Fermentation won't start — what to do? (Making Red Wine at Home)

Usually it's too cold, or the yeast was too hot when it was sprinkled in (over 40 °C). Move the batch somewhere warmer, to 20 to 24 °C, and wait a day. If nothing happens then, prepare fresh yeast as in step 3 (Starting the yeast).

The wine stays cloudy — what to do? (Making Red Wine at Home)

Suspended particles often settle only slowly by themselves. First give it time and cool temperatures. If it stays cloudy, fine it with silica sol and a fining agent one after the other, then rack it off the sediment.

The wine tastes flat — what to do? (Making Red Wine at Home)

Too little acidity — this happens with very ripe grapes. Measure the acidity with an acid test kit. Only then, and only after measuring, add lactic acid, in small steps and tasting each time.

Nothing stirs in the airlock after three days — what to do? (Making Mead at Home)

A pure honey-sugar solution is slow to start fermenting. Usually the yeast wasn't propagated beforehand, or the batch is too cool. Getting fermentation going may take one to seven days, but it should get started after three to five days at the latest, otherwise mold spores germinate on the surface. Check the temperature first: a dessert wine needs a constant 20 to 23 °C, up to 25 °C with the cultured yeast for oxidative dessert wines. Move the demijohn somewhere warmer and more even. If still nothing happens, prepare a fresh yeast culture in apple juice (step 2) and add it once it is in full fermentation. Don't throw in more nutrient as long as you don't know that some is missing.

Fermentation won't start at all, and there's a pungent smell of sulfur — what to do? (Making Mead at Home)

Yeast nutrient and potassium metabisulfite were mixed up. Both are white tablets or white powder. The math is quick: 3 g of potassium metabisulfite per 10 liters puts 150 mg SO₂ per liter into the batch, and at that level fermentation usually doesn't start. Adding more yeast usually doesn't help. Only prevention works: store both agents separately and labeled. As a memory aid: nutrient is 3 g in two doses per ten liters, potassium metabisulfite is a single gram, and only after fermentation.

Fermentation stops early, the mead tastes thin and is barely alcoholic — what to do? (Making Mead at Home)

Nutrients are missing. Without yeast nutrient, fermentation stops early and only little alcohol forms, often under 10 % vol. With honey this is particularly likely, because it brings nothing of its own. Nutrient can be added to a running batch until the 3 g are reached. But check with the Oechsle hydrometer beforehand whether there is any sugar left at all — measure first, then add, otherwise you're throwing in yeast or nutrient for no reason. If there is still sugar, it also helps to move it somewhere warmer and shake it daily. For the next batch, don't forget the 3 g of nutrient in two doses and the thiamine.

Only one to two liters of juice from 10 kg of apples — what to do? (Apple Wine and Cider)

The apples weren't milled, only cut up or roughly crushed. That puts you at a yield of 10 to 20 percent. Use a fruit mill or go to a custom pressing service. With their milling technology, about 70 percent flows off on average, so about 7 liters from 10 kg. Pectinase in the mash also improves the flow.

Fermentation won't start or only sluggishly — what to do? (Apple Wine and Cider)

Three common reasons: fermentation was started too cold, the yeast culture wasn't propagated beforehand, or the juice was crystal clear. Crystal-clear juices ferment too slowly because the fine solids are missing. Propagate the yeast a few days ahead in about 0.25 liters of apple juice and add it only once it is fermenting vigorously there. When starting fermentation, don't go much below 20 degrees; only move it somewhere cool afterwards. The target state of the juice is slightly cloudy, not bright.

The must foams over, the airlock clogs — what to do? (Apple Wine and Cider)

The container was too full or the juice too rich in solids. Too many solids make fermentation turbulent and drive the temperature above 30 degrees in the first phase. Fill only to about 90 percent, and generally plan for 10 to 20 percent headspace. Clean the airlock immediately — a clogged airlock can make the fermentation vessel burst. Next time, draw off the juice more cleanly through a sieve or cloth.

