Thinking of Switching

[GPa Bob]

I have been brewing my own beer for a couple of years now and have only made 8 or 10 batches because I don’t really drink that much beer. I give some to my son and a friend to get rid of it. I tend to be more of a wine drinker so I started looking at making my own wine. I had thought it was much more difficult than beer brewing, but now think it is possibly easier. Anyways, I have a lot of brewing equipment, but I have a lot of questions also.

1) How do you clean and sanitize the bottles? I have a homemade PBW recipe from elsewhere on this forum. Will this work? I sanitize with Star-San. Will this work also?

2) I have 8 or 10 empty cases of beer bottles. Can I fill these and cap them rather than cork them? This would only be for a batch (or possibly 2) until I decide whether or not to keep on doing this.

3) I have two 6+ gallon fermenters and a 6+ gallon big mouth plastic carboy. Will these work to ferment the batch(es)?

4) Do I need to secondary ferment? I leave my home brew in the primary until I’m ready to bottle.

With the virus situation I’m doing a lot of “YouTubing” on this subject and everyone has different ideas. I just wanted to get some expert advise.

Thanks

GPa Bob

 

[Seamonkey84]

I haven’t made beer, but everything that I’ve read about it makes mead/wine seem fool proof in comparison. No boiling required, not as prone to infection, less hardware/equipment needed.
1-wash, sanitize with starsan, air dry (not required)
2- sure can, but it’s more work cause it’s more bottles.
3-those will work wonderfully
4- secondary in wine/mead is more aging/clearing. I start in buckets, then transfer everything but solids (make sure to transfer yeast and lees) to carboy before it’s done. Then I personally don’t rack off the gross lees until the batch is basically completely clear. Then I let it age and clear some more before bottling.
Oh, that’s the biggest thing, wine takes time to age, but not always if you follow proper steps to help the yeast. I personally apply the same protocols and methods for making mead to make wine. Not as much nutrients needed at times with more fruit used, but the idea of babying the yeast to make a product that doesn’t need months or a year to age.
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/mead-making-practices-mistakes/
A long thread on the mead forum
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/brays-one-month-mead.429241/

 

[GPa Bob]

__
) )
/ /_____
____/ (_____)
(_____)
(_____)
---\___(____) Thanks!

 

[bernardsmith]

But it is fundamentally true that wine does take a longer to age - but then the higher the ABV the longer a wine needs to age for all the flavors to meld and all the chemical processes taking place in the aging carboy to finish. You want to focus on making wines at about 12% (offers better chance for you to balance among amount of ethanol heat, perceived sweetness, richness of flavor, acidity, tannins and mouthfeel) and 12-14% ABV allows you to ferment the wine without unduly stressing the yeast - all other things being equal.
As to sanitizing equipment (including bottles) I would suggest K-meta (the active ingredient of campden tabs). With K-meta you get a three-fer. a) at low concentrations you can kill off wild yeast and bacteria; b) with higher concentrations you can sanitize all equipment; c) with the same lower concentration you can add to your wine to introduce free SO2 to inhibit oxidation and provide your wine with longer shelf life.. Star -san can't offer you the other two benefits.

 

[nealperkins]

Well, YMMV...
I've made a LOT of beer (all grain) and a LOT of wine (all the wine is from kits and I have no plans to change.) Therefore my comments are relative to kits, mostly.
Wine is just SO MUCH EASIER!!!
The sterility issues we brewers take great pains to control are greatly reduced on the wine side. This is true with the big boys too.
I may be 'over-sanitizing' when I do a quick Starsan rinse but old habits die hard.
The complex reds do certainly gain a LOT from some age, it's worth doing. Not so with the whites. Although they seem to improve quite a lot with 2-4 months' of age, these things are quite drinkable right out of the secondary (you may not serve that, but you could.)
Do all the fermenting in the primary. Let it sit a week or so after fermentation stops and then transfer it. I like to let it sit a bit before adding the clarifying agents. If it is a red, consider letting it sit a couple of months there before bottling.
Again, YMMV and there are thousands of variations but, it is very easy and you can get surprisingly good results.