New to this..looking for advice

[Tommy1]

so i am going to start wine making as a hobby and would really appreciate any advice on what kit to start with.. im not trying to go crazy with wine making or anythng..just a few bottles here and there for holidays and gifts.. if anyone could steer me in the right direction i would appreciate it. thanks

 

[myway22]

Welcome Tommy. Good news and bad news. If you want advice, the good news is you definitely came to the right place. The bad news is I'm just as new as you and you probably don't want advice from me. I just happened to be the first one to see the posting

. Welcome again, and you will definitely get some great advice from the whole crew on this forum.

 

[Wade E]

Welcome Tommy, I think what you are looking to do is make a fruit wine from fresh fruit or a wine from frozen concentrate or juice in a grocery store. You will need 1 or 2 glass jugs that are clean and sanitized using Potassium Metabisulfite. When you open the home page you will find at the lefthand side a category called recipes, decide what you want to make and then chime in again and we'll help you through it. Every gallon of wine made will produce 5 normal size bottles of wine. You can get bottles and usually the 1 gallon jugs at the recycling center.

 

[grapeman]

Welcome Tommy to the forum.


You can make gallons of wine like Wade suggests or you can get an equipment kit and a wine kit. There is a tremendous variety available to you-only your imagination limits you. On the homepage there is a button you can select for equipment kits offered here that will get you started. There are also a number of lines of juice available. Fill us in on what you like and we will help steer you in the direction you may go. No pressure here, just friendly advice.

 

[kaluba]

If you decide to order an equipment kit besure to figure out what chemicals are needed for your recipe before ordering.In otherwords ordereverything in one shot.

Edited by: kaluba

 

[smurfe]

Welcome to our forum. Good suggestions with the one gallon batches. What kind of wines do you feel you might want to make or what do you enjoy? As note, fruit wines give you versatility for making small batches.


If you want to make varietal wines like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, etc. it is very easy but you are moving to 6 gallon kits which yields about 30 bottles from a kit. If these wines are to your liking one suggestion is to see if you have any friends that might want to join you in winemaking and split up the end results.


You might see if there are any other winemakers already in your area that might be interested as well. I know there are a few kits I wouldn't mind making but don't really want 30 bottles of it and am going to look around for some local vintners that might want to share a few kits.


In regards to equipment needed, it really depends on what type of wine you end up making, kits or country wines. Most equipment will interchange but some stuff like carboys and fermenter will be different sized due to batch volumes.


Country wines may require extra chemical additions for area such as pH and acidity, clearing agents, etc. Figure out what you want to try, make a post with your decision and you will get your answers very quick by some very experienced winemakers here. Once again, welcome aboard.

 

[uavwmn]

Tommy, welcome to the forum. Good news is you came to the right place for advice and help. The bad news is you may get addicted to this fun hobby like the rest of us. hahaha

 

[Jack on Rainy]

so i am going to start wine making as a hobby and would
really appreciate any advice on what kit to start with.. im not trying
to go crazy with wine making or anythng..just a few bottles here and
there for holidays and gifts.. if anyone could steer me in the right
direction i would appreciate it. thanks

TOMMY TURN AND RUN!!! This hobby is addicting! "A few bottles here and
there"....very unlikely. Before you know it you may have two or three
rooms (or all of them) with wine making gear in them. You could be
short a carboy because the other six you just bought are bulk aging
wines. YOu might be looking at a bigger investment to make a controlled
environment room dedicated to wine making and aging. But then you would
have a bunch of new friends trying to get you send your new wines off
for testing.... and you will be spending a few hours each week fooling
around with the characters who inhabit this cyber space. Hang on! It's
a downward spiral!

BTW welcome to the forum!

 

[PolishWineP]

Oh Jack, just because the rest of us have no self control doesn't mean that will happen to Tommy.

When I got Poor Bert started, I expected he would make 2 or 3 batches a year. Ah ha ha ha ha! I was so silly! So mistaken!
Tommy, I would suggest starting with a quick aging kit, and a fruit wine at the same time. That will get you something to drink soon and something to drink later. Once the 1st kit is in the bottle, then you can start your next kit. If you think you'll "make a little wine for drinking and gifts" just wait till you find out how many friends are relatives can crawl out of the woodwork like roaches with a thirst!

I didn't know how many friends we had until we started making wines!

 

[Alstang1]

If you decide to order an equipment kit besure to figure out what chemicals are needed for your recipe before ordering.In otherwords ordereverything in one shot.

3 orders in 2 weeks and now you mention this....


Well for all of those keeping up with my progress.... I just bottled my first 27 bottles of wine. It has great flavor and clarity, but I can't seem to keep it around. I got my big order of botteling equipment today,and bottled and shrinkwrapped the tops.Already, 6 bottels have vanished.... damnable neighbors. He he he. Well needless to say, New Years is going to be fun this year. Someone suggested to me to get a SG scale, and actually I had already ordered one. My question with it is, what target SG and Alcohol % is normal. My reading seems to be low, for the taste. From the taste, it would appear this is quite strong wine. I am reluctant to say, for embarrisment of having messed up on my process somewhere, but I guess take it easy on me...... my SG is 1.07 - .08


Suggestions, advice, ridicule..... ??
Al

 

[grapeman]

Just check it and record it-no ridicule here. If you were doing a full bodied wine, that is somewhat low. Normally somewhere around 1.085-1.095 for about a 12-13% ABV wine. You will find others like it- just make sure they bring 2 for one bottles when you give it to them. Also encourage them to wash and delabel them if you can. It makes your life a lot easier.

 

[kaluba]

my bad

we learn from other peoples mistakes as well as our own.