After weeks nothing smells of vinegar, the acidity isn't rising — what to do? (Making Vinegar at Home)

Too cold, too much alcohol in the base liquid, or sulfur in the wine. Below 15 °C activity is strongly inhibited, and from 12 % vol. alcohol the bacteria no longer multiply and stop converting anything. First check the temperature and move the batch to an evenly warm spot, aiming for around 28 °C. If nothing changes, the wine was too strong or too heavily sulfited: dilute it with boiled, cooled water into the 5 to 8 % vol. range and re-inoculate from a small, well-working remainder, ideally at a 1:1 ratio.

A thin, white, wrinkled skin lies on top instead of a glassy disc — what to do? (Making Vinegar at Home)

Film yeast, not vinegar mother. This layer doesn't come from bacteria but from air-loving yeasts that spread across the surface in warmth with plenty of air access. It consumes alcohol and acidity, and the flavor suffers too. Don't stir the skin in. Carefully lift it off or draw the batch off from underneath. Film yeast prefers to settle on low-alcohol drinks — check whether you diluted too much. Beginners often mistake the layer for mold; a real vinegar mother feels gelatinous and firm, not dry and wrinkled.

Furry green or gray patches sit on the surface — what to do? (Making Vinegar at Home)

That is mold, and neither mother nor film yeast. It usually gets in through a leaky cover, a poorly cleaned vessel or too long a standing time without fresh alcohol being added. Don't keep using this batch, and don't use it as a starter in a larger vessel. Rinse the vessel with hot water and let it dry, replace the cover and start again with fresh culture and clear wine.

The must weight is higher than the taste of the juice suggests — what to do? (Measure, Don't Guess)

Coarse solids in the sample push the value up. Or the juice is very acidic, and part of the must weight is in the acid instead of the sugar, because the hydrometer registers all dissolved substances. Let the sample settle or strain it and measure again. Then determine the acidity separately with the acidometer. Only the two numbers together tell you how much sugar is really there.

The Oechsle hydrometer leans against the glass wall and stays stuck there — what to do? (Measure, Don't Guess)

The cylinder isn't standing level, or there is too little liquid in it so the hydrometer touches the bottom. Put the cylinder on a level surface and fill it to about the 250 ml mark. The hydrometer must float freely, otherwise the value is worthless. Tap it briefly and let it settle again.

The reading doesn't match what the conversion table would lead you to expect — what to do? (Measure, Don't Guess)

The sample is significantly warmer or colder than the reference temperature of 20 degrees. Juice fresh from a steam juicer or brought cold from the cellar can easily be 10 degrees off. Bring the sample to about 20 degrees or correct the value: add one degree Oechsle for every approx. 3.5 degrees above 20, subtract one for every approx. 3.5 degrees below. A hydrometer with a built-in thermometer saves you the calculation.

Nothing happens after weeks — the bottles aren't building up pressure — what to do? (Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine)

The base wine slowed the yeast down: too much alcohol (over 10 to 11 % vol), too much sulfur (over about 50 mg/l total SO₂ or over about 25 mg/l free SO₂), acetic acid above 0.8 g/l — or the wine contains sorbic acid, which reliably prevents a second fermentation. It is also possible that the yeast starter never got going. If sorbic acid is involved, nothing can be saved; the wine stays still. If the alcohol is too high, the only remedy is a different, lighter base wine. For the next batch, measure alcohol, acidity and sulfur beforehand instead of puzzling afterwards, and check the yeast starter for visible fermentation four days after preparing it, before you bottle.

Fermentation is taking much longer than the stated 3 to 6 weeks — what to do? (Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine)

The second fermentation takes place under difficult conditions. The more alcohol the base wine brings, the longer it drags on, sometimes over several months. Storage that is too cool or fluctuating also slows it down. Wait it out. Ensure about 15 °C and as constant a temperature as possible; don't put the bottles somewhere warm to speed up fermentation, because warmth raises the pressure, and keep shaking daily, at least every other day. Don't open a bottle to check — that costs exactly the pressure you are waiting for.

