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From Distillers Wiki

Faded:

Descriptor for a wine that has suffered insipient oxidation -- i.e. has passed its prime and is declining in quality.

Fermentation

The process of yeast acting upon sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Fermentation Bottle:

Sometimes called the secondary fermentation vessel, a fermentation bottle is a shouldered, small-mouthed glass jug or carboy in which the liquor or juice is placed to complete fermentation under a fermentation trap.

Fermentation Media:

The pulp or other solid material from which wine will be made. Fermentation media differs from must in that the must is the media, the water, the yeast, and all other ingredients mixed together, while the fermentation media more narrowly refers to the crushed grapes, chopped raisins, pulped peaches, cracked wheat, or other material used either for flavoring, natural sugar content, or both. It is also called the base ingredient or wine base.

Fermentation Trap:

A glass or plastic device designed to use water as an insulator to protect the fermentation media from contamination and exposure to fresh air, while at the same time allowing carbon dioxide produced by the yeast to escape the fermentation vessel. Also called an air lock, bubbler or airlock.

Fermenter:

A Fermenter is a container or vessel of food grade quality, in which yeast ferments fruit or grain. A fermenter can be any thing from a 5 gallon bucket to a multi thousand gallon vessel. But for the Home Distiller any thing from 5 gallons to 15 gallons is more than enough do to the fact that our stills are no larger than a 15 gallon boiler. Fermenters usually have an airlock which allows carbon dioxide to escape, but prevents air from entering the container. In an enviroment rich in oxygen, the yeast will use aerobic respiration whihc does not produce alcohol.

Field Blend:

The practice of planting a vineyard with several grape varieties which are harvested together and all contribute to a common wine. Similarly, the mixing of grapes before the crush to constitute a field blend must.

Filtering:

The process of removing yeast cells and other microorganisms that could spoil the wine, as well as any remaining sediment that would keep it from being crystal clear, by pumping the wine through cellulose pads, pads lined with diatomaceous earth, or especially fine membranes.

Fining:

Removing suspended solids from a cloudy wine by temperature adjustment, blending with an already cleared wine of the same variety, filtering, or adding a fining material such as egg white, milk, gelatine, casein, or bentonite.

Finish:

The final flavor, texture and impression that remains on the palate after a wine is swallowed.

Fixed Acids:

Those acids occurring naturally in the grape or fruit base, those added by the vintner, and those acids created furing fermentation which are stable -- fixed. In grapes and grape wine, the major fixed acid is tartaric, followed by malic, then citric, succinic, and lactic, although the latter three are not necessarily listed in the order of their prominence in the finished wine as they can vary greatly. Succinic, for example, is usually more naturally prominent in grape wines than citric.

Flat:

A taste denoting a wine with insufficient total acidity. The taste is truly flat, lifeless, medicinal, and wholely wrong. Technically, it is the absence of the sour taste. This taste appears in wines with a pH greater than 3.75 and a titratable acidity less than 0.5%. The opposite (the taste of excessive total acidity) is Acidulous.

Flocculation:

The process of settling or compacting of lees or sediment. Lightly or loosely flocculated lees are less dense than tightly or compactly flocculated ones. Good flocculation refers to greater density.

Flor:

Spanish word for "flower" which refers to the off-white yeast that develops naturally on certain wines after they're fermented and blocks further exposure of the wine to air. Flor is important in the making of fino- and amontillado-style sherries. Flor will not grow on wines with more than 16% alcohol.

Fortification:

The process of adding distilled spirits to a finished wine to increase its alcohol content, improve its preservation qualities, or improve its flavor. Brandy is often used as a fortifying agent because it is made from wine, but vodka, gin, Everclear, or any distilled spirit may be used. Each fortifying agent has its own flavor and will impart this to the fortified wine.

Foxy:

The odor and taste of methyl anthranilate and/or ethyl anthranilate and in wine exclusively associated with wines made from grapes with a Vitis labrusca parentage or ancestry. The pleasant and unpleasant odors and tastes associated with other native grapes, without Vitis labrusca ancestry, should not be termed "foxy."

Free SO2:

Sulfur dioxide ions in solution in must, juice or wine that are not chemically bound to other chemicals in solution and thus are free to react with such substances as acetalhyde or oxygen or to escape the must, juice or wine as a gas molecule.

Frizzante:

Italian term for a mildly carbonated wine causing a slight sensation on the tongue, but enough carbonation to produce bubbles in the glass the way Champagne or other sparkling wines do. Pétillant is French and synonymous.

Fructose:

One of two simple (reducing) fermentable sugars in grapes and other fruit, the other being glucose. Isolated, fructose is approximately twice as sweet as glucose. In wine, a higher fructose concentration will result in a heightened sweetness threshold.