How to Ruin Your Homemade Wine

In this video, I discuss some major mistakes in home winemaking and how to prevent them from happening.

[@ClarkS963]

Good to see you on youtube again!! I know it might not make financial sense...but 45k subscribers is pretty great for a channel with a specitic topic! You should be proud of that!

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Thanks Clarks8553! I really appreciate the positive feedback. The little niche community has been nothing but supportive. People like you are what keep me motivated to make more videos!

[@vladenjefimov3912]

Keep it coming man! I make wine for a living at an estate winery in northern VA(868 winery) and i still make wine at home as a hobby. Love the hobby aspect similar to your winemaking and youtube! Love the cinematography . Keep up the good work my dude

[@alexlarsen6413]

@@vladenjefimov3912 I've been fermenting meads and fruit wines for 5 years. Did some kits but this is the first year I bought grapes and am currently fermenting 30kg of Pinot Noir. Yeah I know...not exactly the varietal for beginners, but long story short; I'm from Denmark, we barely have any vineyards and nobody is willing to sell. Then I literally happened upon a great deal on Pinot Noir the day they were picking grapes at this vineyard in Germany as I was driving home. 60 euros for 30 kilograms. Anyhow, started it 4 days ago, it ended taking up 23.5L - that's about 6 US gallons. It's in a 30L bucket, it's going great, in fact I've never seen such wild fermentation. I have it at 21°C. Starting gravity was 1.096. Can you please offer me any advice on how to do this right, as I really have read about Pinot Noir not only being very hard to grow (luckily I got to pick the grapes and I picked the perfect ones), but also being super subtle and hard to ferment just right? Thanks in advance! Cheers!

[@mindyholiday8391]

I have a strict rule , never move , rack or pour wine without towels or blankets protecting the floor space. Because things happen. Avoid clean ups or stains, and rancid odors left behind.

[@nottingham82]

Oh man, this hits home today. Did my grape harvest the last two days and was using my bladder press when I forgot to put the top clamp on. 5 minutes later when the pressure started ramping up it shot the cast iron top off striking the edge of the garage and ripping a hole in the bladder. Sounded like a bomb went off. It was a good thing. I wasn't standing anywhere near it. Now I need a new bladder for the bladder press and new underpants because of the other bladder situation.

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Haha that is a new one!

[@nottingham82]

Wish I could say it was wine drinking related. Was a bit sloshed yesterday but today I was stone sober!

[@Leslei8417]

I love your channel! Ive been a subscriber almost since the beginning! One disaster that I learned the hard way was not to let your wine too long on the gross lees. Max 48h or else your wine is done. Another basic mistake is not clearing the room of fruit flies. And always make sure your equipment is clean

[@jamesvatter5729]

The "volcano" effect is why I bought one of those low, heavy duty tubs the butchers use. I keep the new ferments in there. It contains any blow overs.

[@phaylon]

Great to see a video posted! Lets me know the season is upon us! Here in CA its been a wet year. Still a few more weeks until brix is high enough. Happy Harvest, everyone!

[@michaelbereny6783]

Boy you have totally described my wine making adventures. I never had a wine volcano but I did have a beer volcano. What a sticky mess and a night mare to clean up. Great video. Thank you

[@dhaff8411]

Yup all great advice on handling carboys. Lost my first full 5 ga this year when tapped on concrete floor! 😢

[@pford1854]

Thanks for all the advice. The other day I was racking off a couple of gallons from a carboy to a spouted bucket on the floor. After half the volume was racked, I noticed I was stepping in water, only it was wine. The spigot was left open!!! Ugh!!!

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

NOOOO! I actually had a similar blunder the other day but not costly. I put carboys in coolers with ice to keep white wine fermentations cool. As I was dumbing a bucket of cold water into a cooler I noticed water at my feet only to realize the plug was not closed.

[@BajaStyleWinemaking]

Hi Mr., I am following very closely your channel, content is very precise and higher tech level than others. I have a question, I am processing Blueberry wine (3 gal), it is supposed that fermentation is over as SG is 0.998 when it started at 1.029 but bubbling is still continuing. Do I need to wait a little bit longer or something wrong is happening (I am scared about acetic acid). I will really appreciate your comments. Regards

[@bizbazboztheband]

Made my first wine over the last year (mainly following your advice, thanks very much!) Went very well despite a few hiccups, and then forgot to add sulfites at the bottling stage. Google suggests this shouldn't be a disaster, but it's still annoying to fall at the final hurdle!

[@jgar538]

I did that on my first wine kit. It turned out good but after the wine was well into about18 months, I found the last two bottles getting a little sour and off in flavor. You are probably OK. If it starts to turn a little down the road, have party with what's left. Cheerz.

