question mania!

[keena]

so ive come up with a bunch of questions i have and been saving them in my phone to ask them all at once.. lol

1. does anybody or has anybody every used the 5 gal water jugs you can get at walmart or from culligan stores for wine making? seems like they would be the same as a plastic carboy. Or you could probly even ferment in them for smaller batches it seems like. anyone? ive noticed you can pick them up pretty cheap so i was wondering...

2. has anyone every made wine from the drink "naked" flavor "berry blast"? it seems like a wonderful combination of fruits inside that one (blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, apple, banana)

3. as far as back sweetening goes, has anyone every used artificial sweeteners that are used in coffee? i read someone that some people have before on other sites but i was just wondering what its like or if it has any different effects?


4. as far as ageing your wine goes, is there a limit to where the ageing starts having a negative effect? will to long of an age make wine start to taste worse? or is there a certain chemical you should add if planning to age for many years?

5. i ran into a situation where i ordered a carboy from a buddy and for a bit didnt think i would get it for another week. so i was wondering if 2 weeks in primary is bad? how long is to long in primary?

6. i seen a few people online use the simple walmart buckets for primarys and then i see some people saying "ONLY food grade buckets"... does anyone use the cheap walmart buckets here and is the food grade really that important if its brand new? i understand that non food grade is made with recycled plastic and what not but is that really a big deal?

7. i have been degassing with a coat hanger setup, but it seems to not be doing the trick to well. i cant seem to get it to degas much at all... was degassing for a couple hours and still havent seemed to do it completely. whats the best way to de-gas and what is a great drill tool to use to de-gas?

8. has anyone made a wine from a vegetable? i though a broccoli wine would be good but have no idea if its possible.

9. and finally, does the quality of the cork make a big difference? i tried googling it but cant seem to find anything on it. i noticed there are corks priced from 25 cents a piece to as low as like 5 cents a piece. does the quality mean that much? if so what does good quality corks do that low quality dont?


haha, sorry so many questions, feel free to answer just one or two of them and not trying to answer them all

 

[Deezil]

I can answer a couple of them, leave the rest for some others...

1. Some people use them, some people say there will be/can be negative effects because those particular plastics werent designed to hold acidic solutions - which can pull chemicals out of the plastic that arent necessarily healthy to consume

4. The 'typical' rule of thumb as i understand it, is that however long it takes your wine to "peak" - or be at its best - is how long it'll be 'good' for... So if it takes a year for your wine to be great, then its probably only going to be decent for another year before noticing notable differences

6. Has to do with the type of plastic, like question #1. Some of the ratings in the plastic standards (whatever they call the numbers in the triangles) are "better" than some others - Brute & RoughNeck being two of the better ones that come to mind - but none of them are made for long-term wine storage unless they've been designed for acidic solutions.. Short-term is fine, like fermentation.. But not bulk aging

9. The type of cork you use has to do with a few things.. The bottle type - dont wanna shove a cork in a screw-top bottle or a liquor bottle, but you could use one of those push-in mushroom corks.... How long you intend to store the wine for - not gonna work using a plain agglomerated cork on a wine you intend to age for a good 5-10 years, you'd want a bi-disc cork for that.. Bi-disc corks are corks that have the agglomerated middle, but with a disc of real unprocessed cork on each end - about the best a home winemaker can ask for at the moment...

 

[Rocky]

1. does anybody or has anybody every used the 5 gal water jugs you can get at walmart or from culligan stores for wine making? seems like they would be the same as a plastic carboy. Or you could probly even ferment in them for smaller batches it seems like. anyone? ive noticed you can pick them up pretty cheap so i was wondering...

They are not recommended for wine because there can be an interaction between the wine and the container. They are made to hold water only. If you can find the old glass water bottles that were once used, they are fine.

2. has anyone every made wine from the drink "naked" flavor "berry blast"? it seems like a wonderful combination of fruits inside that one (blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, apple, banana)

3. as far as back sweetening goes, has anyone every used artificial sweeteners that are used in coffee? i read someone that some people have before on other sites but i was just wondering what its like or if it has any different effects?

It is not recommended. I sweeten only with sugar or juice. FVW has red and white wine concentrate that is about 68 brix and there are several juices, purees and concentrates available Alexander's, Vintner's Harvest and Oregon.

4. as far as ageing your wine goes, is there a limit to where the ageing starts having a negative effect? will to long of an age make wine start to taste worse? or is there a certain chemical you should add if planning to age for many years?

It will depent a lot on what the wine was made from and red wine will normally age longer than white. It is never a problem for me because the wine is consumed long before there is a concern with age. As long as the acids, alcohol and tannins are in balance and the wine is stored properly, there is no reason that the wine should deteriorate in under 5 to 10 years. A better question may be, what is the minimum time to age? For that I would say 1 year for a red and 6 months for a white.

5. i ran into a situation where i ordered a carboy from a buddy and for a bit didnt think i would get it for another week. so i was wondering if 2 weeks in primary is bad? how long is to long in primary?

It really depends on where the fermentation is. What is the SG? If you are two weeks in the primary and the SG is near 1.010, you should have the top snapped down the lid on the primary and an airlock installed in the cover.

6. i seen a few people online use the simple walmart buckets for primarys and then i see some people saying "ONLY food grade buckets"... does anyone use the cheap walmart buckets here and is the food grade really that important if its brand new? i understand that non food grade is made with recycled plastic and what not but is that really a big deal?

Can't comment on the Brute containers. Many people use them. I only use fermenters that are food grade and recommended for winemaking.

7. i have been degassing with a coat hanger setup, but it seems to not be doing the trick to well. i cant seem to get it to degas much at all... was degassing for a couple hours and still havent seemed to do it completely. whats the best way to de-gas and what is a great drill tool to use to de-gas?

You may be adding oxygen to the wine when you are using the "coat hanger." Have you ever tried a vacuum pump for degassing? That is the best method I have found.

8. has anyone made a wine from a vegetable? i though a broccoli wine would be good but have no idea if its possible.

I may be too much a traditionalist, but the only way I consume broccoli is sauteed with garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil!

9. and finally, does the quality of the cork make a big difference? i tried googling it but cant seem to find anything on it. i noticed there are corks priced from 25 cents a piece to as low as like 5 cents a piece. does the quality mean that much? if so what does good quality corks do that low quality dont?

I am sure that it does but a lot has to do with using the proper size cork. I only use a #9 by 1.75," either agglomerated, natural or bi-disk. These will protect the wine for as long as I need them to do so.

 

[DoctorCAD]

8. Just because something CAN be fermented does not mean that it SHOULD be fermented.