I just bottled the first fruit wine I made today, just started my 4th kit (one ready to drink), and have made gallons of welch's, dole, and tea/flower wine (none ready to bottle yet) to play around with what would be fun or good to make.
I had not planned on doing fresh grapes because I don't have a press and it seems like it could be trickier with the calculations of MATH and SCIENCE *shudder*, but I just saw a craigslist ad (from where a number of wineries are in western WA) that says they will have extra grapes for home wine makers in October.
Says the grapes should be between 1-1.75/pound.
Types include: Barberra, tempernillo, cab sav, cab franc, petit sirah, merlot, syrah, chard, rousanne, and viognier.
Price inculdes crush/destem on reds, and press on the whites."
I'm not sure if the price depends on the type of grape or how much they end up with for sale, and haven't researched if that's a good or smart deal. It sure is a bonus for me that they'll crush them.
I THINK I need 16-18 lbs per gallon of wine from my recipe book, which means at $1 a lb it's probably a great deal, but that it could be $140+ at the higher end. So far the most expensive kit I've gotten is $110 and it is more likely to guarantee consistent results, so it'd be hard to pony up that much money when I haven't even seen the difference between a $80 and a $140 kit yet.
Think I am just looking for advice, not sure if I should wait for more experience under my belt before I delve in!
I had not planned on doing fresh grapes because I don't have a press and it seems like it could be trickier with the calculations of MATH and SCIENCE *shudder*, but I just saw a craigslist ad (from where a number of wineries are in western WA) that says they will have extra grapes for home wine makers in October.
Says the grapes should be between 1-1.75/pound.
Types include: Barberra, tempernillo, cab sav, cab franc, petit sirah, merlot, syrah, chard, rousanne, and viognier.
Price inculdes crush/destem on reds, and press on the whites."
I'm not sure if the price depends on the type of grape or how much they end up with for sale, and haven't researched if that's a good or smart deal. It sure is a bonus for me that they'll crush them.
I THINK I need 16-18 lbs per gallon of wine from my recipe book, which means at $1 a lb it's probably a great deal, but that it could be $140+ at the higher end. So far the most expensive kit I've gotten is $110 and it is more likely to guarantee consistent results, so it'd be hard to pony up that much money when I haven't even seen the difference between a $80 and a $140 kit yet.
Think I am just looking for advice, not sure if I should wait for more experience under my belt before I delve in!