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Issue #4, 2004

Clickabrew Success Continues
by Bill Reddy

It's been almost seven years now since our Clickabrew store went online. At first we thought Clickabrew would be used mainly by our local customers but it soon became evident that we had got it all wrong.

Our first order came from Norway and it was followed up by orders from the United States. Initially 95% of our orders came from the US and other countries with 5% from Canada. Now we are at about 75% US and 25% Canada.

Anybody who has visited our Brewery Lane stores in Newfoundland, Canada knows that our business philosophy is to deliver outstanding service and exceptional quality to our customers. This has made us the largest consumer-made wine and beer store in our area. We also apply this philosophy to our Clickabrew online store. We carry only the top brand products from the industry's leading manufacturers like RJ Spagnols and Winexpert.

We know that there are two types of people who make their own wine and beer. You have some who are enconomically motivated and then you have people who are serious about their hobby and enjoy the process of making wine and beer. This second group of people are the ones that we enjoy catering to. If you are reading this newsletter you are most likely a member of this elite group. You want the best and nothing else will do.

We at Clickabrew are working to make sure you get the quality and service that you are looking for. To accomplish this we are forever checking out new products and trying new ways to improve our service. We especially are on the lookout for products that appeal to the more serious and discriminate wine and beer maker.

Clickabrew's continued success depends on you and we intend to keep you happy. Look for new items to be added to our online store over the next few months with an emphasis on quality and advanced techniques.

Bill has been an avid wine and beer maker for over 30 years. He is an owner of Brewery Lane and edits the Brewery Lane Brew News. He can be reached at billr@brewerylane.com

Sale and Clearance Centre

Visit our new Clickabrew Sale and Clearance Centre. Check out our Feature of the Month Wine Kits with special pricing. You'll also from time to time find great deals on discontinued and clearance items. This month we are featuring Vintners Reserve Bergamais and Piesporter plus a selection of Orchard Breezin' and Island Mist wine kits and Barons Premium Beer Kits.

New Items!

Effersol 2
Effervescent tablets release 2 grams of sulphur dioxide gas into your wine. The tablets fizz while dissolving when they are added to your wine distributing the So2 so there is no need of stirring or crushing the tablets. One tablet is used per five gallons and there are 18 tablets in a vial.
more information

Wyeast Vintner's Choice Pure Liquid Wine Yeast
We now carry this excellent product for serious winemakers. We have made two wines — a Winexpert Symphony and a Pinot Gris — using the Chablis Vintner's Choice yeast and we were very impressed with the results. The wines had more complexity and seemed a little drier. All of our staff have agreed that this is the way to go if you want to make better wines.
more information

Buon Vino Super Jet Wine Filter The Mini Jet's big brother! If you do several batches of wine a year this is the filter for you. We carry a complete line of filter pads and parts for Buon Vino filters. You get three sets of filter pads FREE when you purchase any Buon Vino wine filter at Clickabrew. More information

You Asked Us

I enjoy Mist wines but I would like to increase the alcohol content. Can this be done?

Island Mist and Orchard Breezin’ wines are usually consumed as an alternative to beer and coolers. Typically most people have more than one serving so you should think twice before increasing the alcohol content. Mist wines contain about 6.5% alcohol by volume. If you want to bring a Mist wine up to regular wine strength you will have to add one kilogram of corn sugar in the beginning of the fermentation. This will raise the specific gravity to 1.080 and increase the alcohol content to 11%. The Mist will have a harsher taste than normal and it may need some ageing before it is drinkable.

Sulphites and Wine Kits
by Bill Reddy

All wine kits contain metabisulphite, and we recommend sanitising wine- making equipment with sulphite solution. Sulphite works by releasing free sulphur dioxide (FSO2), which inhibits yeast, mould and bacteria.

Sulphite is also added directly to wine after fermentation, to prevent oxidation. Oxidation in wine follows the same pattern in an apple slice exposed to air—the wine browns and takes on a flat “cardboard” taste. Sulphite binds with oxygen, preventing browning and flavour loss.

The use of sulphite goes back more than 500 years. The Dutch popularised it during the 16th century by shipping only sulphite-treated wines. They insisted because treated wines were the only ones that survived a long sea voyage without turning into vinegar.

Some facts that might clear up any misunderstanding about sulphites:

• Sulphites are a recognised food additive. Its use is governed by Federal legislation.
• All wine contains sulphite; even those labelled “no sulphite added”. All wine produces sulphite naturally during fermentation, up to a level of about 10-PPM. Even with no addition of outside sulphite, wine always contains it—it cannot be removed.
• The legally allowable amount of sulphite is 70-PPM FSo2 in dry table wine. The amount of sulphite provided in Winexpert wine kits is 15 to 20 PPM FSo2, at bottling.
• Nearly all dried fruits and meats contain sulphites. Raisins have up to 1250 PPM. Bacon, orange juice, potato chips, cider, candied fruits, sausages, and even pancake syrup contains sulphite: often at levels higher than found in wine.
• The human body produces its own sulphite as a by-product of metabolic activity. There is no such thing as a sulphite “allergy”. Allergic reaction is the body’s response to the presence of foreign proteins. Sulphite is not a protein, and cannot cause an allergic response. What is commonly described as a “sulphite headache” is a reaction to bio-amines. Bio-amines are compounds formed in wines for various reasons—the commonest being malolactic fermentation. Since wine kits don’t go through malolactic they have no bio-amines.

