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Don't
hold back when you rack!
A lot of beginners have a tendency to leave too much
wine behind when they are racking or transferring
to their secondary. There are two reasons why you
shouldn't do this.
(1) The wine that is left behind is teaming
with live yeast cells that are needed to complete
the fermentation in your carboy.
(2) If you leave too much wine behind you will
need to use more water for topping up which can result
in a light-bodied, flat-tasting wine.
Before you
begin to rack your wine put a block of wood under
the bottom of the bucket so that it is tilted forward.
This will allow you to get most of the wine while
leaving the heavy sediment behind. The last bit
of wine will be very cloudy, but you should not
be concerned. This is only yeast and it will settle
out when your add your finings.
Prevent
messy overflows. Attach a blow-off tube to your
fermenter.
Anybody who conducts a closed fermentation under
air-lock may be familiar with fermentation overflows.
This usually occurs during the early stages of fermentation
when the foam generated by the vigorous fermentation
comes up into the air-lock. This can get messy sometimes
with the wine or beer spraying the walls or overflowing
onto the floor. To avoid this problem you can attach
a blow-off tube. Remove the air-lock from your rubber
bung. Get a peice of siphon tubing about three feet
long and force the end of it into the rubber bung.
Get a bottle or some other container that is capable
of holding at least one litre of water. Put about
2 inches of water in this container. Attach your
make-shift air-lock to your fermenting bucket or
carboy and submerge the free end of the hose into
the water container. This will maintain the air-lock
and will catch any overflowing which you can discard.
After the fermentation slows down you can replace
your make-shift air-lock with your regular air-lock.
finings.
Want
to get that light crisp flavour that is characteristic
of American Beer? Try using Rice Syrup.
American beers are great thirst quenchers when served
ice-cold. They are typically low in alcohol, highly
carbonated with a crisp clean taste. Some of the
most famous American beers such as Budweiser use
a fair amount of rice in their brewing process.
The rice lightens the body and flavour which are
much desired characteristics in this style of beer.
You can get the same benefits by using rice syrup.
Use rice syrup to replace the sugar asked for in
beer kits or use one can of rice syrup, 1.5 kilograms
of Briess Golden malt extract and 1/2 oz of Cascade
hops for a great-tasting American beer. Email
us for the complete recipe.
Some
of the most expensive and well-made wines are aged
in oak barrels. You can simulate cask aging by adding
oak to your carboy
Although oak barrels are available to home wine-makers
the price is usually prohibitive. Even a small ten
gallon American oak barrel can cost over two hundred
dollars and expect to pay double that or more for
a French barrel. Barrel maintenance is also very
demanding and is not recommended for the amateur
wine-maker. To simulate that oakiness you get from
barrel aging try adding oak chips to your carboy
when you rack your wine from your primary fermenter.
You can also add liquid oak, but the flavour is
not as good as the oak chips. There are different
types of oak chips available. You should check with
your retailer for the types they have in stock and
the recommended dosage.
Improve
the flavour off your beer kit. Add specialty grains.
Beer kits are a great boon to home-brewing. They are
easy to make and produce a decent beer with very little
effort. This easy to use format has tempted many newcomers
to try their hand at brewing. This indeed is an excellent
way to get into brewing and we always recommend that
new brewers start this way. Once you make a few brews
and get some experience you should consider modifying
your beer kits.Try using some specialty grains such
as crystal malt, chocolate malt or roasted barley.
Replace sugar with malt extract or rice syrup. You
should also try using some fresh hops. Any one of
these modifications will boost the flavour and character
of your beer kit. This is a great way to personalize
your beer without drastically changing your brewing
format.
The success
or failure of your wine or beer depends largely on
the cleanliness of your equipment. Here are a few
things to keep in mind.
Make sure that all of your equipment is meticulously
cleaned. Use a chlorine based cleaner such as Divorsol
(pink cleaner). This will sanitize and clean your
equipment by removing any film that may be present.
Divorsol also rinses easily compared to other detergents.
Use glass fermenters whenever possible. Glass is much
easier to clean than plastic. Every little scratch
on plastic is a breeding ground for bacteria. Inspect
your plastic fermenters regularly for scratches. It
is a good idea to replace plastic fermenters every
three years to avoid losses. It is also recommended
that you do a yearly cleanup of your workspace using
a disinfectant such as Lysol.
Splash
your wine a little!
During your first racking into your carboy (Day 7
with most wine kits) hold the siphon hose inside the
neck of the carboy in such a way so that the liquid
runs over the inside surface of the carboy. The wine
will then be efficiently aerated and will release
a lot of its carbon dioxide gas, which keeps the ferment
vigorous and healthy.
