How Do I Test The Gravity Of My Wine?

Testing the gravity or specific gravity of your wine is done with a hydrometer. The hydrometer is a simple tool that tells you what the specific gravity of your wine is compared to water. You can easily make your own home made hydrometer if you don't want to go out and buy one from a store.

For the past few thousand years people have been making wine with out the aid of such tools so worrying about the gravity of your wine is not that important if you are just starting to make your own wine at home.

The best way to test the gravity of wine is to take a sample out and put your hydrometer in that. This way you are going to be able to see the measurement a lot easier that you would if you just put the meter into the main container.

How Do I Make a Yeast Culture?

It is quite easy to make your own yeast culture for making wine at home. I like to give it written language and maybe some music to get it started.  :)

What you are going to need is a large glass jar with a lid, some dry malt extract, a small pack of yeast, and two cups of water.

You need to first activate the yeast in the small packet and let is sit for a few days. After a few days have passed you are going to want to boil some water on the stove and add the dry malt extract and mix the two together. You then need to let the mixture to cool to about 80 degrees F and add the package of yeast.

Then you take the whole thing and pour it into your clean and sterilized glass jar and screw the lid on and shake it so it is well mixed. After that you are going to leave the lid on the jar but leave it loose so the pressure of the yeast creating carbon dioxide doesn't build up and break the glass.

Let your yeast cocktail sit for a few days and you will have one of the most important ingredients to make your own wine.

P.S. Yeast is a living organism and requires food to live. Make sure that you feed your yeast culture approximately every two weeks or it will die.