Frequently Ask Questions
Wine:
Q:Though most of us think “grapes” when we think wine, I live in Michigan and can’t help but notice that wineries out here make wine out of a lot of other fruits, like cherries and peaches. I’ve even heard of dandelion wine and wine made from grass clippings — can you make wine out of anything?
A:The bottom line is that yes, you technically can “ferment” dandelions, elderberries, grass clippings and other such ingredients. They have sugars and acids that your friendly neighborhood bacteria, yeast and molds will love to munch on — just check out your compost pile to see some serious fermentation in action. When you’re looking for a certain end product and want it to be drinkable to boot, it’s important to select the right microbe for the job, give it the right starting conditions and carefully control the fermentation to help your microbe deliver the results you’re looking for.
Stripped to its essence, here’s how to make wine: Select your starting material with extreme care and get to know it intimately so you will know how it will respond to fermentation. Tweak that raw material if need be (and, if you’re a commercial winemaker, as the law allows) to enable a harmonious end result. Make sure that your starting material is only visited by “good” microbes that will get the job done in a healthy manner and do your best to help these microbes work in a healthy manner. Give only a gentle nudge when necessary and once the microbes have done their work, protect your new store of ephemeral fermented goodness from oxygen, light and bacterial scavengers that might harm it.
Q:I'm just getting started with winemaking and am looking for some general advice, perhaps a short list of the most important things to remember. Perhaps you could share your wisdom with me and offer some essential winemaking rules?
A:. . this is a good question and one that more people should ask when getting into a hobby. It also serves as a natural follow-up to my previous mistakes answer. It is good to look at the total picture of winemaking and focus in on the most important elements. These are the rules that come to mind:
1. It all starts with the raw material: This is rule #1. Your wine will only be as good as your starting material. It’s possible to make good wine out of great fruit but you can’t make great wine out of mediocre fruit. An ancillary rule is that you’ve got to understand and accept your starting material, both its potential and its limitations. You can ferment with the latest yeast, stir the lees and use an expensive French oak barrel, but an insipid wine can’t grow beyond its roots, even with all the expensive and time-consuming treatments in the world.
2. Acid is the foundation of wine: I learned this at my first-ever winemaking job as a cellar rat at Chalone Vineyards near Monterey, California. Even in the blasting 100-degree days the incredible limestone soils and the chilly nights kept the acid levels in the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay much higher than one would expect. This is one of the secrets to the long ageability of Chalone’s wines — they are rich in natural grape acids, modest in alcohol and rooted in what I would call one of California’s only true terroir vineyards. Sugar is only important in determining the final alcohol content. Fine wines should be picked and made with the true focus being on the pH, TA and flavor/tannin/texture balance of the acids.
3. Learn the science behind the art: Don’t just blindly follow a recipe that says to add 30 ppm sulfur dioxide. Take classes, study on the web, learn from experienced winemakers, do whatever you can to learn why you add that 30 ppm sulfur dioxide. More importantly, you should know when to add 30 ppm, when to add 50 ppm and when to add none at all. Knowledge and experience will allow you to be guided by what the wine needs and not by what someone tells you it does.
4. Listen to your wine: Let the wine tell you what it needs and where it wants to go. Your winemaking buddies, current style trends and, for the commercial winemaker, market pressure can all lead winemakers to use too many new barrels, leave a little residual sugar or bottle too soon. Once the grapes are picked, the path the wine needs to take is already laid out before you. A super-corpulent 30 ºBrix Syrah would have a hard time squeezing itself into the bottle as a crisp, light Syrah rosé. Such ripe, luscious fruit really wants to be the base for a stellar Port-style dessert wine. Don’t force it. Go where the wine leads you.
5. Don’t take wine, or yourself, too seriously: Even those of us who make wine as our day job need to remember that wine is, at its core, supposed to be fun. Whether it’s touring wine country with your sweetheart, watching Lucy and Ethel stomping messily away or bringing out a bottle of your finest for the backyard bocce ball team, wine heightens our enjoyment of everyday life, links us to the past and connects us to the natural world in a very tangible way.
Beer:
Q: What is the difference between two-row and six-row barley?
A: I North America, both two-row and six-row barley are grown. In Europe, only two-row varieties are grown. Two-row barley tends to be plumper then six-row, and plumper means more extract and less protein. Six-row varieties also have higher enzymatic power.
In general, all-malt beers are made with two-row varieties because many brewers feel these varieties are best for flavor and plenty of enzyme already exsist for all-malt brews. More enzymes usually means less carbohydrate, which is really why we mash to begin with!
Q: I have been thinking about buying ingredients in greater quantity and storing them. I know that hop pellets don't age as fast as whole hops, but can and should you freeze hop pellets to extend there life.
A: Storing hops at freezer temperatures does extend their life and will not damage the hop. If the hop variety has good storage properties, and if it is packaged properly, hops will remain fresh for 2 to 3 years.
Q: How does a counterpressure bottle filler work?
A: A counterpressure bottle filler is designed to deliver a carbonated product into a bottle without excessive foaming. The idea behind these devices is to pressurize the beer bottle to the same pressure as the keg holding the beer.
Q: Why would my wort be cloudy before I boil?
A: Clear wort is a function of proper milling, false bottom design and smooth, uninterrupted wort collection. Malt milled to fine is a frequent cause of cloudy wort that no amount of recirculation will completely rectify. Fine milling bashes up the husk so much that it can no longer serve as a filter. Some brewers start with properly milled malt and have problems because the holes or slots in the false bottom are too large. The slots used in lauter tun's are usually 0.7-1 millimeter wide. To a certain degree it is ok if only a small amount of solids pass into the wort.
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