Let's Make Fruit Wine Part 4

Welcome back! We are about to dive into the world of finishing your bottle of wine. If you are just joining us you may want to head back to Part 1 of our series on making your own fruit wine!

Shrink Caps

I know...you're looking at the great wine you just produced and that plain bottle just isn’t doing all your hard work any justice.  What can we do about it?

Let’s get creative and finish it off properly!  First, let’s hide that cork with a beautiful shrink wrap. They are very easy to use and add the perfect finishing touch.  All you need are the shrink caps (foil covers), a shrink cap tool, your wine and boiling water.  Really, that's it!

We have gorgeous gold shrink caps at Make Your Own!

Now let’s get started.  Bring a 1 quart pot of water to a boil.  You don’t want or need a hard boil; just a steady rolling boil is good.  Place your cap on top of your bottle and hold it in place using your shrink cap tool. Quickly dip the top of the bottle in the water and pull it out. (If you don’t have a good grip on the cap it will not shrink in a smooth manner.) Dry your bottle and you’re done!

Another alternative to the boiling water method is to use a hair dryer or a heat gun. This method will also shrink your caps, but it takes only seconds with a direct heat source. Place your shrink cap over your bottle top and hit it with the heat source from the top down until the cap has shrunk down. This method can take a bit of practice.

Labeling Your Wine Bottles

Was that the Merlot or the Cab?  Red is red, so how will you tell them apart?  You could do a taste test but you may not get the one you wanted, so let’s make labels.  It’s not hard, really!  You need a label making program or templates, labels, and a computer with a printer.  There is a great website that lets you make free labels: freelabelmaker.com and Avery.com has the labels.  You can also get the labels at any office supply store.  What you are looking for are 3 ½ x 5 shipping labels. They come 4 to a sheet and have the adhesive already on them.  Avery.com has 2 of them listed, item numbers – 5168 and 8168. 

Once you have your labels, go to the label maker website and pick your wine label design.  A .pdf file will open with the design in it.  Simply add the text you want.  You only fill out the first label; it will automatically add the text to all the labels for you.  Just print, peel and stick them to your wine bottles.  Now your wine bottle is perfect and it has a professional look that fits your homebrewed wine!  And the best part is – You make it your own!

Up Next: Making your own Gourmet Hot Sauce

Let's Make Fruit Wine Part 3

Welcome Back! If you are just joining us you may want to head back to Part 1 of our series on making fruit wine!

So what are you going to do when your wine has fermented out?  Bottle it of course! 

You will need some empty bottles and have a few options available.  You can:

v   Save and re-use any wine bottles you have at home. These will need to have the labels removed.  Some labels will come off easier than others. They can be soaked in warm soapy water, and then scraped off with a new razor blade. Most times letting them soak for 24 hours in soapy water will make the labels easy to remove. Sometimes additional products are needed like Goo Gone.

v    Come visit us for ready to use, re-usable bottles.  These bottles have been cleaned and labels have been removed for you.

v   Come visit us for brand new bottles.

Now that you have your bottles, you need to make sure they are clean and sterilized.  I run my bottles through the dishwasher. If there is something in the bottle that has not come out, a bottle brush with stiff bristles on the end should help to remove the remaining sediment. After they have cooled they need to be santizied.  Dissolve 1 tablespoon of potassium metabisulfite in 1 gallon of warm water and dump into your sink filling by the gallon until it is at least half full. Dip bottles into the santizing solution and let drip dry upside down.  If you don’t want to sanitize in the sink you can use the 5 gallon primary fermentation bucket. You will also need to sterilize your siphon, tubing and EZflo bottle filler using the same solution.

Now onto bottling, place your siphon hose with the EZflo bottle filler in your bottle and the siphon in your carboy.  Begin to siphon.  Keep an eye on your bottle and when the bottle is full, pull up your bottle filler.  This will stop the flow of wine.  Sometimes, when the bottle filler is removed I find that there is more space than I like in my bottle so I touch the tip of the bottle filler to the side of the bottle (which releases a small amount of wine) and bring the level of wine in the bottle up.  Continue filling all your bottles until your carboy is empty. 

Let’s talk corkers! 

There are two options; first is a hand held corker.  You really need two people to use this, if you don’t want to risk knocking your bottle over.  One person will hold the bottle while the second person puts the cork into the corker, holds it over the bottle opening and pulls the arms down. This forces the cork into the bottle.

The second option is a floor corker.  This is what I use and it is great!  This can be done by one person.  You simply put the bottle on the corker’s pedestal, drop a cork in the opening on the corker and pull the arm down.  This forces the cork into your bottle.  You can also adjust the depth of the cork, if you need too.

Up Next: Part 4 - Shrink Wrap Tops & Labels