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When I make wine and have a full carboy out in the open I always wrap it in an old towel (in this case, an old “Les Miserables” beach towel we weren’t using anymore).

The main reason I do it is so that the natural light coming in from the window doesn’t interfere with the wine.  If you don’t do this you could fall prey to the following:

1. The colour of your wine could fade
2. The heat from the light could cause temperatures of your wine must to go up and down throughout the day.
3. The UV light could damage your wine

I’m sure you’ve heard that you should store your wine in a cool dark room and not use clear bottles for your wine and this is why.

I was reading the December 2008 - January 2009 edition of WineMaker Magazine and saw a great idea, which I wanted to pass along. It basically takes my idea and gives a bit of a nudge.

Instead of using an old towel Scott Freedman from http://homemadewine.wordpress.com/ suggested using an old t-shirt instead.

It sounded like a great a idea so I gave it a try this evening and it works perfectly!

Think about it, the hole for the head fits nicely over the neck of the carboy (we wrapped it around the neck) and a large shirt is long enough/wide enough to fit around a 23-litre carboy.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

- Scott “The Wine Making Guy’

I was asked the other day how I clean my wine making equipment so I thought this would be a good topic for my “question of the week” as I’m sure there are others curious as well. So here’s what I do to keep the germs off my winemaking gear:

I call it the “Double Whammy”!

Step 1 - Pink Solution (Sani Brew)

It’s comes as chlorinated pink powder that you dissolve 3.5 g per litre of cold water (5 tsp. per gal). Soak stained equipment up to 48 hours. Rinse thoroughly with hot water. Because it’s a chlorine product you want to be careful with stainless steel equipment and you’ll also want to make sure you rinse really well. I like soaking my wine and beer bottles in it for several days to clean all the “gunge” out of them, especially if they’re used. It’s also great for removing stains from your equipment (especially your primary).

Step 2 - MetaBisulphite spray down.

This is a good sanitizer as well but doesn’t clean like in step one hence why I do both.  I use a spray bottle like the one below as it really helps get you good coverage.  The nice thing about the MetaBisulphite solution is that it is reusable for up to a month.  Note that it has a strong sulphur smell so use it in a well ventilated area so you don’t irritate your lungs.  I typically rinse my equipment after using it but some people just let their equipment drip dry as it won’t be a bad thing if it gets into your wine as it will help prevent oxidization.

Anyhoo, that’s basically what I do to clean my equipment.

Oh … one thing you might want to do is go to your hardware store and invest in a short garden hose that you can attach to a tap as this’ll help you clean your primary and secondary.  I was able to pick one up that was about 6 feet long with one end open and the other with the tap connector. I’ve used it for years and it makes things really easy. Make sure that you clean this out first (i.e. in step 1) so that you clean out any bugs that might be lurking in it as well.

If you’re interested in some more details on how to clean your equipment here are two good resources for you:

• http://www.clickabrew.com/cn-0903.html (scroll down the page and look for “Cleaning & Sanitising your Winemaking Equipment”
• http://www.eckraus.com/Cleaners_-and-_Sanitizers.html (an online store where you can buy some of the sanitizers)
• http://www.grapestompers.com/sanitation.asp (lot’s of great detail here)

If you have any interesting cleaning methods please share below!

- Scott

With so much conflicting information, it’s hard to know what you should or shouldn’t be eating and drinking to stay healthy. While there is no firm medical proof, most studies point to health benefits from drinking red wine.

What Can Red Wine Do?

While red wine and Fruit Wine isn’t considered a cure all (and certainly not a substitute for visiting your doctor), there are some widely agreed upon benefits to drinking red wine. The most promising benefit is that red wine is believed to protect against certain forms of cancer & heart disease. In fact, some studies show up to a 30%-50% reduction in heart disease of those who consumed a glass of red wine each night. It also appears to have a positive effect on cholesterol & blood pressure. And finally, drinking red wine has been shown to lower the risk of heart attacks in middle-aged (30-50 years old) adults.

Why Red Wine?

Experts started to study the benefits of red wine and Liqueurs when they started to notice a correlation between populations who drank red wine regularly and lower incidences of disease. This was especially evident in the Mediterranean region, where red wine is plentiful. They also studied the so-called “French Paradox,” where the French have a lower rate of heart disease and obesity even though they consume a higher-fat diet. Most of the benefits of red wine come from the antioxidants present in it. Studies show that red wine has a high concentration of antioxidants, which are known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. The antioxidants have been found to increase HDL cholesterol (the good kind of cholesterol) and help prevent blood clots and plaque from forming on arteries.

How Much Should I Drink to See the Health Benefits of Red Wine?

