HOMEMADE WINE pt 1 – THE WINE EXPERIENCE

Hi my name is konstantin baum i’m a Master of wine a retailer and a Consultant And this is my channel where we are Thirsty for knowledge And wine today is going to be a little Bit different than normal Because i decided to do something that I’ve been thinking about For quite some time but let’s back up a Little so a few years ago i made a video On this channel In german on how to make white wine and The video was pretty Bad i must admit but it’s the most Widely Watched video on my channel so i decided I have to do something proper this time In order to give you the right Information you need To make your own white wine so in order To make it as simple as possible for you To make your own wine i decided to show You how to make a wine without any Additions Some might call this style of wine a Natural wine i would call it a wine Without additions So the only two things you need for Making this one is One a fermentation vessel and two some Grapes So i guess i gotta get some grapes then [Music]

[Music] Ah i guess that should do it [Music] So i have these grapes from the wineries Veniga a very talented Young producer in my region of baden If you can’t get any proper wine grapes You can also buy grapes in the Supermarket but you got to know that These grapes are much more flavorful as They have smaller berries And therefore make more concentrated More expressive Wines if you use grapes from the Supermarket they tend to be Less flavorful and less concentrated so Let’s start with step number one Pressing the grapes so i don’t have a Press here i just have This black bucket that i cleaned Properly so That is one very important aspect of Wine making you always have to make sure That everything is super clean Ideally you use hot water or boiling Water And you might be able to use some other Agents for cleaning it But i just use water in this case so you Just throw All of the grapes in there i probably Won’t be able to fit All of the grapes in because i picked 20 Kilograms and i don’t think they will

Fit You can remove some berries that don’t Look right So you sometimes get some rot or some Damaged berries So you can just remove them and throw Them out So overall the fruit looks really nice And you can taste some berries to make Sure that they actually ripe Good stuff so this is the kind of fruit That you don’t really want to use in Your wine So now the real work starts when i asked Sveniga whether it’s a good idea To press those berries by hand he just Kind of laughed So i guess this will be a bit more Difficult than when you use one of those Big presses Check out this ladybug he just came Along with the grapes so I guess i gotta bring him outside before I start pressing So looking at all those little insects Living on the grapes i wonder Can wine ever really be vegan okay full Disclosure i’ve actually never Made my own wine i’ve worked at Different wineries I’ve been all around the world in many Different wineries But i’ve never really made my own wine So i hope this will turn out okay

So let’s start squeezing Okay Okay this feels weird but it also feels Good And it’s kind of a workout really you Know in many places it’s actually not That uncommon to squeeze grapes By foot and i guess this was probably The traditional way of pressing before Presses Were invented so it’s time to squeeze Some more Whew drinking wine is a lot easier But it’s also a lot of fun it’s a little Bit like playing in the mud So this mixture of mush berries skins And juice is called the must and i’m Going to let this sit For a few hours overnight you don’t have To do this you could just press it off And put the juice straight into the Fermentation vessel but i want to Extract some more flavor Out of the skins so i’m just going to Let it sit for a bit So i got up at 5 30 this morning in Order to finish this process So let’s do this so the must was sitting On the skins overnight And it has turned a bit brown which is Kind of normal The oxidation process i hope it’s not Too brown though So i’m going to give this a last grease

And then i’m going to pour it into the Fermentation vessel So as you can see only the top layer was Actually brown the must Is still green which is a good thing i Believe And now i’m going to separate the skins From the juice because for white wine You only want to ferment the juice i’m Pretty sure that this is going to be Messy [Applause] So this is going to take a while i gotta Separate the juice from the skins And press them a little bit more and Then i hope i have enough to fill This baby so if you’re asking yourself Constantine does this remind you of the Times That you worked at wineries i gotta say Not at all This setup is just entirely different The similarities are We’re taking grapes and are trying to Make wine out of them But everything else just works Differently man this was quite a morning Workout but i’m done Pressing i have 10 liters of juice in This flask and i have 0.75 liters of juice in this little Bottle i’m going to use the little Bottle To top up the flask in case there’s some

