Basic Wine

Part of Fermentation and Brewing

Wine is the simplest alcohol to make — crush fruit, add yeast (or let wild yeast do its work), and wait. Unlike beer, wine requires no malting, no mashing, and no boiling. It is fermentation in its most direct form.

Wine is humanity’s oldest intentionally produced alcoholic beverage. Any fruit with enough sugar will ferment into wine if exposed to yeast. Grapes are the classic choice because they have naturally high sugar content, balanced acidity, and abundant wild yeast on their skins — but wine can be made from virtually any fruit, berry, flower, or even vegetable.

In a rebuild scenario, wine serves multiple purposes beyond enjoyment: it is a preserved form of fruit calories that keeps for years, a safe beverage in situations where water quality is uncertain, a trade commodity, a social lubricant for community cohesion, a solvent for herbal medicine extracts, and a source of vinegar (the most versatile preservative and cleaning agent available).

Overview of the Wine Process

Step	Purpose	Duration	Equipment Needed
1. Crushing/pressing	Release juice from fruit	1-2 hours	Hands, bucket, press (optional)
2. Must preparation	Adjust sugar and acid	30 minutes	Tasting ability or hydrometer
3. Yeast pitching	Introduce fermentation organism	5 minutes	Wild yeast on skins or starter
4. Primary fermentation	Vigorous sugar-to-alcohol conversion	5-7 days	Open vessel with cloth cover
5. Pressing (if on skins)	Separate wine from solids	1-2 hours	Press, strainer, or cloth bag
6. Secondary fermentation	Slow, final sugar conversion	2-6 weeks	Sealed vessel with airlock
7. Racking	Remove sediment	30 minutes	Siphon tube, clean vessel
8. Clearing and aging	Flavor development, clarification	1-6 months	Patience
9. Bottling	Long-term storage	1-2 hours	Bottles, corks, or sealed jars

Total time from fruit to drinkable wine: 2-6 months. Most of this is passive waiting.

Step 1: Crushing and Pressing

Grapes

1. Remove grapes from stems (destemming). Stems add harsh, bitter tannins
2. Crush grapes to break the skins and release juice. Methods:
   • Stomp with clean bare feet in a tub (traditional and effective)
   • Crush by hand in a bucket
   • Use a wooden pestle or mallet
3. The resulting mix of juice, skins, seeds, and pulp is called “must”

For red wine: Ferment the must with the skins. Skin contact gives red wine its color, tannin, and body. 5-7 days on skins is standard.

For white wine: Press the juice off the skins immediately after crushing. Ferment the clear juice only.

Other Fruits

For non-grape wines, the process is similar but often requires water and sugar additions:

1. Wash and chop the fruit (remove pits from stone fruits)
2. Crush or mash thoroughly
3. Place in a fermentation vessel
4. Add water to bring the volume up (most fruits lack the liquid volume of grapes)
5. Add sugar to reach target sweetness (see Must Preparation below)

Step 2: Must Preparation

The must needs sufficient sugar to produce adequate alcohol, and sufficient acidity to keep the fermentation clean and the wine balanced.

Sugar Content

Yeast converts sugar to roughly half its weight in alcohol. To make a wine of 12% alcohol, you need roughly 24% sugar content in the must.

Fruit	Natural Sugar Content	Sugar Addition Needed (per gallon)
Wine grapes	20-26%	Usually none
Table grapes	15-20%	0-1/2 cup
Apples	10-14%	1/2-1 cup
Berries (blackberry, raspberry)	5-10%	1-1.5 cups
Stone fruits (peach, plum)	8-12%	1/2-1 cup
Flowers (elderflower, dandelion)	0%	2-2.5 cups

The taste test (without a hydrometer): Your must should taste noticeably sweet — about as sweet as commercial grape juice or slightly sweeter. If it tastes only mildly sweet like an apple, add sugar. If it tastes cloyingly sweet like syrup, dilute with water.

Using a Hydrometer

If you have access to a hydrometer (a glass float that measures sugar density), target a specific gravity of 1.085-1.095 for a wine of 11-13% alcohol. This is more precise than taste-testing but not essential — humans made wine for 8,000 years without hydrometers.

Acidity

Proper acidity (pH 3.2-3.6 for grape wine) ensures:

• Clean fermentation — acid inhibits unwanted bacteria
• Balanced flavor — without acidity, wine tastes flat and flabby
• Stability — acidic wines resist spoilage

Without a pH meter, taste the must. It should taste noticeably tart — like lemonade before the sugar is added. If it seems bland or flat, add the juice of 1-2 lemons per gallon, or use citric acid if available.

