This is a follow-up of my YouTube Video "Château Desertphile 2011; the very basics of wine making" and it is not meant to teach anyone how to make wine: there are vastly better web sites available on the subject. The only reason I bothered with this web page is to provide the chart below, which shows how much sugar to add to grape juice (or honey and water) to raise the potential alcohol content.

• Two carboys (each holds 4, 5, or 6 gallons). The smaller the container, the easier the wine is to "go bad" due to various reasons, including low thermal bulk. With anything larger than 6 gallons many people will not be able to lift the full carboy. One carboy is used to ferment the "must" (juice and yeast), while the second one is for "racking" the must off the dead yeast ("lees") a few times.
• One Hydrometer (beer and wine). These are easily broken, so care must be taken to handle them.
• One float tube for hydrometer. This is often sold with hydrometers. The clear tube is closed at one end, and the hydrometer is floated inside the tube. This measures specific gravity of the juice, must, and wine.
• One carboy stopper with air lock. The most common air lock is a water-filled one that is stuck inside a rubber stopper, which is in turn suck into the mouth of tyhe carboy that contains the must.
• Potassium Metabisulfite. This is used to "minimize oxidation" and also kill unwanted bacteria in the must. Very little goes a long way. 1/4th. teaspoon (0.24 teaspoon) for every 5 gallons. One can also use Campden Tablets, 1 per gallon of must, well crushed (between spoons or other surfaces).
• Yeast Nutrient. One teaspoon per gallon, to help the yeast reproduce.
• Wine Tannin. A very tiny amount will provide a desirable astringent ("Sharp and penetrating; pungent or severe") taste and aroma. You will want to consult a home brew wine recipe for how much, if any, to add.
• Chlorine Bleach (or a sodium sulfite) to sanitize the equipment with. One gallon warm water per tablespoon bleach will do.
• Wine Yeast. Dry, nitrogen-packed yeast works great.
• Pectic enzyme.
• Grape juice. There are many types, from Concord to Niagra, Champagne to Thompson's. You will want grape juice that does not have presevatives added. You will probably want a home brew recipe to determine what grape juice to use, using either the fruit itself or the juice from concentrate, or both.
• Cane sugar. Most grapes do not contain enough sugar to raise the alcohol content in the wine high enough to keep the wine good for a few years. You want about 10% alcohol or higher. The higher the alcohol %, the longer the wine will "keep."

The goal is to have the yeast metabolize all of the sugar in the must, and have the highest alcohol content.

In my video the Niagra grape juice has a specific gravity of 1.073 (Bold Blue in chart to the right). That means the highest expected alcohol without adding sugar was 9.9% (Bold Orange in chart). To raise the POTENTIAL alcohol to 13% the chart told me to add 6.9 ounces of sugar per gallon.

Since I plan on making six gallons of wine, I therefore added about 41.4 ounces (2.6 pounds) of cane sugar. That brought the specific gravity (measured by hydrometer) to 1.095 (Bold Green in the chart). The chart tells me I should have added more sugar to get 13% alcohol, but I want a "dry" wine (all of the sugar metabolozed), and I will be happy with an alcohol content of around 12.5% or so.