# Making wine... Need answers fast **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** wine\ **Created:** [September 7, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276 "2013-09-07T20:35:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276/1 "2013-09-07T20:35:28Z")
Got a wild thought to turn my grapes and cherries into wine. I’m mostly through pressing out the juice when I realize, IDONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!! I do have the equipment from my old Beer making days. I have wine yeast. I have 4lbs of corn sugar, I’ve got the sulfite to kill off bad bugs. But. I have no recipe, I just started this and am starting to panic about what I’m doing. How much sugar??? Do I add water??? I’ve got about 3.5 gal of grape juice (reliant grapes from my yard); and 1.5 gallons of pie cherries (somewhat sour). Also from the yard. I’m off to do a belated google search, but any instant advice will be appreciated. Crap, maybe this should be in a different forum. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276/2 "2013-09-07T21:38:31Z")
Did you measure the [brix](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brix) of the grapes? That’s the sugar content. That gives you some idea of what alcohol level you will be obtaining (roughly half the bris). Your first step (other than getting this thread moved to the correct forum, IMHO or CS) is to ferment the juice. To do that, you need to activate the yeast (warm it in water for a few minutes) and add that to the juice. That might take a week or two, depending on how much sugar the grapes have. During that time, you need to keep measuring the bris and tamping the skins down. Tamp them down 2-3 times per day until fermentation is complete. Your next step is to get a good book. I recommend From [Vines To Wines.](http://www.amazon.com/From-Vines-Wines-Complete-Growing/dp/1580171052) And find someone local who can help you. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276/3 "2013-09-07T21:41:23Z")
Moved to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276/4 "2013-09-07T21:56:28Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > During that time, you need to keep measuring the bris and tamping the skins down. I have no winemaking expertise to share, but I want to say that this sentence made me laugh out loud. ([Bris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bris) means something very different than brix. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276/5 "2013-09-07T23:04:38Z")
> [@BorgHunter](#): > > I have no winemaking expertise to share, but I want to say that this sentence made me laugh out loud. ([Bris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bris) means something very different than brix. ;)) Wow, that was one hulluva typo! Fore! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-wine-need-answers-fast/668276/6 "2013-09-08T06:03:12Z")
I’m not an expert, but I made many barrels of wine with my dad whan I was a youth. He just crushed grapes and let them ferment naturally. Never added sugar, water, or yeast. It always worked out fine.