Greetings Wine Makers!

[TheGnuScience]

New member from Kentucky, did a little experimenting over the past few years with a half-dozen 1-gallon batches in my apartment, and suddenly find myself out in the country with plenty of space for carboys and a seemingly insurmountable volume of produce to play with.

I've been making good progress filling up that space with wine projects, and I've been making extensive use of this incredible collection of wisdom.

So far I have 1-to-5 gallon batches of blueberry, grape (mystery variety and I think chambourcin?), maple, squash, corn, peach, pear, JAOM, and pineapple in varying stages of fermentation and aging.

Now that all of my containers are full and the waiting game continues, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to organize and standardize as I move forward so that I don't go crazy keeping track of 20 differently-size batches by this time next year.

In summary, thanks for all the help already, looking forward to learning more!

 

[ChuckD]

Now that all of my containers are full

Welcome to WMT.

Just be sure to stay off of Craig’s List and Facebook Marketplace… and whatever you do don’t search “winemaking equipment” . In my experience unused carboys seek out beginner winemakers.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to Wine Making Talk

You have an interesting mix. Squash, ,,, when I did butternut squash I had major reductive flavor (mercaptan / sulfur). This is a defect to watch out for in low nitrogen juice.

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[David Violante]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[TheGnuScience]

Thanks all!

ChuckD, good tip, I'll also be sure not to hit up all the local winery tasting rooms asking for the way too many wine bottles I'll need when my bigger batches finish aging.

RiceGuy, so far so... decent with the squash. A few moments during fermentation I thought I had made a horrible mistake. 2 months in it has a slight (young?) off-note, but nothing deeply unpleasant. Could well be the reductive flavors you mention. I did it with 50% crookneck and 50% straightneck summer squash and cane sugar to 1.090.

There was a better moment in fermentation where it smelled and tasted amazing, but that went away after it dropped below 1.030; maybe more nitrogen would let me keep those wonderful mystery notes through to the end next year? Without a titration setup, is there anything I can do to check nitrogen specifically, are soil test kits close enough for the job? and anything preferable to a nutrient blend to address nitrogen-specific issues? Maybe I'll just need to backsweeten this one.

The peach was the only notably unpleasant taste so far, but I needed practice with my (bought it before I read enough) double-lever corker anyway, so I'll see if time does it any favors. That and a watermelon I tried to make last year: right down the drain and never again.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome!

 

[Omabob]

Welcome

 

[Newbie Mel]

Hi! I am in Kentucky also, Bowling Green area. I like to forage my fruits and weeds. I’m waiting for persimmons to ripen and excited to try that again. Also waiting on Maypops. Tasted one yesterday and think it has good potential, just gonna need a lot of them.

This group is great and has been a huge help to me. I’m definitely still a beginner, taking in all the knowledge from other members.