Hedgerow Style Wine Instructions

 

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED (note that items that would be found in almost every kitchen are not mentioned here)

 

2x 30 Litre size graduated plastic buckets: One bucket will be used throughout the winemaking from the early stages where the fruit is first added, through to the final clearing of the wine. The second bucket will be required for transferring the fermented wine into for sweetness and/or acidity adjustment prior to bottling.

 

Weighing scales:  To weigh out the fruit and sugar used in the recipe.

 

Siphon tube: Used at the end of winemaking to separate the clear wine from the sediment.  Simple plastic tubing can be used but a specialist siphon kit can be purchased.

 

Thermometer:  A thermometer comes in very handy when making wine, because if your temperature is wildly wrong, you will fail to make wine at all.  But what many do not realise is that if your temperature is only a little wrong, then although you will make wine, the quality will be reduced.  The best temperature to make wine at is between 20°C – 25°C.  See inst. 6 for more about temperature.

 

Steriliser: To sterilise all equipment before use.

 

Straining bag (optional): This is a large mesh bag and is beneficial for easy removal of the fruit during the winemaking process. (Alternatively, a large sieve or colander can be used).

 

UNDERSTAND WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN

You are about to mix together the following ingredients –

 

THINGS YOU PROVIDE:

 

Fruit – The main reason you add the fruit is to give the wine its flavour and bouquet.  Fruit also contributes natural sugar and also natural acidity.

 

White Sugar – Added to increase the alcohol level.  But added at the end (after the stabiliser) to increase sweetness of the wine.

 

THINGS PROVIDED IN THIS KIT:

 

Enzyme – To break down the fruit cell walls to release the fruit juices inside.  The enzyme does much more besides including giving improved colour, better clearing as well as improved taste.  This same enzyme is added to all commercial wines and also to clear fruit juices – it is entirely safe.  Indeed, this is a natural enzyme found in many micro-organisms which use the enzymes to break down plant material for food.

 

Bentonite – To aid clearing and the stabilisation of the bottled wine by removing proteins formed during fermentation. Without bentonite such proteins drop out when the wine is stored in bottles over a period of weeks / months. Bentonite also removes other unwanted compounds to produce a smooth wine.

 

Wine Yeast & Nutrient – Yeast to convert all the sugars (natural sugars from the fruit and the white sugar added) into alcohol, nutrient to help the yeast work.  The type of yeast chosen for winemaking is very important.  The type of yeast contained in this kit is a genuine wine yeast strain, one which will produce good wine character and also produce high levels of alcohol.  One of the biggest mistakes of homewinemaking is to use cheaper bread making yeast strains – they don’t make good wine. Additionally, yeast works best if given the required nutrition, complete with all the Amino Acids, Vitamins and Minerals needed.  The nutrient contained in this kit is rather special because its recipe has been carefully selected to suite wine yeasts individual nutritional needs whilst it is fermenting.

 

Citric Acid – To add to the final wine if not ‘sharp’ (lemony) enough.  1 x 45g sachet is included, only 1 dessertspoonful should be added at a time and the wine tasted before further citric acid is added – see instruction 10.

 

Stabiliser – To stop your wine ‘going off’ after it is made (do not add until the end!)

 

Clearing Agents (2 types) – To clear your wine, but also help to smooth / mature your wine.

 

IMPORTANT

A word about experimenting with recipes, it is good to experiment with the fruit recipe (see table later) – you will make even better wines where fruits are mixed together.  But please do not experiment with the instructions or the contents of this kit – we have done a tremendous amount of work on how best to use these sachets and on the sachet ingredients themselves.  Please be careful to follow the instructions very carefully.

 

THE SCIENCE

The fruit is crushed or sliced to help the enzyme to reach all parts of the fruit – the enzymes job is to break down the cell walls inside the fruit to release the ‘precious’ fruit juice.  Natural acids and natural sugars are also released from within the fruit cells. The Yeast eats the sugar (natural and / or added, it makes no difference to the yeast) and makes alcohol and carbon dioxide gas as waste products (as far as the yeast is concerned anyway!).  The nutrient provides the other food the yeast needs to work efficiently (things like trace minerals and extra nitrogen). The bentonite removes undesirable compounds formed during fermentation to improve clarity and stability of the wine.

 

After all the sugar has been used up, you add stabiliser to stop the wine oxidising in storage and also to stop any bacteria or moulds / yeasts from contaminating the wine.

 

Clearing agents are then added to remove all the solid matter from the wine (yeast cells and very small pieces of remaining fruit).  Once the wine is clear, if it tastes watery there may need to be a slight increase to the wine acidity by adding Citric acid to make the wine more acidic / sharper.

 

WHAT TYPE OF FRUIT AND HOW MUCH TO USE?