Never do this with beer. Exposing beer to oxygen
can cause spoilage.
If I
were asked to name one area that gives most winemakers
trouble, I would have to say filtering. Here are some
tips and advice to help make your next filtering session
less stressful.
First let us dispose of a common misconception. Filtering
does not strip your wine of body or flavour. On
the contrary filtering improves your wine. It helps
remove unwanted carbon dioxide. It also removes yeast
cells which if left behind can cause off-flavours
and spoilage. Virtually all commercial wines are filtered
using much finer filters than the average home wine
maker would use.
Here are some things you can do to make your filtering
easier.
(1) Never
filter a cloudy wine. Filtering
is the final step in clarification. Your wine should
be visually clear. Filtering unclear wines will cause
excessive leakage and spraying, not to mention a lot
of frustration and anger for the winemaker!
(2) Soak your filter pads for five minutes
in cold water before putting them in the filtering
machine. This saturates the filter pads allowing water
or wine to pass through more freely.
(3) Insert the filter pads in your machine
and tighten the plates by hand. Never use wrenches
to tighten the plates. Wait five minutes before
running any liquid through the filter pads. This gives
the pads time to properly seat themselves against
the plates. If you pump water through before the pads
are properly seated you will get a lot of leakage.
(4) Add one tablespoon of citric acid to about
three gallons of water and pump it through the filter
pads before filtering your wine. This helps to remove
any fibres and cardboard taste from the pads.
(5) When you start filtering the wine discard
the first two cups of liquid that comes through the
filter. This will be a mixture of mostly water and
some wine.
(6) If you get excessive leaking check to see
if the filter pads are installed properly. If the
pads are in properly but you still get a lot of leaking
this means that your filter pads are clogged. You
will have to change the pads. If the pads clog very
early in the process you should discontinue filtering
and add finings to your wine. Proceed with filtering
when the wine is clear.
(7) Let your wine sit in a carboy under air
lock for at least a week after filtering before you
bottle.
Improve
your wine! Get a 20 litre carboy.
We are often asked if we have any tips on improving
wines made from wine kits. One of the easiest and
most dramatic improvements you can make is by using
a 20 litre carboy instead of the more common 23 litre
version. Racking a wine two or three times while topping
it up with water each time results in a significant
amount of dilution. By using a 20 litre carboy you
nuetralize this dilution resulting in a better tasting,
fuller-bodied wine. You will end up with a couple
of bottles less wine but the increased quality will
more than compensate for the decreased quantity.
Are
you having trouble getting or keeping a head on
your beer? Here are some suggestions that may help.
Every home brewer takes pride in presenting a beer
with a nice long-lasting foamy head. Here is a list
of things that you can do to make sure that your
next brew will have these much sought after characteristics.
(1) Replace sugar with malt extract. This
will give you a superior flavoured beer with better
head retention.
(2) Make sure that you use the proper amount
of priming sugar at bottling time. This should be
about 1 1/4 cups for 23 litres of beer.
(3) Age your beer for at least two weeks
in a cool location after the initial
bottling conditioning is complete.
(4) Make sure that the glass you drink your
beer from is completely free of detergent. Rinse
the glass with hot water before using.
(5) There are also compounds available on
the market known as heading powders or liquids.
These are types of detergents that increase foaming.
They can be used in the unlikely event that none
of the above suggestions works for you.
Be
careful with that glass carboy! Hot water can cause
big trouble.
It is obvious to everyone that if you drop a glass
carboy it will most certainly break into hundreds
of pieces. I know, I've been there. What is not
so obvious is that if you add hot water to a carboy
you may also cause breakage. Most people run into
this trouble when they are cleaning their carboy.
If you take a cold carboy and add hot tap water
to it, there is a very big chance that the sudden
expansion of the glass will cause the carboy to
crack. You may not even notice this until you see
wine or beer seeping onto the floor. Even worse,
you go to lift a carboy full of wine and the bottom
lets go depositing its contents on the floor and
everywhere else. A major cleanup job!
To avoid
this use only warm or cold water for cleaning up.
Make sure you mix the hot and cold water first before
putting the carboy under the tap. Pink chlorinated
cleaner works great with warm water and sanitizes
at the same time so there is no need for hot water.
Do
you just hate sucking on that siphon hose and getting
mouthfuls of yeasty beer or wine? Are you concerned
about sanitation while siphoning? Here are a couple
of tips that can help you.
Form your siphon hose with an attached racking tube
into a "U" shape with both ends facing
upwards. Go to the tap and half fill the siphon
hose with water. Put your thumb over the end of
the hose that will be going into the receiving container.
