Winemaking Questions (1 Viewer)

[Deepster]

I have been interesting in trying my hand at making my own wine. Nothing crazy. No huge operation. I've looked online at some of the advice sites, but was hoping to get some first hand commentary from the FFA crew.

1) Starting up from nothing, what do I really need for materials and what is the initial start up for that?

2) Press the grapes yourself or buy the juice? I feel like the juice is sort of cheating. Why not just buy the wine?

3) How much of a pain in the a is it? I like to cook, can follow recipes, don't mind taking time to do something...but is it fun or worth the time investment?

 

[villa]

I'd recommend buying the juice, pressing grapes is a chore and really doesn't up the quality at all.

The nice thing about buying the juice is that you can buy the right kind for the type of wine you want to make, reasonably.

If your just starting I'd actually recommend just buying a kit, it's very easy to make and produces really good results.

I've made this Shiraz numerous times to rave reviews:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/winemaking/wine-kits/winexpert-selection-international-australian-shiraz-kit.html

It's way easier than brewing beer as there is no cooking involved, just measuring and adding ingredients periodically throughout the weeks as the yeast does it work. If you like good wine, for the money this is the way to go. you only need a couple of buckets to get started. for bottling and corking you'll need to spend a little money but that's really a one time investment so not terrible either.

 

[Blick]

I'd recommend buying the juice, pressing grapes is a chore and really doesn't up the quality at all.

The nice thing about buying the juice is that you can buy the right kind for the type of wine you want to make, reasonably.

If your just starting I'd actually recommend just buying a kit, it's very easy to make and produces really good results.

I've made this Shiraz numerous times to rave reviews:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/winemaking/wine-kits/winexpert-selection-international-australian-shiraz-kit.html

It's way easier than brewing beer as there is no cooking involved, just measuring and adding ingredients periodically throughout the weeks as the yeast does it work. If you like good wine, for the money this is the way to go. you only need a couple of buckets to get started. for bottling and corking you'll need to spend a little money but that's really a one time investment so not terrible either.

Good advise here.

Also, you can make wine from basically any fruit. Blueberries and strawberries are plentiful here (PA) so I'll typically make a batch of each. There are many recipes for doing so on the internet and they usually turn out well.

 

[sbonomo]

You are pushing it little man...

 

[Chaka]

Want to know how to make a small fortune making wine?

Start with a big fortune.

 

[eoMMan]

I start with Hi-C and it comes out great. Not cheating, imo.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Silly question, received some homemade wine last year. It has corks, but no covering on the corks. Is it vinegar or would it still be good? I'm not much of a wine drinker, but wondering if I should save it for guests.

 

[villa]

The covering is purely aesthetic, just shrink wrap, I put it on with a hair dryer, it isn't doing anything to protect the wine.

Open it for guests, I'm sure it will be fine. Home made wine doesn't keep as long as mass produced because it doesn't have the preservatives in it, but a year is not a problem. I love finding old bottles of stuff I thought was gone from a few years back, it tends to keep getting better with age.

 

[OC Zed]

 

[Mr. Ected]

The covering is purely aesthetic, just shrink wrap, I put it on with a hair dryer, it isn't doing anything to protect the wine.

Open it for guests, I'm sure it will be fine. Home made wine doesn't keep as long as mass produced because it doesn't have the preservatives in it, but a year is not a problem. I love finding old bottles of stuff I thought was gone from a few years back, it tends to keep getting better with age.

Of course the trick is how long it sat before he gave it to me. there might be a note on the bottle.

Thanks for the info!

 

[JFT Ben]

I do fruit wines, depending on if I have to buy the fruit (usually frozen, from Costco) or get it for free (we have friends with cherry, peach and plum trees) it costs about $2/bottle or less in materials. I follow the recipes out of this book and I've been very happy (though pineapple is yet to be determined - it wasn't great when I bottled it). It's pretty easy, I have three carboys and a couple of primaries now, and usually end up bottling around 150 bottles a year depending on how motivated I am. I've made a couple different batches of cherry, a strawberry-rhubarb, 3-berry (blue/black/rasp) a number of times, raspberry, peach, plum, and pineapple. They taste like wine and not fruit juice, which surprises people. I'm slowly collecting champagne bottles, as my next pet project will be a sparking pear cider.

 

[bucksoh]

Was going to make some wine does anyone know the ratio of grapes to sugar, using quarts to measure the grapes. I thought it is for every quart of grapes you add one pound of sugar. Tia if anyone could help me out.