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Wine FAQ

Wine Kit Questions

I enjoy drinking wine, but I'm clueless when I hear people talk wine. I don't know my Piesport from my Piedmont. Shouldn't I learn a bunch of stuff about wine before I haul off and actually make wine?
What's a wine kit?
Wouldn't I be making a better quality wine if I used fresh grapes like commercial wineries do?
Do I need a lot of equipment?
How much space will it take up?
How long does it take from start to bottling?
How much does it cost?
Can wine kits really make good wine?
Do the kits come with everything I need to make the wine?
What kind of water should I use to make my wines?
Can I make wine that is sweeter than wines I buy in the store?
There are two packages of oak powder in my wine kit. Is this a mistake, or should I use both?
How can I tell what the alcohol percentage of my finished wine is?
Can I make wine without using sulfites?
At what temperature should my wine ferment?
At what temperature should I store my finished wine?
How long should I age my wine after bottling?
Do I really have to clean and sanitize everything that touches the wine?
Do I really need to stir vigorously for 3-4 minutes during the stabilizing/clarifying step?
What is bentonite?
What are chitin (chitosan) and isinglass?
Why are all these wine kits for 6 gallons, while all the beer recipes are for 5 gallons?
The names of your wine kits don't sound like the varieties of wine I see at the store. Is this some kind of secret code?

I enjoy drinking wine, but I'm clueless when I hear people talk wine. I don't know my Piesport from my Piedmont. Shouldn't I learn a bunch of stuff about wine before I haul off and actually make wine?

Absolutely not! Making your own wine from a kit is incredibly easy, and requires absolutely no knowledge of wine varieties, profession winemaking techniques, or anything like that. All of the instructions you will need are provided with the kit and laid out in a easy to understand, step-by-step manner. Learning “wine-snob” terminology is completely optional, and you can be drinking your own wine while studying up on The Wine Bible.

What's a wine kit?

Simply put, the easiest way to getting started making fermented beverages at home! A typical kit comes with a packet of dry yeast, oak powder(if appropriate for the style), packets of chemicals and finings with big numbers on them (that are clearly referenced on the two page instruction sheet so you know exactly when to add them), and of course, a bag of tested and acid-balanced grape juice and grape juice concentrates, blended and formulated to emulate traditional and popular wine styles.

Wouldn't I be making a better quality wine if I used fresh grapes like commercial wineries do?

If you know what you are doing or perhaps just get lucky, maybe it would be better, but . . . you will need access to far more equipment and you'd better have a lot of space to store your wine!

Wine kits are specially designed to make winemaking accessible to the average person. The main difference between a commercial wine and a kit wine is the proportion of fresh grape juice to grape juice concentrate. Commercial wine is traditionally made using only fresh grape juice (although 3 buck chuck is usually concentrate wine). Wine kits for home winemakers are a blended mixture of fresh grape juice and grape juice concentrate. More expensive kits tend to have a greater proportion of fresh juice vs. concentrate. The more fresh grape juice a wine has, the more total dissolved solids it has, and this means that the wine must age quite a bit longer before it is ready to be drunk. Commercial wineries that use only fresh juice typically must cellar their wine for at least two years before releasing it to the public, and can take anywhere from 3-8 years to come into their prime. The use of concentrate decreases the total dissolved solids in the wine, producing a wine that matures much more quickly and will be ready to drink in 6 months to a year.

Many commercial wineries are using more concentrates as the price of real estate and storage makes long term cellaring of their products less economical. Obviously, the average home winemaker doesn't have a cave at their disposal, so the faster maturation of wine is also helpful for those of who like to make wine every 6 months or so and always have something new in the “cellar”. Perhaps once a good cellar is built up from kits, one can branch out and try a hand at making wine from grapes. At least then you'll have wine to drink while you wait for it!

Do I need a lot of equipment?

Definitely not. Winemaking requires significantly less equipment than beer brewing, and most of what you will need is included in our Home Winemaking Starter Kit. Basically, you will need a plastic vessel for primary fermentation, a big spoon or “The Whip”, a 6 gallon glass carboy for secondary fermentation and clarifying, a racking cane w/ tubing and a bottle filler, bottles, corks, and some way to cork your bottles (if you are local, we have a nice corker that we rent out for this purpose).

How much space will it take up?

Very little. You will need about a 2 to 3 foot square area where your fermentation can take place (ideally kept at 65-75º F), and then storage for 30 bottles of wine after it is finished and bottled.

How long does it take from start to bottling?

The following brands of wine kits are ready to be bottled within 4 to 6 weeks: Vintner's Reserve, Vintner's Reserve World Vineyards, Selection Spéciale, and Island Mist.

Higher end kits are mostly ready in 6 to 8 weeks, although some may take up to ten weeks to be ready for bottling. This includes all the Selections branded kits- Original, International, Estate Series, & Crushendo, as well as kits by Cellar Craft.

*Please note that time to bottling is different than time to drinking. See the “How long should I age my wine after bottling?” question below for more info on this topic.

How much does it cost?

