most important; the best plan is to put the strained fermenting wine into stone jars or large glass bottles which have been ster­ilized, and to fit fermentation locks. These will control fermentation and keep all harmful bacteria at bay. You may, if you wish, leave the strained wine for twenty-four hours to allow much waste matter to settle, and then siphon off the clearer wine into fresh jars before fitting the fermentation locks. If you do this, keep the wine well covered.

Fermentation Locks

The whole idea of using fermentation locks is to exclude all air and therefore all harmful bacteria from the wine: so we must ensure airtight sealing, and this is easily effected with a hot screw-driver and plenty of sealing-wax. Run sealing-wax round the point where the lock enters the bung and round the join where the bung en­ters the jar. After the lock is fitted, a little water is poured into it (see illustration on p. 95). As fermentation continues the excess carbon-dioxide gas forces its way through the water in the form of bubbles.

It is quite impossible to drill a cork or cork-bung with drills intended for wood or steel; special tools are need­ed. However, this difficulty may be overcome by burn­ing a hole through the bung with a hot (not red-hot) iron about half the thickness of the glass stem. The resulting hole is then the right size. Start at the narrow end and try to keep straight. Since the wine is quite safe where it is, there is no need to hurry fermentation - in fact it is best to allow a rather cooler ferment, as a warm, and therefore vigorous, ferment often causes froth to be forced up into the fermentation lock.

When all fermentation has ceased, I find it best to soften the sealing-wax round the lock and to ease this out with a twisting movement. I then put a spigot in its place. This is pressed in firmly and sealed with sealing-wax. The wine is then put in a cool place to clear.

Beginners are always impatient to get their wines clear and into bottles; experienced wine-makers will know that it is best to leave the wine at least six months before bottling it - a year is even better.

Another advantage in using fermentation locks is that they not only keep all air and therefore all harmful bacteria from the wine, but they also prevent any bac­teria that may be present in the 'must* at the time of fitting the lock from doing any damage. Bacteria cannot live without air, whereas yeast can both live and work without it.

Many people successfully make wine in this way with­out sulphiting the juices, but by preparing the 'must* and carrying on the whole of fermentation under fer­mentation locks. I do not recommend this method, for I have found that any wild yeast already present will do its damage nevertheless. In any case even if yeast can live and work without air, it does its work far better with plenty of air during the early stages - say for the first seven or fourteen days.

It is true that a great deal of air is put into the 'must* when the fruit is crushed, but this is probably used up too soon to be of much use.

I am in favor of sulphiting the juices and then carrying on the ferment in an 'open* tub, stirring it occasionally before fitting the locks. The value of the fermentation lock will never be disputed, but it should not be used as an alternative to taking reasonable pre­cautions against spoilage.

Utensils

Earthenware vessels (crocks), china vessels and poly­thene pails are quite suitable for fermenting a 'must* containing sulphur dioxide. Wooden tubs may be used but these must be scrubbed well inside with pure (boiled) water before and after use, and exposed to sul­phur fumes before a fresh brew is put into them. Speci­ally prepared sulphur matches are obtainable, but if this job has to be carried out indoors you might find the fumes more than you can put up with.

Wooden vessels must not be rinsed in a solution of sulphur dioxide because it will soak into the wood and may destroy the yeast in the 'must'. It will probably flavor the wine too. You must remember that metals must not come into contact with a brew containing sulphur dioxide. Stir with a wooden or polythene spoon.

When you put the clear wine into bottles which have been sterilized with sulphur dioxide and then rinsed with boiled water, a tiny amount of SO2 will be left in the air-space between the wine and the cork; cork each bottle immediately to capture and retain this gas for its protective properties. Airtight sealing of bottles as des­cribed in Chapter 1 is still essential.

Preserving Wines With SO2

I have found that by boiling juices, sterilizing bottles, jars and corks, and ensuring airtight sealing of the bottled wine - as in Chapter 1 - and by using the methods described here, my wines are rendered im­mune from attacks by harmful bacteria however long I may choose to keep them.

Nevertheless, a word about preserving wines with sulphur dioxide must be included. The limit of SO2 allowed by law in alcoholic wines is four hundred and fifty parts per million (450 parts SO2 to 1,000,000 parts wine). More than two hundred and fifty parts per mil­lion would probably spoil the flavor of the wine. Al­though I no longer preserve my wines, I have used two hundred parts per million without there being the slight­est trace of it in the finished wine poured into a glass.