[@Kira-dj8dj]

Hello, fermentation expert, I have a question for you, if you allow me. I fermented a liter of natural grape juice, added 250 grams of sugar, and used wild yeast. I know that the amount of sugar is large, but what are the expected results? Note that it has 17 days in the fermentation container and it has not finished yet! I would love to hear advice from you, thank you

[@user-jc4yv7eg7c]

Have you ever done a video on Joe to make rice wine?

[@1000ferns]

I'm a newbie here. I think I messed up a 12 gallon batch of blueberry wine last night. I used a cheap ph meter to test and it was reading 5.49. Maybe the wrong thing to do but I proceeded to add more acid blend....6 teaspoons (In addition to the other 6 teaspoons which were already in there) before I realized the meter doesn't seem to work at all. I've ordered a better meter which is supposed to be here tomorrow. I know there is probably a lot to say about thus but could you please give me your advice on the simplest way to rectify the problem if the new ph reading comes back ridiculously low? I'm 2 days into an otherwise healthy fermentation.

[@cheezyandgreasy]

I made three batches of wine, while I was checking the bottles for clarity 4 months later one of the batches had white sediment at the bottom. Before bottling it I added potassium sorbate and then back sweeted. i doubt it kept fermenting cause it wasnt carbonated upon opening and i made sure there was no yeast activity before bottling. It tasted like balsamic vinegar, so i assume it turned bad because of the acetic bacteria, but how if the others done the same way were fine? *I opened a bottle of the other two to make sure* also, does the bacteria put off sediment? i was so confused any reply is appreciated i cant find any info online

[@alexlarsen6413]

Yeah, regarding the volcanoes, one needs to be careful when adding powders, but other than that when it comes to primary fermentation, I've completely switched to buckets and it was the best decision I've ever made - related to winemaking. I left all the mess and blow off tubes behind. 😅 Still even with buckets, leaving enough headspace is important. I'm currently fermenting 23.5L of Pinot Noir and I do need to punch those grape skins down twice a day. It's a 30L bucket, but within 12 hours or so the pulp gets up almost to the brim. Last time it got up to 2cm from the brim. Speaking of fermenting Pinot Noir, I did want to ask for any special advice from you or anybody else, given how famous or rather infamous Pinot Noir grapes are when it comes not only to growing them but also fermenting them. Would appreciate any helpful suggestions.

[@Zeegs037]

I use 40 gal ansi 61 trash cans. put 30 gals must in and there is usually enough head space.

[@petkostoev5826]

I got a volcano every time i make shardonnay...not sure if its from the grape variety, but when fermentation starts its a vesuvius

[@doityourselflivinggardenin7986]

Okay... as a newbee (many years ago) I decided that my Catawba wine needed to be aerated after being racked. I had let it age in our master bedroom and there was not a lot of headspace. This was going to be my first time doing this with my new mixer. Man, I hit that trigger of the drill and that wine came out so fast that I didn't know what was happening. Wine everywhere! And it kept coming out like a volcano. That stain in the carpet never completely disappeared. We steam the carpet and it disappears for a few months and then it comes back. The wine must be in the underlying carpet pad. Lesson learned... the hard way. (BTW, I guess I was correct in that it needed to be aerated.) I once added something to my must to reduce acid. Just dumped it right in. Yup; fizzed up pretty good! Not too bad this time because I was on the kitchen floor which was vinyl. (No more aging in the bedroom.) My son did the mistake of adding potassium metabisulfite in his must instead of the chemical for reducing acid. Yup, didn't ferment. It sounds like we were idiots, but in reality we were just newbees, learning like everyone else. When I started there were no KZbin videos for this stuff. I make really good wines now. I literally can turn anything into wine. Most of my wines are better than that which can be purchased at commercial wineries. Why? Because I learned how to make them the way I like. Nobody can beat my pear wine. Night and day difference between mine and the commercial swill. It took three fails (three years) before I got it right. Three years of dumping pear wine down the toilet. I recently had a pear wine at a winery we traveled to, just to see how theirs tasted. It made me shudder it was so bad. Do people actually buy that stuff? This was a really bad year for my vines and fruit trees because we had a late spring deep freeze. Therefore, I will be purchasing juice for the first time in many years. The few apples I do have will be turned into vinegar, as I am running low. Even the wineries are having difficulties sourcing grapes. I ordered some recently and one variety was already canceled. I am going in a few days to get the juice. From the numbers I am seeing for the juices sold already, they are harvesting a bit on the unripe side, probably because the grapes were on secondary shoots and were started late. I don't expect this vintage to be one of my best. Hopefully next year will go better. My Marquettes will be bearing for the first time on their 4th leaf next year. I always wait this long even if the vines look good because my environment is a bit harsh. I wait until I think the trunk caliper is of sufficient size before I will let them set fruit. That way I know that they have enough roots to bear grapes without killing themselves. I learned the hard way not to rush them. Happy fermenting everyone!

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Haha sounds like you have been through the paces! While it can be pretty simple to make good wine if things go right, fermentations often have a way of throwing curveballs at you.

