Easy wine making really consists of a healthy balance between factual knowledge and common knowledge. A combination of these two, along with a good wine-making grape will result in a delicious glass of wine for you and your family to enjoy.

Crushing and Pressing In general, about 50 pounds of grape will yield five gallons of wine. Once your grapes are harvested, they must be placed in a plastic vat (available at you local wine supply shop) and crushed. While the age-old method of smashing grapes by foot is proved to be the most efficient "even compared to modern technologies " smaller batches of grapes can be crushed using your hands or a potato masher. In order to ensure homogeneous crushing of the grapes, make sure the vat is not more than 2/3 full before you begin smashing them. After crushing the grapes, add the recommended amount of Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) into the mixture "now called must- in order to prevent any unwanted yeast growth. Cover with a cloth and let it sit for 24 hours.

Fermentation Process The next day, the wine fermenting yeast must be added. Wine yeast must not be confused with bread yeast, since these two are not interchangeable. After adding the yeast, work it in the mixture using your hands to increase the temperature for the yeast to be activated. Comb out most or all stems, cover, and leave to rest. You will notice that the mixture will begin to fizz, and will look like its almost boiling by the peak fermenting time (72 hours).

Within a week the fizzing will subside and it is time to separate the wine from the leftover seeds, grape skins, and pulp. The mixture can be poured into mesh bags or cheese clothes. It then needs to be squeezed, strained and poured into a glass carboy, also available at winemaking shops, or poured into an empty wine barrel. From this moment on the wine should no longer come into contact with the air. An airlock can be used with a carboy or a barrel. An airlock prevents air from getting into the container but allows gas to escape.

Racking An average of 2-3 days is, usually, how long it takes for the fizzing to halt. Once this occurs, you must rack the wine in order to remove the lees (yeast and grape residue) that normally remain at the bottom of the barrel/carboy. The most effective way of doing this is to siphon the wine out of the bearing container, remove the lees, and return the wine into the original container. A second racking will be needed 2 to 3 months after the first racking, and a third racking will be required 3 to 4 months following that.

Wine can be aged in a cool completely dark place. It is also important to top off the barrel. This can be done by using a similar wine. At this point, the wine is able to be tasted but, the longer a wine ages, the better it is.

Pierre Duponte is a wine making enthusiast. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on easy wine making or you can get his free mini course on grape growing and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.

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