Where do you make your wine?

[DeniseHogemann]

I have noticed that lots of you make your wine in your basements. Is it warm enough down there for your yeast? Our Saskatchewan winters are quite cold and so our basements can be cool. To store finished wine this is ok but what about making the wine? Right now I leave mine sit in the kitchen but this isn't practical either. Just wondering where to go. Would like to start making more than just kits that are done in 28 days.

 

[rob]

I got a great tip from djrockinsteve to solve this problem, I went to Walmart and bought an aquarium heater for about 10.00, this keeps the fermenter at 72 degress, once it is in the carboy you no longer need the warmth

 

[buddy]

I make my wine in the laundry room and it is too cool for fermentation in winter also.
What I have done is to have the carboy or primary sitting on a piece of Styrofoam to keep it off the cold cement floor.
Also for additional heat I use a heating pad. It has three heat settings so I have good control over the temperature. You can vary how much of the pad you expose to the wine as well as using the different heat settings.
You can also create a mini environment for the carboy by putting a large cardboard box over top of it. I have box from a garage door opener that is just the right size for this.
To gauge the temperature I use a digital thermometer that I bought on Ebay for about two dollars. You can tape the probe onto the carboy or if you are using the box it can hang loose inside the box. Those thermometers are amazingly accurate for the price.

 

[cpfan]

I started making wine one winter while living in Regina. We had a little nook in our kitchen that became the home for two carboys or or one fermenter & one carboy.

The wine went done into the basement once mostly clear for some bulk aging. The basement wasn't too cold, but I really don't know the temperature.

Steve

 

[DeniseHogemann]

What size carboys do you use? The one that came with my kit is 23 liters. It is heavy when it's full!!!! How do you carry it down. My husband lift it up to the counter for me cause I couldn't. Not very strong and not very tall. I did buy another one that's half that size but will need a few more of that size if I would start moving them downstairs. Just don't want them all in the kitchen

 

[Runningwolf]

I added a couple vents in the duct work in my basement I can open and shut.

 

[ibglowin]

Brew belts, heating pads and small electric space heaters are your friends this time of year for sure!

 

[JohnT]

The previous owner of my house had put on an addition. The basement portion of this addition was set up as a woodshop with its own heat zone.

Better stil is that this new basement area has its own set of "double doors" that open to the outside at ground level.

Shear Luxury!

 

[ffemt128]

Currently it's 57 degrees in my wine making area. If I need to start a batch, I'll use a combination of brew belts and a portable electric heater until the fermentation starts. I have had batches start and finish at the current temperature with out problems though. All depends on the yeast and the must I guess.

 

[UBB]

I have an unfinished 'utility' room in my basement. The furnace water heater and washer & dryer are in there.

we put up some dry wall, plumbed in a washtub sink and added 8 feet of counter top/cabinet space. Viola a wine making station.

I have an infrared space heater (the amish thing) and if I need to up the heat for fermentation I use that.

Finished wine then goes under the stairs for storage.

 

[Arne]

I usually start the ferments up in the mud room by the wood stove. It goes downstairs for secondary. Things really slow down down there this time of year. Takes forever to clear, but they can sit in bulk til summer. THen new fruit comes ripe and time to get things moving again as inbottle to free up the carboys. Arne.