First time wine kit

[Guthrie]

I was thinking of buying a wine kit but all I have made in the past has been apple wine. Besides the basic equipment is there anything else I would need to make a decent red wine?

 

[novalou]

If you have the necessary supplies for apple wine, you are good to go.

Not sure what your budget is, but stay away from the cheaper kits, they tend not to make the best reds. The more juice that comes with the kit, the better.

Does anyone sell buckets of juice in your area? I prefer fresh juice over any kit.

 

[Guthrie]

They may sell buckets, but I was only wanting to spend an upwards of 100$.

 

[novalou]

They may sell buckets, but I was only wanting to spend an upwards of 100$.

Buckets in Ohio run on average $60.

I did a six gallon Winexpert kit, Zin/Cab. When I mixed in the water, I added water to the 5 gallon mark. I was happy with the flavor. Even though I cut down on water, it was still lacking body. This was an $80 kit.

 

[Yooper]

I've done some decent $100 kits, so you should find something. The only thing you'll need that you may not have is a 6 gallon carboy. You will need a corker, too, but you can often rent them (or borrow one) from a homebrew store.

Otherwise, you should have everything you need.

To make your life easier, or at least the labor of the kit easier, you could buy a "wine whip". It's a degasser attachment that hooks into your drill so that degassing is quick and easier than hand stirring. You don't need one, but they are very nice to have!

 

[Guthrie]

I was able to get 21 litres of juice from a local winery for a good price and was wondering what would be the best approach to take.

Should I just add the yeast, let it ferment and then rack until clear
Or should I be adding anything else ie. woodchips?
And when racking, is it wise to set aside a gallon or so of the juice for topping up

 

[Yooper]

I was able to get 21 litres of juice from a local winery for a good price and was wondering what would be the best approach to take.

Should I just add the yeast, let it ferment and then rack until clear
Or should I be adding anything else ie. woodchips?
And when racking, is it wise to set aside a gallon or so of the juice for topping up

You don't need to set aside some juice, but make sure you rack to a smaller container to reduce headspace or use some similar commercial wine to top up.

I wouldn't add oak until the end, when I knew what I was dealing with!

I'd ferment, and rack whenever lees were 1/4" inch think or if there are any lees at all at 60 days, topping up with each racking. You can decide on MLF and oaking later!

 

[Guthrie]

Cool, thanks a lot.

 

[novalou]

I was able to get 21 litres of juice from a local winery for a good price and was wondering what would be the best approach to take.

Good find! Follow Yopper's advice.