Newbie Qs about Wine Making

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
kb2kir

kb2kir

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
63
Reaction score
0
Location
Norwich
Hi,
A question about wine making from someone completely ignorant of the process.
I currently brew beer from canned Cooper's kits.
Lazy, I know but it fits my schedule.
The women in my life, wife, (can someone decode SWMBO ?) freinds wives,
daughter etc. all know I brew my own beer. Some have even been brave enough to try it...
The question they ask most is "Hey Joe, can you make White Zin for us" ?
My answer is DUH......

So is it do-able on a small scale with some additional equipment ?
Joe
 
I drink mostly beer but brewing beer seemed much more complicated so I started with wine. I have used mostly kit wine kits (mostly reds). I did brew a wine call Passion Fruit Zin for my wife and she loves it. I used an Island Mist kit and added about 12lbs of table sugar. The kits make about 6 gallons of wine.

If you have a 5 gallon carboy you should still be fine. The process is not more complicated for the kits. I've made a couple of batches from fruit and that is more time consuming.

Looking back on it, I would have probably started with the apfelwein first. Just do a search and you will pull up about 1 million posts on apfelwein;)
 
Kb, go for a wine kit. They are quite straight forward and easy. Just follow the directions exactly and you will have a pretty good wine, cheaply, and quickly. Wine kits are balanced in flavor and alcohol, plus they are designed to ferment quickly and be ready to drink pretty quick too. You can get either ingredient or full kits, but if you brew beer you most likely have most of the equipment you need already.

The island mist kits should be decently sweet and average on abv. Should be a good kit to try, although there are tons out there. So look around and see what intrigues you.

And buck, you added 12 lbs of sugar? How much did that boost the alcohol percentage? That's a lot of sugar haha
 
You will be amazed at how easy the kits are to make. Just don't tell anyone how easy they are and your wife and friends will be so impressed.
 
Tusch said:
Gee, I need a new recipe. The only thing I know about balance in my fruit wines has been that after I drink some, I don't have any.

But also, from my short experience, any wine is easier to brew than any beer.

And, like beer, making good stuff is pretty much a sure thing. It is trying to adjust a particular nuance that gets hard. Good Stuff is my ideal, even if it does burn the hairs out of my nostrils.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the info, I'll go ahead and order an ingredient kit.
Joe
 
OK,
I'm not COMPLETELY computer illiterate, but I still can't figure out SWMBO when referencing "the wife"
Some body throw me a bone here.....
Joe
 
We have a search function here at the forum. You can search for SWMBO or even acronyms. That's all I can help, sorry!

I was just thinking- Richbrewer made a white zinfandel kit a year or two ago, and sent me a bottle. I'm NOT a white zin fan at all but it was very good if you like those kinds of wines. I'll see if I can dig up the thread on that. It was slightly sweet, and a nice blush/rose color.
 
SWMBO = 'She Who Must Be Obeyed.' You know what it's talking about...
 
YooperBrew said:
We have a search function here at the forum. You can search for SWMBO or even acronyms. That's all I can help, sorry!

I was just thinking- Richbrewer made a white zinfandel kit a year or two ago, and sent me a bottle. I'm NOT a white zin fan at all but it was very good if you like those kinds of wines. I'll see if I can dig up the thread on that. It was slightly sweet, and a nice blush/rose color.
Click to expand...


Tried the search yesterday, I got 2000 posts that contained that acronym.
I Googled it and got: "She Who Must Be Obeyed" :mug:
I was thinking of ordering the Vintner's Reserve" ingredient kit:
WHITE ZINFANDEL $61.95
Blush wine with sweet plum flavors and a refreshing, flavorful finish.
Any comments ???

Joe
 
The original use of "She Who Must Be Obeyed"was referring to an evil empress- as in Harry Potter were the mere mention of the name will bring down the wrath of that consiment evil. So the implication is that SWMBO is not merely a wife, but an evil empress.

I believe the original book was "She", by the same author as "King Soloman's Mine". Been 20 years since I read them.
 
Wine is easy to make. Technically harder than beer, but much less time consuming.

in a nutshell:

pour grape juice into 7 gallon plastic bucket, add a few ingredients
wait for a few weeks
add some more ingredients, possibly rack
rack, add some more ingredients
bottle
drink

at each stage check SG - not really necessary, I've done batches with and without checking SG, they all came out great!

BTW: My hobby store told me to never mix the beer bucket and the wine bucket, get one exclusively for each.

BTW: Whites need a month in the bottle, reds at least 6 months. Accept for ports, which you can drink in a month.
 
If we are talking about making a wine kit, how is anything easier except for Apfelwein?
 

Similar threads

S
Experienced homebrewer trying wine making for first time, needs advice
Replies
7
Views
1K
madscientist451
madscientist451
Cannonball Jones
Traditional Amis method of making jiuniang/酒釀/boozy rice.
Replies
0
Views
549
Cannonball Jones
Cannonball Jones
lacto
Help a newbie make 2abv please
Replies
3
Views
697
mashdar
mashdar
alutis05
Brewing ALL-GRAIN dark beer (lager).
Replies
9
Views
526
AlexKay
A
D
Wine fault
Replies
3
Views
785
Dukeisaac
D
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top