I've been making beer for a little over a year now and feel pretty comfortable with all stages, including mashing. Always looking to try something new, I've recently become interested in making some fruit wines. I purchased the Joy of Home Winemaking and have some questions. First, is this book outdated? I know the beer brewing book of the same name is important for historical reasons, but it outdated as far as techniques go.
More importantly, I want to make sure I don't bring from beerbrewing to wine making any techniques or preconceptions that would be inappropriate to transfer. (Is there already a forum about this? I have to believe somebody had made a similar post before). Anyway, my understanding of the critical differences are as follows:
When making wine, its necessary to use sugar adjuncts to reach a proper sugar level, whereas this would ruin the taste of beer.
When making wine, its important to rack of the trub (or whatever the appropriate wine word is) at least once, sometimes more. When brewing beer, this (arguably) is unnecessary.
After racking wine, its important to top of the fermentor to avoid oxygen exposure. (I've never heard of doing this with beer, although I don't understand why this aspect varies?)
For some reason, sanitization is less important when making wine. I've noted that in the above-mentioned book the author goes so far as to recommend sticking your whole hand into the fermenter to pulverize the fruit.
Please correct any of these statements if I am wrong. I have many more questions, but I will leave it at this for now. Thanks!
More importantly, I want to make sure I don't bring from beerbrewing to wine making any techniques or preconceptions that would be inappropriate to transfer. (Is there already a forum about this? I have to believe somebody had made a similar post before). Anyway, my understanding of the critical differences are as follows:
When making wine, its necessary to use sugar adjuncts to reach a proper sugar level, whereas this would ruin the taste of beer.
When making wine, its important to rack of the trub (or whatever the appropriate wine word is) at least once, sometimes more. When brewing beer, this (arguably) is unnecessary.
After racking wine, its important to top of the fermentor to avoid oxygen exposure. (I've never heard of doing this with beer, although I don't understand why this aspect varies?)
For some reason, sanitization is less important when making wine. I've noted that in the above-mentioned book the author goes so far as to recommend sticking your whole hand into the fermenter to pulverize the fruit.
Please correct any of these statements if I am wrong. I have many more questions, but I will leave it at this for now. Thanks!