A friend of mine - new to wine-making - who refuses to use SO2 in his 'must*, tastes his wines almost every week and confesses that 'the slightest sharpness makes me nearly have kittens over acetic bacteria, and in go the Campden tablets'. I have not yet found the heart (or heartlessness) to tell him that once the change has be­gun there is no control. To get approximately 200 parts SO2 to 1,000,000 in one gallon of wine using Campden fruit-preserving tablets, crush three and a half tablets and dissolve the powder in a little of the wine, and then pour this into the rest of the wine as soon as fermenta­tion has ceased. Whether this amount will affect the taste depends on the strength of flavor of the wine so treated.

a. Cork with the hole drilled through it.

b. Cork fitted to the lock. Note that the long end of the lock is pushed through the cork.

I. Fitting the fermentation lock.

a. When the cork has been fitted to the jar, water is poured in to the level shown.

b. Position of the water im­mediately before a bubble forces its way through to escape.

2. The fitted lock.

Root Wines and the Scientific Approach

All the root-wine recipes call for boiling of the ingre­dients. Therefore there is no need for sulphur dioxide in the fermenting liquid - I can hardly call it 'must' -provided the brew is kept well covered. With these re­cipes we merely fit fermentation locks after we have put the strained wine into stone jars at the end of the four­teen days* fermentation period. However, if you insist on using it, SO2 can be added when the brew has cooled and before the yeast is added.

Fruit Wines and the Scientific Approach

The procedure when making fruit wines is as follows. Select the fruit, crush it, and add the dissolved Camp-den tablets. Leave as it is or liberate the gas by pouring from one vessel to another once or twice. Boil the water, or heat it sufficiently to dissolve the sugar quickly. Put in the sugar and when this is dissolved and the liquid is quite cool, add the crushed fruit. Add the yeast and ferment for fourteen days. Then strain it, put the strain­ed wine into stone jars or large glass bottles and fit fer­mentation locks.

Allow the fermentation to complete itself. Remove the lock, plug the hole with a spigot, and seal with sealing wax.

Leave in a cool place for six months or a year and then bottle.

Note: the sulphiting method often proves unsatis­factory when used to make flower wines. Always follow the directions given in Chapter 1 when making these.

Readers not wishing to use sulphur dioxide in the fermenting 'must', may use the method of producing the wines detailed in Chapter 1 and fit fermentation locks when the still fermenting wine is put into stone jars.

As will be seen, there are many methods and each has its own advantage. Once the fundamental principles of wine-making are fully understood the operator will please himself how he makes his wine, but bearing in mind the need for sterility throughout the process.

Wine Yeasts

Baker's yeast is most frequently used by the average home wine-maker, chiefly because he is unaware that there are yeasts especially prepared for his purpose.

There are several varieties of wine yeast, and while these are intended expressly for the makers of grape wines, they may be used with considerable advantage when making wines from other fruits. I have used baker's yeast, brewer's barm and wine yeasts for root wines, flower wines, dried-fruit wines and for wines made with a mixture of roots, dried fruit and fresh fruits (as in the jungle juice recipes), and all with much the same results. But there was marked improvement in flavor and bouquet when the hedgerow fruits were fer­mented with wine yeasts.

Readers new to wine yeast would do well to try an all-purpose wine yeast suitable for making red or white wines and then, as experience allows, specialize with selected fruit and a special yeast culture. Only after ex­periment in this field will it be possible to decide which yeasts are needed to ferment to the best advantage the fruits of one's choice.

Special cultures are usually supplied in tubes or bottles and may be used for one to twenty gallons. By following the directions provided by the supplier, these yeasts may be used and re-used, and the small initial cash outlay will be well worth while. Dried wine yeasts in tablet form would be ideal for the beginner's use.

It is impossible to decide in advance which yeast to choose, for much depends on the result you want to obtain. Naturally, the reader will choose a port yeast for fermenting a fruit which would in the normal way pro­duce a port-style wine - plums, damsons, elderberries, etc. Amongst the various wine yeasts available are:

Sherry yeast

Champagne yeast

Madeira yeast

Wine yeasts are usually more tolerant to alcohol than baker's yeast and may allow for as much as 18 per cent alcohol, or even a little more.

People who are used to making wines with baker's yeast are familiar with the customary vigorous ferment, with its savage hissing and, sometimes, masses of froth. They should not expect the same from a wine yeast; these seldom make much of a show, but get on with the job quietly and effectively, taking perhaps rather a long time over it. If fermentation locks are used there is no hurry, because the wines will be perfectly safe under them.

