How Long Can You Keep Left Over Wine?
How long can you keep leftover wine once you’ve opened the bottle? The short answer, I’m afraid, is, “not very long.” Wine, like fresh fruit, is perishable, and air is its enemy. Once you’ve taken out the cork and exposed the liquid to oxygen, it starts to deteriorate fast.
Wine shops sell preservation systems that suck the air out of opened bottles or squirt inert gases in, but I wouldn’t spend the money or effort. They offer little if any advantage over simply jamming the cork back into the half-finished bottle. It will hold at room temperature for a day or two before its flavor starts to deteriorate seriously. Pop it in the fridge, and it might last for a week or two. Fortified wines like Port or Sherry may last a little longer, but much more than a week is pushing it. Tip – pour leftover wine into a smaller bottle (split) and recork – less room for oxygen.
Your best bet is simply to finish your wine within a couple of days … use the leftovers for cooking … or invite friends over to share. That’s my standard advice, anyway. But always being one to test the conventional wisdom – even my own – I ran a simple experiment. Over several nights, I took care to leave about a half-bottle of each evening’s wine, casually stored on the kitchen counter with the corks stuck back in. I let them go for about five days before re-tasting, then checked them again after a full week or more had passed.
Of course the wines changed over time, but somewhat to my surprise, none of the three deteriorated as quickly as I thought they would, and all remained at least drinkable after a week to 10 days, and at least two of the three arguably became a bit more accessible with extended airing. All three were fairly robust reds with at least limited cellar potential.
From the WINE LOVERS PAGE Internet
The Dangers of Bulk Aging Your Homemade Wine
Some people feel that bulk aging can be dangerous. What I mean when I say bulk aging is aging your homemade wine in a carboy or barrel rather than in a bottle. What bulk aging offers is a more consistent batch since all of your wine is aged together.
Many commercial wineries bottle age their wines, and some of the lower cost wines are aged in large stainless steel vessels. Some of them even try to age their wines in 6 gallon carboys.
I did a survey of home winemakers and found that most of them bottle aged their wines and some aged them for three months to a year. That’s not to say that some of them didn’t age their wine in oak barrels, but this type of aging can be expensive.
So if you’re considering aging your wine in carboys, there are some things you must consider. A bung fits into the neck of a carboy but even with an airlock on top doesn’t provide a hermetic seal. There’s still some room for microbes to get in. So don’t leave a large space in the neck of the carboy that can allow these microbes to flourish. Make sure that you add some reserve wine back into the carboy as the wine evaporates. You can either reserve some of the wine you’ve created, some of the same type of wine you made before, or you can buy a bottle of wine of the same type and blend as the wine ages.
Keep a close eye on the sulphite levels too. You need to keep them up if you’re going to age your wine. You can check the levels using a sulfite testing kit. You should check every other week for long-term aging.
When storing your carboy, make sure it’s in a cool, dark place that is free of vibrations. Check the carboy often to make sure that the airlock is on. Make sure the airlock is sanitized and contains sanitized water and doesn’t go dry. I made the mistake once of not paying attention to my wine and let the airlocks go dry – most batches were fine although I did have to pour two down the drain as they had both spoiled. Not good considering I’d been aging them for over a year and a half!
If you follow these simple steps, you shouldn’t have any trouble aging your wine. In fact you can save a lot of space by waiting to bottle your wine as you need them.
To your wine making success!
Printable Wedding Invitation Kits – Debunking the Myths of Printing From Home
Wedding invitations are a window into the world of your wedding day. They are the first glimpse your guests will have into the type of affair you are planning. Purchasing invitations is another task on the list to get done. But although so much time and effort is put into the other tasks, the invitations are one of the few things which you can control from start to finish for your wedding day. Today, with a wide variety of printable wedding invitation kits available on-line and off-line, you can control the style, theme and look of your wedding invitation from start to finish.
Is printing your own invitations something to be left to the experts? Many brides to be are a little wary at first about printing from home because they may think it is very difficult, if not impossible. But with the wide variety of wonderful printable kits available, it is easier than ever to create your own beautiful and elegant wedding invitation without spending a small fortune.
