Carles
Junior
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2023
- Messages
- 2
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Dear folks,
I am a somewhat experienced beer homebrewer, but I have never attempted to make wine. Recently, a friend gifted with a large amount of grapes which I don't think I'll be able to eat them all, so an idea quickly came to my mind: to turn them into wine. I have tried to read a bit of literature on the matter, namely "The Joy of Home Winemaking", in which I discovered that as in this forum fruit wines are quite popular, I will definitely try that some day. However, there are some questions that as a beer homebrewer sound surprising, and probably is no big deal, but I just wanted to check with you in case I missed something.
Overall, everything seems more or less like brewing beer, the only difference is boiling. As most of you are probably aware, when brewing beer you boil the most for an hour and a half, not only for the hops to be incorporated into the beer, but also for sterilization. The boiling kills any living thing on the most ensuring that when you add the yeast it will have no competition. However, it seems that in winemaking this step does not occur, which makes me wonder what sterilization alternative is used. In "The Joy of Home Wine Making" the author uses Campden tablets, which being chemical I'd prefer to steer away from it, but maybe I'm just being too paranoid. I have searched the forum and I read about filtration systems too, but I didn't grasped all of it. Finally, I can keep using the old ways and boil the most, but I am afraid I can just ruin it.
Thanks a lot and forgive me if this question has already been answered and I have made a poor use of the search function.
Best,
Carles
I am a somewhat experienced beer homebrewer, but I have never attempted to make wine. Recently, a friend gifted with a large amount of grapes which I don't think I'll be able to eat them all, so an idea quickly came to my mind: to turn them into wine. I have tried to read a bit of literature on the matter, namely "The Joy of Home Winemaking", in which I discovered that as in this forum fruit wines are quite popular, I will definitely try that some day. However, there are some questions that as a beer homebrewer sound surprising, and probably is no big deal, but I just wanted to check with you in case I missed something.
Overall, everything seems more or less like brewing beer, the only difference is boiling. As most of you are probably aware, when brewing beer you boil the most for an hour and a half, not only for the hops to be incorporated into the beer, but also for sterilization. The boiling kills any living thing on the most ensuring that when you add the yeast it will have no competition. However, it seems that in winemaking this step does not occur, which makes me wonder what sterilization alternative is used. In "The Joy of Home Wine Making" the author uses Campden tablets, which being chemical I'd prefer to steer away from it, but maybe I'm just being too paranoid. I have searched the forum and I read about filtration systems too, but I didn't grasped all of it. Finally, I can keep using the old ways and boil the most, but I am afraid I can just ruin it.
Thanks a lot and forgive me if this question has already been answered and I have made a poor use of the search function.
Best,
Carles