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Tremori

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Hey guys,

So for the first time In my life I decided to brew wine, and I don't know why but even before my first brew is done I find my self wanting to do more. I started an basic apple wine and a basic maple wine with ingredients both sourced from Whole Foods, Just so I can get a handle of things. I Believe my first fermentation is done. My wines have stopped bubbling so I racked to new bottles to seperate my dead yeast. I'm guessing at this point I'm at secondary fermentation. Though I have a few concerns

Is this the part where the brew starts to mellow out?

Should I try to get all or most of the gas out of the brews or will this happen naturally?

My apple wine is nearly filled to the brim but my maple wine actually has quite a few inches of space. This really concerns me, should I be worried?

I don't have a brew shop around where I am, I wanted to order bottles but they seem to be too expensive for me. In my local micheals there were self sealing jars fairly cheap. Could I used these to bottle my wines?
 
[RANT]Wine is wine. People have rules and methods, some popular and accepted, some rare and disgusting, right now you're in that stage where the work is done and all you can do is wait so you're dreaming up all these problems to find solutions for and freaking out and joining new homebrew forums to learn how to fix them and....

relax. it's fine. You can make great wine without even trying. you'll probably get a few replies on what you did wrong or what you can do to make perfect wine, my advice is don't worry, don't get concerned, just start learning everything you can about this awesome hobby and don't ever let a bad batch or two get you down. I made my first 10 batches of wine in old plastic milk bottles with balloons for airlocks and never got to bottle them because my friends and I drank them all from a siphon and they were all delicious.

spend the next few weeks reading everything you can on these forums and other homebrew forums, read books and watch youtubes and do anything to keep your mind distracted from all the hundreds of things that could possibly go wrong with your wine. in a few years you'll stop trying to find cheap bottles and instead worry the bottles you bought are too cheap to deserve the honor of holding your delicious wine inside their bellies.[/RANT]
 
turtle said:
[RANT]Wine is wine. People have rules and methods, some popular and accepted, some rare and disgusting, right now you're in that stage where the work is done and all you can do is wait so you're dreaming up all these problems to find solutions for and freaking out and joining new homebrew forums to learn how to fix them and....

relax. it's fine. You can make great wine without even trying. you'll probably get a few replies on what you did wrong or what you can do to make perfect wine, my advice is don't worry, don't get concerned, just start learning everything you can about this awesome hobby and don't ever let a bad batch or two get you down. I made my first 10 batches of wine in old plastic milk bottles with balloons for airlocks and never got to bottle them because my friends and I drank them all from a siphon and they were all delicious.

spend the next few weeks reading everything you can on these forums and other homebrew forums, read books and watch youtubes and do anything to keep your mind distracted from all the hundreds of things that could possibly go wrong with your wine. in a few years you'll stop trying to find cheap bottles and instead worry the bottles you bought are too cheap to deserve the honor of holding your delicious wine inside their bellies.[/RANT]
Click to expand...

No need to "rant" at someone who has posted once, and asked for guidance. If you can't be positive and helpful, then maybe you'll want to refrain from giving advice at all.

Anyway, it's possible to make wine in old plastic bottles, and quality is relative. Some people think Two Buck Chuck is great, after all.

But it's just as easy to make a very good wine as it is to make a not-so-good wine.

The steps are pretty simple, but the devil is in the details!

For a basic "how to", I love this website and the steps he gives, breaking them down into simple and easy to understand timing/steps: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

As to headspace, you definitely want to minimize it when fermentation slows and is finishing up. The wine is generally "racked" (siphoned) to a new container gently to avoid splashing or oxidation (the death of wine) and topped up to near the bung. The wine is racked whenever there are lees (sediment) 1/4" thick or more, or any lees at all after 60 days in the same vessel.

Once the wine is totally clear, so that you can read a newspaper through it, it's ready to bottle.

I use sulfites at every other racking, in the amount of 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, to help prevent oxidation. It's still far less than in most commercial wines, but it makes a big difference in protecting the wine, especially wines that may be aged a bit.