In subsequent chapters I recommend using various dried wine yeasts or an all-purpose wine yeast -'started' as described below - and I also advise the use of yeast nutrient (see p. 100). But these are only recom­mendations, and you may not wish or be able to follow them exactly.

So you can omit the nutrient if you wish; and if you would rather not stock up with a variety of wine yeasts you can use an all-purpose one instead. Or you may use a wine yeast of your own choosing where I have selected an all-purpose yeast or the one I, personally, consider most suitable. In other words, you can move about a bit of your own accord without fear of failure.

My recommendations are for what I consider the best results - and certainly I am rarely disappointed in my wine - but average results are readily obtained when the above variations are employed.

Personal taste is the main factor and in this the reader has only himself to please. He is lucky: I have to satisfy the exacting palate of many friends, relatives and acquaintances, besides that of a most discerning wife, who keeps me on my toes.

Yeast Starter

It is best to prepare the yeast three or four days ahead of actually adding it to the must. The idea here is to get what we call a nucleus fermentation on the go ready to take possession of the must at the very beginning. A previously prepared yeast is already working at the time it is put into the must; and within an hour or so the whole lot is in a state of active fermentation. If the yeast tablet is merely crushed and added dry, the start of the vigorous ferment might be delayed several days.

For practical purposes the method is the same when dried wine yeasts are used or when one of the more expensive bottle culture wine yeasts is used. Some suppliers favor a slightly different method of starting their yeasts, and if they do, they will provide the fullest directions with their products, so you need not worry. In any case, it will not vary much from the directions which follow.

Take a clean, freshly sterilized bottle, about a quarter-pint size, and three-parts fill this with boiled water in which has been dissolved a dessertspoonful of sugar. Then add the yeast tablet. Plug the neck of the bottle with cotton wool - this is most important; re­member that wild yeast and bacteria can reach this ferment if it is not protected.

After a while the water will become cloudy; evidence that the yeast is becoming active. Shake the bottle gently once or twice a day.

Yeast Nutrient

When wines are fermenting under locks the yeast is de­prived of air, and may need a little stimulant to help it along. In any case, fruit juices and 'must* - mixtures of fruit and water - other than that produced by crushing grapes lack to some extent the desirable chemical mat­ter and other substances important to the satisfactory growth of the yeast. This deficiency may be made up by the introduction of a yeast nutrient. Many experienced wine-makers are satisfied to add a little citric acid or tartaric acid, but there is something to be said for using a proper nutrient, especially when baker's yeast is being used.

A nutrient used with wine yeasts to ferment various wild and cultivated fruits (other than grapes) produces finer wines than those fermented with wine yeasts alone. And experiments prove that a nutrient used with baker's yeast produces far better wines than when baker's yeast alone is used. I am giving here the formula of the nu­trient I use for one or two gallons of wine:

Tartaric acid    40 grains

Ammonium sulphate   30 grains

Magnesium sulphate     4 grains

Citric acid    27 grains

Potassium phosphate 15 grains

Any chemist will make it up for you.

The nutrient may be added at the same time as the yeast or it may be added at the time the fermenting wine is put under fermentation locks.

Yeast nutrient tablets - which might prove cheaper -may be obtained in phials of eight for about is. 6d., usually enough for ten gallons of wine; one for one gallon and so on, four for five gallons and eight for ten.

Water

An adjustment to certain recipes will be necessary if you decide to sulphur the juices as I advise in this chapter. Since we are not boiling our fruit-and-water mixtures there will be no evaporation, and since we shall be using fermentation locks after a while, there will be less evaporation than there would be if we were carrying out the entire fermentation without them. So we shall not require that extra quart or pint. The amount of fruit recommended in the recipes remains the same, but in all cases one gallon of water only will be needed, or even less.

Filtering

There are various filtering media on the market -papers, asbestos pulps, pads, etc. - and one often reads of the need to filter finished wines. I do not agree with this, because the flavor is usually impaired; also, the wine can absorb too much air during the time needed for filtering. In any case, filtering exposes wines to un­desirable yeast and bacteria, and a finished wine should not need filtering.

However, it is a good thing to filter juices before making them into wines, since this means that every particle of pectin-bearing fruit is removed. As I ex­plained in Chapter 1, fruit contains pectin; so that if particles of fruit remain in the juice when it is boiled there is the risk that pectin will be boiled into the juice, and the wine made from it will not clear.

I have recommended jelly-bag straining in the recipes, and this is usually sufficient, but filtering is just as good if you prefer it.

102 home wine-making without failures

Three Scientific Methods

It will be noted that, in the following methods, all the sugar is not added at once; this is because wine yeasts do not like a lot of sugar to work on all at once. Too much sugar at the outset might retard fermentation or even prevent it altogether. Or it might get going and then stop.