[@jdchristiansen3082]

I'm new to winemaking at home. My first batch goes into bottles in a couple weeks. My mistake was to put too much liquid in the airlock. When I popped the lid off my primary fermenter, the liquid (starsan, another mistake I made) went back into the wine OOPS! It only slowed fermentation down, but I may have overstressed the yeast. I had to do some managing of that. I've tasted and I think I'm okay, but I won't know for sure until I get to bottling. Hopefully don't have to throw it out.

[@jamescockerham2309]

Thanks for the comment- question here; why did you have a lid (& airlock) on your primary fermentation? I thought the correct way to do primary was to leave it open to the air (or at least covered with something breathable).

[@jdchristiansen3082]

@@jamescockerham2309 I am doing a wine kit (A Pino Noir from WineXpert) and the kit instructions say to either leave open to air, or seal with an airlock. I've seen videos with other home winemakers and they've done it both ways. The instructions did not say I needed to stir during primary fermentation (there were no skins in the kit) so I just sealed it and let it go opening every couple days to take readings (where I made my mistake). Fermentation could have caused it to bubble over, but I had some pretty good head space in my bucket and it seems to have worked out so far. It'll be ready for bottles next week, but I won't be able to get to it for a few more weeks.

[@joehommes7364]

I left my red wine after 8 days of fermentation, left it open accidentally for 3 days. Came back, saw the open fermenter, some fruit flies…stirred it up, replaced the cover. Pressed it, Racked it…wondering about my chances of success with the batch. Numbers look good so far.

[@gnome2024]

0:00: 💥 Home winemaking disasters and the benefits of watching videos on the patreon page. 3:35: 🍷 Importance of using high-quality glass carboys when making wine to avoid problems like the wine volcano. 7:21: 🍷 Tips for handling wine during the winemaking process. 10:56: ‼ Importance of using air locks when making wine to prevent oxidation. 14:30: ⚠ It is important to monitor the acidity, tannin levels, and sulfur dioxide in wine to prevent oxidation and aging issues.

[@gianfortaleza8695]

can you make wine by using part of a wine that is still fermenting

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Yes, this will work. I will occasionally do this if I have a lot of grapes coming in stages. Depending on your yeast, it can begin to stress though since you are going to go to run through a few more "generations" in your population. I often will use a H2S free yeast (Renaissance Yeast), which gives you quite a bit of buffer before you would see problems.

[@pilsplease7561]

Im a professional winemaker but I also do make wine from my home vineyard as well for friends and family. I have had a few disasters, worst at home was getting an aggressive acetobacter infection in a brand new barrel cost me $1200 between the barrel and the wine lost. At work it was a persistent barrel room infection with brett that was coming through the air filtration system. If your paying $3.00 a pound for grapes you are over paying even for premium grapes. Commercially we can get premium cabernet for like $2800 a ton which would run at like $1.50 a pound with conversion to by the pound.

[@spicelord4782]

It’s like 3.50 a lb here. They really trying to scam hobby brewers

[@pilsplease7561]

Yeah I would try and find better priced grapes cause its not worth paying that much. @@spicelord4782

[@mechonicdapais5730]

You pay grapes 280 dollar for 100kg? It's a lot,in northern italy it costs 80-90 the biologic ones

[@pilsplease7561]

US grapes tend to command a premium price for the best of the best from well known vineyards or AVA's @@mechonicdapais5730

[@spicelord4782]

@@mechonicdapais5730 can also buy precrushed/filtered juice though for $60 a pail. (5 gallons)

[@violintorture]

I just totally screwed 20 gallons of red wine. My recently girlfriend convinced me to try to make something without sulfites and it worked with a cherry mead, so I had the confidence to try that with a wine and it worked for the first 6 months or so. Now it's been a year and the wine tastes gross and has becoming completely opaque so I'm about to dump 20 gallons of wine that would have otherwise been quite nice.

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Oh no!

[@richardwolske2015]

I never studied our conversation in my high school never we talked a little about it but no study’s our tests ? ? ? 🤔seams like our national anthem and the fact our forefathers fought a incredible fight to have a voice and representation for what our communities need not the rest of the world’s problems? 🤔Trump 100% !

[@scottttym]

Just curious, do you know why your channel was blocked from my feed for the past 6 months?

[@user-wz5gw8ef3w]

[@lystaylor6416]

In one of your video,you mention pawpaw,were you showing the wrong fruit ???

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Yes, I have a Paw Paw wine video on Patreon. When using a white wine as a base, it can make an incredible wine, but you don't want to ferment the skins and seeds (like you would with many other wines). The fruit is perfectly fine but the skins/seeds are not. It is not uncommon to ferment whole fruits to add a little tannin to the wine, but in some cases it is not safe to do so.

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Also, note, some people use Paw Paw as a synonym for Papaya. When I am using it, I am referring to the fruit that is native the Potomac River/West Virginia/Southern Ohio area of the US, which is different from Papaya