question about batch sizes

Pivot · 04-17-2009, 05:44 AM

I saw a wine making kit online had only came with a 3 gallon fermenter and a 1 gallon carboy. this kit looks perfect for me as i dont drink wine often at all being a beer drinker and homebrewer myself, and i would just like to make it for a hobby and for my girlfriend and her friends who come over soemtimes, however, next to the kit it says ;for 6 gallon wine kits' i dont understand this. does this kit make sense? does it make sense to brew as little as 1 gallon of wine?

DoctorCAD · 04-17-2009, 12:06 PM

Sure, but you'll be back for bigger stuff in a short time...

We all know how hobbies get!

**Yooper** · 04-17-2009, 12:11 PM

Almost all of the commercial wine kits make six gallons. There are a few "specialty" kits that make three gallons, like chocolate port for example. If you're doing kits, you'll have to do six gallons, unless you have a way to freeze half of the kit and do the other half later. You can just buy fresh yeast when you make the rest of the kit.

Actually, it'd be easier to just make the full kit (one carboy) and bottle it since it can age for a couple of years.

If you only want to make a gallon or two at a time, you could try making "country" wines. I make dandelion wine, blackberry wine, etc, in whatever size batch I want. That way you can make a small batch and see if you like it. I use a bucket for my primary fermenter (about 5-7 days) and then a gallon jug with a stopper and airlock for the secondary. I got a ton of Carlo Rossi 4L jugs and use them as my little carboys. A #6 stopper fits those perfectly.