New member!

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

skylerl33

Supporting Members
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2022
Messages
36
Reaction score
29
Location
California
Hello! My name is Skyler and I am a brand new member. I am also brand new to wine making, I'm going to be starting my first attempt here this week using a wine kit.
I'd like to thank you in all in advance for all the help, advice, and knowledge and I'm looking forward to the day when I'm experienced enough to help out some beginners as well.
Talk to you all soon! Cheers!
 
Welcome! First kit eh? Read the instructions several times before starting, maybe even write down steps for day 1, day 2, etc. Planning and execution are key. As long as you don’t jump ahead you should be fine. Have a hydrometer? You’ll need one. Let us know how it goes.
 
Welcome! First kit eh? Read the instructions several times before starting, maybe even write down steps for day 1, day 2, etc. Planning and execution are key. As long as you don’t jump ahead you should be fine. Have a hydrometer? You’ll need one. Let us know how it goes.
Thank you for the advice!! I certainly will!! And yes, all the equipment I'll be using is from the "Master vintner wine making starter kit" so it does come with a hydrometer, although I'm not sure of the quality of it. Do you think there might be any other equipment the kit may be lacking that would come in handy?
 
Thank you for the advice!! I certainly will!! And yes, all the equipment I'll be using is from the "Master vintner wine making starter kit" so it does come with a hydrometer, although I'm not sure of the quality of it. Do you think there might be any other equipment the kit may be lacking that would come in handy?
Auto siphon, extra carboys, 3g, 1g, 1/2g, etc. Heat belt, especially if doing a red.
 
Auto siphon, extra carboys, 3g, 1g, 1/2g, etc. Heat belt, especially if doing a red.
My equipment kit did come with an auto siphon and I have a total of 3 carboys. Please forgive me if this is a silly question, but what do you mean by 3g, 1g, 1/2 g etc??
I did not even think of a heat belt! I'll definitely pick one of those up!!!!
 
My equipment kit did come with an auto siphon and I have a total of 3 carboys. Please forgive me if this is a silly question, but what do you mean by 3g, 1g, 1/2 g etc??
I did not even think of a heat belt! I'll definitely pick one of those up!!!!
Measurement tools. What part of CA do you live in? I live in South Texas and a heat belt is pointless. N. CA you might need one.
 
Thanks! I got the Willamette Pinot kit from WineXpert that I'll be trying my luck at! Really looking foward to this, but keeping my expectations quite low for my first try at it so I hope to be pleasantly surprised!
I agree with @ratflinger -- don't set low expectations. WE is among the reputable kit vendors whose products make good wine on the first try by absolute beginners who have no experienced help.

Do as @Ohio Bob suggested -- read through the instructions several times, make sure it all makes sense. If anything doesn't make sense, navigate to the Kit Wine forum and post a question. Follow the instructions -- don't get inventive. Use good hygiene. And relax. You will do fine.
 
Measurement tools. What part of CA do you live in? I live in South Texas and a heat belt is pointless. N. CA you might need one.
I live in southern california. Ill be doing my wine making in my garage which is insulated, but where I live does drop into the 40-50s at night in the winter so the belt may come in handy. My garage usually stays at about 70-75 in the summer time. I have an AC unit to help control it as well.
 
I live in southern california. Ill be doing my wine making in my garage which is insulated, but where I live does drop into the 40-50s at night in the winter so the belt may come in handy. My garage usually stays at about 70-75 in the summer time. I have an AC unit to help control it as well.
Winter is not an issue. You need a consistent temperature for fermentation, as a large temperature change can stunt the yeast. If your temperature now is mid-6o's to mid-70's F, you're fine.
 
Last edited:
I agree with @ratflinger -- don't set low expectations. WE is among the reputable kit vendors whose products make good wine on the first try by absolute beginners who have no experienced help.

Do as @Ohio Bob suggested -- read through the instructions several times, make sure it all makes sense. If anything doesn't make sense, navigate to the Kit Wine forum and post a question. Follow the instructions -- don't get inventive. Use good hygiene. And relax. You will do fine.
Great!! I really appreciate the encouragment and all the advice and information!!! I certainly plan on following the directions exactly and very carefully, the only thought I had (and please let me know if this falls under being too inventive) was that I might try aging half of the wine in a 10 Liter oak barrel and then of course just bottling the rest as is the norm. That way I could get my feet wet in a little bit of barrel aging and compare it to my bottle aged wine. Do you think this is something I could try? or is it something I should avoid as a brand new winemaker.
 
