All grain brewer new to wine making

[Marquez]

Hi Everyone,

I am an all grain beer brewer for several years and now wants learn how to make wine.

Not wine to get crunked on, but rather wine that is fantastic and memorable.

My beer making has progressed so that my beer is just as good than most craft beers, and hope that my wines will be at the same level.

I plan to start with a white wine kit that can be drunk fairly young, and a week later make a white wine kit that will mature a bit later. That way when we are done with the young one, the 2nd will be ready to enjoy.

I am open to suggestions, and appreciate any help.

BTW, I have lots of beer making gear, but absolutely no experience in wine making, and therefore do not know what gear I can use. I'll need help here too.

Thanks!

 

[BIGJEFF]

I haven't made a lot of beer but I can tell you that much:

You can use the same glass carboys but if you use plastic primary fermentors I'd get new ones just for wine because beer leaves a smell and a taste in the plastic that you don't want in your wine.

Good luck!!

 

[Wade E]

Welcome Marquez, I too am a an AG brewer along with a few others and am happy to have you here. To recommend a wine for you we would like to know what kind of whites you like, maybe Chardonnays, maybe Rieslings or Piesporter. There are so many to chose from. To narrow this down further do you like Sweets, semi sweets or dry wine?

 

[Tom]

Marquez,
Welcome. Like Wade said, What do you like?

 

[Marquez]

Yikes! I'm so new I don't even know what kind of wine I like!

The wife said she likes pinot grigios.

The commercial examples of Chardonnays and Reislings were pretty darn appealing. Since they were very affordable (under $15/btl) I am hoping my efforts will yield a better wine. Even if they don't because of my inexperience I am looking forward to the challenge.

Personally, I prefer dry wines as well, with complex but subtle flavors. When we have family over they seem to prefer the semi sweets.

In fact my mother in law considers "three buck chuck" white zin to be living large because its not from a box.

So I'd like to serve them a home wine semi dry that knocks their socks off!

BTW, equipment wise I ferment in stainless, and keg using ball lock cornys and do not filter. I have several kegs aging, including a barrel aged Belgian Dark Strong with my brew club.

It will be no problem for me to pick up a few (or more) carboys. I just need and idea what sizes.

 

[St Allie]

hello and welcome to the forum,

I had a 6 bottle kit of pinot gris a year or so back and added a kilo of frozen cranberries to it.. lovely colour and the flavours combined well .. needed to leave it a year before drinking but well worth the experiment.. will definately do it again.

(I'm a fan of fiddling with cheap kits btw)


Allie

 

[rodo]

Welcome to the forum Marquez. Thanks for putting your marker on "The Map"

 

[Wade E]

You will surely want a new bucket for fermenting in which should be 7.9 gallon or 10 but 7.9 will be just fine and all Ive been using even with the big red grape skin kits although those can get pretty close. This is a pretty good early drinking kit which i have made and would recommend. and is a dry kit.
http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDet.asp?PartNumber=VN46
the next one is also a great early drinker but is a off dry kit
http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDet.asp?PartNumber=VN43

 

[Marquez]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!

I've been reading the forum to learn as much as I can before committing to a kit.

I will visit my local supply shop for advice as well.

St Allie: Your experiment sounds very intriguing. I will try it. Now do the cranberries go into the must or into the wine for aging?

Wade: Thank you for the direct suggestions. I will explore that site further.

Beginners forum here I come!

 

[gesnipes]

Hi Everyone,

I am an all grain beer brewer for several years and now wants learn how to make wine.

Not wine to get crunked on, but rather wine that is fantastic and memorable.

My beer making has progressed so that my beer is just as good than most craft beers, and hope that my wines will be at the same level.

I plan to start with a white wine kit that can be drunk fairly young, and a week later make a white wine kit that will mature a bit later. That way when we are done with the young one, the 2nd will be ready to enjoy.

I am open to suggestions, and appreciate any help.

BTW, I have lots of beer making gear, but absolutely no experience in wine making, and therefore do not know what gear I can use. I'll need help here too.

Thanks!

Welcome!

In my opinion, winemaking is much easier than all grain brewing. So if you've mastered this craft, you will do well in winemaking. It takes more patience, since the time to the drinking glass is much longer, but the craft will be right up your alley.