This is not to say that sulphites are benign: the vapour that comes off a liquid solution smells sharply of sulphur matches and can irritate the throat and eyes. People with asthma or emphysema should avoid the vapour. It can act as a bronchial constrictor, aggravating any breathing problems.

A note on leaving out the sulphite: if you choose to do so, you must leave out any sorbate addition as well. Sorbate can be converted into another substance, called Hexadienol, by lactic-acid bacteria. These bacteria are suppressed by sulphite, but without it they flourish. Hexadienol, unfortunately, smells of rotting Geraniums.

The upshot is this: without sulphites you have to be very careful to keep all of your equipment sanitary and you still must try to drink your wine quickly, before it spoils, probably within two months. If you choose not to add sulphite, no wine kit company will warrant its kits against spoilage.

If you would like more information on sulphites and their effects, consult your family doctor, local health authority, or regional allergy clinic.

Reprinted courtesy of Winexpert

Making Wine From Fruits in Your Garden

This time of year there is always an abundance of wild and cultivated fruits and berries. Wine makers wonder if it is possible to turn some of these bountiful summer treasures into wines we can enjoy later in the fall and winter. The truth is that some fruits can be used to make very pleasant "country" wines while others are best left for jams and pies. I have made wines from many of our native fruits and berries (and some vegetables) over the past 20 years and have strong opinions on which of them make decent wines. Here is my short list: blueberries, rhubarb, black currants, blackberries, apples and gooseberries. I know there will be many people that will say you can make good wine from rowan berries, partridgeberries, etc., but from my experience these fruits produce strong tasting wines that most people do not enjoy. However you can blend some of the strong tasting fruits with milder fruits and juices to produce some very pleasing and interesting wines. This is not to say you can't experiment with some of the many fruits, vegetables and berries you will find in your garden. By all means do so, but make up small one gallon batches first before you put a lot of work into making a five gallon batch that you may eventually pour down the drain.

If this will be your first attempt at make a country wine, I advise that you stick with one of my recommended fruits listed above. If you use a good recipe your wine should turn out to be quite pleasing and very drinkable. One word on recipes. Avoid like the plague old recipes you sometimes find in those little cooking booklets. Also be leery of recipes handed down from your great grandmother, especially recipes that don't require yeast or specify bakers yeast. I recommend that you go to your favourite home wine specialty store and ask for a good recipe. They will also have modern recipe books with formulas for many interesting country wines and will carry all the additives needed to make good quality wines. Our Clickabrew store carries an extensive line of ingredients for country winemaking.

Making country wines is a lot more labour intensive than making wine from a kit. You will also need some extra equipment. You will need two large plastic fermenting buckets, a carboy or gallon jugs, cheesecloth and strainer, a hydrometer, a thermometer, and siphon tubing. You may also need to purchase an acid testing (titration) kit to determine the acid content of your fruits. You can avoid this if you purchase our Wild Berry additive kit especially formulated for wild berries and fruits.

Here is the general procedure. It will give you some idea of what is involved, but there are many recipes and methods you can use. Crush or chop your fruit and add it to a large plastic bucket. Add pectic enzyme, acid ­ if required, and yeast nutrient. Add the sugar as stated in the recipe you are using. Add water to bring it up to the required volume. Stir well to mix thoroughly and then take a temperature reading. If the temperature is between 20º - 30º Celsius take a hydrometer reading. The hydrometer reading should be between 1.070 and 1.090. If it is not in this range adjust by adding water or sugar. You should then take an acid titration test. The acid level should be between 6 to 8%, if the acid is too high or low you will need to adjust it. This is very important if you want to make good quality consistent wines. When everything is right you then add the yeast. Use a good quality wine yeast. Cover the fermenter with a plastic sheet or a lid with an air lock affixed. After your primary fermentation is finished you will then have to separate the fruit from the liquid using your cheesecloth and strainer. Discard the pulp and transfer your wine into a carboy or gallon jugs. Top up with water and continue to ferment as per the instructions in your recipe.

Don't forget to check our Wild Berry Additive Kits. They contain all the additives and instructions necessary to make commercial quality wine from your own fruit. Just add fruit, sugar and grape base to make 23 litres of wine.

Last Month:

Last month our feature article was "A Guide to Sugar". We also listed our most common wine kit questions and we had a great tip on racking your wine. If you missed these or any other interesting articles you can view our back issues at http://www.clickabrew.com/newsletters.html.