Step 3: Yeast Pitching

Wild Yeast (No Commercial Yeast Available)

The white, powdery bloom on grape skins is largely wild yeast. For grape wine:

• Simply crush the grapes and leave the must exposed to air in an open vessel
• Fermentation will usually begin within 24-48 hours
• Cover with a cloth to keep out flies while allowing air access

For non-grape fruits:

• Add a handful of unwashed grapes, raisins, or other fruit with visible bloom
• Or use a wild yeast starter (see Wild Cultures)
• Or add a portion of actively fermenting wine from a previous batch

Commercial Yeast (If Available)

If you have access to wine yeast packets:

1. Rehydrate the yeast in a cup of warm water (95-105°F / 35-40°C) for 15 minutes
2. Stir gently and pour into the must
3. Fermentation should begin within 6-12 hours

Wild Fermentation Risks

Wild yeast fermentation is less predictable than commercial yeast. Some batches may develop off-flavors, stall at lower alcohol levels, or take longer to complete. This is normal and part of the process. Most wild fermentations produce perfectly acceptable wine. The exceptions — vinegar-smelling, acetic, or putrid results — should be discarded. Taste regularly and trust your senses.

Step 4: Primary Fermentation

Primary fermentation is the vigorous phase where most sugar is converted to alcohol and CO2.

1. Place the must in an open vessel (crock, bucket, or tub) large enough to hold the must with 25% headspace for foam
2. Cover with a clean cloth to keep out flies and debris
3. Stir 2-3 times daily. For red wine, push the “cap” of skins down into the liquid (this is called “punching down”)
4. Fermentation will be visibly vigorous — foaming, bubbling, and a strong yeasty smell

Indicator	Healthy Fermentation	Problem
Bubbling	Steady, vigorous	None visible after 48 hours
Smell	Yeasty, fruity, slightly sharp	Vinegar, sulfur (rotten eggs), putrid
Temperature	Warm to touch (72-80°F / 22-27°C)	Cold or excessively hot (>90°F / 32°C)
Cap (red wine)	Rises daily, needs punching down	Does not form or smells moldy
Duration	5-7 days	More than 10 days with no progress

Temperature Control

Fermentation generates heat. In warm climates, the must can overheat, producing harsh, fusel-alcohol flavors and potentially killing the yeast. Keep the fermentation vessel in the coolest available location. Ideal range: 65-75°F (18-24°C) for white wines, 70-85°F (21-29°C) for red wines.

Step 5: Pressing (Red Wine)

After 5-7 days of primary fermentation on the skins (for red wine):

1. Strain the must through a cloth bag, basket press, or fine strainer
2. Press the skins to extract remaining wine — the press wine is darker and more tannic
3. Combine free-run wine and press wine (or keep separate if you want to blend later)
4. Transfer the liquid to a vessel for secondary fermentation

Simple pressing without a press:

1. Pour the must through a large cloth bag (burlap, cotton, or cheesecloth) suspended over a bucket
2. Let it drain by gravity for 30 minutes
3. Twist the bag to squeeze out remaining juice
4. Two people twisting from opposite ends extracts more

Step 6: Secondary Fermentation

Secondary fermentation is the slow, quiet phase where remaining sugars are consumed and the wine begins to clarify.

1. Transfer the wine to a vessel that can be sealed with an airlock (see Fermentation Vessels)
2. Fill the vessel as full as possible — minimize air contact to prevent oxidation and vinegar formation
3. Fit an airlock (water trap, balloon, or other gas-releasing seal)
4. Place in a cool, dark location (55-65°F / 13-18°C is ideal)
5. Fermentation will continue slowly — you will see occasional bubbles through the airlock
6. Duration: 2-6 weeks until bubbling stops completely

Step 7: Racking

Racking is the process of siphoning clear wine off the sediment (lees) that settles to the bottom.

1. After secondary fermentation stops (no bubbles for 3-5 days), the wine will begin to clear
2. Position the full vessel higher than an empty clean vessel
3. Insert a siphon tube (any flexible tube — rubber, bamboo, hollow reed) into the wine, keeping the end above the sediment layer
4. Suck gently on the other end to start the siphon, then direct the flow into the clean vessel
5. Stop before you reach the sediment layer
6. Discard the sediment (or use it to start a vinegar)
7. Seal the new vessel with an airlock and let it continue clearing

Rack every 4-6 weeks for the first 3-6 months. Each racking removes more sediment and produces a clearer wine.