@skylerl33, I recommend against jumping in a barrel yet. If you want oak flavoring, add 1 to 1-1/2 oz medium toast oak cubes during bulk aging, and bulk age at least 5 months.

My reasons for saying no to barrels at this time?

You are learning the process. Keep it simple at first and add on as you go. Getting a first wine bottled and sampling it a few month later is a thrill. Get a kit or two under your belt, feel comfortable with what you're doing, produce measurable success, and then add on.

Barrels are not a container, they are a commitment. Once you fill a barrel, you need to keep it full, either with wine or a holding solution. If you don't, you risk "stuff" growing in the barrel and ruining it. I have two 54 liter barrels, and each fall when the new wine is ready for barrel, I bottle the old wines, clean the barrels, and put the new wine in. It's an annual process.

New barrels contribute a LOT of oak character to a wine, and smaller barrels with a very large interior surface area to volume ratio, contribute a lot. You may be able to keep the wine in only for a month before you need to swap it. I've had wines in oak too long -- it tasted a lot like the bar we were sitting at (this is NOT a good thing, and it's not fixable).

Keep in mind that a main benefit of a barrel is evaporation -- a small amount of water and alcohol evaporate through the wood, so you lose volume. My barrels are 54 liters (14.25 US gallons) and I start with 16 gallons of wine -- I sacrifice 10% per year to age wine in the barrels. BUT -- the result is worth it.

At some point getting a barrel is worth it. But not today. Research barrels and plan for it.
 
what do you mean by 3g, 1g, 1/2 g etc??
3 gallon carboy (maybe not at the top of the list, but someday), 1 gallon, 1/2 gallon jugs. These are extremely helpful when racking off your wine to clean containers, it almost never works out that the clear wine volume equals the original wine volume that also has sediment. You might also want to have a similar wine available for topping off your carboy, even if it’s store bought.

So if you’re racking a 5g carboy, you have two options...
Rack to another 5g carboy, but you may need additional wine to top off.
Rack to a 3g, and additional smaller jugs.
 
@skylerl33, I recommend against jumping in a barrel yet. If you want oak flavoring, add 1 to 1-1/2 oz medium toast oak cubes during bulk aging, and bulk age at least 5 months.

My reasons for saying no to barrels at this time?

You are learning the process. Keep it simple at first and add on as you go. Getting a first wine bottled and sampling it a few month later is a thrill. Get a kit or two under your belt, feel comfortable with what you're doing, produce measurable success, and then add on.

Barrels are not a container, they are a commitment. Once you fill a barrel, you need to keep it full, either with wine or a holding solution. If you don't, you risk "stuff" growing in the barrel and ruining it. I have two 54 liter barrels, and each fall when the new wine is ready for barrel, I bottle the old wines, clean the barrels, and put the new wine in. It's an annual process.

New barrels contribute a LOT of oak character to a wine, and smaller barrels with a very large interior surface area to volume ratio, contribute a lot. You may be able to keep the wine in only for a month before you need to swap it. I've had wines in oak too long -- it tasted a lot like the bar we were sitting at (this is NOT a good thing, and it's not fixable).

Keep in mind that a main benefit of a barrel is evaporation -- a small amount of water and alcohol evaporate through the wood, so you lose volume. My barrels are 54 liters (14.25 US gallons) and I start with 16 gallons of wine -- I sacrifice 10% per year to age wine in the barrels. BUT -- the result is worth it.

At some point getting a barrel is worth it. But not today. Research barrels and plan for it.
I can't say how much I appreciate you taking your time to help me and give me all this advice. I am very grateful and will absolutely take 100% of your advice! I really like the idea of using some oak cubes during bulk aging with this first kit I'm doing. I will try that out and revisit the idea of trying a barrel maybe a couple years down the road!
I'm so excited to get this kit going and I am feeling a lot more confident after hearing from you and everyone else here. You have been an invaluable resource already and I'm sure I'll be asking for a lot more help in the future! Cheers!
 
3 gallon carboy (maybe not at the top of the list, but someday), 1 gallon, 1/2 gallon jugs. These are extremely helpful when racking off your wine to clean containers, it almost never works out that the clear wine volume equals the original wine volume that also has sediment. You might also want to have a similar wine available for topping off your carboy, even if it’s store bought.

So if you’re racking a 5g carboy, you have two options...
Rack to another 5g carboy, but you may need additional wine to top off.
Rack to a 3g, and additional smaller jugs.
Oh I see! That makes perfect sense! I'll definitely looking into getting some of those different sized carboys! Sounds like they will certainly come in handy!!! Thank you so much for all of your help!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top