Wine making is a great hobby but...

[BlueRidgeBilly]

Wine making is a great hobby but it so noneventful and slow. You can't, or I should say, I can't make a fermenter of wine every week or I would soon be overrun with Carboys and equipment. I go by my building where I keep my wine and look at it each day with anticipation of how it will taste when I get it aged to its potential. One thing that I have done to keep my interest up is to try to continue to educate myself at every opportunity and to learn all I can while I am waiting. Thanks for this good website for a starter. Any other ideas you folks have as ways to embellish this wine making hobby for a beginner? thanks for your posts.

 

[chevs15]

Haha... I'm finding this to be true as well. I'm new at this and already addicted! I check on my wine everyday... Several times a day. I'm interested to hear what others have to say

 

[rhoffart]

Billy, that is so true. If you make this a full time hobby you will have full carboys everywhere before you know it. Also, before your first bottle is truly ready to drink you will have made enough to last you 10 years.

I put the breaks on early and decided instead of quantity I went after quality. I'd rather pay $200 for one kit instead of 2 - $100 kits. This limits the amount I can make.

I thinking this is going to be a two season hobby for me, Spring and Fall. In the Spring I plan on making a few white kits and in the fall I'll make some reds from grapes.

Good luck and welcome.

 

[Rocky]

It is true that the hobby is characterized by several days of intensive activity followed by weeks or months of inactivity. That may be part of the answer to why equipment and kits under fermentation grow exponentially. There are some other things to do like collecting and cleaning bottles, building storage areas, cleaning equipment, working on process improvement ideas, studying, reading the forum, etc. And, there is also "quality control" which involves tasting the product!

 

[jtstar]

Rocky you forgot to mention how much fun it is to gather fresh fruit in the spring and summer to make your wine out of this is not just a spring and fall project it is all year round but it is the joy and pleasure that you get out of sharing that first bottle of homemade wine with friends and family that is when the real fun begins

 

[mmadmikes1]

WHAT!!! you cant fill carboys everyday. Thats what I did wrong. Guess that explains all the bottles of wine everywhere. Plant trees, vines and bushes. That will fill in a lot of slow time

 

[Arne]

Rocky you forgot to mention how much fun it is to gather fresh fruit in the spring and summer to make your wine out of this is not just a spring and fall project it is all year round but it is the joy and pleasure that you get out of sharing that first bottle of homemade wine with friends and family that is when the real fun begins

Right Jack, and this is the time of year to be gettin the freezers cleaned out. Pickin time will be here before we know it. Arne.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

In the mean time make some beer, about 90% of the equipment for wine you can use for making beer and it only takes 6 to 8 weeks. Cheese making can take as little as an hour to make or as long as your wine takes, a nice compliment to each other. Enjoy, all are great hobbies with a great payoff in the end.

 

[Rocky]

Alll great ideas, Guys. Also, spend some time networking with other wine makers and fruit growers. You will be surprised how much fruit is out there that literally "goes to the birds" and the owners are glad to let you have all you can pick. A couple bottles of wine in return are a nice jesture.

 

[UBB]

I extend this invite to ALL members. If you should ever find yourself bored from a lack of wine making activities. Please contact me, I'd be more then happy to have some volunteers with cultivating, pruning, weeding, spraying, mowing, fertilizing, picking, crushing, squeezing and yes even TASTING!!

Seriously though, I feel your pain. I am the worlds most impatient person (just ask my wife). It's weird that I love an activity that requires so much of it!

 

[JordanPond]

While my bigger wine projects are developing I'm starting small 1 - 2 gallon batches of meads and ciders. It does not take up as much space and if I don't like it the investment dumped down the drain is not as large. The down side is if I really like it, I only have a gallon.

Off to buy beer bottles to bottle the cider.

 

[BlueRidgeBilly]

I did find one thing to do to keep the wine hobby going today. I drove one hour to a new wine maker's store and spent another $122 dollars on things that i "might need" in the future. It was interesting to see what others are doing and talking to other wine makers. Oh yes, and sampling some wine.

 

[chevs15]

How much more equipment is needed for making beer? Difficulty?

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

pretty much the same equipment. Plus the need for a boiling pot if you make a batch from whole grain or cooking method. Or you can slip the brew pot and go for a no cook kit, then its about the same as wine except beer bottles and a capper.

On the cheap end, hoped Coopers, Muntons or Primer malts are an easy no cook, just add the malt and sugar to some warm water, bring volume up to 5 gallons at 75* and add yeast. Another no cook is Brew House, they already cook the wort for you, strain, sterlize and bag it. Again you just add water and the yeast and go. Almost like a wine kit.

The cook methods, you start out with 2-3 gallons of boiling water and add grain, malt and hops according the instructions and cook for anywhere from 45 min. to 1.5 hrs. Add to primary fermenter and bring volume up to 5 gal, cool to 75* and add yeast.

After about a week rack to carboy, about a week later transfer to bottling bucket and bottle, three weeks later drink...

Ok, thats kinda it in a nut shell but that gives you a good idea whats involved. Like with wine making there are a lot of things inbetween you can do to change the outcome of flavor and quality.

 

[Geronimo]

If you want to make beer that's better than a $20 case of beer at the local store, it takes considerable skill and very good equipment. On brewing day I drag out $600 worth of mash tun, kettle, burner, chilling station (pump and plate chiller), fermenters, grain mill, etc.

Afterwards you need to keg it or bottle it (kegging is way better) but 10 kegs, 2 CO2 cylinders and and beer fridge costs $1000.

Making beer is an awesome hobby but barely resembles making a wine kit. My experience with kit wine so far is that it's among the best wine I know of. Clearly a lot cheaper on average for an excellent kit the cost is around $150 or $5 a bottle for the finished wine.

 

[arcticsid]

Consder attending a WMA (winemakers anonymous) meeting!!

We all feel for you man!!

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Its like any hobby, you can spend a little or a lot, depending on what level you want to take it to or how deep your pockets are.
You can work on a car with a cresent wrench and a screw driver or a whole set of Snap-on tools. Same with making beer or wine. You can start with a boiling pot and a fermenting bucket for beer (in the old days, a ceramic crock) or get into something that would rivel AB and Miller. The same with wine, you can start with a bucket (or again a crock) and a few 1 gallon jugs.
Good luck and enjoy.

 

[Cannew]

I'm only a Kit wine maker and though it is a slow hobby, I'm always interested in comments about different results from the different kits. I've also learned a lot from visiting the different wine forums and just reading the posts. Some good others so, so, but all interesting.

Thanks

 

[VegasScott]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned going on winery tours!

Thats what ultimately got me hooked into wanting to give wine making a whorl.

I also am an avid gardener. While some look at gardening as back breaking work, it is my stress release. With a bumper crop of grapes last year, I had to look into other uses!

VegasScott

 

[arcticsid]

I think you all are BS'ing me. Fruit really grows on trees?

Looking out at the thermometer right now at almost -40F makes me think that fruit comes from the supermarket, not trees!!!!