A bottle has burst — what to do? (Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine)

Almost always one of two causes: the wrong bottle (wine bottle, soda bottle or lightweight single-use bottle weighing 460 to 550 g) or too much sugar, often because it was stirred in unevenly and had collected at the bottom. Residual sugar in the base wine can also have blown the calculation. Clean up wearing gloves and safety goggles. Put the remaining bottles in a closed crate in a cooler place, because cold lowers the pressure considerably. Weigh the remaining bottles empty once they are free, and in future use only standard sparkling wine bottles weighing 650 to 850 g. Next time, stay at 20 g of sugar per liter, with all the sugar together at most 24 g, stir it in completely and only use fully fermented wine.

The Maischewerk Booklets

Free booklets to download

Wine, mead, cider and vinegar aren't made by feel but by process. That's why we write down what we know: one booklet per drink, each with the quantities you really need and with what to do when the batch behaves differently than expected.

The booklets themselves are available in German only.

All booklets are free. Download them as PDFs, print them out and take them down to the cellar — where your phone has no signal anyway.

BOOKLET 06Sparkling wine

6 booklets, 120 pages, all free.

Booklet 01

Making Red Wine at Home

From fresh red grapes, for about 15 liters, in nine steps

The red color is not in the juice but in the grape skins — which is why red wine is not fermented as juice but as a mash. The booklet takes you from the first grapes to the corked bottle: what happens when, which quantities you need and what to do when fermentation behaves differently than expected.

Nine steps from crushing to bottling
Safety notes on sulfur and acids, with a first-aid chart
Troubleshooting: what to do when fermentation stalls
Quantity cheat sheet for 15 liters
Log sheet to print out

Download booklet as PDF

PDF · 18 pages · 1.7 MB · for printing on A4

The 9 steps

01Preparing the grapes
02Measuring sugar and acidity
03Starting the yeast
04Fermenting on the skins
05Pressing
06Secondary fermentation
07Racking and sulfiting
08Maturing and clarifying
09Bottling

A look inside

Page from the booklet Making Red Wine at Home

Booklet 02

Making Mead at Home

From honey, water and yeast — your introduction to honey wine

Ten liters of honey wine from setting up the batch to the bottle, in nine steps. The booklet explains why honey won't ferment on its own and how you fill the gaps it leaves — with all the quantities, temperatures and times for a 10-liter batch. Written for your very first batch; no prior knowledge needed.

The math behind the batch: 3 kg honey, 7 liters water, 1 liter juice — and how much alcohol that makes
Propagating yeast in juice, four to six days before setting up the batch
Why lactic acid, yeast nutrient and 10 g of wheat flour are in the recipe
Fermentation management over two to three months, plus racking, sulfiting and clarifying
Back-sweetening with honey, and why a mead with sugar below 15 % vol gets potassium sorbate before bottling

Download booklet as PDF

PDF · 20 pages · 1.1 MB · for printing on A4

The 9 steps

01Calculating the batch: 3 kilos of honey for ten litersOne week before setting up the batch
02Propagating the yeast in advanceDay 1 — four to six days before setting up the batch
03Warming the honey and dissolving it in the waterBatch day, morning
04Cooling to 20 to 25 °C, then nutrient, acid, flour and yeastBatch day, one to two hours later
05Filling the vessel and fitting the airlockBatch day, at the end
06Letting it ferment for two to three monthsFrom day 1 after setting up until about week twelve
07Racking and sulfitingAs soon as fermentation stops
08Letting it clearTwo to four months after racking
09Dry or sweet — and into the bottleWhen it is clear

A look inside

Page from the booklet Making Mead at Home

Booklet 03

Apple Wine and Cider

From your own apples — from milling to the bottle

Without a mill, ten kilos of apples yield one to two liters of juice; with proper crushing, about seven. It is at points like these that it is decided whether the fruit becomes an apple wine that keeps or a cloudy disappointment. The booklet guides you through the whole batch in nine steps, from choosing the varieties to the fork into still apple wine, strong apple dessert wine and sparkling cidre.