Method 1. The yeast starter is ready and you have decided which wine to make. You have the recipe handy.

Crush the fruits and add half the amount of water prescribed in the recipe. Mix well together and leave to stand for an hour. Then press through a coarse cloth. Wring this out as tightly as you can to get the maximum amount of juice.

Having squeezed out the juice, boil half the remain­ing water and dissolve half the amount of sugar to be used in this. This will be three-quarters of the water used so far, and half the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and add this sugar-water (syrup) to the strained juice.

Crush one Campden tablet with a wooden spoon or the bone handle of a knife and dissolve this in a few drops of water. Then stir this into the liquid.

If the must - as it has now become - is cool, add the yeast starter and nutrient tablet. Cover the fermenting vessel with a double thickness of blanketing and tie this down securely and tightly. If a heavy board is available rest this on top of the vessel. Put the must in a warm place and leave undisturbed for seven days.

Now boil the other half of the sugar in the remaining quarter of the water. When all is dissolved allow to cool and then pour this into the fermenting must.

Cover again as before and leave for twelve or twenty-four hours, whichever suits you best. Then put the wine into a stone or glass jar or bottles. In the ordinary way, this is the time to fit the fermentation lock; and I do strongly recommend readers to do this. But if the lock is not used, cover the tops of the jars with a piece of cloth measuring about three inches each way. On top of this put a knob of cotton wool; press this flat so that it overlaps the rim of the jar and then place another piece of cloth over this and press down all round. Tie tightly with thin string. If you wind the string round the necks of the bottles several times, so much the better.

Put the jars or bottles in a warm place and leave until all fermentation has ceased.

If large glass bottles (carboys) are used, fermenta­tion may be watched with interest and the beginner will be able to tell when fermentation has ceased, i.e. when no more tiny bubbles are rising to the surface. When this happens, the covers must be removed, the bung is pressed home as hard as can be and the bottle or jar is sealed with sealing or candle wax. The wine is then put into the coolest spot in the house for three months. By this time it will be clear and ready for bottling.

Method 2. When this method is used, the whole of the crushed fruit is fermented and this is carried on in a fermenting vessel for the first few days.

Crush the fruit and set aside in the fermenting vessel. Now boil three-quarters of the water and dissolve in this half the amount of sugar prescribed in the recipe. Allow it to cool and pour into the fruit.

Crush one Campden tablet with a wooden spoon or the bone handle of a knife; dissolve this in a little water and pour into the must. Then add the yeast starter and nutrient tablet. Cover this as directed in Method 1 and leave to ferment for four to seven days according to the recipe.

Then strain the fermenting must through a coarse cloth and wring every drop of juice out of it. Pour this into a stone jar or carboy.

Now boil the other quarter of the water and dissolve the other half of the sugar in this. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved and allow this sugar-water (syrup) to cool. Then pour it into the rest.

When this has been done fit the fermentation lock or cover as directed in Method 1.

The wine must then be returned to its warm place to finish fermenting. This should be all over in three months, but it might take a good deal longer. When fermentation has ceased, you should remove the lock by warming the wax and easing the lock out in a twist­ing movement, or you can remove bung and lock com­pletely and hammer in a new bung. If only the lock is removed the hole must be filled with a spigot, or spile as it is sometimes called. Either way, the new bung or spile must be sealed in with sealing wax or candle wax.

If you wish, you may transfer the wine to a new carboy as soon as fermentation has ceased. If the wine is reasonably clear it may be left for six months before bottling.

Method 3. Crush the fruits and strain out every drop of juice. Then boil three-quarters of the water and dissolve half the sugar in it. Allow to cool, then pour this syrup into the strained juice.

Add the yeast starter and nutrient tablet. Pour the lot into a stone jar or carboy and fit the fermentation lock. Put in a warm place and ferment for seven days. Then boil the other quarter of the water and dissolve in this the other half of the sugar. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Allow this syrup to cool and pour it into the bulk of the liquid.

Refit the fermentation lock, return the jar to its warm place and allow fermentation to continue until it is finished. Then transfer to another jar and store in a cool place for three months before bottling.

Campden tablets are not needed when using this method.

It will be clear to the reader that he can borrow half of one method and tack it on to the next and make his wine in practically any way he wishes. There is nothing like personal experience and experiment with different methods to enable him to decide which one he likes best or which is most convenient to himself.

In the recipes I shall cover certain points again so that the reader will not be left in doubt.

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