When does it cease to be a hobby!?

[UBB]

When you have wine and wine making equipment occupying half your house?

Thank the lord I have an understanding wife!!
Hiding under the stairs.

Spare bedroom in the basement. Keep it very dark and cool.

Closet in spare bedroom.

Some stabilizing in garage fridge.

Wine making room. (wish I had Dave's lab)

Living room downstairs.

Not quite sure what I'm going to do next fall when I have a (hopefully) full harvest of grapes.

 

[Deezil]

When you have wine and wine making equipment occupying half your house?

Not quite sure what I'm going to do next fall when I have a (hopefully) full harvest of grapes.

I know what you'll do next fall..

Make wine!

 

[Rocky]

UBB, I'd have to say you passed the "hobby" stage about 100 miles ago and are well into "obsession." Looks great.

 

[oldwhiskers]

UBB, I'd have to say you passed the "hobby" stage about 100 miles ago and are well into "obsession." Looks great.

1+ on the obsession, LOL. Now you have the hard decision, what do I want today.

 

[Impiryo]

What do you do with all that wine?

On the plus side, aging the higher end ones must be easy - not much demand to drink it.

 

[UBB]

What do you do with all that wine?

On the plus side, aging the higher end ones must be easy - not much demand to drink it.

I give a lot away.

 

[bakervinyard]

UBB, I'm not that bad yet ! But I had to move my workshop out to the garage so I have more room for my carboys.

 

[wildfruity]

Woow

Expect most of us can identify with the space issue. My wife started to get headaches when I started fermenting in the bedroom [lack of oxygen I expect] and the air got quite heady smelling. Scared to open the window as could chill the wine. Compromise seems to be the window cill in the bathroom where the window is fortunately double glazed and the towel rail maintains warmth in the small room. Got 4 demijohns of elderberry just finishing fermentation. Need to transfer last year's out of the house now, to make room. Luckily I have some suitable storage at work!

 

[Fabiola]

I give a lot away.

Why you don't get a license to sell it? In that way you keep doing what you love and recover some of the investment

 

[UBB]

Why you don't get a license to sell it? In that way you keep doing what you love and recover some of the investment

If the grapes grow like I hope then perhaps that may be an option some day.

 

[derunner]

Impressive number of carboys. I think i counted 24, with 16 filled. About 100gals of wine. so about 500 bottles worth. Thats a lot of bottle to clean! I can see how that would happen

 

[UBB]

Impressive number of carboys. I think i counted 24, with 16 filled. About 100gals of wine. so about 500 bottles worth. Thats a lot of bottle to clean! I can see how that would happen

There are full carboys in the boxes. I 'borrowed' robie's idea on using the boxes to protect against light.

 

[JohnT]

Very impressive. I would make one suggestion....

I think that your next step is to sell your used caboys and put that money towards purchase new 54 liter demijohns.

- Demijohns hold more wine (one will hold about 2 1/2 carboys) so you will need fewer of them,

- The "footprint" of a demijohn is much less then 2.5 carboys so you will need less floorspace

- cost/liter makes them cheaper than carboys.

- It is much easier to clean 1 demijohn then it is to clean 2.5 carboys, so you will also save on labor!


I made the switch several years ago and have been glad ever since.

 

[Rocky]

I like the demijohns too and we have a supplier here in Ohio that sells them for $49 which is a great price for the 15 gallon style. Some of the downsides to a demijohn are:

a. The weight when full. Once you place them, they are pretty much set so you have to elevate them first, then fill unless you have a pump. I have mine on a dolly so I can move it around my wine making area.
b. The are more fragile than a carboy because of the shape and the thickness (really thinness) of the glass.
c. If you have an issue with the wine, you are in danger of losing a whole batch vs. if you have an issue with one of three carboys.

One the plus side, as John points out, they take up less real estate, cost less than 2 1/2 carboys and your batch of wine bulk ages in one container rather than multiple containers so you have more consistency.

I only have one but I plan to buy a couple more because I like to make large batches. As I make more and more wine, I make less and less a variety of wines. I have pretty much settled on two whites (Pinot grigio and Sauvignon Blanc) and I like the big Italian reds and Cabernet Sauvignon in large batches, e.g. 18 gallons.

 

[JohnT]

a. The weight when full. Once you place them, they are pretty much set so you have to elevate them first, then fill unless you have a pump. I have mine on a dolly so I can move it around my wine making area.
b. The are more fragile than a carboy because of the shape and the thickness (really thinness) of the glass.
c. If you have an issue with the wine, you are in danger of losing a whole batch vs. if you have an issue with one of three carboys

just to expand on what rocky has said..

a) They weigh about 110 pounds when full. I find that (with two people) you can lift it up or move it with just a little effort.

b) Yes, they are more fragile. Although more fragile than a carboy, demijohns are still surprisingly tough. at one time I has some 45 of them (yes 45 of them) and have only has two or three break over a 12 year period.

The best part is that most demijohns come in a plastic bucket (avoid the wicker wrapped ones). When a DJ breaks, the bucket catches most of the wine. I find that 2 carbays can be saved in this case.

c) I find that "splitting a batch" into two carboys, when one carboy has a problem, the other one will too. I have never really had a case where the same wine, from the same batch of grapes, treated the same way, gave drastically different results. That is my own experience, but it is not to say that this is not possible.

I remember the same concerns when I purchased my first DJ. I remember the fear of "all my eggs in one basket". I have found, when you reach a certian point in the growth of your winery, going to DJs is the best choice.

By the look of things, you have reached that point!

 

[smcalli1]

I've been thinking about a demijohn or two myself. Question: what do you use for siphoning when racking? I assume an auto siphon is too short.

 

[Rocky]

smcalli, actually my siphon reaches to the bottom of the demijohn, so if you have it elevated you are okay. Or if you have big strong guys or gals like JohnT does, you are okay too.

JohnT, 45 demijohns!!!! What is the name of your winery? You obviously make a lot more wine than I do. In your position, I would definitely have demijohns at least and probably a lot of barrels.

 

[JohnT]

smcalli, actually my siphon reaches to the bottom of the demijohn, so if you have it elevated you are okay. Or if you have big strong guys or gals like JohnT does, you are okay too.

JohnT, 45 demijohns!!!! What is the name of your winery? You obviously make a lot more wine than I do. In your position, I would definitely have demijohns at least and probably a lot of barrels.

about a year ago, I sold off 35 of them and put the money towards VC SS tanks.

 

[UBB]

I started a Piesporter kit and set the primary on the island in the kitchen. The wife comes home sees it and just shakes her head. Glad it smells real good!

 

[Pumpkinman]

I just started making wine a few months back, I got real serious about it after finding all of the info here, I already have 6 Carboys going, and I am looking to start 3 more, I just have to figure out how to break it to my wife...lol!
On a good note, at least we are finding out which varieties we prefer, I am seriously considering making a 54 liter Demijohn of our favorite, 6 gallons just doesn't seem like it will be enough once we start sharing what we consider our best with friends and family.