Beer Brewer Seeking Wine Advice

All,

The girls in the family want me to make a wine (red or white works) but I don't want to have to age it for 3-4 months or even longer which most kits call for. Is there a specific grape or even wine kit that is ready to go right after secondary fermentation or in other words does not need to be aged? Thanks for taking the time to look at this. I Usually brew beer so my knowledge of wine making is suspect at best lol.

Thanks again

MB

Mustang_Bobby said:

All,

The girls in the family want me to make a wine (red or white works) but I don't want to have to age it for 3-4 months or even longer which most kits call for. Is there a specific grape or even wine kit that is ready to go right after secondary fermentation or in other words does not need to be aged? Thanks for taking the time to look at this. I Usually brew beer so my knowledge of wine making is suspect at best lol.

Thanks again

MB

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The cheaper kits (under 80 dollars) are called "four week kits" and they are not meant to age long at all.

Thanks for the help. Any brand you recommend?

Mustang_Bobby said:

Thanks for the help. Any brand you recommend?

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I've used Winexpert, with decent results. It comes out like a five dollar bottle of wine, or thereabouts.

Not waiting 3 or 4 months will only dissapoint you and anyone that tries it. Hell, most of us age 6 months to a year before bottling and then age another 6 months to a year.

If you dont want to wait, try a mist kit, peach chardonnay or blackberry merlot are pretty good at 8 or 10 weeks. Follow the instructions to the letter, do not add extra sugar. Drink it over crushed ice, chicks dig it!

Made a Reisling that was very drinkable at bottling with no aging.

or you could make the girls some cider making like a beer and ending up sweeter for them while guys can still drink it to without loosing your beermanhood WVMJ

One big difference between making beer and making wine is, unfortunately, the time to produce it. Talk to pro winemakers and they will say it's not unusual to have a wine that takes two years to make. That's just the nature of the beast. As others have said, there are kits that are designed to finish quickly, but the 'normal' way wine is made is very slowly.

1.5 - 2 yrs is the very least that I have my wines aging, I have to agree with DoctorCad regarding the mist kits.

I use "Welches" 100% grape juice, Don't cut the juice with water to save a few bucks cause you will ruin it. just make sure you use a hydrometer or refractometer and add enough sugar to bring the gravity to 1.090. This will give you a wine around 12 - 14% depending on the yeast you use. Although you can use bread yeast I recommend a good wine yeast. You need to rack it off the leas after about the first month when fermentation slows way down.
I then give the wine another month then rack again. depending on the clarity I may bottle if not give it some more time. Once its bottled I don't like to open any sooner than 6 months to a year. You can drink it after a couple weeks in the bottle but it gets better with time.

All,

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like wine making is not for me due to the wait time. I am used to making beer and I think that takes long enough personally but as with everything to each is own. It sounds like I need to try the mist kits or just an apple cider. I am thinking about doing 2 batches one just by the book the other adding dextrose and using champagne yeast instead of what yeast comes with the kit. The 2nd batch will be interesting because champagne yeast tends to make sweet wines less sweet which I like. It will be interesting to see if that makes it better or just undrinkable lol. Again thanks for the help guys always appreciated.