Wisconsinite!

[keena]

hey all! im new to wine making! i live in Wisconsin and work at fritolay to provide all of you nice ladies and gentlemen with your potato chip needs

my new fiance's sisters bf is huge into making wine and beer, his family has been doing it for generations. so after trying his stuff at many family get togethers, i got the idea in my head that "hey making wine could be fun"

a couple months later that thought turned into "ok, im gunna give this a go" so i bought a starter kit.

less than a week later it went to "i cant wait for one batch of wine, i NEED to get another fermenting bucket and start another"

then about 2 days later it went to "ok, time to start asking restaurants for their buckets so i can make even more"

then it went to calling my fiance's sisters bf and asking him to pick me up 5 more 5 gal carboys a couple 3 gal carboys and a couple 1 gal jugs (he gets 35% off everything cuz he works at a home brew store)

finally im to the point to where all i think about all day at work is what wine i wanna try starting now, I CANT SLEEP ANYMORE!!!!

i never thought this would be so addicting, the worst part is i dont even know exactly what im doing. i spend hours every night looking up other peoples mistakes and questions on this forum just to help my learn from their mistakes but i still dont know if my first batch will even turn out or if im using bad water or anything like that but i cant stop starting new batches! lol

 

[keena]

And here's a pix from a few days ago of my wine den!

 

[Julie]

Hi keena,

Welcome to winemakingtalk. And yes the hobby is addictive.

 

[tonyandkory]

Hi there....
I think that allot of our stories are pretty similar to yours
My grandmother showed us how to do it a year and a half ago and we are making it so much we have to give most of it away lol.
Welcome to depravity/delectation lol

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Welcome to the forum!
Go Pack Go!

 

[Runningwolf]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[robie]

Welcome to the forum. If yo have questions, ask.

I have a question, why is the far left carboy still empty?

Enjoy your new obsession.

 

[keena]

Welcome to the forum. If yo have questions, ask.

I have a question, why is the far left carboy still empty?

Enjoy your new obsession.

Won't be tonight! haha

Got a Queston tho! So my fiance don't like me hibernating in my wine den all day every day just staring at my wine while it ferments, lol.. So she wants to help, so I offered to let her do a batch on her own while I do one tonight, she got excited and wanted to try it. Sooo, my question is.. Does anyone have a sweet wine that always comes out good? Lol

 

[robie]

Won't be tonight! haha

Got a Queston tho! So my fiance don't like me hibernating in my wine den all day every day just staring at my wine while it ferments, lol.. So she wants to help, so I offered to let her do a batch on her own while I do one tonight, she got excited and wanted to try it. Sooo, my question is.. Does anyone have a sweet wine that always comes out good? Lol

Look at some of the mist wines or summer wines.
RJ Spagnol - Orchard Breezin'
WineXpert - mist wines

These are sweet wines that are ready to drink a couple weeks after it is clear. They are good poured over ice. They are sort of glorified wine coolers, made with real wine and not beer. All are flavored with some type of fruit - cranberry chianti, blackberry merlot, ..etc.

I make two of them every Spring - a white and a red. She would likely really like one of these and they are pretty cheap, too, compared to regular kits.

 

[TXfanatic]

Welcome to forum fellow Wisconsinite!!!!

 

[aylamarie]

I really like the island mist green apple Riesling with addition of two pounds or so of sugar for ferment and a couple months of aging, it turns out great.

 

[keena]

I really like the island mist green apple Riesling with addition of two pounds or so of sugar for ferment and a couple months of aging, it turns out great.

already one week in the fermenting bucket buddy! lol

 

[keena]

Just did my first degassing and did a quick burst with a coat hanger in a drill... Got my first volcano overflow of co2 bubbles... Lol. Everything else seemed to have gone well. kit called for 2 min of degassing but it took more like 30 min.


EDIT: update on my wine den... i started wine making last month on the 22nd... so its been about 17 days since starting my first batch every, and i now have 8 batches going with plans to do about 5 more. i really hope i am not missing something small that goes unnoticed and i turn out with like 50 gallons of waste water. I didnt know wine making was such an addiction

 

[tingo]

Only stainless steel should ever come into contact with wine. Other metals, especially brass and copper, run a high risk of tainting the wine. A degassing wand is available and is made of food grade plastic. It fits in a cordless drill and works great! Check it out, im very pleased with mine.