All of our wine kits produce approximately 30 bottles of wine, so the cost per bottle breaks down as follows (keep in mind the prices below are rough averages & are not updated):

Wine Kit Type	Average Cost per Kit	Approx. Cost per Bottle	Approx. Cost of Commercial Equivalent
Vintner's Reserve	$65	$2.17	$3-8
Selections Orig. or Int.	$120	$4.00	$9-16
Estate Series	$160	$5.30	$15-22

Can wine kits really make good wine?

Yes. The technology for producing and aseptically packaging home winemaking kits has improved tremendously over the past 30 years since they were first introduced. The very competitive market in Canada for home wine kits (due to high taxation of commercial wines) has driven a lot of innovation in the industry, and the we the consumers are reaping the benefits! Of course, the best wines in the world are made from 100% fresh grape juice, and that will always be the case, but that doesn't mean that one can't make very high quality wine using some grape concentrates. So while professional winemakers will not go out of business due to competition from wine kits any time soon, these kits offer an affordable alternative for building a cellar and always having wine on hand for dinner, parties, etc.

Do the kits come with everything I need to make the wine?

Yes, with a couple qualifications. Obviously, you will need water to bring the kit volume up to 6 gallons. Additionally, you will need extra potassium metabisulfite to add at bottling time if you will be storing your wine longer than 6 months to prevent oxidation. To do this, dissolve 1.5 grams (¼ teaspoon) of potassium metabisulfite powder in 125 ml (½ cup) cool water and gently stir into wine in the clean carboy. This extra sulfite will not affect flavor or early drinkability.

What kind of water should I use to make my wines?

Generally speaking, if your water is fit to drink, it will be acceptable for winemaking. If you have hard water, high mineral content (especially iron), or high levels of chlorine in your water, this can lead to some off-flavors or haze in the finished wine. You can use bottled spring water or run your tap water through an activated carbon filter to remedy this situation.

Can I make wine that is sweeter than wines I buy in the store?

Certainly! This is one of the many benefits of making your own wine at home. You get to make wine just the way you like it! In order to make a sweet wine, you must prevent fermentation from resuming when you add your additional sugar. This can be done by adding Potassium Sorbate and then adding your grape juice, honey, sugar, or any other sweetener. Winexpert also makes a “Wine Conditioner” product that is a premixed blend of sorbate and liquid sugar and can be found in the Wine Ingredients section of our store. Please note that sorbate will not stop a wine or beer that is in the middle of fermenting, it only prevents the initiation of fermentation.

There are two packages of oak powder in my wine kit. Is this a mistake, or should I use both?

Use both. Some kits have more robust flavor profiles, and will call for more oak as a result.

How can I tell what the alcohol percentage of my finished wine is?

To determine the alcohol % you will need to take hydrometer readings right before adding yeast to the “must” to get your starting specific gravity, and when the wine is finished to get your final SG. The following formula can be used to determine the alcohol by volume (ABV):

Alcohol content = (Starting SG - Final SG) / 7.36 **omit the decimal in the SGs**
Example
The wine started with a SG of 1.080, and ended with a SG of 0.992. The alcohol content of the wine should be:
(1080 - 992) / 7.36 = 12.0 % ABV

If no hydrometer reading was taken before fermentation began, it will be impossible to determine the exact percentage, but you could figure out a ballpark range by using a Vinometer, an inexpensive device that can be found in our product section.

Can I make wine without using sulfites?

Hey, it's a free country, but there are some very good reasons why winemakers have been adding sulfite to wine for hundreds of years. Firstly, it helps prevent spoilage due to infection by wild yeasts, mold, and bacteria. Secondly, it is a potent antioxidant that protects both the flavor and the color of the wine during storage. So what's not to like? Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and confusion out there regarding sulfites. Here are a few facts on the subject:

Sulfites are a recognized food additive. Their use is controlled by the federal government
All commercially available wines contain sulfites. The legally allowable amount is 70 ppm (parts per million)
Nearly all dried fruits and meats contain sulfites. Raisins, for instance, have up to 250 ppm. The FDA maximum allowable sulfite concentration for food is 2000 ppm!
According to the FDA, sulfites are completely safe for 99.75% of the populations, with asthmatics being the most likely to have a sulfite sensitivity.
Sulfites are produced by all grape based wines naturally during fermentation, up to a level of about 10pm. Even with no addition of outside sulfites, wines will still contain them. Using the sulfite included in a Winexpert kit will produce a wine with about 5-30 ppm. More should be added if aging more than 6 months.

While it is certainly your option to not use sulfite in winemaking, we cannot guarantee a successful wine kit experience if it is left out. If you choose to not use the sulfite, you must also leave out the sorbate in your kit. Actual sulfite allergies are extremely rare, and those with sulfite sensitivities would do better to worry about apricots and raisins, which often contain 10 times the concentration of sulfites found in wines. If you make wine without adding sulfites, it should probably be drank within 1 to 2 months of bottling if you want to catch it before it gets oxidized.

At what temperature should my wine ferment?

