wine 101: step 7

The weather outside is cold, and so is the temperature in my house. The last batch of wine I put in is starting out very, very slowly. Usually by one week into the fermentation, my kitchen starts to smell like bread, but I'm barely seeing any bubbles. To help it along, I put my vessel on top of my radiator. I'm thinking this will keep it at a steady 68-70 degrees and increase the chances that it might be done by Christmas. If your house is cold, putting your wine in a warmer (but not hot) place might be something you think about. Of course, if you live in a tropical climate, this should not be a problem for you. Lucky.

STEP 7: Add yeast.
When listing the ingredients, I said that you would be wise to get some wine yeast from a local brewing store. By doing so, you get a yeast that will work well with fruit and will yield a higher percentage of alcohol. Technically, you can use baker's yeast, but it will not perform as well.

The directions on the back of my yeast package says to "reanimate" the yeast for 15 minutes in a small bit of warm water prior to putting it into the yeast. Truthfully, I've done this maybe half of the time and it doesn't seem to make much difference. I have added my yeast in these three ways:

1. Put it in and stir it up.
2. Put it in, wait 15 minutes, and stir it up.
3. Reanimate for 15 minutes, and stir it up.
Again, I think it's up to you and experimentation.

I use 1/2 tsp of yeast per gallon of wine. This is based on the fact that the packet I buy is for 5 gallons of wine and holds approximately 2 1/2 tsps of yeast. The first time I made wine I accidentally dumped in about half of the package and that didn't seem to have an adverse affect, so don't worry if you put a bit much in.