Why you blend varieties and what a winter in storage costs in sugar and acidity
Milling, pressing and the honest yield figures: 10 to 20 percent by hand, about 70 percent with a mill
Measuring must weight and acidity, with temperature correction and a complete sugar calculation
Starting fermentation, holding the fermentation temperature and telling from the must weight when fermentation is really over
Racking, the sulfur additions, clarifying and the branch-off to apple dessert wine and cidre

Download booklet as PDF

PDF · 22 pages · 1.1 MB · for printing on A4

The 9 steps

01Choosing the apples — and why you should blendHarvest day
02Washing and millingDay 1, morning
03Pressing — and what really comes outDay 1
04Measuring before you calculateDay 1, immediately after pressing
05Sugar — if at all, then calculatedDay 1, before starting fermentation
06Getting the acidity rightDay 1, before starting fermentation
07Setting up and starting fermentationDay 1 to day 2
08Racking, sulfiting, clarifying — and the addition before bottlingShortly after fermentation — in winter at the latest
09The fork: still apple wine, apple dessert wine or cidreSpring, for apple dessert wine already on batch day

A look inside

Page from the booklet Apple Wine and Cider

Booklet 04

Making Vinegar at Home

Wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and fruit vinegar with a vinegar mother — starting, scaling up, measuring acidity

With a vinegar mother, wine, apple wine or fermented must becomes vinegar within a few weeks — provided the batch gets air, warmth and not too much alcohol. The booklet takes you from the first liter in a jar to the demijohn and shows you how to tell from the acid value when it is ready. Plus the mistakes that happen most often at the start, and the reason why vinegar and wine should never stand in the same room.

Which base liquid works: clear, lightly sulfited, 5 to 8 % vol. alcohol — and why strong wine slows things down
Starting with the vinegar mother and scaling up step by step, 1 liter to 10 liters or, more safely, at a 1:1 ratio
Warmth and air instead of an airlock: constantly around 28 °C, swirl daily, vessel at most half full
Measuring acidity with the acidometer acid test kit, diluting beyond the device's measuring limit, and litmus paper for dark batches
Troubleshooting from film yeast skin to fruit flies to a stalled batch, plus a quantity cheat sheet and glossary

Download booklet as PDF

PDF · 19 pages · 1.0 MB · for printing on A4

The 8 steps

01Choosing the base liquidDay 1
02Adjusting the alcohol contentDay 1
03Vessel, cover and locationDay 1
04Starting the vinegar motherDay 1
05Keeping it warm and giving it airover the next few weeks
06Scaling up the batchas soon as more than half of the alcohol has been converted
07Measuring how far along the vinegar isfrom time to time
08Harvesting, keeping the mother going, bottlingwhen the acidity stops rising — under good conditions after 1 to 2 months

A look inside

Page from the booklet Making Vinegar at Home

Booklet 05

Measure, Don't Guess

Determine must weight in Oechsle, alcohol, total acidity and sulfur yourself

Four measurements decide whether the juice becomes a wine that tastes good: must weight in degrees Oechsle, alcohol, total acidity and free sulfurous acid. This booklet explains what the Oechsle hydrometer, acidometer, vinometer and sulfur test kit actually show, how to read them correctly and where measuring in the cellar usually goes wrong. Plus a cheat sheet with all the reference values and troubleshooting help for the moment when a value simply can't be right.

