Friday, April 12, 2013

Adventures in Winemaking: Part 3

Part 3 of this winemaking process is the Stabilising and Clearing stage. Before beginning, you need to clean and sanitize the hydrometer, test jar, wine thief, and the spoon. This step happens 10 days after part 2.


Sorry, Nick, no cats allowed. 

1.) The first thing to do is to check the specific gravity to ensure that it is at or below 0.996. Ours was at 0.992, so we were able to proceed to the next step.

2.) Once you've determined that the specific gravity is low enough to move on, you need to dissolve packet #3, metabisulphite, and package #4, sorbate, into a 1/2 cup of cool water.
 


 We like to use bottled water instead of tap. Don't have to, we just do. Water snobs.



 


3.) Once it is dissolved, add to the carboy and stir vigorously for two minutes. Make sure you stir up the yeast sediment on the bottom, and stir hard in order to degas the wine.
 



 
4.) Shake package #5, Chitosan, which is a clarifier. Carefully cut the corner of the package open and pour contents into the carboy. Again, stir vigorously for two minutes. This helps degas the wine in order to help it clear.
 



 5.) Once you're finished stirring, top the carboy with water until there are only two inches left between the wine and the bottom of the bung.
 6.) Attached the bung and the airlock, ensuring that the airlock is filled halfway with water.

 
7.) In fourteen days, it'll be time to bottle!!!

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