Who wants to help out the new guy?

[Sebastian]

I've long wanted to try my hand at home wine making, but to be honest, i
know absolutely nothing about it. zero. zilch. nada.

I had long been under the impression that home wine making was limited
to strawberry and watermelon and dandelions and the like, but a brief net
search showed me the error of my ways, and it appears there are wide
ranging kits from red zinfandels to ports to shiraz. now that's what i'm
talking about.

I'm a chocolate maker by day. I'm sure we can work out a trade for any
enterprising teacher who's willing to help me out and get me started
So how about it - where's the best place for me to start? Do i go with one
of the kits? Are there better ways to initate oneself? I'm afraid I'm so
green i don't even know the right questions to ask at this point. I
tyipcally like the heavier, spicier red wines (old vine red zins, shiraz,
bordeaux's), although i've been known in the summer to drink a very
sweet red wine with a grilled pizza on the porch as well.

Thanks for any help y'all might be able to give!

 

[masta]

You have come to the right place...welcome Sebastian.


Chocolate maker by day...wine maker by night! Nothing better than a fine piece of dark chocolate and a rich peppery Shiraz...sorry back to helping you!

Starting with kit is a great place to begin since your success is guaranteed and you just need to to follow the directions!


Please take some time and look through these links and get familur with the process and when you are ready to get started give George a call and he will help you get everything you need.


http://www.finevinewines.com/New_Visitors.htm


http://www.finevinewines.com/New_Vintners.htm


http://www.finevinewines.com/New_Visitors.htm

 

[Waldo]

Welcome Sebastian. You have found teh right place to begin your new hobby podner. I would hiughly recommend you begin by getting you a good book on home wine making and devour it along with the info on Jack Kellers homepage at


http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/


as well as the excellent resources on this site


http://www.finevinewines.com/home-wine-making-supply.htm


As far as what type of wine you begin with, that would boil down to a personal preference but jump right on in podner, we are all here to help you succeed

 

[MedPretzel]

I'm sure we can work out a trade for any
enterprising teacher who's willing to help me out and get me started

Me! Me!! Me!!!


Well, chocolate is very good.

But so are kits. Along with the others have offered, give George a call. He'll help you personally, and the interaction with him will tell you exactly what you need. I would go with the kits, there are plenty of them. There are higher end kits, lower end ktis and within those, you'll find exactly the one that is right for you.





A few warnings though:
<UL>
<LI>This hobby is addictive.</LI>
<LI>You have to age kit wines longer than 28 days</LI>
<LI>You will be hooked after 6 months for sure.</LI>
<LI>I love chocolate, and you have divulged this secret to me. I might have to hold you ransom.

</LI>[/list]


Many warm greetings from Ohio, and we look forward to hearing from youand about your first wine!

 

[Bill B]

I have to agree with the other. Starting out with a kit or two or three is the way I would go. Not only do they make a good wine, but they will give you a feel of the wine making process from cleaning,sanitizing, fermentation, racking, reading a Hydrometer, smells, etc. The instructions are very good on kits, If you follow these to the letter you should end up with a very nice wine. Good luck and Welcome.


Bill

 

[Sebastian]

Wow. y'all are great - lots of responses in not a lot of time - thanks!

Prior to posting intially, I'd looked over most of the site, as well as a few
others.The general feel i'm getting is that the kits tend to make fairly large
batches (say, 6 - 8 gallons) at a shot. Are these things scaleable? IE - could
i use an 8 gallon kit at 1/4 scale to 'test' it, and then do 3 other variants?
are there smaller kits?I'd rather have a dozen different trials of smaller
quantities to find out what i do and don't like, what works and what doesn't,
as opposed to ending up with one big ol' batch.

Is this something I could do, say, in the house w/o having to worry about off
smells (my wife might have something to say about that...)

 

[PolishWineP]

Welcome Sebastian! (Martina, I like chocolate more than you do and I'm older, so you just back up and get in line behind me!

) I happened to be drinking wine and eating chocolate at the time I found your post!


Do yourself a favor and just make a kit following the instructions. Then make another kit. You'll be surprised how fast those 6 gallons of wine disappear! You'll need something to drink when you're working on your next batches!

Before you monkey with them you should make 1 or 2 just to get the basics down. The kits are not scaleable.Whenyou take the cap off the bag of juice, that's it. AFTER you've completed fermentation and have racked it at bare minimum one time, you can then split the batch into smaller batches and play with it, but the first 1 or 2 batches I'd suggest you just follow the instructions beginning to end. They will be like home tutorials with wonderful outcomes! If you like a heavy wine you'll have to buy the more expensive kits.


And as far as smells, it's wonderful! We do our primary fermentation in ouroffice and there's nothing like walking in there after a hard day in the salt mines and getting a wiff of that! It's never a bad smell and it's only for a few days.

If you let us know how it's going and ask any questions you have you'll find lots of support here. We love seeing people joining us in our addiction. I mean hobby.

 

[pkcook]

Welcome Sebastian,


You have certainly come to the right place to begin this wonderful hobby. George is the man that can hook you up with all you need. Although I've never made a kit wine, I would recommend it after all the discussion and tutorials on kit wines on this forum. I love making country (fruit)wines. The satisfaction is wonderful when you pop the cork on a terrific wine you made yourself, not to mention seeing the delight on a friend's or loved one's face when you present them with a bottle.