Let’s explore a few of the myths surrounding printing from home:
1. It is simply too difficult. This is absolutely not true. Printing from home can not only be fun and creative, but by following a few simple steps, it is much easier than it appears. The nice thing about printing from home is you have control over the creative process from start to finish. In other words, you may opt for a more elegant style of font and simpler paper stock. Printing your own allows you the freedom to do this and create a wedding theme and style all of your own.
2. You need special printing equipment. Again, the short answer here is no you do not need any special printing software or equipment. If you have a laser or ink jet printer, you are more than good to go. If you have purchased a printable wedding kit, then the paper stock will work very nicely on either type of printer. However, if you purchase stock that is heavier or textured, it will not print well and may require a professional printing machine. Do not discount purchasing this type of paper as it is lovely and can be used for layering to create a more formal or elegant theme.
3. You need a special design software for processing. If you have Microsoft Word or a similar word processing software then you have what you need to print a beautiful wedding invitation. There are free versions too. Open Office is a great free resource site and has a wonderful word processing package with wedding invitation templates.
So there you have it. Doing it yourself with printable wedding invitation kits are rapidly gaining popularity and you do not have to be a professional designer or printer to create your own. They are a great way to reduce costs without sacrificing quality or style and allow you to be as innovative and creative as you desire. Today, many brides are turning to being more in control of their wedding day and designing and printing your own wedding invitations is a first step in achieving that goal.
Potassium Sorbate – Do You Need to Add it to Your Homemade Wine?
Every single wine kit that I’ve ever purchased comes with a package of potassium sorbate. The instructions that come with the wine kits tell us to add sorbate at the same time that we are to add potassium metabisulfite. However, many winemakers balk at adding sorbate to their wine and don’t always follow instructions.
Why the balking? Many believe that potassium sorbate adds a bubblegum flavor to wine, or as some call it, “kit wine taste.” So why do so many advise to add this stuff to our wines after the fermentation has been completed?
Well, let’s bust one common myth right at the outset. Potassium sorbate does not kill yeast. Many believe that the purpose of this additive is to kill yeast. What sorbate does, at the correct quantity, is slow down and stop the reproduction of yeast. It will not stop yeast from continuing to ferment a wine, nor will it prevent a fermentation when it’s added to juice before the juice has been inoculated with yeast.
Primarily, it is used to prevent a re-fermentation of the wine if there is enough residual sugar left in the wine after it has been bottled or if a wine has been sweetened after it has fermented. You may have heard stories – or perhaps it’s happened to you, where a home winemaker has bottled their wine, only to start hearing corks popping out of the bottles six months later. This is because there was enough sugar in the wine for some yeast cells to feed on and begin reproducing. As they feed on the remaining sugar, the produce more alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide build up in the bottles creates enough pressure that the corks are forced out of the bottles and the wine inside blasts out.
Dry wines that have fermented to very little or zero residual sugar and that will be bottled without a sugar based sweetener added do not need any additions of potassium sorbate. If there is no sugar for any remaining yeast cells, there will be no re-fermentation by yeast.
If the winemaker is making an off-dry or sweet wine, potassium sorbate should be added to the wine to stabilize it. Generally, the rate of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon is the rule of thumb.
If you’re new to winemaking, I’d recommend that you use the potassium sorbate additive in your wine until you are very comfortable using a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity and understand the relationship of sugar and yeast. Wine kit makers don’t want to take any chances that you may not have fermented your dry wine completely, and therefore instruct that you add sorbate at the same time as sulfite. Potassium sorbate is more effective when used in conjunction with potassium sorbate.
Wine Making Kits – Would You Share This Wine With Friends?
Wine making in small batches for personal consumption has been around as long as wine itself. In the United States, personal wine making was brought over from Europe as a family skill in the 18th and 19th century. Although you can’t sell any wine that you produce from home, it’s perfectly legal and is in fact a thriving hobby.
Wine making for personal consumption is, in a way, similar to gardening. Growing or producing a product for personal consumption lends a sense of pride, although wine making is much more complex than growing carrots. You’ll need special equipment, which years ago was cumbersome and bulky. Now, there are self contained kits which fit neatly into any small space, like the corner of a basement.
