the basics of winemaking Step 1 Extract the flavor and aroma from raw ingredients by pressing, boiling or soaking in a crock, bowl, jar, or polyethylene pail. Step 2 Add sugar and yeast to the fermentation media or liquor to achieve a certain ratio and ferment, covered, for 3 to 10 days in a crock, jar or polyethylene pail at 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit. Step 3 Strain off the liquid, put it into a fermentation bottle, fit a fermentation trap, or airlock, on the mouth of the bottle, and allow fermentation to proced at 60 degrees Fahrenheit until all bubbling ceases (after several weeks). Step 4 Siphon the wine off the sediments, or lees, into a clear fermentation bottle. Reattach the fermentation trap. Repeat after another one or two months and again before bottling. Step 5 Siphon into wine bottles when wine is two to six months old and cork the bottles securely. Store bottles on their side at 55 degrees Fahrenheit for six months (white wine) to a year (red wine) before sampling. If not up to expectations, allow to age another year or more.