A 2 gallon (7. 6 L) crock or glass jar A 1 gallon (3. 8 L) carboy (a glass container with a small neck) An airlock A thin plastic tube to be used for siphoning Clean wine bottles with corks or screw caps Campden tablets (potassium or sodium metabisulfite[1] X Research source ) (optional)
Frozen fruit is the best way to make country wines since it helps break down the fruit and promotes fermentation. [2] X Research source However, the cherries are picked when fully ripe and frozen immediately, instead of being allowed to ripen over several days on the store shelves. Frozen cherries already have the seeds removed, so there will be less work involved when using frozen cherries. You can also freeze fresh cherries, just make sure to take the seeds out first! If using frozen cherries, make sure your fruit has been in the freezer for at least 3 days before beginning the process.
Some winemakers choose not to wash the fruit before crushing. Since fruit has natural yeasts on its skin, it’s possible to make wine using only the yeast from the fruit’s skin and the air. However, washing the fruit and controlling the yeast you add allows you to ensure that the flavor of the wine will be to your liking Allowing wild yeast to grow can produce foul flavors. If you’re up for an experiment, you could make two batches of wine, one with controlled yeast and one with wild, to find out which you like best.
Use a toothpick, unbent paper clip, hair pin, or orange stick (as for manicures). Insert whichever tool you choose into the stem end of the cherry. You should feel it hit the pit. Twist your tool around the pit and pop it out. This is not easy. Be patient, experiment a bit for the twisting motion that works best for you. Insert a pastry tip or straw into the stem end of a cherry and push it through. The tip or straw should hit the pit and push it out the other side.
Top your crock off with filtered water if you don’t have enough cherry juice to fill the crock almost to the top.
As an alternative to using a tablet, you can pour 2 cups of boiling water over the fruit. Using tap water can affect the taste of your wine since it contains additives. Be sure to use filtered or spring water.
If you prefer a sweeter wine, add more honey. If you don’t like it as sweet, limit your honey to 2 cups. You can add sugar or brown sugar instead of honey if you’d like. You can always add more honey later if your wine doesn’t come out as sweet as you like.
Only if you’re making wild yeast wine can you skip this step.
Putting the crock in a cool place won’t facilitate the growth of the yeast. Storing it in a place that’s too warm will kill the yeast. The best bet is to store your fermenting wine in a place that is room temperature.
The mixture should start bubbling as the yeast moves into action. This is the fermentation process that will lead to delicious wine.
Once you’ve siphoned it into the carboy, affix the airlock to the opening to allow for the release of gas while preventing oxygen from coming in and spoiling your wine. If you don’t have an airlock, you can use a small balloon placed over the opening. Every few days, pull off the balloon to let out the collected gas and replace it right away.
If you used extra honey in your wine, it’s better to age it on the longer side, or it may taste overly sweet.
Use dark bottles to preserve the color of red wines.
Try black cherries or sweet cherries for a sweeter wine. Morello cherries work well for a dry wine.
After about 2 weeks most of the sugar will have been consumed by the yeast and fermentation will slow, making it easier to keep track of the falling sugar level of your wine. Tracking the sugar level will give you an idea of how your fermentation has been progressing. You may wish to stop the fermentation early and leave a bit of residual sugar in your wine. The fermentation is considered done when you either reach your desired sugar level or go “dry” at 0° Brix on the wine scale. [7] X Research source A wine with 0. 2% residual sugar contains two grams of sugar in a liter of wine. Dry wines are typically in the 0. 2%-0. 3% range, off-dry wines in the 1. 0%-5. 0% range, and sweet dessert wines are normally 5. 0%-10%. There is no “correct” sugar level for your wine, it just comes down to your personal preference.
Use oak powder. This way, you won’t risk over-oaking your wine. The oak powder will also sink to the bottom of your crock during fermentation, making siphoning easier. When adding oak powder to a batch of homemade wine, you’ll want to add anywhere from 4 to 20 grams per gallon, depending on the type of wine (white vs. red) and desired flavor. Generally speaking, for six U. S. gallons of wine you would add about 40 to 50 grams of oak powder for a white wine, or 70 to 85 grams of oak powder for a red wine.
