Dago Red questions

Simply put, new here came across here on Google and I have a few questions.
I want to make a decent dago red for making some Latavia out of ultimately. I am very new to the process with no infrastructure for wine to speak of yet. First question is how would I substitute juice for grapes as they will not be ready until fall around pittsburgh.
The second question is what type of setup should I have in place, like glassware, tubing, tubs ect.

If I could receive some overall guidance that would be awesome.

Saberjohn said:

Simply put, new here came across here on Google and I have a few questions.
I want to make a decent dago red for making some Latavia out of ultimately. I am very new to the process with no infrastructure for wine to speak of yet. First question is how would I substitute juice for grapes as they will not be ready until fall around pittsburgh.
The second question is what type of setup should I have in place, like glassware, tubing, tubs ect.

If I could receive some overall guidance that would be awesome.

Click to expand...

If you can't get grapes, maybe you could buy some frozen grapes or juice at a winemaking supply store? Otherwise, grapes ripen in the fall and you can buy lugs of grapes or pails of juice then.

I do have access to juice year round made especially for wine. I wonder about the proper setup

There are several wine supply catalogs that carry start up kits that have all the equipment you need. Easy and usually cheeper then buying everything seperatly. ECKrouse has both a paper and online catalog. Their web site has a section with lots of free (correct even) info about wine making. The paper catalog has a nice pull out cheet sheet on basic steps on how to make wine and some fruit recapies. There are many online places to buy from with a varity of prices. There are also local supply shops.
Equipment to look for.
Primary bucket for fermenting
Carboy with drilled stopper and airlock for secandary and aging
Auto-syphon
Stir spoon
Thats it for wine making
Bottleling you will need a corker and corks. A bottleing wand or hose clip will make it easier to fill bottles without spillage.
Additives. A sanatizer of some sort
Sulfa/campton tabs
Yeast nutriants
Pectin enzyme
Maybe an acid blend

Have fun!


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Dago red? Here in Australia, "dago" was a derogatory term for Italians. It sounds funny to me hear it after all these years.

It really depends. I am Italian, and I see it as a badge of honor. We have an Italian festival, San Rocco. It is not so derogatory for us here. If I can ask, in Australia what do you call homemade Italian red wine?
Additionally thank you for the kit idea, I will look into that today.

It's derogatory here to some people, but maybe less so when referring to wine?

Let me start with "I know that this is thread is more than a year old". Now that that's out of the way saberjohn if you're still out there I had a few questions. I just blended up two batches of Latavia this morning and used "Carlo Rossi" Paisano for the base wine. Unless you are adamant about making your own wine, this is a fantastic substitute. I too am originally from Western PA but relocated to GA and this is what ALL of my relatives and paisans use (see what I did there?). I was curious about your recipe, if it's not a family secret.

The ones that I have are as follows:

1 gallon red Italian dry wine
1 cup Grain Alcohol 190 proof
1 cup Kayro Syrup
1 cup cherry juice
1 jar Maraschino cherries

Blend all ingredients and age 1 month but can be consumed earlier.

The second recipe is exactly the same with the exception of also adding 1 cup Canadian Whisky.

Everyone back home says the it's next to impossible to find Cherry Juice and they sub in cherry syrup (the stuff that you squirt onto ice or into slurpies) but I can get juice at the grocery store. If they use the cherry syrup they reduce the amount of kayro and go by taste. TOO sweet isn't all that good.

If your recipe is different, I would like to see it. I still have 1/2 bottle of grain, 1/2 bottle of whiskey, more than 1/2 bottle cherry juice and everything else is just a trip to the grocers.