Making your first batch of wine is possible in your own home with a wine making starter kit. These kits generally cost $125 to $200 and include everything you need as a fledgling winemaker. You’ll receive supplies, gadgets, ingredients, and sealable containers to hold the wine while it ferments.
In a starter kit, included are a couple of air sealable jugs to store the wine, ingredients, corks, and specialty tools. And of course, complete detailed instructions. From opening the box to drinking the wine, the whole process takes about a month. Your ingredients will vary depending upon what type you choose to make.
Process And Results
The process itself is fairly easy, although a bit stop and start. For example, after the first step, basically consisting of mixing ingredients, there’s a 24 hour waiting period to allow the ingredients to settle. Then, another cleansing of sediment after 5 or 6 days, followed by the 4 to 6 week fermenting period.
Our first batch was, well, our first batch. Certainly not a masterpiece, but drinkable nonetheless. It was what we’d call a simple red table wine, and we were encouraged enough to try the process again. We learned that wine making is a skill that improves the more you practice.
The next batch yielded better results. We produced an apricot wine, using a recipe modeled after a wine we’d enjoyed on one of our U.S. wine trails travels. We were brave enough to share some of this with friends and family, and were pleasantly surprised that it received positive reviews (and requests for a 2nd glass).
We’ve basically stayed with fruit wines since then, as we’re able to experiment somewhat in terms of how much fruit we add and how it affects the end product. While we still enjoy a good wine purchase, it’s been fun to share with people that we’re wine makers!
If you have a little patience and enjoy growing things or producing something all your own, consider wine making. We never thought of ourselves as ever being wine makers, but it’s been fun and a great topic of conversation. You’ll need a willingness to experiment, and a sense of humor for when one of your batches inevitably flops. But, you’ll experience a real sense of pride when someone pays compliments to the winemaker!
Wine Making Kits For Homemade Wines
Wine making and fermenting your own homemade wine takes a lot of time and effort. It doesn’t necessarily equate to being a complicated process, the procedure is actually very simple but the whole wine making process will require an extended period of toiling.
Most people would define wine as an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grape juice. It is a popular definition because grapes are the usual base fruit or juice used in making wines, but according to some wine connoisseurs , Wines are basically any alcoholic drink produced from any non-toxic fruit juice (Strawberry wine, Pear Wine, Apple Wine, etc.)
Wine making consists of very simple steps that any person with the right equipment could do. As long as you have the basic wine making kit, you could produce wine whenever you desire.
Making homemade wines if, done properly, could produce good quality wines that may taste just as good as any commercially available wines. And since you are the one making your own drink, you could experiment on the acid levels, alcohol levels and the sweetness of the beverage that would suit your taste.
If you’re planning to produce your own homemade wine, you will need a few equipment necessary for the fermentation of the juice. The list of equipments consists of the following:
1.A primary (primary fermentation vessel) which most of the time comes in the form of a plastic bucket or pail. This is where you will mix your concoction together with your ingredients.
2.A sieve or a mesh bag or a nylon straining bag where you will put your chopped, crushed or sliced fruits during flavor and aroma extraction.
3.Sterile cloth that will cover your bucket during the primary. This will prevent contaminants and bacteria from getting in to your concoction and at the same time, it will allow the unwanted vapors from your mixture to escape.
4.A siphon hose which you will use when you are going to transfer the wine from the primary to the secondary fermentation vessel. You will also use this when you are going to rack your wine.
5.A secondary fermentation vessel, most of time, Carboys are used as secondaries because it is easy to airlock and it is more resistant to scratching.
6.Air locks which is vital for the anaerobic fermentation process that the mixture must go through to produce wine.
7.Bottles which will be used for aging the wine.
8.Corks to secure the wine inside the bottles.
9.Hydrometer, which is one of the most important equipments you will need because this will measure the specific gravity of the wine.
The listed items is actually the basic wine making kit. Some of the tools you will need that were included on the list could be replaced by or substituted by common household items. Just remember that the substitutes you will use are sanitized and sterile.
Using tools that haven’t been properly sanitized may cause spoilage in the wine you are making.
