I take out all of the raspberries from the freezer and set them in the sink to thaw. I then check my supplies, and make a trip to my favorite wine store, The Home Vintner, to collect other supplies that I will need. When I get back, I see that starting this will have to wait a day until the berries are fully thawed.

Next day: The berries are thawed. I have all my supplies. Lets get started!

I won’t mention it at every step, but it is critical that everything that touches your wine is sterilized. This can be accomplished by boiling water, but is best done with a sterilizing solution. I use something that we call “Pink Stuff” It is a granular substance that when mixed with water turns the water pink also, and sterilizes equipment safely.. I use it to clean everything. After its cleaned, I rinse throughly.
I start by doing a bit of math to make sure I will have all of the amounts accurate. Based on the amount of berries that I have, I will be able to make a full 21 liter batch. Here is what I started with:

• 10 lbs berries
• approx 19l water – room temperature. Topped up to 21l mark on primary
• 5 lbs regular sugar – melted to liquid form
• 1.5 tsp Ascorbic Acid
• 1.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme
• 3 tsp Yeast nutrient
• 3 Camden tablets

I put the fruit into a large mesh bag. ( I hate trying to rack with a mass of fruit sitting in the bottom. This way I can drain the bag, and pull out the vast majority of the fruit very easily) Splat! Drop it into the bottom. I then grab the old potatoe masher and mush it up to get a lot of juice out. Add water and the rest of the ingredients and stir the heck out of it. I need to make sure that everything is well mixed and dissolved. Once it is mixed enough, I put on the lid, attach an airlock top keep unwanteds out and leave it alone for at least 48 hours. The reason for that is camden will kill the yeast as it is a sterilzer. I need to let it neutralize before I can add the yeast.

2 days later (Oct 14):

I peak inside and cant help taking a sniff. HMMMMMMM. very raspberry. Also has a sweetness due to all the sugar. I stir it up again. Stick in the hydrometer: 1.062. This will not be a 12% effort, but that’s ok. Probably closer to 9-10%. Now I sprinkle the Champaign yeast on top. Close it up again with the lid and air lock. Now, the room that I have to make wine is a bit on the cool side. Thats not a bad thing, but for optimum fermentation, the juice should be at 22-25 degrees C. Left as it is, my juice will be at about 16 degrees. So. I put on a heat band. This will keep the juice at 24-25 deg. I set the primary up on the counter and leave it. I don’t have to do anything until it starts to ferment.