I want to make my first kit wine, but...

[Whippy]

Hello everyone,

I'm an experienced brewer and mead maker, wanting to purchase my first wine kit this weekend and I have a couple of concerns.

I do not use carboys/better bottles and have no desire to start. Do any of you use plastic buckets for your secondary and notice any ill effects from doing this? The carboys really are out of the question for me, so should I just stick with brewing? LOL

How important is it to own a de-gasser thing? Would it be sufficient for me to just vigorously stir my wine a few times over the course of time until I don't notice any more CO2? I've done this with mead before and it seemed to work ok.

I'm looking at purchasing the Wine Expert Argentine Malbec, but will be considering other dry reds while at the shop, depending on the costs.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Wine hates oxygen, so holding the wine in a bucket is not a good idea, as there is a huge amount of the wine in contact with the oxygen in the air.

I hope you realize that wine needs to sit for several months in the secondary to really work right. The longer it sits, the easier it will be to degas with a spoon or mash paddle.

P.S. That is a really good kit, you want to do it right!

 

[WVMJ]

If you are going to spend good money and a kit why would you waste that money and not get a carboy to protect it? Maybe skip the kit, get a carboy and make some welches concord wine, a lot cheaper than the kit and it tastes great plus you get a carboy. WVMJ

 

[podz]

You can certainly do secondary in a plastic bucket. I wouldn't leave it in a plastic secondary for months as it *might* pick up an odor, but a few weeks not a problem. Then straight to the bottles.

I actually do most of my secondaries in smaller brown glass jugs that I've picked up from second-hand stores. I've got 2 of the 5 liter jugs, 2 of the 4 liter jugs, and 2 of the 2 liter jugs. Plus bungs and airlocks for all of them. They are extremely handy and easy to carry as well as blocking the light.

 

[DoctorCAD]

You can certainly do secondary in a plastic bucket. I wouldn't leave it in a plastic secondary for months as it *might* pick up an odor, but a few weeks not a problem. Then straight to the bottles.

If you want bad wine...

 

[podz]

If you want bad wine...

Yeah. Anyway, using smaller jugs like I described works quite well. Bonus, you don't even need to bottle when you do that - straight to the decanter or glass.

 

[Whippy]

I cannot handle a carboy due to a disability, so I guess I'll be making bad wine.

Thanks for the responses...I'm going to try the wine, but suppose I should just stick with beer based on feedback.

...live and learn.

I had to end up getting the Washington Merlot w/grape skins due to cost and the fact that the Malbec was out of stock. I know it's not supposed to be as good of a kit, but it should at least be fun.

I really like your tip of using the multiple smaller jugs, podz; thanks for that! If I enjoy making wine, I will certainly consider going that route and acquiring that equipment!

 

[sfish]

Use the five - one gallon jugs available for like 8 bucks each

 

[solbes]

+1, 2, 3...With wine you really, really want to minimize head space to prevent oxidation while clearing. Buckets are not a good idea for secondary/tertiary for wine. With carboys out, I like the individual 1 gallon glass jugs idea. The issue is that racking out of 5 jugs is a bit of a pain. If it helps any, they also make 3 gallon carboys I believe.

Do you own a kegging setup? If you have corny kegs, you can rack into one of those for clearing, seal it up, purge a few times with CO2, and set the seals at 20 psi & disconnect gas. The issue here is that you won't be able to see how the wine is clearing. But that can be difficult with reds anyway.

 

[podz]

Use the five - one gallon jugs available for like 8 bucks each

Buy them when they are full of apple juice and make cider!

 

[Whippy]

Thanks again for all the excellent suggestions and advice!

 

[DoctorCAD]

Thanks again for all the excellent suggestions and advice!

Oh, and that second choice is still a very good wine.

 

[Whippy]

Ok, how does this process sound?

-Primary in the bucket
-Transfer to 1Gal glass jugs for secondary
-transfer back into bucket to degass with drill whip, careful not to aerate
-back to glass bottles to clairify
-bottle and age

Am I on the right track here?

 

[solbes]

As long as the bucket step is only for degassing and then an immediate rack back to the clean jugs, I don't see any issues.

 

[Yooper]

Ok, how does this process sound?

-Primary in the bucket
-Transfer to 1Gal glass jugs for secondary
-transfer back into bucket to degass with drill whip, careful not to aerate
-back to glass bottles to clairify
-bottle and age

Am I on the right track here?

While it would be more labor intensive, you could degas (via stirring/shaking) in the 1 gallon jugs. That would work well, and not risk oxidizing the wine.

One thing I did was buy 2 three gallon better bottles. They are super light, and they have a handle on the side. It holds half of a kit, and you can degas by rocking/stirring fairly easily. Even full, they weigh less than 25 pounds so they are easy to handle. Then, when not making a kit, they are perfect for 3 gallon batches of wine. Just something to consider!

 

[Whippy]

I appreciate the advice, Yooper. I think these 3 gallon BBs are going to be a very fine investment in my future. I'll only be putting this wine together this weekend, but I can already tell I'll be hooked. I've already started looking at other kits for batch #2. With two Better Bottles, I could make an Icewine and a Port simultaneously

Oh, I'm going to be so broke...but happy LOL

 

[Yooper]

I appreciate the advice, Yooper. I think these 3 gallon BBs are going to be a very fine investment in my future. I'll only be putting this wine together this weekend, but I can already tell I'll be hooked. I've already started looking at other kits for batch #2. With two Better Bottles, I could make an Icewine and a Port simultaneously

Oh, I'm going to be so broke...but happy LOL

Being broke and being a winemaker seem to go hand in hand.......

I LOVE those Better Bottle 3 gallon carboys- better than any other ones I have. You'll find that the handle in the middle and the square shape mean it's extremely easy to handle. And like I said, I shake that one for degassing because it's easy enough. I can easily lift it as well, and they are easy to store since they are square-ish and not round.

They take a #10 stopper, I believe, or the "universal" ones.

 

[podz]

Being broke and being a winemaker seem to go hand in hand.......

Well, yeah, if we had an endless supply of cash then we could just purchase an endless supply of Amarone and be done with it. Problem solved.