How to brew Wine?

Looking for good information on wine making , internet sources are great but books are fine ...

Just like beer, except crushed grapes, campden, pectinase, yeast nutrient and wine yeast

I LOVE this site: winemaking: The Basic Steps

His site is hard to navigate at first, but it's a wealth of information, much better than any book I've ever seen. Yeast strains, racking, sulfiting, recipes, etc, it's all on that site. I use that site for a reference all of the time! From grape wine to fruit wine, he really gives a great overview and then gets into specifics.

ok? i'm completely new to this? ... Camden tablets kill yeast and bacteria?
acid blend ... for tartness? ... pectic ... what ... i don't know what all these things are for...

where is there a palmer for wine making ...

(edit - i type to slow - thanks yoop)

hopsoda said:

ok? i'm completely new to this? ... Camden tablets kill yeast and bacteria?
acid blend ... for tartness? ... pectic ... what ... i don't know what all these things are for...

where is there a palmer for wine making ...

(edit - i type to slow - thanks yoop)

Click to expand...

You're welcome.

Now, take a deep breath and start at "step 1". It's easier than beer brewing, so you'll be fine!

I started with wine and realized that I'm a pretty patient person, but my some of first wines are STILL in the cellar, waiting to mellow a bit. Beer is like, what? 4-16 weeks? A year at most? I started making beer to have something to drink while my good wine is aging. After 4-5 years, I get antsy.

Jack Keller for wine = Palmer for beer

Let me know if you have any questions!

Campden tablets are potassium or Sodium metabisulfite which is used to sanitize equipment, kill off wild yeasts and also when your wine is done fermenting it is used to protect your wine from oxidation. Acid blend is used like you said to make up the difference for fruits that lack in acid as a wine without proper balance will ferment poorly and taste flat. Pectic enzyme is used to help break down the fruit used when fermenting to help you extract the color and flavor better for your wine. I know there are few people on this sight that are well versed in wine making but he other forum for wine making on this same server is called http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/ which i admin and there are many people there that are very knowledgeable in wine making.

I just recently started both winemaking and homebrewing on a very small scale--still working in 1 gallon batches. I went through all the books and mags at the local bookstores and "The Joy of Home Winemaking" by Terry Garey is by far my favorite. All the detail you need but not overly technical. She starts you with the basic Welch's-&-water in a jug and walks you through as complex as you'd like to go. Lots and lots of recipes. She's really big on fruit wines, so if you're interested in some different flavors she has a lot to offer. For homebrewing I have Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide. It's more technical than Garey's book but still very practical and very readable. Both are by my bedside--nothing like reading about home brewing or winemaking while enjoying a beverage you made yourself.

Wine making is very, very easy. If you can make beer, you can make wine. I would suggest buying a kit wine from Wine Expert or RJ Spagnols to get you started. It will teach you the basics quickly. You can use your same plastic fermenter and then you need a 6 gal carboy. Follow the instructions in the kit and you can't mess it up. You just need the juice, top it up to 6 gal. with water and pitch the yeast. Let it ferment, rack to a carboy, add some clarifying agents (which will be in the kit) and then bottle. 6 gal. makes 30 bottles, and a floor corker comes in handy. Your LHBS may rent them. Then you let the corks set up for 3 days, lay the bottles over and let them age as long as you like. I only like red wines, so I am letting the 60 bottles I recently made age for 6 months to a year.

After that, you can try to source your own grapes or concentrates and experiment with oak chips and other additives. If you stick to the kits, you will get good to great grapes. If you source them yourself, you never know what you might end up with. If you have a winery near you, ask them when they harvest and you might be able to go on crushing day and get fresh juice.

Good luck!

jcobbs said:

I just recently started both winemaking and homebrewing on a very small scale--still working in 1 gallon batches. I went through all the books and mags at the local bookstores and "The Joy of Home Winemaking" by Terry Garey is by far my favorite. All the detail you need but not overly technical. She starts you with the basic Welch's-&-water in a jug and walks you through as complex as you'd like to go. Lots and lots of recipes. She's really big on fruit wines, so if you're interested in some different flavors she has a lot to offer. For homebrewing I have Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide. It's more technical than Garey's book but still very practical and very readable. Both are by my bedside--nothing like reading about home brewing or winemaking while enjoying a beverage you made yourself.

Click to expand...

+1
"The Joy of Home Winemaking" by Terry Garey is a good book to have around.
Its not as technical as other books out there but still a good read for Beginners and seasoned winemakers.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com

There's a few PDF books there free to download, as well as a good forum of people to answer your questions.