 

The table below shows in the first column which fruits are suitable for making good homewines, then goes on in the remaining columns to show you how much to use for a 23 Litre fermentation, how much white sugar to add and what ‘extra fruits’ to add for that ‘something special’ occasion.

 

Don’t worry if you do not have the ‘extra fruits’ given in the last column of the table below. If you don’t have the extra fruits, but still want to improve the quality, then 1.3kg of raisins can be added instead of the extra fruits.

 

 

What to do if you don’t have enough fruit?

First work out what weight is missing, then add half this weight of raisins.

 

Example – say you have only 6.65kg Plums, the recipe says you need 10.65kg Plums so you are 4kg short.  So you need to also add 2kg raisins (half of 4kg).

 

It is also absolutely OK to mix fruits together if you don’t have enough of one fruit, in fact this usually produces an even better wine!  Use your instinct to decide how much of each fruit to add – just don’t go mad!

 

Suitable Fruits	How much	How much	Extra Fruits
you can use	fruit?	white sugar?	(or alternatively 1.3kg Raisins)
	(Before preparation)
Apple (Sour)	13.3kg	4.3kg	0.67kg Blueberries
Blackcurrant	5.3kg	4.3kg	2.66kg Redcurrants & 1kg Raisins
Blackberry	8kg	4.3kg	0.67kg Blueberries
Cherry (Black or red)	13.3kg	4.3kg	0.67kg Blueberries
Crab Apple	13.3kg	4.3kg	1.33kg Raisins
Damson	13.3kg	4.3kg	Nothing Else!
Elderberry	5.3kg	4.3kg	2.66kg Raisins
Gooseberry	9.3kg	4.3kg	0.67kg Blueberries
Greengage	13.3kg	4.3kg	1kg Raisins
Loganberry	5.3kg	4.3kg	1.33kg Blueberries & 0.67kg Raisins
Pear	10.65kg	4.3kg	Nothing Else!
Plum	10.65kg	4.3kg	1kg Raisins
Raisin	5.3kg	4.3kg	Nothing Else!
Raspberries	5.3kg	4.3kg	1kg Raisins
Redcurrant	5.3kg	4.3kg	2.66kg Blackcurrants & 1kg Raisins
Rosehip	0.67kg	3.3Kg white + 1.3kg Brown	2kg Raisins & 4kg Rosehip berries
Rowanberry	6.65kg	4.3kg	1kg Raisins & 0.665kg Blueberries
Strawberry	6.65kg	4.3kg	0.67kg Raisins

 

Fruit Preparation

Once you have decided upon which recipe to make from the table above, the fruit must be prepared as follows:

 

For Small Currents and Berries (Blackcurrants, Blackberries, Elderberries etc) – Remove stems and wash fruit in warm water.  Add to clean bucket then crush (no need to remove stones) using a ‘potato masher’ or some other kitchen implement.

 

For Hard Fruits (Apples, Pears etc) – Remove stems, wash with warm water then slice into bucket leaving core and any bad fruit.  The skin is important for flavour, so the fruit should NOT be pealed.

 

For Soft Fruits (Damsons, Plums, Cherries etc) – Remove stems, wash with warm water. Add to bucket then crush (remove stones if possible – but not essential).

 

Instructions

Important: Clean & sterilise all equipment before use using a suitable steriliser product.

 

1. Prepare a clean and sterile 30L fermentation bucket and add into this your prepared fruit (see table above and “Fruit Preparation”) – this should be done as quickly as possible to ensure the fruit does not ‘go off’. Add 5 Litres boiling water, stir bucket contents.

 

2. Now add 2kg sugar and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add just enough cold water to cover the fruit – make sure you do not add too much cold water (better to add less if in doubt).   Stir well, then leave to cool to 50°C (it may already be less than 50°C at this point).  Once the liquid temperature has dropped to 50°C, add the Enzyme sachet contents and stir well.  Now leave for 1 hour – stir occasionally.

 

3. After 1 hour, top up to approx. 20 Litres with cold water (it may already be 20 litres or above already because of the fruit you added), stir well – do not proceed until the liquid temperature has dropped below 30°C (it usually will be below 30°C at this point). Now, gently sprinkle (this avoids clumping) the contents of the Bentonite sachet into the bucket and then add the Wine Yeast & Nutrient sachet contents and stir well.

 

4. Leave to ferment for 5 days at between 20°C – 25°C with a lid placed loosely on the bucket (lid should be in the correct position, but not pushed down – otherwise the carbon dioxide gas will not be able to escape).

 

5. After 5 days, clean and sterilise your second bucket, then separately dissolve the rest of the sugar (usually 2.3kg, see table) into 4 Litres hot water (from hot water tap is fine). Once dissolved, wait until the temperature drops below 40°C.