Measuring and converting must weight: reading the Oechsle hydrometer correctly, correcting for temperature, calculating sugar additions with 2.6 g per degree and liter, based on the volume after adding the sugar
Determining alcohol content without a lab: from the starting and final must weight, plus how to use the vinometer and where its limits are
Titrating total acidity with the acidometer, deacidifying with calcium carbonate, acidifying with lactic acid, target values for must and finished wine
Measuring free sulfurous acid and dosing potassium metabisulfite correctly: 1 g per 10 liters is 50 mg/l, plus the right moments during aging
Cheat sheet with all reference values for the cellar wall, troubleshooting for eleven typical measuring errors and a glossary of technical terms

Download booklet as PDF

PDF · 21 pages · 0.9 MB · for printing on A4

The 10 steps

01Why you measure at allbefore you do anything with the juice
02The Oechsle hydrometer and what it really measuresDay 1, right after pressing
03How to measure the must weight correctlyDay 1, in the freshly pressed juice
04From must weight to sugar and alcoholDay 1, before adding sugar
05Following fermentation with the same hydrometerfrom the start of fermentation, every few days
06Fully fermented wine reads below zeroat the end of fermentation
07The vinometer, and where its limit liesafter fermentation, on the clarified wine
08Determining total acidity with the acidometerDay 1 in the fresh juice, and again in the finished wine
09Reading the acid value and acting on itimmediately after measuring, before fermentation
10Measuring free sulfurous acid, and writing everything downafter fermentation and before bottling

A look inside

Page from the booklet Measure, Don't Guess

Booklet 06

Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine

Bottle fermentation at home — the second fermentation step by step

Sparkling wine from your own bottle isn't made by forcing carbon dioxide into it, but by a second fermentation in the sealed bottle. This booklet shows you how to choose an existing wine for it, how to calculate the sugar so that the pressure stays in the safe range, and how to get the yeast back out of the bottle at the end. It also says clearly where things get dangerous and why a batch fails.

Which base wine works: alcohol, acidity, sulfur and clarity with concrete limits
The sugar calculation for bottle pressure: 4 g per liter for about 1 bar at 10 °C, at most 24 g per liter for all the sugar in the bottle
Bottles and closures: how to recognize a pressure-resistant sparkling wine bottle by its empty weight
Second fermentation, riddling and disgorging at home — three ways to get the yeast out
Dosage, storage, a cheat sheet with all values and troubleshooting for thirteen typical problems

Download booklet as PDF

PDF · 20 pages · 1.1 MB · for printing on A4

The 9 steps

01Checking the base wine — what it has to be able to dotwo to three weeks beforehand
02Bottles and closures — this is where safety is decidedget these before anything else
03Calculating the amount of sugaron bottling day, before combining
04Preparing the yeast starter4 to 5 days before bottling
05Combining, bottling, sealingDay 1
06The second fermentationDay 1 to about week 6, sometimes longer
07Aging on the yeast and riddlingafter fermentation, weeks to months
08Disgorging — removing the yeastin winter or using the chest freezer
09The dosage — sweetening, sealing, storingimmediately after disgorging, bottle by bottle

A look inside

Page from the booklet Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine

The booklets reflect our current knowledge and supplement the information on the labels and in the safety data sheets of the individual products. The information on the product label must always be followed. Quantities, times and temperatures are guidelines; every batch behaves differently. For sparkling wine from bottle fermentation and for fruit wine and mead above 15 % vol, tax is due on production, even at home. You must declare it to the main customs office (Hauptzollamt) without delay. In Germany, distilling alcohol is prohibited for private individuals; it is only permitted in licensed bonded or flat-rate distilleries (Verschlussbrennereien, Abfindungsbrennereien). The booklets do not give instructions for it.

The Maischewerk Booklets

Making Red Wine at Home

Making Mead at Home

Apple Wine and Cider

Making Vinegar at Home

Measure, Don't Guess

Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine

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The Maischewerk Booklets

Making Red Wine at Home

Making Mead at Home

Apple Wine and Cider

Making Vinegar at Home

Measure, Don't Guess

Sparkling Wine from Your Own Wine