God Emporer BillyBrew

Recipes 

So I'm right in the middle of making my first wine. It's from a kit. I'm wondering something. It seems like on beers that the recipe has a lot to do with how good your beer is, but with wine it's all about the grapes. I know this is what the pro critics say, but is it absolute? Can you make a good wine with good techniques and recipes or are you stuck with your ingredients?

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Desert Planet Brewing Co.

Primary :Bloody Nose Porter
Primary 2: Bloody Nose Porter
Secondary: Blackberry Melomel
Secondary 2:air
Bottled : 14 Pound Hammer Cider, Punkin Ale, know ale, Domino wheat
Keg 1: **** Inside Her
Keg 2: IPA
Keg 3: one on a weeknight, two on a weekend IIPA
Future : Ginger Cream Ale,

puravida286

Recipes 

Save wine for the romantic evenings with the object of your desire...real men drink the brew! Perhaps a little off topic......

God Emporer BillyBrew

Recipes 

That's exactly where I am. It's just that I'd like more desirable evenings!

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Desert Planet Brewing Co.

Primary :Bloody Nose Porter
Primary 2: Bloody Nose Porter
Secondary: Blackberry Melomel
Secondary 2:air
Bottled : 14 Pound Hammer Cider, Punkin Ale, know ale, Domino wheat
Keg 1: **** Inside Her
Keg 2: IPA
Keg 3: one on a weeknight, two on a weekend IIPA
Future : Ginger Cream Ale,

Chairman Cheyco

Recipes 

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

I think this is what you're looking for. The page design is atrocious but there is a ton of good info.

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Yuri_Rage

Recipes 

Now, I have zero experience with wine...and there are many who would argue that I'm a VERY amateur beer brewer. But, from what I've seen, it's much easier to control the beer brewing process and all of its ingredients than it is to control the same for wine. Whole grains and fresh hops are quite easy to obtain, while a truly magnificent grape crop is quite hard to come by. I'm sure I'll be corrected, but I've yet to see wine brewing kits that include fresh grapes to stomp, and I can't help but think that concentrates and syrups make it hard to get beyond the wine equivalent of "extract beer brewing."

All that said, I still like beer more than wine, so I guess I'm biased...

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Ruby

Recipes 

Agreed, I was all geared up this year to make 12 gallons of white wine, when I couldnt find grapes to my satisfaction.
BTW, if extract is done right it can be indiscernable from AG, there are commercial breweries that use DME by the ton.
In the last Sam Adams competition an extract brewer won. I think with grapes you are worse off than extract.

david_42

Recipes 

The problem with wine is simple, it's simple. Most wines only have one kind of grape, so the quality of the grape determines the limits of the final product. You can make it worse, but not better. Ales are very forgiving. I know more than one person that has reclassified a batch of ale & won prizes.

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Yuri_Rage

Recipes 

I guess it did sound a bit like I was downplaying extract brewing. I completely agree that extract beers can be quite tasty...I was just looking for a good analogy, and I'm really looking forward to all grain brewing!

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Axegod

Recipes 

I have never made wine..but the topic comes up with people @ work who have....
They tell me stories about kits that have a ton of adjuncts...something that may be comparable to a poor extract kit (and instructions under 100 words) in terms of getting the right colour/alcohol/time for completion but end up with a suspect finished product. If I was ever to make one, I would really research the quality of the kit. As with brew, I am sure with the right ingredients and the know-how, it will turn out great.

But, unlike beer, you could always use it to make sangria if you dont like the finshed taste.

Cheers.

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Primary : 5.5 G of Hard Cider
Secondary:
Bottled:
On Order: Got it all..for a few months
Thinking about: Plisner malt and saaz hops
Drinking: 5 G- Kidney_Punch Wine, 10 G Canadian Pils, Euro Pilz

mumba

Recipes 

there are very good wine kits out there if you look for them they make very good wine but grapes are much better this is the right time of the year for wine
between now and mid october