Any Vinters here? *****


 

AlWielgosz

TVWBB Super Fan
A work buddy brought me in a bottle of his home made wine, and it was very good.
He was very surprised that with all the cooking I do that I did not make my own wine.
So after I finished his wine I decided to look into this Hobby.

So fast forward two weeks.....and this morning the Wife and I started a batch of Peach Apricot wine. It will yield 30 bottles.
That made me wonder how many, if any here partake in this hobby?
 
Since I'm a home brewer I've considered vinting but I've not done it yet. I've done 3 five gallon batches of home brew sine the beginning of the year. In fact, I just finished my Irish Red Ale in anticipation of St Patrick's Day.

 
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Phil, he must have pressed his own grapes!
I'm not that motivated to do that....lol
We have slowly been finishing off our basement and I had a spot available to make a "Wine Making" room. It just all made sense.
The "Kit" wine's are like our WSM you set it and forget it.

Dwain, so what are you thinking.....we swap some? ;)
 
Since I'm a home brewer I've considered vinting but I've not done it yet. I've done 3 five gallon batches of home brew sine the beginning of the year. In fact, I just finished my Irish Red Ale in anticipation of St Patrick's Day.
So how many bottles does a 5 gallon batch yield?
 
Phil, he must have pressed his own grapes!
I'm not that motivated to do that....lol
We have slowly been finishing off our basement and I had a spot available to make a "Wine Making" room. It just all made sense.
The "Kit" wine's are like our WSM you set it and forget it.

Dwain, so what are you thinking.....we swap some? ;)

Years ago I had a chance to buy a house we liked that had a finished basement with a wine making room.
We passed because the whole basement had a terrible vinegar type of smell.
I'm not saying if that's the norm or the previous owner didn't do a good job of clean-up, but just a thought.

Tim
 
Al,nope. He made a nice cranberry wine using Ocean Spray. And when the neighbors would let him,a really nice rose petal wine. He tried making dandelion wine a couple times but wound up dumping both batches because it was nasty!:eek:
 
I've made beer (lotsa batches, all partial mash), wine (1 batch from a kit), Mead, Cyser, Cider.....

Hard ciders are the easiest and some of the best imo. 5 gallons of cider from a local orchard, or even tree top from Costco doesn't have preservatives.. Add some ale yeast, and in 1 week & it's mostly fermented, the next week or two are for clarifying/mellowing..... I have a couple batches that've needed to be bottled for the last few months..

Just pay a lot of attention to your sanitation and you won't have many problems
 
Yes Clint, I see that sanitation is key. I ordered a double sink from Lowes just for this room.
Timothy, no vinegar used in the wine process. I know a lot of old timers spray vinegar around there cellar for insect repellent. Might have been a good thing you passed on it....sounds like they had some kind of problem.
 
I've been helping a good friend make wine for about 10 years. He's got a large property and dedicated wine building. One of his friends gets him various wine varietals - Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah and Zinfindel.

Comes delivered to his house destemmed and crushed.

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After 10 days to a couple weeks of active fermentation, it's time for the crush....

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The residual skins after the crush....

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Me performing some QC.... not bad!

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My buddy Ed; we're pumping from a french oak barrell to a fill station. This was a Cab that was on oak for 22 months.

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The fill station. Gravity feed from this to a multi bottle filler. Sorry, I didn't get pictures of the bottles getting filled, corked and labeled. One barrel of wine makes about 25 cases of 12 750ml.

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My friend Steve tasting the final product. Very good indeed.

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Finally.... my induction to a fun wine group here called Knights of the Vine.

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Been making wine for about two years now. Started with (and still do) kits, added fresh juice buckets and whole grapes last year. I was amazed to find that you can buy fresh grapes and juice from CA, Chile, and Italy.
 
Al, try making some citrus wine, lime and orange are both excellent if done the right way.
 

 

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