Of course, there are other tools and equipments as well that you could use to ferment your own homemade wine. But some of those are already for advanced wine makers. As a beginner, the list should suffice until you have become a true fanatic of homemade wine making.
There are additional ingredients or additives as well that you will require when making your homemade wine. These ingredients may not be bought from regular convenient stores and may be difficult to find. If there is a Wine Maker store near your place, then you are in luck, otherwise, these essential ingredients will be difficult to obtain.
These additives required in wine making are:
1.Sulfites, the most common sulfite used is the Campden Tablet
2.Acid Blend or Citric Acid
3.Tannin
4.Pectic Enzyme
5.Potassium Sorbate
6.Yeast Nutrient
7.Sugar
8.Yeast
9.Wine Finings
All of these ingredients are essential to wine making. If one of these is absent or missing during your wine making process, it is likely that the fermentation will produce a bad batch of wine or the fermentation will not be successful at all.
Be sure that before you start making your wine, you have the complete ingredients along with your complete tools.
Now that we have listed the complete basic wine making kit you will need to ferment your alcoholic beverage, we are going to give you a simple step by step instruction on how to turn your fruit juice into wine.
1.Fruit preparation – from the moment you pick out and choose the fruit you will be using as your base fruit, it is already part of the wine making process. This also entails the chopping, slicing and crushing of the fruit which will be put in the straining bag or sieve in the primary.
2.Pour water in the primary where the bag is. Whether to use cold or hot water will depend on the specific instructions of that specific recipe you are making.
3.Adding the Ingredients – All additives that were listed, except the wine yeast and the yeast nutrients will be added in the concoction. These should be mixed until all the ingredients have dissolved.
4.Cover the primary with the sterile cloth and leave for at least 24 hours depending on recommended specific gravity required as specified in the recipe.
5.Transferring to the secondary – When you have reached the recommended specific gravity, you will now have to transfer the must into the secondary, add the yeast and yeast nutrients, stir then cover with air lock.
6.Racking – When the wine have reached a specific gravity as indicated in the wine making recipe you have, you will need to transfer the wine to another secondary vessel. You are to leave the lees or the sediments found at the bottom of the Carboy. These lees are dead yeast cells. Prolonged exposure to it may cause the wine to taste bad.
7.Rack again – After a recommended period, you may check your wine’s clarity. If the wine is already clear and has no more sediments at the bottom of the vessel, you may proceed to the next step. Otherwise, you will have to rack again and again until the wine becomes clear and free of lees.
8.Bottling – once the wine is already clear, this is will indicate that the fermentation process is over. You may now transfer the wine in smaller bottles.
9.Aging – this step will require a really long time. It may take six months to a year before the wine is aged enough to have that good taste. The recipe or wine book you are following should have a recommended period of time for the aging process. Once it has aged long enough, you may now taste your wine to see if it still needs to age longer.
10.Enjoying – At this point, your wine have already aged long enough and already tastes like expensive wine. It is now time to enjoy your home made wine.
The listed steps are the general steps in fermenting homemade wine using wine making kits. If you will notice, it was mentioned repeatedly that some procedures will depend on the recipe you are following. This is because the amount of time, additive or ingredients required may vary from one fruit to another or from one variety of fruit to another.
Each fruit and each variety of fruit will have its own characteristics and its own level of acidity, sweetness and the like which may affect the variation of needed additives.
Now, if you find these steps complicated, you may want to start with fermenting fruit juices i wine kits. There are Wine kits available now that sells concentrated juice together with pre-measured ingredients to add and an easy to follow recipe or instructions to homemade wine making.
These wine kits are expensive and don’t come with the wine making equipment but if you really want to learn, this may be the simplest and easiest way to learn since everything is already laid out for you. Just so you’d get the feel of fermenting wine.
But if you really want to experience first hand what it’s like to make wine from choosing the fruit to enjoying the beverage, then you better start looking for fully ripe fruits now.
If you are wondering what kind of fruits you could ferment and turn into wine, and what flavors wine kits offer, we suggest that you visit the blog site, Wine Making Kits. It has additional information of the process of making homemade wine and some information on the available kits in the market.
