Beginning grape wine making

[HomeBrewMasterRace]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in learning how to make wine from grapes. I was thinking about starting with a santiovese kit but have a few questions.

I'm already invested in the beer, and wouldnlike to know what more equipment I may need. I figure I'll need an oak barrel ( 5 gallon) to properly age the wine. I may also have to purchase a glass carboy as all mine are plastic.

Equipment I have:
6.5 gallon fermentation bucket
5 gallon plastic carboy
Mini fridge fermentation chamber.
Racking cane
Bottling bucket
Mash tun (pretty sure this isn't needed)
10 gallon pot (don't think this is needed)
5 gallon pot (don't think this is needed)

What I think I'll need:
Corks and corker (unless I use beer bombers and cap)
Oak barrel
Something to de-gass after primary fermentation

I plan to start with kits so that I don't have to buy a grape press.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kent88]

I think a lot of winemakers get oak chips/cubes and put those in their fermenter rather than starting off with a barrel.

I think that most home winemakers do transfer to a glass or stainless fermenter for aging after primary.

Introducing carbon dioxide is one part of reducing oxidation, but I think that reducing headspace really helps.

You already have a lot of the gear you need.

Good luck!

 

[beernutz]

I agree with Kent about the barrel. I have made wine for about 5 years, probably 10 different batches of mostly reds, and I've never used a barrel. I also use a bucket initially but always use a plastic 6G better bottle for long term storage before bottling and I've never had a problem so glass or stainless aren't necessary imo. I like that I can fill the better bottle all the way up and not leave much headspace.

For bottling I use a plastic bucket with a spigot on the bottom to which I attach a plastic hose with a regular plastic beer bottle filler. It is a bit slow as you have to activate the filler by pushing it down on the bottle's punt but it works effectively if not particularly fast for me.

You might consider getting (or making) an attachment for a drill to aid in degassing. I use something I found for about $15 that works well but you can use a big spoon if you are patient.

I like to put those shrink wrap bottle top covers on my bottles like professional vintners use so I got a Harbor Freight $10 heat gun to apply them but you can also do that by dipping the bottles in boiling water. Six of one...

My last advice is to get a kit at the high end of the price range no matter which brand you choose. If I am buying RJS I always buy the En Premier line offering instead of say the Cru Select, for Winexpert I choose from the Eclipse line as opposed to the cheaper Selection line. The higher end offers to me have always been worth the extra money because of better grapes often with skins or raisins and wood chips or powder as supplements.

If you shop around you can find them at reasonable prices on the internet and there is a lot of price variation for the same product. My goto source for such kits is Southern Homebrew but there are other good online merchants I have also used.

FWIW this is my current inventory:

Wine inventory                                48    bottles               Years Old
RJS En Primeur Super Tuscan                    2    October , 2014          4.0
RJS En Primeur Winery Series Amarone           2    February , 2017         1.7
WinExpert Eclipse Bravado (Italian Tuscany)    4    September , 2017        1.1
WinExpert Eclipse Stags Leap Merlot           12    October , 2017          1.1
RJS En Primeur Winery Series Amarone          28    May , 2018              0.5
RJS En Primeur Chilean Pinot Noir Rose              October , 2018          0.0

 

[HomeBrewMasterRace]

I agree with Kent about the barrel. I have made wine for about 5 years, probably 10 different batches of mostly reds, and I've never used a barrel. I also use a bucket initially but always use a plastic 6G better bottle for long term storage before bottling and I've never had a problem so glass or stainless aren't necessary imo. I like that I can fill the better bottle all the way up and not leave much headspace.

For bottling I use a plastic bucket with a spigot on the bottom to which I attach a plastic hose with a regular plastic beer bottle filler. It is a bit slow as you have to activate the filler by pushing it down on the bottle's punt but it works effectively if not particularly fast for me.

You might consider getting (or making) an attachment for a drill to aid in degassing. I use something I found for about $15 that works well but you can use a big spoon if you are patient.

I like to put those shrink wrap bottle top covers on my bottles like professional vintners use so I got a Harbor Freight $10 heat gun to apply them but you can also do that by dipping the bottles in boiling water. Six of one...

My last advice is to get a kit at the high end of the price range no matter which brand you choose. If I am buying RJS I always buy the En Premier line offering instead of say the Cru Select, for Winexpert I choose from the Eclipse line as opposed to the cheaper Selection line. The higher end offers to me have always been worth the extra money because of better grapes often with skins or raisins and wood chips or powder as supplements.

If you shop around you can find them at reasonable prices on the internet and there is a lot of price variation for the same product. My goto source for such kits is Southern Homebrew but there are other good online merchants I have also used.

FWIW this is my current inventory:

Wine inventory                                48    bottles               Years Old
RJS En Primeur Super Tuscan                    2    October , 2014          4.0
RJS En Primeur Winery Series Amarone           2    February , 2017         1.7
WinExpert Eclipse Bravado (Italian Tuscany)    4    September , 2017        1.1
WinExpert Eclipse Stags Leap Merlot           12    October , 2017          1.1
RJS En Primeur Winery Series Amarone          28    May , 2018              0.5
RJS En Primeur Chilean Pinot Noir Rose              October , 2018          0.0

Thanks, I definitely appreciate the advise, I wasn't thinking of skimping on a wine kit, but I'll definitely make sure I get a better one now!