First wine kit finished!

[BonnieLynn]

It tasted good today before bottling, but in the end it will probably taste like poison! I think I made every newbie mistake along the way: didn't measure water properly, added it in late, lost my wine whip in the carboy, got some rubber shavings in there from drilling, and almost drowned trying to siphon! LOL!

 

[Boatboy24]

Congratulations!

Now you get to enjoy drinking all those mistakes. Don't sweat 'em. We all made them.

 

[heatherd]

Congrats!!! Everything will get easier the next time, and the time after that...

what are you brewing next?

 

[DoctorCAD]

You need to change the title of this thread to "First wine kit of many finished!"

Also, those werent mistakes, they were experiments to try to improve mouthfeel!

 

[joeswine]

First kit finished

I REMEMBER IT WELL

 

[bkisel]

Rubber shavings from drilling? How did that happen?

 

[ColemanM]

Congratulations!! Sounds like you're ready for destroying some fresh grapes now

 

[BonnieLynn]

The rubber shavings came from the top of the rubber stopper, which was attached to the wine whip during degassing. It somehow caught against the top of the drill! Since this kit came with a second bag of concentrate, I'll get a another chance. This time it'll be Barolo.

 

[sour_grapes]

I'll chime in like the others: good going -- you got a few percent of the mistakes out of the way. Now roll up your sleeves and make the rest of them!

 

[Arne]

Can I ask why you had a stopper on the wine whip? If you are trying to keep the wine in the carboy while degassing, you shouldn't need a stopper. Slow the drill down and maybe take the level of the wine down in the carboy some. Good luck with it and hope you are having a ball with your winemaking. Arne.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Can I ask why you had a stopper on the wine whip? If you are trying to keep the wine in the carboy while degassing, you shouldn't need a stopper. Slow the drill down and maybe take the level of the wine down in the carboy some. Good luck with it and hope you are having a ball with your winemaking. Arne.

The first wine whip I bought was a plastic rod that went through a rubber stopper. The stopper keeps it centered in the carboy, but does not prevent you from moving up and down. If you go to far down, your drill chuck can hit the stopper and gring small bits off, which fall into the wine. Its not a big deal, thy are food grade and inert.

Its one of those thing you learn not to do again!

 

[bkisel]

The rubber shavings came from the top of the rubber stopper, which was attached to the wine whip during degassing. It somehow caught against the top of the drill! Since this kit came with a second bag of concentrate, I'll get a another chance. This time it'll be Barolo.

I see. I've not used a stopper while drill degassing but now that you posted I do recall seeing someone on YouTube doing it that way and making a point about keeping the hole "lubricated" with water - if I remember correctly.

Best of luck with your next batch.

 

[Toque]

It tasted good today before bottling, but in the end it will probably taste like poison! I think I made every newbie mistake along the way: didn't measure water properly, added it in late, lost my wine whip in the carboy, got some rubber shavings in there from drilling, and almost drowned trying to siphon! LOL!

I believe I have the same type of degasser(Looks like a plastic coat hanger). The stopper is fitted on there. The first time I used it with a Carboy I got the shavings every where.
Another thing is the siphon, I couldn't get it to work either. I drank more then I was racking, not to mention the spills.
I would say get a Auto-Siphon, starts the flow with one or two pumps.

 

[Arne]

I believe I have the same type of degasser(Looks like a plastic coat hanger). The stopper is fitted on there. The first time I used it with a Carboy I got the shavings every where.
Another thing is the siphon, I couldn't get it to work either. I drank more then I was racking, not to mention the spills.
I would say get a Auto-Siphon, starts the flow with one or two pumps.

For some reason when I first started, siphoning was the step I was always wanting to get to. That gave me my first tastes. Now I have a wine thief so I can taste whenever I want to. Also learned how to siphon without having to suck on the end of the hose. Never tried the autosiphon, but for carboys use one of the orange carboy caps with the two openings. Put the racking cane in the center one, snap it on the carboy and blow into the other opening. Make sure you have a hose connected to the cane and inserted into the receiving carboy. Again, make sure it is in the receiving carboy. Been there too. LOL, Arne.

 

[BonnieLynn]

I am DEFINITELY getting an autosiphon. I also ended up choking on the wine and then wasted some in a bowl at my feet. As a result, I needed to top off during that final racking and didn't have any wine on hand. In the end, the wine seems weak and watered down. It's impossible to know how much water was added during the whole process because of all of my mistakes. But the neighbors and I sampled the bottle I filled 3/4 to keep in the fridge for fun and it's not so bad. In the end, it may be good as a base for sangria pitchers this summer!

 

[BonnieLynn]

Yup, that was me, almost drowning on the wine trying to siphon!

 

[joeswine]

auto siphon

In the beginning you will take the losses with marginal gains and then with the addition of experience and equipment it will all come together in, the AUTO SIPHON is a must if you can't afford a pumping system at present, we were all there at one point in time. Work clean, have a plan and be patient that's the keys to wine making at home .