The process for making Cider and Wine is same really, I've made lots of cider and plenty of different wines.
First of all you need a list of things to start your own little brewery :)
- at least 2 Demijohns
Glass or plastic 1 gallon containers, you can get larger, but if just starting out I'd recommend the 1 gallon
- Syphon
this is usually just a simple tube to allow you to syphon off the booze into another Demijohn (called racking) or into bottles etc.
- At least 2 Airlocks
used to allow the gases to escape from the booze during fermentation without letting air in.
- Sterilizing tablets/powder
very very important, everything must be sterilized to prevent nasty things killing your booze.
- Campden tablets
this is used to kill off wild yeasts in the juice before fermentation to allow you to use you own yeasts, this is considered safer
- Yeast
There are lots of different types of yeasts to play with, cider yeasts, ale yeasts, wine yeasts each producing a slightly different flavour, and each with a different alcohol tolerance, I currently use Youngs Super Wine Yeast.
- Citric Acid
this is in crystal form, you add this to increase the acidity to give your booze a bit of bite.
- Pectolase
this isn't a requirement, but it helps to clear the booze.
- Yeast Nutrient
helps your yeast to devour the sugars and make your booze, not a requirement, but helps to kickstart a lazy fermentation.
- Empty Bottles and a Bottle Capper, or Corks if bottling Wine
this is only required if you want to put your booze into bottles.
- Unfermentable Sugar or Sweetener
Only required if you want to make a fizzy booze, and want it to taste sweet, there are several unfermentable sugars, like lactose etc.
- Hydrometer
it's not "required" I certainly didn't have one when I started, but they are required if you want to find out what the alchohol content of your booze is. You need a reading with this before you start fermenting and then again afterwards to determine the volume.
Don't fret at the size of the list though, these items are easily obtainable from various online stores and are fairly cheap too. If your living in the UK, a quick trip to a Wilkinsons Store will get you everything you need to start having a play around with making your booze.
Now currently I make my wines pretty much in the same way as I make my ciders but generally with Wines I use More water, this is roughly the procedure I follow (i'll post up specific recipes on a different page, this is just the process):
I'm assuming to begin with that you'll have 1 Gallon of "Juice" which is either going to be pure apple juice (you cannot use containers of apple juice if it's pasturised, it won't work, I crush real apples for juice)
Day 1
First of all, Sterilize your demijohn and airlock.
ok, then I will fill up the Demijohn with the juice, leaving around and inch of space(from the bottom of the neck), crush a campdem tablet and thrown that in there (resist the temptation to sniff these things, they are like smelling salts, nearly knock me out).
Then put some water in the air lock, enough to fill the lowest bubble. (some people use vodka in the air lock to avoid contamination, I've not had a problem using water though)
Now put this somewhere safe for 24 hours.
Day 2
take a gravity reading with the Hydrometer and write it on a label, call this reading OG(Original Gravity) (only required if you want to know the alchohol content)
I usually write a label out with what's in the Demijohn, the date it went in and the OG. it will be more usefull when you have a ton of booze brewing and you can't remember which is which hehe. Usually the OG reading to start off with for a cider should be around 1.040-1.050 ish the higher the number the more sugar that's in it, so if you want a stronger booze, add a bit more sugar. (I'll add more notes about this at the end, because you can't add too much, you'll kill the yeasts, and also create evil cider lol)
add 1 tsp Yeast
add 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
add 1 tsp Pectolase
add 1 tsp Citric Acid (some people wait till towards the end of fermentation to add this "to taste")
Now put back on the airlock and watch (over a period of days/weeks, don't stand there heh)
This initial fermentation, this stage could take anything from a week to a month, and longer for some wines. you'll know when it's ready when the airlock stops bubbling, which you may have to watch for a minute to notice when it's towards the end.
When the airlock has stopped or at least slowed a lot, then it's usually a good time to "rack it off", basically getting the nice part of the liquid off the nasty stuff at the bottom (called lees, this is the dead yeast, combined with bits and bobs from the juice that have settled)
Racking requires you to have a Syphon tube, which you'll want to sterilize along with a second demijohn, also sterilized.
now you need to syphon off the good liquid into the clean demijohn, leaving the nasty stuff at the bottom. be very careful moving the demijohn, any slight movement will disturb the sediment.
once the liquid is transferred, you may need to top it back up to the just under 1 inch mark with water (or more juice if you have it) and put back in the airlock. Now, You'll likely have to write out another label, cause mine never come off the demijohn, at this stage I usually add to the label a Racked date, so that I can see that I've actually racked it, and how long ago that was.
Now you'll have to put it back away again (preferably in a dark place too, Light can sometimes discolour the booze, and apparently ruin some.. so I don't take the chance heh) for a while.. the next stage is just one of patience.. in theory you have alcohol now, and hell you could just drink it.. but.. giving it a few months in a demijohn will help to clear it and improve it's flavour.
Sometimes I have to brew "emergency ciders" for parties, and I've got a month to do it, you can make a cider in this time, and it'll taste ok and make you drunk lol, but giving it a few more months to improve will be worth it.
this is especially true for some of the wines, which after a month will taste pretty foul (banana wine for one) but given six months it will be quite nice :)
ok, so if you make it past the waiting stage and you want to drink it, or bottle it, then the first thing you'll want to do it take another reading with your hydrometer (assuming your bothering with this stage)
it should be something like 1.006 or maybe less.. the lower the number, the dryer it's going to be. this reading is your FG (final gravity)
In order to calculate your ABW and ABV these are the calculations required.
ABW(Alcohol by weight, usually used in the US)
OG-FG*105
so if we had an OG of 1.045 minus the FG of 1.006 and multiplied by 105 = 4.09%
to calculate ABV(Alcohol by volume, usually used in the UK)
take the ABW and multiply by 1.25 so 4.09% ABW Multiplied by 1.25 = 5.11% not too bad for a cider :)
If you want a stronger cider, you can add more sugar at the start, or after the first fermentation.
Bottling
If you've decided you want to bottle it rather than just take the demijohn to a party and go crazy, then you'll be needing bottles (I just keep any cider/beer bottles from friends and use these) you'll also need a bottle capper, and some bottle caps. I got mine from Wilkinsons again :)
First of all, you need to decide if you want to attempt to make fizzy booze, or still booze. and also if it requires sweetening.
if you want it still, then this stage is simple, you can throw in some stabilizing powder to stop all fermentation, and add in some sugar "to taste" until it's the sweetness you require.
but, if you want it fizzy you can't add normal sugar to sweeten it, you'll have to use either an unfermentable sugar or sweetneers. I use a combination of sweeteners and lactose (be careful with lactose, it's milk sugars, so lactose intolerant people won't be able to have your booze)
so either way, get your booze tasting how you want it, and get all your bottles and caps sterilized.
now you'll have to syphon the liquid into the bottles, leaving about an inch space at the top of the bottle.
if your making a fizzy booze then you'll have to also add in about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar (I mix mine up with water beforehand and pour into bottom of all bottles) be carefull with this though, make sure you put it in bottles that can withstand pressure, and make sure it had finished fermenting before bottling otherwise you'll have some bottle bombs on your hands.
when your all bottled up, put them back away for a few weeks/months however long you can wait.. if your making it fizzy, you'll have to wait at least a week, maybe 2 for it to carbonate.
I'll be posting up specific recipes for booze I've made so far, which include, Cider, Banana Wine, Rosemary Wine, Elberberry Wine and White Grape Wine, so be sure to check them out :)