I am a brew going wine and have soooo many questions.

Firstly, I have never been much a a wine drinker. I love fruit wines (country wines) though if they are sweet. I wanted to start with one of this grape wine juice kits first to learn the process before being left on my own with a recipe.

First question. I don't even know what the different grape wines are. From what I recall I don't like the dry red wines. We had this style in church last week that was just heavenly (pun about communion intended ). It was the color of some meads I have seen, had a strong alcohol taste, but was simi-sweet. I also like the concept of a desert wine. What type of style names should I be looking for? If you point me in the direction of a style based on what I said I liked, what type of yeast should I get and should I go dry or liquid, and with liquid is it like beer where you have to make a starter?

I don't want to invest in one of those floor corkers as I bet they are a lot of money. Are those two long armed winged corkers pretty OK to use. I know from brewing bottling day can be a pain. I made the mistake of going with one of those winged cappers when I should have got a table top model. I am assuming those little corkers that look like a plunger would be the el' chepo equivalent to one of these and I will stay away from that.

Also, I wasn't going to buy a winemaking starter kit, as being a brewer I already have five and six gallon carboys, spoons, and little things like that. I know I will need to pick up a 7 1/2 gallon bucket for the primary fermenter, some of that inert spray from Mid-West so I don't have to top up. I already have a hydrometer and thermometers and such, and bungs and airlocks. What else will I need to buy that doesn't come in those juice kits? I do have a bottle tree with a sulfider on top so I will need to get some sulfide to sanitize. I know I will need to buy bottles, which I will get from the LHBS so I don't have to pay shipping. How many do I need for one of those kits?

Sorry for so many questions, but I want to start out right, but still pinch my pennies.

BillTheSlink said:

Sorry for so many questions, but I want to start out right, but still pinch my pennies.

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I am in the same boat. I have been reading about wine kits and want to try one.

It sounds to me like you're a perfect candidate for one of the "mist style" kits or possibly a red Ice wine kit. The mist style kit is lighter and semi-sweet, kind of like a wine cooler, and the ice wine is thicker and sweeter. You could also try a Port-style. It isn't as sweet as the ice wine but it too is higher in alcohol and thicker bodied and may be closer to a sweet communion wine. There are no (that I know of) regular 6-gallon sweet red wine kits.

A double levered corker, though not perfect, works ok. I used one for about three years before I bought a floor corker.

If you'll just be doing a kit you won't need acid blend, pectic enzyme, or tannin yet. I'd get some potassium metabisulfite and citric acid for sanitation. The kit will come with enough k-meta and sorbate for that batch.

You can get bottles from restaurants or buy them locally. You can also buy corks locally as well. Count on 5 bottles for each gallon of finished wine. An ice wine or Port style kit makes 3 gallons and a mist style kit makes 6 gallons.

A good drinking wine (not sure about making) for beginners is Reisling. It is a white that is done up a tish sweet. Also, a good one hour crash course in grape wine is John Cleese's Wine for the Confused. I believe it is on hulu.

The two lever corker is what I use. I can sort of do it myself, but it is easier with two. Then again, I usually help my husband when he bottles beer. I bottle, and he caps, and I don't even care for beer. Kind of a, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" when it comes to bottling.

I agree with SummerSolstice that 1 gallon = 5 bottles.

I like medium/dry wines OK, but I really prefer sweeter mist-style wines as well. If the kit or recipe you try comes out too dry you could backsweeten a bit with wine conditioner. Don't use sugar; it will restart your fermentation.

Do you have a benchtop or floor model drill press? You can chuck a flat-headed bolt in the press and use it to push corks. If you have trouble guiding the corks you can purchase an inexpensive ($5-$6) plastic hand corker and use the "funnel" portion to guide the corks as the drill press pushes them. (No, the drill press is not turned on; everybody asks that ) See this thread that discusses capping and corking using a drill press.

summersolstice said:

It sounds to me like you're a perfect candidate for one of the "mist style" kits or possibly a red Ice wine kit. The mist style kit is lighter and semi-sweet, kind of like a wine cooler, and the ice wine is thicker and sweeter. You could also try a Port-style. It isn't as sweet as the ice wine but it too is higher in alcohol and thicker bodied and may be closer to a sweet communion wine. There are no (that I know of) regular 6-gallon sweet red wine kits.

A double levered corker, though not perfect, works ok. I used one for about three years before I bought a floor corker.

If you'll just be doing a kit you won't need acid blend, pectic enzyme, or tannin yet. I'd get some potassium metabisulfite and citric acid for sanitation. The kit will come with enough k-meta and sorbate for that batch.

You can get bottles from restaurants or buy them locally. You can also buy corks locally as well. Count on 5 bottles for each gallon of finished wine. An ice wine or Port style kit makes 3 gallons and a mist style kit makes 6 gallons.

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These kits are much less expensive than the ones I was looking at. I believe I will try a Mist (I wasn't even aware they made fruit wine kits) probably the raspberry, and the Port. Since the Port is only a three gallon kit I can use one of my fermenter buckets for beer for that one and just pick up an extra 3 gallon better bottle to secondary. Thank you.

CandleWineProject said:

A good drinking wine (not sure about making) for beginners is Reisling. It is a white that is done up a tish sweet. Also, a good one hour crash course in grape wine is John Cleese's Wine for the Confused. I believe it is on hulu.

The two lever corker is what I use. I can sort of do it myself, but it is easier with two. Then again, I usually help my husband when he bottles beer. I bottle, and he caps, and I don't even care for beer. Kind of a, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" when it comes to bottling.

I agree with SummerSolstice that 1 gallon = 5 bottles.

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Thanks for the info on the video. I learned a lot. It sounds like the Merlot isn't for me. I agree with the host tannin tastes awful. The Reisling kits I found were dry, but I guess you could always arrest fermentation if you wanted it sweet?? I will keep that in mind for a future project.

A mist style kit sounds right up your alley. As far as sweetening a wine after its been made all kits come with sulfite and sorbate to prevent refermentation. As far as the wine conditioners go, yes they have sorbate in them but only enough to prevent itself from fermenting so if adding it to your wine you should have your wine stabilized already.