Fermenting in South Carolina

[djfreshneedles]

Hello all,

I've just gotten into the hobby this summer, after seeing a friends set up. My first project was to make two gallons of wine in 1 gallon water jugs out of grape concentrate, sugar, water, and wine yeast. No secondary fermentation! It did have a bit of a bread aftertaste, and I probably could have aged them longer... (okay I know I could have!).
My goal was to get started, and try something without any big investment, and it worked. Already drank the eight bottles, and have 4 gallons going right now. I'm taking steps to improve these, and eventually will try a proper kit. That seems so easy though. I am drawn to the DIY aspect and have only read the Alaskan Bootleggers book..

Cheers,


Eric

 

[enderwig]

Welcome to the forum, if you want some great reading material, head over to http://www.howtobrew.com and come back here when you have questions.

Happy Brewing

 

[djfreshneedles]

Thanks for the link! I'll be trying some beer recipes after my wine experiments are over. I realize as I stare at 4 bubbling plastic capsules and drink my cheap carlo rossi (ONLY to empty the bottle for future use..) that this website is a valuable and fun way to pass the time during the "waiting" part of the hobby-

 

[djfreshneedles]

Just bottled my cranberry wine today, and after corking four bottles, had just enough to almost fill a grolsch bottle. What looked clear in the water jug, was in reality, "almost clear". Not cloudy like the first batch I made (and bottled after only 2 weeks!!). I labeled my bottles and braced myself to try a sample.. Wow! It was good! Especially compared to that first batch. I'm hoping it will even age to be better! This was better than the carlo rossi I drank to free up the gallon jug!
Very dry, with a tart, but subtle cranberry / grape taste. It's the simplest recipe with cran juice, water, sugar, and champagne yeast. I think the champagne yeast really gives it a clean taste. This is the first time I've used the champagne yeast..

In the coming weeks I will be bottling my apfelwein, and 4 other single gallon projects. How exciting!

I also discovered my LHBS store. Beach Homebrew in Myrtle Beach, SC. Since we've got our own shop here, I'm sure there are some brewers/fermenters in this area, give me a shout!

Eric