home winemaking easy and fun

[thepremo1]

As a hobby I make wine
It started with one of my buddy telling me how easy it was and me making it in a couple plastic gallon jugs with rubber bands, and balloons. Next thing I know I’m spending a couple hundred dollars on equipment and ingredients

, which isn’t all that necessary.

Does anyone else here make wine? If so let me know.

And if your interested in trying it pm me, it is real easy and cheap, don’t let the “couple hundred dollars” scare you.
Your first 5 bottles can cost like 10 dollars, and it can be done with things around your house

 

[3goodeggs]

We had an excellent hard pear year. I am trying to figure out how to rack 48 gallons of wine with only one spare carboy. Or, I know how...I am just not sure I have the energy to get started. I plan on drinking it out of a jug because the idea of bottling that much wine makes me want to cry... the things we get ourselves into.
Have you tried making vinegar from your wine? I use a lot of vinegar in pickling come summer, and that would help me use up 48 gallons of pear wine. If anyone knows how, please fill me in. The wine books are adamant that you keep vinegar as far away from your wine as possible, so it sounds like accidental vinegar is easy. But I want to continue making wine as well, so I may have to set up JUST for vinegar.

I made wine from Tamarind once. That was so very good. and I have not been able to do it again. I have made banana wine, but I have found it's only use ids to remove soap scum from the shower walls.
But, growing my own fruit causes me to make an occasional bottle of 'what's in this freezer bag" wine. Those have been some of the best wines, but unrepeatable.

It is a very familiar old world genetic memory sort of feeling when I have the must working. I enjoy it.

 

[saddina]

Last fall's bottling day, the printer died halfway thru the labels. Mr Saddi is minoring in vitaculture (he's a science teacher, working on grad school for teaching). I've 10 gals in my closet to rack, maybe in a week or two.

 

[saddina]

Quote:
I've done "gourmet" vineagar out of iffy wines (hey they don't all come out stellar). Give me a day to dig out the book.

 

[Prettiest Frog]

I need to get a new vinegar mother. My old one vanished during one of my moves a while back.

 

[3goodeggs]

Quote:
I've done "gourmet" vineagar out of iffy wines (hey they don't all come out stellar). Give me a day to dig out the book.

That would be great! gourmet...eh?, ...and I am seeing next Christmas's presents lining up in my mind...I'd been saving olive oil bottles for SOMETHING, I just did not know what. A plan comes together and I didn't even know I had one.

I think I recall seeing mother for sale in an old Leaman's' catalog. I might find some on my trek to the health food store next week. Boy, this post got the gears churning. I LOVE this site!

 

[saddina]

Quote:
I've done "gourmet" vineagar out of iffy wines (hey they don't all come out stellar). Give me a day to dig out the book.

That would be great! gourmet...eh?, ...and I am seeing next Christmas's presents lining up in my mind...I'd been saving olive oil bottles for SOMETHING, I just did not know what. A plan comes together and I didn't even know I had one.

I think I recall seeing mother for sale in an old Leaman's' catalog. I might find some on my trek to the health food store next week. Boy, this post got the gears churning. I LOVE this site!

I give out a wine of the year (last year was a lemon mint mead), some flavored olive oil (basil & pesto last year), and vanillia sugar for coffee. I have a large family all who really love food (italian), so it's something different and it's well loved.

 

[thepremo1]

I work for a bee farm, and one of our costumers gets vinegar by the 50gallon drum. When there is about a half to a gallon left in them she will bring them to us, and then we get an overabundance of vinegar, the employees cant use the stuff fast enough. So I ve never tried to make vinegar

I took one of there barrels home and I’m thinking about starting a 50gallon batch. Wouldnt that be crazy!!!
But I don’t know what I would do with it all
around Xmas time alot of bottles go away as presents.

If only I could sell it, then I would be making bank!@!

How many carboys do you have going 3goodeggs??

I do alot in 1gallon jugs, to experiment with different flavors, and I know how it goes racking into your 1 spare over and over again. I just did 14 gallons that way.

And I know what you mean about making a good wine that is unduplicatable, because you don’t/ remember/know what was in it.

I just finished some mead, and I have to say it tastes alittle like vomit has anyone else had any luck with mead

I use a lot of Welch’s concentrates to make wine, and they usually come out good, currently I have a apple, raspberry apple, orange, white grape, grape, and limade.

I’m pretty excited to taste the limade.

oh and does anyone else use a ferrari bottle filler?

 

[3goodeggs]

I have 3- 6 gallon carboys, 2- 3gallon carboys and four fermenters full-I am using them as carboys because I don't own enough carboys to handle my exuberance.. I don't know what happens. I just keep going and before I know it I have too much stuff and no where to put it all.
Be careful using a vinegar drum for making wine in. You may get 50 gallons of vinegar. I love Terry Garey's book "The joy of home wine making." She's a riot. She'll make wine out of anything. I have two gallons of beet wine going now...It better age well because I am not overly thrilled as is. But vegetable wine is supposed to take a couple years to be age, compared to fruit wine, before it is palatable.

A friend gave me some homemade mead. I fear it is a horrible thing to do to perfectly good honey, but I am going to try and ferment it out further, get the PA up and see if it can be consumed.-when I have something empty.

Don't try that selling of alcohol! Enjoy it with friends and make them put a deposit on your bottles so if you don't get them back you can buy more. My mother has about 100 of my bottles, I'll never see again. I hate scraping labels.

I just bought some grape juice to see if I can alter the pear a bit, and then I realized that it may have preservatives and may stop the yeast. We will see. I will use it to top off something close to being done.
I made tangerine wine and it was good.
I am a lazy exhausted wine maker, I figure time and settling is all of the filtration I need. Just be careful siphoning off of the dregs and it should be nice and clear. rack, rack, rack.

 

[Burbs]

Quote:
I should have some usable mother here in a couple of weeks. PM me if you are interested.