And as for quality recipes: this is a gold mine, and you can find a good recipe for just about anything you can think of: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp

As to the questions raised- you probably won't need to degas your wine as the wine naturally degasses on its own. Kit wines are degassed because they are rushed to the bottle. If you need bottles, you can either drink wine and save the bottles, use beer bottles, or even ask friends or restaurants to save them for you. You'll need 5 for each gallon of wine of the regular sized wine bottles.
 
Yooper said:
No need to "rant" at someone who has posted once, and asked for guidance. If you can't be positive and helpful, then maybe you'll want to refrain from giving advice at all.

Anyway, it's possible to make wine in old plastic bottles, and quality is relative. Some people think Two Buck Chuck is great, after all.

But it's just as easy to make a very good wine as it is to make a not-so-good wine.

The steps are pretty simple, but the devil is in the details!

For a basic "how to", I love this website and the steps he gives, breaking them down into simple and easy to understand timing/steps: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

As to headspace, you definitely want to minimize it when fermentation slows and is finishing up. The wine is generally "racked" (siphoned) to a new container gently to avoid splashing or oxidation (the death of wine) and topped up to near the bung. The wine is racked whenever there are lees (sediment) 1/4" thick or more, or any lees at all after 60 days in the same vessel.

Once the wine is totally clear, so that you can read a newspaper through it, it's ready to bottle.

I use sulfites at every other racking, in the amount of 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, to help prevent oxidation. It's still far less than in most commercial wines, but it makes a big difference in protecting the wine, especially wines that may be aged a bit.

And as for quality recipes: this is a gold mine, and you can find a good recipe for just about anything you can think of: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp

As to the questions raised- you probably won't need to degas your wine as the wine naturally degasses on its own. Kit wines are degassed because they are rushed to the bottle. If you need bottles, you can either drink wine and save the bottles, use beer bottles, or even ask friends or restaurants to save them for you. You'll need 5 for each gallon of wine of the regular sized wine bottles.
Click to expand...

This is definitely helpful I think its time to bottle but ATM I dont have wine bottles.
an important note is that I'm moving from one dormitory to another and the setup I have is high profile so I went ahead and got the jars. would I be able to use these? at least until I can get proper bottles. they came in a nice box very easy to move.
 
turtle said:
[RANT]Wine is wine. People have rules and methods, some popular and accepted, some rare and disgusting, right now you're in that stage where the work is done and all you can do is wait so you're dreaming up all these problems to find solutions for and freaking out and joining new homebrew forums to learn how to fix them and....

relax. it's fine. You can make great wine without even trying. you'll probably get a few replies on what you did wrong or what you can do to make perfect wine, my advice is don't worry, don't get concerned, just start learning everything you can about this awesome hobby and don't ever let a bad batch or two get you down. I made my first 10 batches of wine in old plastic milk bottles with balloons for airlocks and never got to bottle them because my friends and I drank them all from a siphon and they were all delicious.

spend the next few weeks reading everything you can on these forums and other homebrew forums, read books and watch youtubes and do anything to keep your mind distracted from all the hundreds of things that could possibly go wrong with your wine. in a few years you'll stop trying to find cheap bottles and instead worry the bottles you bought are too cheap to deserve the honor of holding your delicious wine inside their bellies.[/RANT]
Click to expand...

Thanks I appreciate the tips.
 
Yooper said:
No need to "rant" at someone who has posted once, and asked for guidance. If you can't be positive and helpful, then maybe you'll want to refrain from giving advice at all.

Anyway, it's possible to make wine in old plastic bottles, and quality is relative. Some people think Two Buck Chuck is great, after all.

But it's just as easy to make a very good wine as it is to make a not-so-good wine.

The steps are pretty simple, but the devil is in the details!

For a basic "how to", I love this website and the steps he gives, breaking them down into simple and easy to understand timing/steps: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

As to headspace, you definitely want to minimize it when fermentation slows and is finishing up. The wine is generally "racked" (siphoned) to a new container gently to avoid splashing or oxidation (the death of wine) and topped up to near the bung. The wine is racked whenever there are lees (sediment) 1/4" thick or more, or any lees at all after 60 days in the same vessel.

