New to wine making....

[RedneckBrew]

New to home brewing... So i been asking around to see how and if some of my co-worker/friends brew wine. One guy told me to get 5gallon bucket with lid to put:

1lb of fruit
3qts. of water
3lbs of sugar
1packet of yeast

Told me to Stir once to left and once to right, for 27days and then strain it and put in some mason jars.

Is this an OK way of doing wine?
I plan on getting some regular supplies shortly for fermenting,racking, and bottling.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!!

You can do it that way - but i would not recommend it.

You need to get a hydrometer and take SG readings to determine the amount of sugar you need to add.

Add in the necessary yeast,yeast nutrient, sulfites, and pectic enzymes. Also an acid test kit - take an acid reading before adding acid.

1# of fruit for 5 gallons is not enough - i would go about 6#'s per gallon of must.

 

[RedneckBrew]

Just starting so dont have alot cash to put into full blown... Im getting prolly 2 buckets today, some wine yeast. i wanna try tea leaves as a yeast nutrient. Don't know alot about hydrometer, so i will have to read up on it to figure it out. I sure i'll have questions.

 

[Runningwolf]

Welcome aboard. You might want to read up on making wine with Welches Grape juice. This would also be easy and inexpensive.

 

[RedneckBrew]

read that already... Looking to make from actual fruit or make a mead.. I don't have any friend that brew so im by myself trying to learn. Just some thing to pass the time

 

[Flem]

My guess is that with only one pound of fruit for a gallon of wine, your "brew" is going to be pretty weak. Just my opinion. Good Luck!

 

[RedneckBrew]

that just what he told me... So thats why im on here asking questions lol

 

[Lonzo]

welcome,

FYI, I went to Meijers and went back to the bakery section where they make cakes. They have tons and tons of 4gal. white buckets that are FOOD GRADE. i asked them if i could buy them and they said i can have as many as i want for FREE. Go here, no sense in buying the primary fermentation buckets...also amazon has a 6 gal. glass carboy they are selling for $30 shipped. i am still new to the whole process too. just finishing my first batch but have picked up a lot of help in here.

 

[RedneckBrew]

Well i heard about using home depot buckets and there not expensive. Yeah i know there like huge arguement about using bucket think there hdpe #2. Might go that route or maybe call a fast food resturant.

 

[jdmyers]

Welcome

Glad to see im not the only newbie around here. I would make this suggestion
dont make getto wine for a very small initial investment you get setup to make real wine instead of something that tastes like old grape juice flavored with rocket fuel. the peaple here will help you a ton and youll enjoy it more if its right



6 gl of germane reisiling ready to bottle
blueberry/pomagranite in secondary
peach/mango in the primary

 

[Lonzo]

i had asked about the buckets from home depot and was told dont do it. the buckets u need are food grade. i called a bakery too and they were selling their food grade 5 gal buckets for $2

 

[jtstar]

At two dollars a five gallon bucket is cheap but if you check with local bakeries, food stores, restrurants, you might find them for free. You can find food grade tubs and buckets at home depot, Lowes, Menards. When your out shopping look to see if they are food grade or not all you have to do is tip it upside down and look for the number on the bottom

 

[Ernest T Bass]

I called Berlin [eds. note, a plastic container mfgr. [1-800-4-BERLIN] and spoke to them, plus an outfit called Kirk Container (they manufactured some 5 gallon paint buckets I saw in the local hardware store). Both places said that buckets made from High Density PolyEthelene are approved for food. It has to do with the possibility of interaction between any chemicals in the food and the plastic. As it turns out, Kirk manufactures only one kind of bucket, and then markets it for paint, hardware, food, etc. The price is right on the "paint buckets" - much cheaper than the local restaurant supply house.

High density polyethelene buckets will have HDPE stamped on them, or a recycle symbol with a "2" in the middle.

DISCLAIMER: I'm only passing on information I received from the manufacturers. I am in no way professing these things to be absolute fact!

I don't know if any of this is true, I copied it off the inter-net, just passin it on.

Semper Fi

 

[Wade E]

Please just make sure you get a the proper vessel to make wine in! Wine has a much higher acidity then most other foods and it can easily leech out these chemicals.

 

[RedneckBrew]

I got kids in the house so i want to do all primary in plastic, the fact that primary is most chance of exploding if not properly air locked. Im trying to save up for glass carboys. How long does a usual primary fermenting take? I heading to local brew supply store this weekend. So if i can get plastic carboys that would be great. Hopefully get some type of wine started soon... think im going to start with two types a mead and a watermelon.

 

[Arne]

I would recommend save the watermelon for a little while and try something else. Watermelon is kinda tricky and for your first ones make something a little easier that should work out and be good. Good luck with your new hobby, Arne.

 

[Flem]

Most of us use plastic primary buckets for the primary fermentation (without airlocks). Primary fermentation varies depending on a lot of factors. It can last anywhere from a few to several days. Good Luck!

 

[Ernest T Bass]

I read somewhere that professional wine makes hope to get one good batch of wine out of every four they make with watermelon.

Semper Fi

 

[pete1325]

"getto wine"..............funny.

 

[RedneckBrew]

So i guess i will start with a honey wine or mead. Seems to be simplto send a e. So do cover the primary with anything?? Cause i live in the country and bug maybe an issue (stinkbugs eerrr) . Or simple just puta lid and crack it a bit to let air in but not pests? My email is [email protected] if some want to send a pic of theree primary set up