Siphon Technique

Keep the siphon tube end 1-2 inches above the sediment. Tilt the vessel gently to pool the last clear wine in one corner for extraction. Accept that you will lose some wine with each racking — this is normal. The loss is worth the clarity and stability.

Step 8: Clearing and Aging

With time and successive rackings, wine clears naturally. Particles settle out, flavors integrate, and harshness mellows.

Wine Type	Minimum Aging	Optimal Aging	Ready to Drink
Light white	2-3 months	4-6 months	3-6 months
Full white	3-6 months	6-12 months	6-12 months
Light red	4-6 months	6-12 months	6-12 months
Full red	6-12 months	1-3 years	1-3 years
Country wine (fruit/flower)	2-4 months	4-8 months	3-8 months

Natural Clarifying Agents

If your wine remains cloudy after several rackings:

• Egg whites: Whisk 1 egg white per 5 gallons, stir gently into wine, wait 1-2 weeks
• Bentonite clay: Mix 1 tablespoon per gallon with hot water, add to wine, rack after 1-2 weeks
• Cold stabilization: If you have access to near-freezing temperatures, hold the wine at 32-35°F for 2-4 weeks — particles settle rapidly in cold

Step 9: Bottling

1. Rack the wine one final time into a clean vessel
2. Siphon into clean bottles — glass is ideal, but any sealable container works
3. Cork, cap, or seal tightly
4. Store bottles on their sides (for cork-sealed bottles — keeps the cork wet)
5. Store in a cool, dark location

No bottles? Use sealed clay jugs, glass jars with tight lids, or even sealed animal skin vessels.

Country Wines

Country wines are made from anything other than grapes — berries, stone fruits, flowers, herbs, and even vegetables. They follow the same basic process but always require sugar addition and often water.

Recipes at a Glance

Wine	Fruit per Gallon	Sugar per Gallon	Water Added	Notes
Blackberry	4 lbs	2-2.5 cups	3/4 gallon	Rich, full-bodied
Elderberry	3 lbs	2-2.5 cups	3/4 gallon	Deep color, tannic
Dandelion	1 quart flower petals	3 cups	1 gallon	Light, floral; add lemon juice
Elderflower	1 quart flower heads	3 cups	1 gallon	Delicate, aromatic
Peach	3-4 lbs	2 cups	3/4 gallon	Light, fruity
Rhubarb	3-4 lbs	2.5 cups	3/4 gallon	Tart, crisp
Parsnip	4 lbs	2.5 cups	3/4 gallon	Traditional English; surprisingly good

Acid Balance in Country Wines

Most non-grape fruits lack the natural acidity of grapes. Add the juice of 2-3 lemons per gallon to country wines, or use a handful of crab apples chopped into the must. Without adequate acid, country wines taste flat, ferment poorly, and spoil easily. This is the most common country wine mistake.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
Fermentation does not start	Too cold, no yeast present, must too sweet	Warm to 70°F; add fruit with yeast bloom; dilute if very sweet
Fermentation stops early (still sweet)	“Stuck” fermentation — alcohol killed weak yeast	Stir vigorously; warm slightly; add a fresh yeast starter
Vinegar taste	Acetobacter bacteria (from oxygen exposure)	Once vinegar, always vinegar — convert to vinegar and start new wine; minimize air contact next batch
Rotten egg smell (H2S)	Yeast stress	Splash-rack (pour from height to aerate briefly); usually dissipates
Cloudy after months	Pectin haze or protein haze	Pectic enzyme (if available); egg white fining; cold stabilization
Fizzy when it should be still	Fermentation not complete before bottling	Bottles may pop — open carefully; let fermentation complete before bottling

Key Takeaways

Wine is the simplest alcohol: crush fruit, ensure adequate sugar (taste-test for grape-juice sweetness) and acidity (taste-test for lemon-juice tartness), add yeast or rely on wild yeast from fruit skins, and wait. Primary fermentation takes 5-7 days in an open vessel; secondary fermentation takes 2-6 weeks in a sealed vessel with an airlock. Rack off sediment every 4-6 weeks. Country wines from berries, flowers, and other fruits follow the same process but need added sugar and water. The three most common mistakes: insufficient acid (flat wine), oxygen exposure (vinegar), and bottling before fermentation is complete (exploding bottles).