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Beer Brewer making the hop to wine!
I just got the Complete Wine Makers Kit with Double Action Corker along with the White Zen kit (as per my wife)..... could not talk her in to any other wine kit. But i just wanted to know how hard/ Different it was than beer making. From the outside looking in its seems much different. With the Camdon tablets, Bisufates and what not.....scary stuff (lot to learn) but this will be my very first wine and i hope i dont screw it up spent a good bet on a nice kit (my wife will never let me live it down). Any advice or help at all is very very much appreciated and needed. Thanks to you guy and this great blog site got me in to wines and meads been brewing beer for about 2-3 years never thought about wine till now.. about to start a one gallon mead with clover honey, cinnomon and clove as well ( i figure go big or go home right).
I bought my parents a kit for Christmas and they made a wine and it seemed pretty easy. No cooking, and just a bunch of hydrometer readings. You've been brewing beer for a couple of years you shouldn't have any trouble at all.
Making wine is easier than making beer. It just takes longer to be able to drink it. I usually have a wine ready to drink in 3 months though it would be better after 6 months to a year.
There is a book called "The Joy of Home Winemaking by Terry Garey
It's an excellent book for beginners and experts alike. It takes you step by step through the process and explains everything you'll use. Here's a link where you can buy the book new or used at a discount: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Home-Wine-Mak … 0380782278
It's got lots of recipes.
Here's a website by the same name: http://www.joyofwine.net/
You can pretty much use what you use for beer to make wine. I've made wine fro frozen fruit juice, fresh fruit, and large cans of fruit concentrate. I also usually just use bread yeast and it turns out fine. The book makes it a lot easier.
For what it's worth, I don't use corks. I use either black screw on caps or expansion caps you can reuse.
DC
Thanks for the great link just placed my order for the book. Keep the ideas coming guy really helps me out.
I use wine bottles that we've bought at liquor stores. But instead of a cork I use a plastic expansion plug or whatever it's called. It has a lever you press down and it expands to fit the opening of the bottle. they're about $1 each at homebrew supplies.
When I make wine I add campden tablets, and let it sit for 24 hours before adding yeast. crush the campden tablets then add to fermentor that has water sugar and whatever fruit you are using. The campden tablets kill any wild yeast so you need to wait about 24 hrs before adding the yeast. I use bread yeast. Wine also ferments slower so you don't need a lot of room for fermentation. it won't form a huge krausen like beer. It usually ferments pretty good for a month and then you can rack off the yeast into a secondary fermentor. I usually do that but don't add sugar like some recipes suggest after racking into 2ndry. Usually at 3 months the gravity is down to bottling gravity. Then I'll add a stablizer to prevent fermention in bottles, and before bottling I will taste and add sugar if needed to get the wine to where I like it. Then bottle.
DC
I was wondering why you would use camdion tablets before you pitch your yeast. now i understand that its to kill the wild yeast. now about the stablization is that the metabisulfate that you use as a perservitive i read that on a kit that i found that if you want to age for more than 6+ months you need to add more of this stuff and ideas about it. I have a local outdoor store that sell wine and beer supplies. So I can get most of my supplies and additive from him on the fly if needed. Thanks again for the great replies.
Dave
Doolee wrote:
I was wondering why you would use camdion tablets before you pitch your yeast. now i understand that its to kill the wild yeast. now about the stablization is that the metabisulfate that you use as a perservitive i read that on a kit that i found that if you want to age for more than 6+ months you need to add more of this stuff and ideas about it. I have a local outdoor store that sell wine and beer supplies. So I can get most of my supplies and additive from him on the fly if needed. Thanks again for the great replies.
Dave
The stablizer is short term. my last batch I used the stablizer before adding sugar, then I used campden tablets right before bottling. the stablizer will not stop present fermentation but it will prevent fermentation from starting but is not a long term control. the campden tablets right befoe bottling will kill all the yeast. that's what I got from reading the book. it explains it in detail so you'll know what I mean once you read it for yourself.
DC
O ok i think i get it now. I cant wait to get the book. Now i getting antsy for my new zen kit to get here. thanks for the great info. Would you recomend a "wine thief" never heard of this but it was also on the kit equp. list. I can go by my local supply shop to see if they have one. What is it and what does it do.
Doolee wrote:
O ok i think i get it now. I cant wait to get the book. Now i getting antsy for my new zen kit to get here. thanks for the great info. Would you recomend a "wine thief" never heard of this but it was also on the kit equp. list. I can go by my local supply shop to see if they have one. What is it and what does it do.
A wine thief is kinda like a big glass eyedropper. You use them to pull samples for tasting and taking gravity readings. They have a hole on both ends, so when you put the wine theif into your wine/beer you need to cover the hole on the end with your thumb to hold the sample in the wine theif.
I have one, but I rarely ever use it. Here is a link so you can see what one looks like:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products … rodID=6035
I just pour the wine into a bowl and sample it that way. wine theif does sound nice but you'll have to sanitize it. I just pour and put airlock back on. I also sample when I transfer into secondary. I have a syphon tube for that. you can use same for wine.
DC
Do you do this for you Hydrometer readings as well? You just pour some in to a bowl to sample and to take a reading while your transfering to secondary? I would think that just pouring some in my hydrometer test tube take a reading while transfering would be ok. Seeing that you have to clean the thief before use makes it a hazerd as much as a help hu.
Doolee wrote:
Do you do this for you Hydrometer readings as well? You just pour some in to a bowl to sample and to take a reading while your transfering to secondary? I would think that just pouring some in my hydrometer test tube take a reading while transfering would be ok. Seeing that you have to clean the thief before use makes it a hazerd as much as a help hu.
Yep. Actually it's a glass 1 pt measuring cup but I only pour enough for the hydrometer reading. then I taste it after the reading and either drink it all or dump the sample. never put samples back into beer or wine. The carboys and buckets can get heavy when full so if that's an issue a thief is a good option.
Note: I use glass carboys for all my fermetations, primary and secondary so a wine thief wouldn't get much of a sample due to the air space in carboy. but with a bucket it would work fine. just pointing out why I pour. I could use the syphon tube to get sample but pouring saves the hassle of having to sanitize just the tube and when I pour I put the airlock in a small glass bowl with some vodka in it to keep rubber cork sanitized during pour, then just put airlock back on carboy. I also use vodka in the airlocks, not water or sanitizer.
DC
Just and update i got my book in a few days ago. Man is it a wealth of winemaking knowhow. Its such a great read that i found my self engrossed in it. But it breaks down each ingriedent and additive to terms a Capuchin Monkey (ie ...ME...) can follow and understand. GREAT BOOK for beginner winemakers. But i got my kit in today its now sitting on my front porch my wife informed me that its 2 boxes one is 28lbs and the other is 56lbs she tryed to move them inside and said that she could not move them. Oh yeah not long after i got that news it started to rain and hailing soaking the boxes still on my front porch that my wife fail to tell me were here. I work night shift if you noticed all my posts are Late pm or early am. So i hope all the stuff in there is still good. Should be. Well enough of my rant and babble LET MAKE SOME WINE!!
I will let you know how my wine turns out
Dave
Glad to hear you got your stuff. everything should be fine. you're gonna like that book. I've made several recipes from it and they are very good. first one I made from the book was apple wine made from frozen apple concentrate. People loved it.
DC
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