first time making wine

I'm an avid beer maker, and i just thought about making wine and putting in my beer bottles b/c they're personal sized . Is a kit the way to go, or should I get some grapes from a vineyard? I'm in WA and have connections to get some, plus I'd only need a small amount of grapes.

thanks

If this your first time with wine, get a kit. It will have every ingredient you need and good, detailed instructions so that you really can't screw up.

Beer bottles are fine, a bit tacky, but fine

well, i've made wine before in a viticulture class while undergrad at WSU, but i didn't taste the end product. All we did was add juice, potassium sulfite (i think) and some other compound, and that was it. are the kits high quality? I don't want to shell out the $$ to end up with mediocre $5 like wine

mendozer said:

well, i've made wine before in a viticulture class while undergrad at WSU, but i didn't taste the end product. All we did was add juice, potassium sulfite (i think) and some other compound, and that was it. are the kits high quality? I don't want to shell out the $$ to end up with mediocre $5 like wine

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Some kits are high quality, some are not. I buy a variety since they all require different lengths of time for aging, so I have some cheap ones and some deluxe ones. The $60 kits will give you a quality very much like a $5-7 bottle of wine (they make 30 bottles of regular sized 750ml bottles). The $100 kits are more like a $12-$15 bottle of wine, and the $150+ kits are wonderful- like $20+ bottles of wine.

The cheaper kits are ready fast- maybe 6 months from the day you start it until you're drinking it, or even less. They are not complex at all, but make a decent table wine similar to Black Swan that drinks easy. It won't please a wine snob- but we drink it with dinner all the time.

The most expensive kits come with more juice (less concentrate), wine skins to ferment on, and a better quality alll around. We did a tannat/merlot blend a few years ago- it's outstanding and getting better every year. That would please just about anybody, but it still has a slight hint of "kit taste".

Using fresh grapes is the best way- but if you don't have a way to test and adjust acid, pH, SO2, and a press, it would probably not give you very good results.

if i can get fresh graps, ph strips are cheap, i have a hydrometer if that's used with wine, and i'd press it the "old school" way with cleaned and sanitized feet!! (or maybe not). if it's cheaper just to buy the testing kits myself while getting free or cheap grapes, i'd rather do that. but yes the kits are easier.

Another thing is i can't see myself making wine and waiting a year to drink it. i can barely wait 2 months for my beer!

Some kits for summer wines are pretty good. They advertize ready in 6 to 8 weeks but its drinkable more like in months. Kinda like wine coolers some of them are. Can be a nice change and real good around a camp fire.

Search orchard breezin' wine kits, there pretty cheap, about $60 And produce good wine IMO. They take 28 days to go from box to bottle(I usually age a few more weeks just cause I have so much wine on the rack right now) and your supposed to wait 2 weeks after bottling go drink but I've drank them the day after and they've tasted the same after 2 months. I'm sure many snobs will disagree with that, but every single one of my friends and family members all gave me fantastic reviews. there pretty low on the ABV scale but they ferment out pretty dry but come with a sweetener syrup to add to your own taste. Blackberry merlot was my personal favorite

You should consider becoming a winemaker if you live in Washington. You have easy access to one of the premier US wine grape growing areas.

Yes wine takes time, but not really all that long. White wines are ready in a few months (say 6 to 9, or more) and red wines are ready for consumption at say, 6 months if you are in a hurry and, well, a year and half for extended aging. The sooner you get started the sooner the 'pipeline' gets full. What would be the point of waiting longer to get started?

Yes you can stomp the grapes, but you will need a bigger fermenter for red wine musts. Test kits are available, but may not be necessary. Your grape grower may provide you with sugar and acid info. In Washington you may have labs nearby. You have a hydrometer, TA kits are cheap (total acidity) and lots of people 'wing it' with SO2.

Add equipment as you get the funds and have the storage space. Bottles are bottles: crown caps are fine for less-than-extended aging.

The books and websites have all the info you need. Buy some grapes!

Are grapes already in season in your area? If not, just go with a kit now, then go with grapes for the next batch towards the late summer/fall.

And do not forget about some fruit juice wines (as long as it contains no preservatives). Some wine snobs may not care for them but I don't make wine for them anyway,I make it for me. This can be done for less money than kits most of the time and I get way more satisfaction from making them than I do from kits.