Common Wine Myths (and Why They’re Not True)
Wine is a complicated, intricate drink, and for that reason alone, there are many myths surrounding the ancient beverage. You can’t believe everything you hear, though, and that maxim holds especially true for wine.
One of the common myths surrounding wine has to do with the specific type of wine known as Chianti. The myth states that Chiantis are, by definition, a cheap house wine that will offer quality only in proportion to its low price tag. While Chiantis are generally thought of as those bulbous bottles obscured in straw holders, Chiantis of the modern age are no longer held to those standards. Now they are altogether higher quality and higher priced. Cheap bottles can still be acquired, but in general, Chianti has made a more upscale name for itself.
Another myth floating around wines is that red reigns supreme in Italy. While it’s true that Italy certainly produces far more bottles of red than white wines, that does not mean the quality of the latter is lacking. In fact, even the regions of Piedmont and Tuscany, which are renowned for their red wine production, have a number of high quality and well-received varieties of white as well.
Lastly, what list of myths would be complete without one about the infamous category of cooking wines? For this myth, we turn to the popular wine variety of Marsala. A very common ingredient used for cooking, perhaps best known in the Italian dish chicken Marsala, this wine is not simply handy in the kitchen. While some lower quality grades of the wine are best kept to the broth and sauces, there are plenty that are a pleasant and delightful sipping wine alongside your meal. Of course, as wine producers mature and change, so do the wines, and with that in mind, Marsalas only look to improve even further. As with many wines, it’s best to use price as your guide if you’re feeling a bit lost in the dark. The higher the price, it’s a safe bet, the higher the quality will be. You can also ask for suggestions from your local wine stores or from your sommelier or waiter while dining.
Keep these myths in mind the next time you’re ordering a bottle with dinner, and remember that you can’t always believe what you hear about wines. Although, if nothing else, they might make interesting dinner conversation for you and your dinner companions.
Homemade Wine – 3 Myths Exposed About Wine Making at Home
Imagine never leaving your house to buy wine ever again. You sit back and enjoy a freshly made batch of homemade wine and think of all the money you are saving. You can experience this wonderful feeling if only you did not believe these 3 myths about wine making at home.
Myth #1: It Is Very Hard To Do
People have this misconception that the process of making wine is extremely difficult. They think they have to stand in a barrel and stomp on grapes. This is wrong. Wine making in fact is a very easy process and once done a few times it becomes incredibly enjoyable. Lots of people make it into a huge hobby. There are even wine-making kits available that include all the equipment you need. The only one difficult part about wine making is that all the equipment needs to be completely sanitary. If not, then there is a big chance that bacteria can grow. So keep everything clean and you will get a great batch of wine.
Myth #2: It is Expensive
Wine making is actually pretty cheap. If you bought all the supplies separately then it can get a little pricey. However, if you bought an all in one kit you get everything you need. In a single batch you can make 5 or 6 gallons of wine. That equals out to almost over 30 bottles of wine! Do the math on buying 30 bottles separately and it will cost you well into the hundreds. Also, think of how long 30 bottles would last. There really would be no need to go out and buy any more wine.
Myth #3: It is Going to Taste Gross
This is completely wrong! Homemade wine taste so much better than bottled wine. Wine vineyards add their own ingredients whether they are natural or other unnatural ingredients. At home you can make your wine completely natural and chemical free that the result is going to be one delicious batch of wine. There are multiple wine recipes that you can make that incorporate different types of fruit. Once you become comfortable with the wine making process you can customize the wine to your liking. That means, that you will no longer have to find that perfect bottle of wine, because you are making it right at home!
If you can really just get over these 3 myths about making wine, you will start to create some spectacular wines. Everyone you know will love to drink them and you will save buckets of money. Wine making at home is very fun and easy to do, it is not expensive, and the wine tastes just as good if not better than bottled wine.
Wine Making – Fruit Or Concentrate?
When it comes to wine making at home, the varieties and combination’s are truly limitless. As a beginner wine maker, should you start first with fruit, or juice concentrate?
Both options are equally desirable to achieve a fantastic quality of wine. Lets take a look at the pros and cons of each.
Fruit Wine (wine made from real fruit)
Here are some of the good points about using real fruit.