Spillage Or some other issues so the juice now Has to start fermenting if you want to Make sure that the fermentation Starts out fine you should add cultured Yeast Sarcomeres is the strain of yeast that Is used for wine production but also for Producing beer Or making bread those these are Available All over the internet or in certain Shops But i want to make one without any Additions so i’m not going to Add any yeast you have to know that Yeast are everywhere they’re on your Hands they’re on your face They’re on grapes so they should be in This juice already And i want to see whether the juice Starts fermenting without me Intervening at all in order to make sure That the juice doesn’t oxidize i filled This bottle To a very high level so that there’s Very little air In the bottle and i’m going to put both Bottles into a warmer room at roughly 20 22 degrees celsius because yeasts need a Warmer room temperature In order to really get going if you Listen really carefully You can already hear the yeast working i

Think So now the nerve wracking process of Waiting for fermentation to start has Begun i’m actually in my bathroom right Now For three reasons the first reason is That my bathroom is one of the warmest Rooms in my house and you want Temperatures to be a bit higher So that fermentation can really start This room is at 23 degrees celsius which Is pretty much perfect but i also Wrapped the bottle into blankets in Order to make sure that it’s kept warm At night the second reason is that i Have my bathtub In my bathroom which makes a lot of Sense and having your fermentation Vessel In your bathtub is quite useful when Fermentation starts it might get a Little bit messy there might be wine Coming out of The bottle and you can just clean it up Much easier when Everything is in the bathtub the third Reason is that this room is quite well Ventilated i have a window open here at All times And that is useful because as the yeast Start eating the sugar they create Alcohol but they also create Co2 and this co2 might get dangerous if It’s trapped somewhere people have

Suffocated in fermentation rooms before And you want to make sure that that Doesn’t happen to you for your Fermentation vessel you need an Air lock the airlock keeps air and Little insects out of the vessel And it also shows you when fermentation Really starts as soon as fermentation Really kicks off co2 bubbles are being Pushed Through the water in the airlock and This is how you can tell That something is happening so this is a Very crucial time if fermentation Doesn’t start over the next one or two Days The juice might go bad and i really Don’t want that so i’m very Scared I failed so after waiting for seven days For this juice to start fermenting Without adding any yeast I have decided that i can’t wait any Longer i mean The juice isn’t bad yet so it still Smells really fruity and fresh Which is a good sign and there is some Fermentation going on but it’s very slow Very very slow so i decided that i have To add Some yeast in order to speed up things To make sure that the juice doesn’t go Bad Did you just see that there was some co2

Pumping through but Well it’s not enough so what i did was i Went to see sueniga again And got some high quality wine yeast From him This felt a little bit like a drug deal But now i got the yeasty boys on my side But the good side to my failure is that You now get to see how to prepare The yeast for 10 liters of juice i need 0.2 liters of warm water at 34 to 36 Degrees celsius Then i also need two teaspoons of yeast So this should be plenty And then i also need some sugar you can Add normal sugar table sugar But i’m going for some of the same juice In order to get the yeast going in the Spirit of not adding more Than you need so just like before Everything needs to be properly cleaned I Again just used hot water or boiling Water to clean This flask and the glass before adding The juice and the water The next step is that we put two Teaspoons of yeast into the warm water So this is just yeast without any Nutrients or any additions i’m going to Add a little bit of juice So that the yeast really gets something To eat Right from the start

And now we have to wait so after 10 to 15 minutes the yeast starts working you Can see that From the little bubbles that start Forming on the surface And now you just have to add the yeast To the juice Both liquids should have roughly the Same temperature So you open the fermentation vessel and Add the yeast Like this So if you add these you should leave a Little bit more room than if you don’t Add these because the fermentation will Be a bit faster A bit stronger so now i’m going to put This bottle back into my bathtub Wrap it in warm towels and pray So this is what it’s supposed to look Like after a few hours of fermentation Good job yeasty boys so this is it for This video i will show you in another Video what happens Next if you like this video then please Like it down here subscribe to my Channel In order to make sure that you’re not Missing any of my upcoming videos I hope i see you guys again soon until Then Stay thirsty [Music]