What to make with a 3 gal carboy

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.

jas3019

Junior Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2013
Messages
89
Reaction score
23
I'm looking for some suggestions for what to make shortly in my 3 gallon carboy. So far I've done:

Mead: it was so so...not sure what might've gone wrong
WE Cab Franc Ice Wine
La Bodega Port (about to bottle)

So I'm looking for some suggestions for what to do next. I'm not too crazy about the chocolatey/raspberry-ey type wines that many dessert wines are. But does anyone have some suggestions for what next? Honestly it could be anything. Experimental dry wine, a dessert kit, whatever! Just want some ideas :)

Thanks!!
 
I have a 3 gallon guava wine experiment going now. Started it with cartons of guava juice from the grocery store. So far, its excellent, though it is being a bugger about clearing.
 
I would purchase a 6 gallon carboy, and a fermentation bucket and start buying wine kits. once these two tools along with a hydrometer are available there are all kinds of opportunities to make red and white wine from wine kits. your 3 gallon capacity limits you to dessert wines , wine kits are 23 liters.
 
I know not everyone is in position to buy 6 gallon carboys for whatever reason, so I'll stick with what you asked for. You can always scale them up later if you really like them.

You could try a fruit wine, cider, dragon's blood, skeeter pee, melomel, limoncello, etc. You could tweak them based on what you like. A unique fruit variety like Boatboy mentioned, a hopped cider, cranberry lime SP, tropical DB, etc. There are also some candy based recipes (skittles, candy canes) and vegetable/herbal wines (tomato, onion, etc.). The special interest subforum would be a good place to start for those.
 
Also lets not assume he only has a 3 gallon Carboy :h, Its just that he does not want his 3 gallon sitting unused. For all we know he has 10 6 Gallon Carboys :b

Myself I would try a Reisling Ice wine next, If the question was asked earlier in the season I would suggest some fresh fruit wines - Strawberry or Peach etc.
 
Easy! Good time of the year to buy raw apple cider, in your case 3 gallons, and make it into apple wine. [Do a search for "apple wine from cider" and you should find plenty of recipes.]

Ps. Just bought 6 gallons this morning for my 2017 batch and will be pitching my yeast tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Some great suggestions! I was really looking for ideas I hadn't thought of so you all came out well. And yes, I have three 6 gallon carboys...one with an Eclipse Pinot Noir and the other two slated this weekend for my Harford Winery juice buckets once they're done in primary.

One thought I had after posting this is I have an extra La Bodega f-pack (ended up getting replacements from both FVW and Mosti themselves). I could try doing a bastardized version of another port from that.

I also really like the apple wine suggestion. I hadn't even thought about that.

Thanks for the great ideas :)
 
You could also consider the Vintner's Harvest fruit bases. I have a blackberry in one of my three gallon carboys and I'm about to start a black currant in another (I have 5 of them). Also apple wine is delicious once it hits about 6 months old ... or at least mine is. I only have 2 bottles left.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top