Once the wine is totally clear, so that you can read a newspaper through it, it's ready to bottle.

I use sulfites at every other racking, in the amount of 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, to help prevent oxidation. It's still far less than in most commercial wines, but it makes a big difference in protecting the wine, especially wines that may be aged a bit.

And as for quality recipes: this is a gold mine, and you can find a good recipe for just about anything you can think of: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp

As to the questions raised- you probably won't need to degas your wine as the wine naturally degasses on its own. Kit wines are degassed because they are rushed to the bottle. If you need bottles, you can either drink wine and save the bottles, use beer bottles, or even ask friends or restaurants to save them for you. You'll need 5 for each gallon of wine of the regular sized wine bottles.
Click to expand...
I think my reply to you got screwed up but

I mentioned that I'm moving from one dorm to another and my current setup is to high profile. I just got the jars and the wine is ready to bottle I believe. Could I use the jars permenetly or atleast until I get proper bottles? I got some in this neat box with an insert to keep them all nice and organized.
 
Hi Tremori, Others may disagree with me but "jars" are not really the best way to bottle wines because of the large surface area of the wine at the top. Wine, beer (or even soda) bottles have narrow necks and when filled there is very little surface area for the wine to be in contact with air. Air contact causes oxidation and oxidation spoils the flavor and the color of wine... But if you are making small quantities and you are not planning on aging the wine for any length of time then oxidation may not be a serious concern. But that said, most wines benefit from months of aging... so yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance
 
bernardsmith said:
Hi Tremori, Others may disagree with me but "jars" are not really the best way to bottle wines because of the large surface area of the wine at the top. Wine, beer (or even soda) bottles have narrow necks and when filled there is very little surface area for the wine to be in contact with air. Air contact causes oxidation and oxidation spoils the flavor and the color of wine... But if you are making small quantities and you are not planning on aging the wine for any length of time then oxidation may not be a serious concern. But that said, most wines benefit from months of aging... so yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance
Click to expand...
ooo fair point. I didn't realize the issue about surface area in bottling. I have 3L each of maple and apple. And I planned to serve them during thanksgiving if it turns out well. It will have at least 5 or 6 months to mellow out. I think I'll return my beautiful jars :( and try to find some nice wine bottles. :)
 
Tremori said:
ooo fair point. I didn't realize the issue about surface area in bottling. I have 3L each of maple and apple. And I planned to serve them during thanksgiving if it turns out well. It will have at least 5 or 6 months to mellow out. I think I'll return my beautiful jars :( and try to find some nice wine bottles. :)
Click to expand...

Save the jars, they make great drinking glasses. You're in a college right, so ask your fellow students to save their wine bottles for you. Then clean and sanitize the bottles. DON'T USE BLEACH. Get a a cheap mini-corker, some corks and bottle wax either on line or local home brew shop. Fill the bottles, cork and seal. You can find ways to make things work on a budget. Check thrift shops as well. I have found Brewing Pots, Interesting Wine Bottles and a few Brand name Beer glasses for next to nothing. Garage sales are a great place to look as well. I found a Bottle Capper for $3 and a working Refrigerated Mini Keg Beer Dispenser for $5. My buddy picked up a dozen clear wine bottles for his mead $3 from the same garage sale.
 
Most restaurants will happily save bottles for you. Find a nice local mom and pop Italian joint, go have a few meals, talk to the staff, and you'll have more bottles than you can use. Return a full one or two and you'll have a never ending suply
 
dialout said:
Most restaurants will happily save bottles for you. Find a nice local mom and pop Italian joint, go have a few meals, talk to the staff, and you'll have more bottles than you can use. Return a full one or two and you'll have a never ending suply
Click to expand...

This.

But, I am guessing if moving your rig is too high profile, bringing in boxes of empty wine bottles would also be too high profile.

You could also get 3L wine jugs and bulk age in there. Siphon tube is easily acquired from a pet store or hardware store, and even though manually siphoning isn't your best option, it is an option. Just wash your mouth out with mouthwash before and after.
 

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