 

6. Using a jug, transfer the fermenting wine from your original bucket to the second bucket containing the sugar solution by pouring through a straining bad (fitted firmly to the rim of the second bucket), sieve or colander to remove the fruit. Once transferred, top up to 23 Litre mark with cold water if necessary (don’t worry if already more than 23 Litres at this point).

 

7. Now replace bucket lid (loosely as before) and leave to ferment for a further 5 days at between 20°C – 25°C until fermentation is complete. Good temperature control is the most important thing you can do to ensure good wine quality and to ensure fermentation does finish in approximately 5 days. Below 20⁰C fermentation time will be much longer, below 15⁰C fermentation will stop altogether.  Above 25⁰C wine quality will be reduced.  Check the temperature first and last thing each day and make sure your brew doesn’t get too cold at night.

 

8. After a further 5 days (a total of 10 days fermentation altogether) taste your wine, if it tastes dry then proceed to instructions 9, if it tastes sweet then replace the lid and leave it to ferment for a few more days. Once the wine tastes dry and there is no more bubbling at the liquid surface, fermentation is complete. The wine will still be cloudy but may have started to clear slightly from the surface.  IT IS IMPORTANT FERMENTATION IS FULLY COMPLETE BEFORE CONTINUING, if in any doubt leave the wine to ferment for a few more days.

 

9. Once fermentation is fully complete (i.e. the wine tastes dry and there is no bubbling at the surface), add the contents of the Stabiliser sachet and stir until completely dissolved. Then add Fining A sachet directly to the wine and STIR VIGOUROUSLY TO REMOVE EXCESS GAS and then leave for 1 hour.

 

After the 1 hour, add Fining B sachet and stir gently for only 30 seconds.  Now leave the wine to clear with the bucket standing on a raised surface – do not continue to instruction 10 until absolutely crystal clear / ‘water bright’ – this usually takes about 2-3 days, but will take longer if all the gas isn’t completely removed as instructed in the previous paragraph.

 

For white wines it is easy to tell whether the wine is clear by simply looking into the bucket.  You should be able to very clearly see the sediment at the bottom of the bucket – just as if water were on top of the sediment.

 

For red wines using a siphon take a sample of wine from ¾ the way down the bucket into a wineglass. View with a bright light behind the glass, a bright wine will actually ‘gleam’ and ‘sparkle’ when the light shines through it. If the wine has a ‘dullness’ at all in the glass the wine is not completely bright.

 

10. Once the wine is bright, now comes the tricky part – This is the process of separating the clear wine from the sediment at the bottom of the bucket.  It’s best to practice with water (using your second bucket) if you have not done this before. Please follow the instructions supplied separately with your siphon kit.

 

11. You may now need to make some adjustments to sweetness and acidity. It’s best to adjust the sweetness before the acidity.

 

How to adjust the sweetness (Most wines will need to be sweetened)

Taste the wine, try not to think of how “sharp” (like lemons) or how “watery” the wine is, just consider whether the wine is sweet enough.  If it is sweet enough, then proceed to adjust acidity (see below).  If the wine is not sweet enough (this is normal) then add a large cupful (e.g. use a mug) of white sugar, stir until fully dissolved then re-taste.  Continue to add ‘cupfuls’ of sugar until the wine is sweet enough.

 

Do not be afraid to add the first large cupful of sugar to your wine – it is important that the wine has enough sweetness to balance the strength and weight / body of the wine.  Also, do not judge the quality of your wine until after the sweetness and acidity below have been adjusted – it will taste totally different when everything has been added and the wine stored for 3-4 weeks!

 

How to adjust the acidity

Taste the sweetened wine and decide whether it is sharp enough for your taste.  If not, then add some Citric acid (no more than 1 dessertspoonful at first), stir well to ensure completely dissolved and leave for 5 minutes before re-tasting.  Add further Citric acid if required (don’t forget to wait for 5 minutes after each addition has been added and stirred thoroughly).

 

It is quite normal if you find you do not need to add any Citric acid – fruit already contains natural acid and some years there will be plenty of natural acid in the wine (especially when it has been a cold year).   Equally, don’t be afraid to add some citric acid if you are not sure whether the wine is sharp enough – trust your taste buds!  Adding around 1 dessertspoonful of Citric acid will only increase the acidity of your wine by a small amount, so don’t worry, it won’t ruin your wine.

 

12. Now your wine can be bottled. For this you can either use glass wine bottles and corks (you will also need a hand-corker), or you can use plastic P.E.T. bottles screw caps. Sterilise all bottles, corks/screw caps, and siphon tube using Make Your Own Sterilizer following instructions on the sachet. Once sterilised, siphon the wine from the bucket into the bottles.

 

 

SERVING & STORAGE

Your wine is now ready to drink but will continue to improve for up to 3 months if stored in a cool, dark place.  The perfect serving temperature for red wine is 15 – 18 C and for white and rose is 8 – 12 C.