I'll give you the two pieces of advice I give everyone I talk to that is interested in this hobby: clean and sanitize everything that touches your wine, and time is your best friend (don't rush to bottle). But most of all enjoy it. I know I sure do!


Welcome again,


PatEdited by: pkcook

 

[Waldo]

You might do like I did Sebastian and buy a bottle of commercial wine of the type you are considering making to see if it's a wine you really will enjoy. Just remember that the wine you will be making will end up tastin better than the commercial one

 

[garyd]

tsk tsk tsk, such shameless grovelling for some free chocolate. Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. Welcome Sebastian! (I like dark chocolate)

Edited by: garyd

 

[MedPretzel]

tsk tsk tsk, such shameless grovelling for some free chocolate. Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. Welcome Sebastian! (I like dark chocolate)

 

[PolishWineP]

tsk tsk tsk, such shameless grovelling for some free chocolate. Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. Welcome Sebastian! (I like dark chocolate)

And your point would be?

And I LOVE

DARK CHOCOLATE!

 

[Sebastian]

At some point i'd like to include chocolate nibs in the wine making process, and afterwards turn the nibs into chocolate to see how the wine fermentation and flavor steepage affect the finished chocolate. But first, baby steps..


I'll likely buy the setup tonight. In looking at the winexpert site (it seems most of the kits here are winexpert kits), there's a broad price range - are the higher priced kits substantially different than the lower ones? For example, there the high end vitners reserve shiraz, and the Selection series shiraz...


#2 - is the process a messy one? I'm thinking logistics (don't really have a cemented sink area where spilling isn't an issue). Are there transfers that need to take place where spillage is an issue? Is the bottle filling process messy? We do have a tiled kitchen, so a little spillage isn't a big issue, but if it's a fairly messy process, i'll need to give more thought as to how/where i need to do that...

 

[MedPretzel]

#2 - is the process a messy one? I'm thinking logistics (don't really have a cemented sink area where spilling isn't an issue). Are there transfers that need to take place where spillage is an issue? Is the bottle filling process messy? We do have a tiled kitchen, so a little spillage isn't a big issue, but if it's a fairly messy process, i'll need to give more thought as to how/where i need to do that...

Hahaha, it depends on who you ask. I have a feeling most of the people here are not like me, where spilling is ALWAYS an issue (i.e. they are very careful). If you have to be careful (grouting, etc), I would definitely always put a heavy towel (old one) on the floor like seen in smurfe's wine-kit tutorial.


It is hypothesized (in my mind

) that once you get the siphoning procedure down, there is practically no spillage to speak of. Of course, this depends on how much you nip while you are siphoning, I imagine. Hence, my siphoning experiences still end up pretty messy - usually.


Don't let my comments get you down, though. I am sure there are people who can do this very easily and without getting wine all over everything. Unfortuantely, I'm not one..... yet!!!

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[Brandst]

Welcome Sebastian.





I just started my first kit on the 5th of this month and even with the mix-stir hooked up to my drill and screamin along, I think I had one or two drops get on the floor. I racke into the secondary last weekend and didn't spill anything during the racking. I have not used the siphon yet as the first racking was from the spigot on the primary, but I don't see that as a problem either. The biggest thing that gets me is I love to cook, but that process generally takes minutes to hours and occasionally a couple of days. I'm a patient person but I'm already getting antsy about my wine, and it still has a good 6 months to go before it's ready to drink and even more till it peaks. I would tell ya to get a second carboy anddo a longer aging wine like I did first though, then do the quick one. That way you can start the fast one after your first or second racking and it will bottle shortly after the first but be ready to dring sooner so you don't have to wait as long. Of course, maybe I'm just beginning my delusions and addiction and can't stop myself, but I don't think so.





Steve

 

[peterCooper]

You know,

Chocolate is one thing, but chocolate wine. now that might be another
thing entirely.

 

[MedPretzel]

Me! Me!!! MEEEEEE!!!!!!!

 

[masta]

Personally I would say if you are lookingto make a bold full bodied red like a Cab or Shiraz you need to go with the higher end kits.


Are the higher end kits worth the extra cost....ABSOLUTLEY!


The Vintner Reserve Kits also make a great wine with certain styles and I really enjoy the Bergamais and Mezza Luna White.


Make sure you register so you get the 5% off discount on your first order.

 

[Sebastian]

Ok, higher end kits it is.Next question, as i've been reading, i'm seeing
some folks aging their wines in the carbouys for years, others doing it the
bottles... is there a difference? If so, i might have to get a few more
carbouys...

Also, it strikes me that if i go gangbusters with this, and i assume i will, my
existing wine rack will be near capacity after the first kit. I'm gonna need
more storage. Perhaps I missed it, but is there a section here discussion
making wine cellars/racks/boxes, etc? I've got a craw space (cement floor,
cement walls) that just might be the perfect space (it's 16x20x4 ft high) for
some do it yer selfer wine racks to hold these guys..i'm thinking ripping
2x4's with furring strips added in a ladder like fashion might do the trick..

 

[masta]

We have discussed aging in carboys vs bottles many times and I have to say no one has posted any harddata there is a difference in the end result. Keeping the wine in carboy for an extended period of time keeps you from drinking it to soon and also will allow you to oak it if you so desire.


We really don't have a sectiondedicated for talking about building cellars and racks as of yet but if there is enough interest we can certainly do it.