This fresh juice is checked for its sugar content and acidity, as in preparing to ferment red wine, and the proper corrections are made immediately after pressing. Likewise, a yeast “starter” is added.
The fermentation takes place in the same 5-gallon glass containers that are later used for storage. But as fermenters they are filled only two-thirds full as a precaution against any overflow or unmanageable formation of bubbles.
When the primary fermentation has run its course, the several partly-filled bottles are simply consolidated—filled full and equipped with bubblers. Subsequent siphoning from sediment, chilling, and dosing with meta are carried out as with red wine.
If fining is necessary, it differs in one respect: before mixing in the gelatin, mix in an equal amount of dissolved tannic acid to remove the impurities. Tannic acid is obtainable at drug stores or winemakers’ shops as a powder. This provides better settling out of suspended matter.
Dry table wine is a food beverage, to be used with meals. Sweet wines are more like cordials.
The making of sweet wines takes advantage of a characteristic of the yeast organism, namely, that its activity dies down and it usually ceases to ferment sugar into alcohol after a fermenting liquid reaches an alcoholic content of around 13%. The secret, then, is to add an excess of sugar when correcting the juice of crushed grapes before fermentation. When fermentation ceases, there is still some residual sugar in the juice. From then on the still-sweet new wine is treated much as other wine.
The three important differences are: (1) the wine is siphoned from its sediment immediately after fermentation, without the waiting period at 60° F; (2) the chilling begins as soon as possible; and (3) the dose of meta added then and at each subsequent siphoning is doubled (½ teaspoon per 5 gallons instead of ¼ teaspoon) to guard against spoilage and against any accidental resumption of fermentation.
Dry table wines made from other fruits are rarely successful, but agreeable sweet wines may be made from them. The point to remember is that most fruits are lower in sugar than grapes and higher in acid. Corrections for both are almost always necessary, plus sufficient excess sugar to leave residual sweetness after fermentation.
These fruits, with the exception of apple juice, are fermented in a crushed mass in order to obtain a maximum extraction of characteristic odors and flavors. Once fermentation is concluded, they are treated like sweet grape wine. The table will serve as a rough guide to their relative sugar content and total acidity.