The ideal temperature range for wine fermentation is 65-75º F. Yeast will thrive at this temperature. A little bit warmer isn't too bad, but fermenting much cooler can lead to a few problems. First, it will just take longer to ferment your wine because the yeast will be working slower at the lower temperature. Second, more carbon dioxide (CO2) will remain trapped in solution at colder temperatures, meaning you will have to vigorously stir longer and harder at the clarification step to remove all the CO2. Third, some of the clarifying agents will not work as well at temps below 63º F, so your wine may not clear properly if fermented too cold.

At what temperature should I store my finished wine?

The ideal temperature for wine storage is 55º F, although wine can be stored as cool as 40º F and as warm as 68º F. It should be noted that the maturation of wine is temperature-dependent. Wine stored in warm conditions will age much more quickly. Perhaps more important than absolute temperatures is avoiding temperature fluctuations. Nothing is more harmful to wine than rapid and frequent temperature changes. A constant 70º F would be better than an environment that continually fluctuated between 45-65º F.

How long should I age my wine after bottling?

This will depend both on the style and the brand of kit you have purchased. Generally the more full flavored and full bodied a wine is, the more it can benefit from aging, while fruity wines are best consumed young. In addition, the more expensive a wine kit is, the longer it should age and the longer it will last in the cellar. Some examples are shown below: age graph

Do I really have to clean and sanitize everything that touches the wine?

Yes, absolutely. Sanitation lapses are pretty much the only way that things can go awry with beer and wine making. Clean means that there are no visible particles or films on the equipment or vessel, and sanitized means that it has been treated with a chemical (sulfite, StarSan, Iodophor, One-Step, etc.) that will inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Equipment must be first cleaned, then sanitized. There are lots of options available to help make this as painless as possible, as can be seen in our Sanitizers/Cleaners and Racking/Bottling/Filtering section of our store.

Do I really need to stir vigorously for 3-4 minutes during the stabilizing/clarifying step?

Absolutely, maybe even longer! The purpose of this mad stirring is to drive off the CO2 that has accumulated in solution as a byproduct of fermentation. You must stir until your wine foams and keep stirring until there is not significant foaming. This is why you should not top up the carboy until after the clarifying steps (you need the head space to accommodate the foaming). The Whip is a drill attachment that will give your arm a break on this job, but you can just use the handle of a long spoon to stir it as well. If all the CO2 is not driven off, the fining agents may not work properly, and you may end up with a fizzy, slighytly acidic wine.

What is bentonite?

A very fine clay known as Montmorillonite that is in beauty treatments, water treatment, kitty litter, mineral extraction, and of course, winemaking. It is using as a “fining agent”, which means that it is added to the wine to improve its clarity and stability by removing particulates, haze, and/or yeast & bacteria. It has a negative charge and sticks to any positively charged particles (mostly proteins) in the wine. As more things stick to the bentonite, the particle get heavier and sinks to the bottom, dragging the haze causing proteins with it. Bentonite is the first thing added in a Winexpert kit. You sprinkle the packet into warm water and stir it thoroughly, making sure it doesn't clump up, and then pour your bag of juice on top of it. Adding the bentonite at the beginning of fermentation increases its efficacy and allows you to use get good results while using a minimum of bentonite. Too much bentonite can give wine a earthy, dirty character or even “strip” the wine of flavors and color.

What are chitin (chitosan) and isinglass?

In contrast to bentonite, chitin and isinglass are both positively charged fining agents, and so are responsible for removing negatively charged particles from the wine, which are predominately yeast cells, and maybe any bentonite left hanging out in suspension. Both are long-chained sugar molecules. Isinglass is a collagen molecule derived from fish swim bladders. Chitin (or more accurately chitosan) is a long chain of N-acetylglucosamine similar in structure to collagen that is derived from shellfish exoskeleton. People with shellfish allergies need not worry, as chitosan is a purified form of chitin that has been treated with alkaline solutions to destroy all allergens and proteins that could cause an adverse reaction. Both of these finings are added after fermentation is complete, and help to speed up the natural process of yeast flocculation, resulting in a brilliantly clear wine in just a couple of weeks.v

Why are all these wine kits for 6 gallons, while all the beer recipes are for 5 gallons?

The wine kit industry is primarily based in Canada. Due to the high taxation rates there for commercial wine bought in a store, many more Canadians choose to make wine at home than Americans who typically start making wine as an enjoyable hobby, rather than as an economically driven enterprise. As a result, all the commercially available kits are designed to make 5 imperial gallons, which is equal to 6 US gallons. So really, both wine and beer kits are designed to make 5 gallons, its just a difference in how you define a gallon! Anyone ready for the metric system yet?

The names of your wine kits don't sound like the varieties of wine I see at the store. Is this some kind of secret code?

Yes it is! For many years, wine kits were sold using traditional French appellations of origin (AOC) names, like the wines you see in the store. The French government agency in charge of regulating AOCs, the INAO, didn't like this, and sued the CHWTA (the Canadian Home Wine Trade Association). So the CHTWA invented new names. The key to secret code can be found below:

Secret graph