Put the racking tube into your container of beer
or wine. Now put the other end of the siphon hose
into the receiving vessel. Remove your thumb from
the end of the hose. The water will now rush out
of the hose creating a vacuum which will start the
siphon.
You can
also use a neat little gadget called the Auto-Siphon.
This handy little tool attaches to a siphon hose
and will start your siphon instantly. It is very
sanitary and comes apart for easy cleaning and sanitation.
Maybe one of the most useful gadgets you'll ever
buy.
Most
wine makers will tell you that degassing wine is not
one of their favourite tasks. Use a Mix-Stir
to make this job fun and easy!
Most wine kit instructions tell you to stir or shake
your wine six or more times over a three day period
during the clearing process. This helps to rid your
wine of dissolved Carbon dioxide gas. If you do not
rid the wine of Co2 gas it may cause clearing problems
and leave your wine with an unpleasant taste. Most
wine-makers find all this stirring and shaking time-consuming
and tedious. A Mix-Stir alleviates this
problem. Just attach it to an electric drill, put
it in your container of wine and stir for two minutes.
Wait for five minutes and then stir for two more minutes.
That's it. Your wine is degassed and ready for the
next step.
So you
would like to get into all-grain brewing but you are
wondering if it's worth the effort. Try our Brew
House All-Grain Beer Kits first!
Making all-grain beer can be intimidating for some
brewers. You are not sure how it will turn out or
if the brewing time is really worth it. Test drive
our Spagnol's Brew
House all-grain beer kits before you jump
into all-grain brewing. Brew House is
made in a micro-brewery by professional brewers. They
use malted barley and fresh hops only- no sugars or
extracts. The unfermented wort is then aseptically
packaged leaving the brewing up to you. Brew
House kits are premium quality and will make
beers that are every bit as good or better than commercial
micro-brews. Brew House beer kits are
prepared in minutes, a far cry from the 6 to 7 hours
required to make a similiar beer from scratch. So
try one of these exceptional kits first. We are sure
your appetite will be whetted and you will be ready
to join the growing ranks of all-grain brewers.
Using bentonite can be a pain for
some wine makers. Here are some ways to make it
a little more user friendly.
Always make
sure to rehydrate your bentonite before adding it
to your wine. Dry bentonite won't bound properly
with the particles clouding the wine, and will settle
out without having any effect. There are two forms
of bentonite available. One is granular which dissolves
easily when stirred into a cup of hot water. The
other is a fine powder and is much harder to dissolve.
You will have to add the powder type bentonite to
hot water and stir it until it is dissolved. This
can take quite some time. A better idea is to use
a food blender which will do the job in seconds.
Sulphite
sanitizing solutions are not powerful enough for
beer. You should use a chlorine or iodophor based
sanitizer.
If you are
a winemaker you may be using sulphite sanitizing
solution (the smelly stuff). This is suitable for
winemaking but it is not strong enough for beermaking.
Beer has a higher pH and a low alcohol content which
makes it an ideal breeding ground for micro-organisms.
You should use chlorinated cleaner/sanitizer (the
pink stuff) or Iodophor. The chlorinated sanitizer
requires a minimum contact time of 20 minutes before
rinsing. Iodophor works on contact and requires
no rinsing. Iodophor in a spray bottle can speed
up your brewing day considerably.
Want
to make a fantastic summertime fruit beer or wine?
No need to spend hours picking berries or fruit.
Try fruit purees.
Fruit wines
and beer are becoming very popular. And who can
resist those luscious wines and tarty, thirst-quenching
beers on a hot summer day? But why go through all
of the trouble picking, crushing and preparing fruit
when you can use fruit purees? Fruit purees are
fresh fruit pulverized into a liquid and they come
in many types such as peach, cherry, blueberry,
blackberry, etc. Our fruit purees come in 3 litre
cans. For a fantastic fruit beer, just add 1/2 can
to your wort in the primary fermenter. For a delicate
fruit wine add 1/2 can to any wine kit during the
primary fermentation or add 1 full can for a more
luscious intense fruit flavour.
Wine
kits usually finish off pretty dry. Most wine makers
add a commercially prepared sweetener such
as our Winemaster sweetener and conditioner. Back
sweetening is another method that you may want to
try.
When you
begin to make your wine set aside two cups of your
wine kit concentrate. Seal tightly and store in
the refrigerator until you are ready to bottle.
Proceed to make your wine as usual. When your wine
is finished and ready to bottle, siphon it into
a clean and sanitized bucket. Add your reserved
concentrate and stir well to disperse. It is important
that you filter your wine now so as to minimize
any renewed fermentation. Bottle your wine and store
as usual.
