New member in TN!

[tigerthekid]

Hey everyone! My name is J.J. I'm a budding wine maker in the Nashville, TN area. I've decided to make finevinewines.com my home

I'm 27 yrs old and work at as a systems admin for a medical company. I'm about to start making my first batch of "quality" wine. I've made several batches of just yeast, sugar, grape juice cheapo wines to test the process. I feel I'm ready to move into making actual batches of decent wine. I've read the process over many times. Here's what I'm ordering as my first batch. Do you think I have everything I need from start to finish? I already have materials to make labels. Think I'll be good to go? Any tips on your first real batch? Looking forward to joining the community!

Here's everything in my first order:

<table ="maintable" align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#000000" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="95%"><t><tr>

<td ="#ffff00" nowrap="nowrap" valign="bottom"> <div align="center">Description</td>
<td ="#ffff00" nowrap="nowrap" valign="bottom"> <div align="center">Quantity</td>



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<td width="20%">
<div align="left">Black Raspberry Merlot</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap" width="15%"><div align="right">1</td>



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<td width="20%">
<div align="left">Beginners Wine Equipment Only Package</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap" width="15%"><div align="right">1</td>



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<td width="20%">
<div align="left">Cobalt Blue - California Hock Bottle 750 ml, per dozen</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap" width="15%"><div align="right">2</td>



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<td width="20%">
<div align="left">Straight Corks - Agglomerate, bulk #9 X 1.50</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap" width="15%"><div align="right">1</td>



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<td width="20%">
<div align="left">Black w/Gold Grapes Capsules - Hot Shrink, PVC (Bag of 30)</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap" width="15%"><div align="right">1</td>



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<td width="20%">
<div align="left">Guide to Winemaking with a Kit</td>
<td nowrap="nowrap" width="15%"><div align="right">1</td>


</tr></t></table>

 

[NorthernWinos]

Welcome tiger....That sounds like an awesome wine.

Hope you enjoy your stay here and give us a follow up on the fermenting of this wine....

Cheers!

 

[smurfe]

Looks like a good start.

I would switch the corks to #9 x 1.75 personally. I just think the look better in the bottle.I guess that is an early and fast drinking wine though so the corks you picked would be just fine. If you are going to age wines longer, go for the 1.75" corks.


I would alsoorder a pound bag of Na-Meta or K-Meta (sodium or potassium metabisulfate)to have on hand to add to the wine as well as to mix up for sanitation. Other than that, you have a great start. If things go great and you get hooked andgo overboard like most of us, think about a floor corker and lot's more carboysin the future.

Oh, and BTW, welcome to our forums. Glad you found us and decided to stay and play! Look forward to many more posts from you.Edited by: smurfe

 

[grapeman]

That Island Mist kit from Winexpert is a very tasty kit, but is low alcohol- perfect for summertime drinking by the pool. Good selections of things to begin. Good luck and welcome.

 

[moose]

Welcome to the forum and have fun. Post up some pictures of your adventure for us to enjoy also.

 

[Wade E]

Welcome Tiger, glad to have you aboard. As Smurf said you should get some k-meta or Na-meta for sanitizing your bottles. Personally I would go with K-meta now as you can use it in your wine and for sanitizing bt as you get more involved like some of us it would be good to have both as Na-meta is a better sanitizer and is cheaper but there is no need to add it to our wines as we get enough sodium in our daily intake.

 

[uavwmn]

Welcome Tiger. Enjoy the forum. Lots of knowledge and fun peeps here.
Sounds like you have a good line up to begin with.

 

[PolishWineP]

Tiger, welcome to the friendliest forum for winemakers! We're glad to have you join us.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Welcome El Tigre!
Good to have you aboard. Keep asking questionsso all of us learn with you.

 

[tigerthekid]

Sorry for the long reply. I had a lot going on. We got an amazing deal on a new construction house so we had a whirlwind of a process to go through the past few weeks but we're in a new house! Including huge pantry to make wine in!

So as of today, I'm placing my order finally! I switched to the 9x1.75 corks and also added a 1lb of k-meta per recommendations.

How does the k-meta work? I've read up on the process and didn't see much mention of k-meta. It's for sanitation right? When do you use it?

Anything I need to watch out for when I start the process besides making sure EVERYTHING is clean and sanitized? Should I use purified water or is tap water ok? Does tap water need to be boiled prior to use to sanitize?

I can't wait!

 

[tigerthekid]

Never mind on the k-meta. I get it now. Good recommendation on the big bag so I can over sanitize cause I'm sure I'm going to freak out and even sanitize the wife when she walks into the room

 

[uavwmn]

Hi Tiger, welocome to the Forum. Lot of great opinions and knowledge here.
Enjoy the Process~

 

[grapeman]

Tap water is fine as long as you would drink it. No need to boil it either.
Congrats on the house- show us some pictures!Edited by: appleman

 

[Wade E]

As far as the k-meta goes yes it is for sanitizing and if I were you I would buy a new cheap spray closeable bottle from a dollar store and keep some of the sanitizing solution in there for easy sanitation of things. You also add tis k-meta in addition to what comes with the kit, especially if you are going to bulk age the wine but even if you dont I advise you to add an extra 1/4 tsp per 6 gallon batch to help the wine age if you plan on keeping it shelved for more then a year.

 

[rgecaprock]

Welcome !!


JJ

Ramona

 

[OldWino1]

welcome Tenn Vol. lot of whiskey heratage over there near nashville Jack and George distillerys pretty close.

 

[Wade E]

Speaking of that, do you have access to 1 use whiskey barrels as a result of this. They might be neutral or almost neutral but for anyone who has their own grapes growing this might be a good place to check out for storage for some micro-oxygenation.

 

[tigerthekid]

The kit and equipment should arrive by the end of this week. I have Saturday laid out to get things started. I'm excited! I'll try to take pictures if I remember. I'll have to have some wine on hand to celebrate

I know you can purchase used barrels from the various distilleries, but as to their quality, I'm not sure. Most use them as furniture. A barrel cut in half with a circular, glass top makes an interesting coffee table.

 

[moonmoon]

Welcome tiger....

 

[tigerthekid]

Wow, the equipment arrived today and I was attacked by exploding packing peanuts! It'll take longer to clean all those up than it'll take to start making the wine!

I must say, it's rather intimidating looking at all of the gear. I guess we'll find out how things go Saturday