Most experts believe that it takes very little to see the health benefits of red wine and Homemade Wine Recipes. Moderation is truly the key – one glass of wine per day for women and one or two glasses for men. Keep in mind, as well, that a glass of wine is considered to be four ounces. This isn’t to say that you should be drinking a bottle of red wine each night. In fact, most experts believe that the health benefits of red wine are lost if wine is consumed to excess. There is also the concern that those who have a family history of alcoholism or other pre-existing health conditions should not be drinking red wine. In these cases, the benefits do not outweigh the risks.

What are the Most Common Types of Wine Storage Solutions?

Wine storage and making wine is one of the most incredibly important parts in the entire overall wine process, and the most commonly used types of wine storage solutions are: wine cabinets, cooling units, wine racks, and custom designed wine cellars. A wine cabinet is one of the most particularly common wine storage solutions, and the choosing of a wine cabinet is of the utmost importance, as it is absolutely essential to know how to properly determine the optimal wine cabinet device.

If you are in search of a wine storage solution such as a wine cabinet, one optimum choice is that by Dometic, whose features include: no vibrations and no noise thanks to the proper absorption process, constant temperature throughout the year thanks to temperature regulation, constantly humidity of between 50 and 70 percent, anti UV protected glass, and constant ventilation as well.

As for wine and liqueurs cooling units, these are wine storage devices which are designed specifically to provide the most optimal conditions for the storage and aging of your wines, and these cellars provide an optimal, dark, quiet, and vibration-free environment with proper humidity levels that are required for the proper storing of any type of wine.

Breezaire is a popular company that offers wine cooling units, as they have the full range of wine cellar cooling units in order to meet the customers’ needs. As well, they offer both that of self-contained wine cellaring units and split wine cooling systems, which overcome almost any possible construction challenge. You can also request that Breezaire specifically design your wine cooling unit, so that it will fit your designated room perfectly and properly.

In regards to wine racks, these too are forms of storage for wine, and there are again many different styles and sizes to choose from. Then there is also the option of custom designed wine cellars. These are an especially sought after choice, as many people have large and extensive collections of wine, and these wine cellars are custom made to your exact desired measurements.

Any true wine connoisseur understands the true and essential value of the proper storage solutions for wine and wine glass, as the better kept and preserved the wine is while being stored, quite obviously the better it will taste once it is opened. Some wines are even aged for up to a hundred years or more even, and so to waste all of that delicious ripening process due to using the wrong storage methods, would be pretty disappointing to anyone.

Click here to learn how to build your own wine cellar

The home wine makers may want to blend wines in order to improve the taste of a particular wine. This is different than commercial wineries that blend wines in order to create consistency in the wines that they sell.

To be able to calculate how to properly blend wines, it is recommended that the home winemaker use the Pearson Square because it is a visual math tool that can help determine values when blending wines and it is a tool that anyone can use.

Pearson’s Square:

Let us look at an example of using this simple application. Let us say that you have two wines, and one has an acid level of 1.2 and the other is 0.5. Let us say further that you want the end acid result to be .8. The top left corner (A) and the bottom left corner (B) represent the acid level of the two wines you are trying to blend. The center number in the square (C) is the desired acid level. The two numbers on the right are numbers that you calculate. Square D (0.4) is the difference between square A (1.2) and square C (0.8); in addition, the square E (0.3) is the difference between square B (0.5) and square C (0.8).

You now have the numbers 0.4 and 0.3. This creates a 4 to 3 ratio of the wines. When you blend these two wines, you will use four parts of the first wine for every three parts of the second wine in order to get an acid level of 0.8. This simple calculation is already taking you down the road of creating the blended wine that you desire.

There are certain rules that should be followed when attempting to blend two wines:

• Blend two wines at a time in small quantities. Make sure you write down the results.
• Filter the wine after you blend.
• Spit don’t swallow when testing.
• Blend two similar wines of the same year.
• Wait a day before blending large quantities and retest your final formula.
• Test with the end product in mind. What is it you want to improve?
• Need some inspiration? Go to your local wine store and see what commercial wineries have blended.

If you follow these simple ways you should be able to make your own wine blend with fantastic results.

Interested In Learning More?

Here are some great resources I have found online that you should consider having a look at:

• Using Pearson’s Square (PDF) (from the North Texas Wine Makers Guild)
• Person’s Square Calculator (Excel Spreadsheet) (from the North Texas Wine Makers Guild)
• Tim Patterson’s Blending Spreadsheet (from WineMaker Magazine)

Scott “The Wine Making Guy”

What kind of yeast do you use to make your wine? Ever thought of using liquid yeast instead of dry yeast?

In my latest video I discuss the pro’s and con’s of using dry yeast and liquid yeast to make your wine.

Would love to hear what your thoughts are on this so please do leave me a comment!

- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”

Here’s some further reading on yeast I found for you:

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