Making
wine from native berries is very popular at this time
of year. It sure can be a lot of fun but it can also
be a lot of work. Here are a couple of tips to make
it easier.
Most recipes tell you to crush the berries and add
the whole mess to a fermenter where you ferment for
a few days before removing the berries. To make this
easier you can tie the berries up in a large nylon
or muslin bag. Then all you will have to do is remove
the bag full of berries after the allotted time.
Recipes usually call for an assortment of additives
such as acid blend, pectic enzyme, etc. which you
have to either weigh or measure. Use our Wild Berry Additive Kits
instead. These kits contain all the additives in pre-measured
and numbered packets making things a lot easier.
Most
wine and beer makers don't cherish the thought of
washing and sanitizing mountains of bottles. Here
is a trick I picked up from Zymurgy magazine.
Get yourself
an 80 litre or larger plastic garbage can from one
of the hardware or discount stores. Set it up near
a laundry tub and fill it up about three parts of
the way with cold water. Add about 1/2 cup of pink
chlorinated cleaner/sanitizer to the water. Toss
in your bottles making sure they are all submerged
and put the cover on the garbage can. Soak overnight
or longer. You can even leave your bottles in this
solution for weeks. When you have some free time
remove the bottles and cover the tops with tin foil.
Don't rinse them at this time. The bottles
will now be ready when you want to bottle your beer
or wine. All you will have to do is rinse them with
some hot water and start bottling!
Water
can really make a difference in the quality of your
finished beer and wine. Make sure you use a good
quality water to make all your wine and beer kits.
Most municipal
water sources are high in chlorine and minerals
which can have a detrimental affect on your wine
and beer making. Chlorine is especially a problem.
Heavy doses can have an effect on fermentation and
can cause some nasty flavours in beer. Some minerals
such as iron are also undesirable. The best way
to avoid these problems is to use a good quality
bottled water. We highly recommend our own Professor
Purewater steam distilled water. This is the
purest water available anywhere. If you don't have
access to steam distilled or bottled water, you
can boil your water to rid it of chlorine and bacteria.
Charcoal filtered water is also good if you remember
to change the filters regularly. Don't forget that
over 80% of your wine and beer is water. The quality
of water does make a difference.
Got
a wine that 's not up to snuff? Turn it into wine
coolers!
Sooner or
later we all make a wine that we just can't acquire
a taste for. Try mixing wine coolers with it using
our Royal Piper Cooler Extracts.
Just add 1 capful of cooler extract to 4 ounces
of wine and 4 ounces of lemon lime soda. This will
give you an instant, delicious carbonated wine cooler
just like the commercial product.
Most beer kit recipes instruct you to
add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle at bottling
time to induce carbonation. This is very tedious
and not very accurate. Here is a better way to do
it.
Bulk priming
is much more accurate and easier to do. You will
also get uniform carbonation and it doesn't matter
what size of bottle you are using. For each 23 litre
batch of beer add 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of corn sugar
to 2 cups of boiling water. Stir until disslolved.
Siphon your finished beer into a clean and santized
bucket or carboy. Add the sugar syrup and stir gently
to disperse. Bottle and cap your bottles. Let them
stand for 10 days at room temperature (about 20º
C.) Remove to a cool spot and let stand for 7 more
days before sampling. Cheers!
Dressing
up your bottles of wine with labels and shrink seals
can be a lot of fun, but sometimes those pesky shrink
seals can spoil the fun if they are not shrinking
properly. Here is a sure-fire way to make them go
on right every time.
Add enough
water to a small sauce pan to completely cover the
length of your shrink seal (about 3 inches ).
Bring the water to a boil and keep it boiling. Fit
your shrink seal snugly over the top of the bottle.
Get a knife and press the blade of it firmly against
the top of the shrink seal so as to keep it in place
for the next step. Now invert the bottle while still
holding the shrink seal in place with the knife
blade and dip it into the boiling water. Make sure
the boiling water covers the whole length of the
shrink seal. Your seal will shrink to a snug fit
almost instantly. Wipe and dry the top of the bottles
when finished.
As we
move into the Fall the days are going to get colder.
Don't waste energy heating a whole room to keep your
beer or wine at the proper fermenting temperature.
Use a heat belt.
Heating belts are nifty little gadgets that wrap around
your fermenter to keep it at the proper fermenting
temperature. Most heat belts are pre-set at a low
constant temperature that keeps your wine and beer
at approximately 23º Celsius. Heat belts consume
very little electricity and are great for fermenting
in low temperature rooms and unheated basements. Wrap
the heating belt around the bottom half of your fermenter
at the beginning of the fermentation. Remove the belt
when the fermentation is complete. |
