Fermenting.


This is the boring bit.

All you have to do is put the demijohn in a warm place and leave it for a week. At this stage you will not have a full demijohn, so top it up with some sugary water that has a gravity of 1090.

Now leave alone for a period of time of between a couple of weeks and a couple of months. The fermentation will grind to a halt. This point is characterised by

  1. A specific gravity of 1005 or less.
  2. No bubbles in airlock.
  3. Wine starting to clear from top.

Now rack the wine.

Racking is a dead pretentious word meaning siphon the wine into a clean demijohn, leaving the gunk (lees) at the bottom behind.

Now move onto Clearing and finishing.
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The Glossary