Home Wine Making Instructions

• Introduction |
• Step #1 |
• Step #2 |
• Step #3 |
• Step #4 |
• Step #5 |
• Review

Step #3 - Making a Yeast Starter & Fermentation

Making a Yeast Starter

Make a yeast starter by pouring approximately 100 ml (3 oz.) of juice and 100 ml (3 oz.) of hot water into a large glass mug. Sprinkle the yeast into this solution and allow the yeast to proliferate for about 30 minutes at room temperature. After the 30 minutes have elapsed, pour 3/4 of the yeast "slurry" volume into the carboy and 1/4 into the over flow vessels. The overflow containers could be a couple of gallon jugs or the 11 L plastic canister. Sacchromyces bayanus is the yeast strain that we prefer using. With this strain  we never experience stuck fermentions or a fermentation of prolonged duration.
The redjuices require the addition of pectic enzyme to aid in later clarification. Add the pectic enzyme in the powder form to thered juice before adding the yeast for best results. Pectins (polysaccharide moieties), are naturally found in fresh juice and derived from the skins. It constitutes much of the haze in young wine. The pectic enzyme breaks down the pectin and ensures that the haze will settle to the bottom during subsequent cold storage aiding in natural clarification.

The Fermentation

Allowing the yeast access to oxygen at the beginning of fermentation during the growth phase helps the yeast produce its own lipids. Lipids are an essential component of the yeast cell membrane, necessary for the budding and growth of the yeast cells in the early stage of fermentation and for the protection of the yeast cell from alcohol toxicity in the latter stage of fermentation. To provide the yeast with oxygen it needs to multiply (please see the manufacturer's explanation Lalvin), place only a paper towel in the neck of the bottles for the first 24 - 48 hrs,

1.  Until the must is seen actively "bubbling." Then place airlocks filled with fresh clean water, on the carboy and gallon jugs for the rest of the fermentation
2. The picture on the left illustrates the carboy with juice 12 hours after the addition of the yeast. The picture on the right shows the juice in the carboy 48 hrs after the addition of the yeast. An airlock filled halfway with water is placed on top of the carboy.