*Fruit selection. Not only are we talking about what variety of fruit to use, we are also dealing with finding our fruit at the best possible stage of ripeness. Fruit that a supermarket might deem to be too ripe to sell, could possibly be at the perfect stage for wine making. On most occasions if you can locate your choice at the top state of being ripe, you may not need to add any sugar to the must at all.
There are many other pluses for the real fruit side of the coin, however, I should bring to light a few of the les than stellar points as well. Since you will be using whole fruit that is diced or mashed somewhat, there will be the skin and other sediment that you will have to deal with. This can be handled partly by placing the fruit in a sort of bag, or containment cloth, which will hold the bigger pieces and larger sediment. Even with this in place, you may find it necessary to do more rackings than with a juice or concentrate mix.
Wine from juice or concentrate
For a beginning wine maker, this is the better option. Many people, when first starting out, will purchase a wine kit, which includes all of the essentials needed to make wine. Along with the needed ingredients, you will also have a set of fairly decent instructions that take you through the process from start to finish. Making wine from juice is pretty straight forward and quite easily done by anyone.
As a summary, both methods of real fruit, or juice are fine for making wine at home. If you are just starting out, and this is your very first attempt, I suggest starting out with a wine making kit.
Fruit Wine Making
When you think of wine making, grapes come to mind. But, not so fast. Other fruits can equally be used to make wine. In the past few years, home wine making has seen a huge increase in popularity and people are making wine with grapes and with other fruits.
The good thing is that making wine from other fruits is the same process as making wine from grapes. There is only a slight difference on the things you lay emphasis on. For example you would have to make adjustments in the sugar content and acid levels when working with other fruits. Since you can make wine from grapes effortlessly, going one or two more extra steps is not a big deal for most wine makers. Those who have made wine from other fruits than grape say it is worth the effort.
The big question is which fruits can you use? The answer is basically any fruit. The popular ones for making wine includes peaches, watermelons, plums, strawberries, blackberries, pears, grapefruits, persimmons, gooseberries, boysenberries and much more. Just like any new experience it would take some practice to fully figure out the best approach to get the wine just the way you like it.
The initial step in making wine from other fruits starts with the same basic principles used when using grapes. You must evaluate the fruit. And always remember that the wine produced is only as good as the fruit it was made from. The take home message here is to pay close attention to the fruit you are using.
When picking your fruits, avoid fruits with excessive number of bruises and or molds. Always make sure that the fruits you use are ripe. Unripe fruits tend to produce wine that is lacking in character. As you already know, before crushing, wash the fruit thoroughly.
Depending on how you like your wine, you might need to dilute the fruit with some water to get the best wine out of it. This is because certain types of fruits are naturally already too strong and would need to be diluted. Others may have an acidity level that is too high which would result in the wine having a very sharp taste. Example of a fruit that would not require any dilution is apple. Actually you can use pure apple juice, as is, without any worries. However, fruits like gooseberries and blueberries must be diluted. They have very high acidity and when used undiluted to make wine, produce wine with that sharp taste.
There is no single right formula on the amount of fruit to use for wine making. However, the amount of fruit you use depends on the outcome you are looking for. If you want to produce wine that is light and crisp, then you should use less fruit, while the opposite applies if you are looking at producing a sweeter and heavier wine such as a dessert wine.
To adjust the sugar level in the fruit you are using for your wine making, a hydrometer comes in handy. A hydrometer is a tool familiar to any winemaker and it is used to determine the level of sugar in the juice, and how much alcohol you could get from those levels. It comes as a tube of glass with a floating weight on one end. You place the tube into the juice and read off the sugar level by how high or low the hydrometer floats in the juice. There is a meter on the hydrometer that will indicate the alcohol potential.
Another thing you would need to monitor is the acidity of the juice. Different juices have different acid level. There are two ways in which you can check the acid levels. One is to use a litmus paper or PH testing strip, while the other method is the use of a titration kit. Using a litmus paper is a very fast and cheap way, but, it is not very accurate. The titration method is a much better way to check acidity and taste, and the results pretty accurate. If for any reason you need to adjust the acidity level, you could use either of three different fruit acids. They are malic acid, citric and tartaric acid, and could be purchased as a blend known as the acid blend.
