Wine for the end of the world as we know it

[OakIslandBrewery]

Wine grapes are pretty distinct from other varieties (unless you like concord grape wine, lol).

Re milk, it's surprising that it wouldn't be sold for cheese/milk solids/etc. Surely if prices go low enough, someone will use it for something? If they're really dumping it I wonder if there's some insurance/tax reason. (In the vein of studios shelving movies to claim a loss.)

It was a few years ago the farmers were dumping milk, not sure it's a standard practice. I know there's different grades of milk and products it can be used for too so they might have to dispose of some of it

 

[puttster]

This is OP. I bought 2 qt of grape juice and poured out 500 ml to allow for foaming. Added 75g of sugar and some Red Star wine yeast and got 1.07 on the hydrometer then added another 75g two days later and some oak branch shavings. When the action quit at .99 I put in a little campden, decanted, and after a couple of days tried it out. It was pretty yeasty tasting, not good at all!

Anyway, it was just a trial run to get me to my Survival Wine premier. My TEOTWAWKI target audience is alcohol-dependents so taste should be a distant second to abv. I'll go with one gallon of water and add sugar to get 1.10 SG and then split that into four liter bottles. For nutrients I want to use something that will be available to me at the end of the world. Was thinking about wheat berries grinded up. Then for the next gallon I could re-use the lees for nutrients? For the Kool-aid, will it make any difference when I add it?

 

[mashdar]

You're getting in prison hooch territory. Be sure not to poison yourself!

PS you are more likely to have grapes and barley than sugar if society collapses. There's a bunch of reasons why societies had tons of cereal grains and almost no sugar until the industrial revolution.

Best to learn to brew with a pot on a fire. And malt barley. People will be more impressed and less weirded out in the mean time : )

 

[Snuffy]

Why not just go with loaf bread heels, sugar packets, raisins and rain water? Maybe coffee grounds for tannins. You just add to it whatever anybody has to contribute. Soft drinks. Jelly. Juicy Fruit.

 

[Snuffy]

Grits, cornmeal, fruit, potatoes. Kind of a solera you just build back up with anything fermentable after you pull some off. You can drink as long as you bring something to add in.

 

[Snuffy]

I’m thinking post apocalyptic Mad Max kinda thing where you have a heavily guarded compound and use your brew skills to control the trade of “Super Hooch” in the wastelands. Fighting off crazies as you make delivery runs in supercharged muscle cars that run on ethanol. Gals with shaved heads dropping fire bombs from hang-gliders. Sand sleds pulled by teams of vicious dogs. Beer pong contests to the death.

 

[puttster]

This is OP. I made a trial run of sugar wash, had my bottles and Kool-aid all ready but the ferment (1.5 lbs sugar to three quarts of water) got stuck. I'm not giving up though.
Thinking the final result will be pretty nasty, I want to back sweeten. Instead of sugar, I was thinking of adding six of these tablets (1/4 cup sugar equiv, subject to check) per quart. That way I don't waste sugar and avoid reigniting the yeast.
Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082B76Z...7NWODP8O&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it.

 

[corkybstewart]

If the feces hits the fan I hope we're at our house in France. We have a wine cave with several hundred bottles of wine, 79 bottles of eau de vie, multiple pint jars of plums and cherries soaked in eau de vie, and lots of plum jam. I have a big garden, we still have frozen veggies from last year but if electricity becomes a thing of the past I have at least a hundred canning jars and I'm not afraid to use them This area is covered with grapevines and fruit trees, there's abundant wild game.

 

[corkybstewart]

Wine and spirts have been in decline for several years. Farmers are ripping out vineyards and switching to something else. There are many reasons for the decline and plenty of news articles with different opinions. Alcohol is considered unhealthy, younger people aren’t dinking as much, smoking weed is now legal in many places, the list goes on. In my own house, my g/f was the wine drinker, and I used to make 20 gallons a year, mostly consumed by her. Now she has cut back her drinking and I didn’t make any in 2024 and probably won’t make any this year. Meanwhile, the hobby vineyard I put in is starting to produce….
But in California and probably several other states, thousands of acres of grapes are being pulled out:

https://www.winespectator.com/articles/too-many-grapes-in-california

Not just in California, also in France. Many winemakers are pulling up red wine grapes and replacing them with rose grapes. We went to a wine fest in Bordeaux last year and there were car sized piles of grape vines in fields, and the wines were far cheaper than I had ever imagined

 

[corkybstewart]

I was in the truck a couple weeks ago when the notion of wine tariffs was mentioned and the reaction was it'd put stress on domestic wines as well. I'm not much of a wine drinker any longer but The Spousal Unit still digs wine with dinner (and before and after ) so I dropped into the local packy and stocked up on some "fine box wine" for her

View attachment 872015

Cheers! (Scored serious points with that )

I drink wine daily in France, much of it boxed. Wineries here sell their newer wines in bottles and boxes. For instance I can get a 10 liter box of 2023 Gravieres from Philippe for $45, the equivalent of 13 bottles which would cost me about $100. It's the same wine. In the States I rarely drink wine, it's mostly beer and not even much beer.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

This is OP. I made a trial run of sugar wash, had my bottles and Kool-aid all ready but the ferment (1.5 lbs sugar to three quarts of water) got stuck. I'm not giving up though.
Thinking the final result will be pretty nasty, I want to back sweeten. Instead of sugar, I was thinking of adding six of these tablets (1/4 cup sugar equiv, subject to check) per quart. That way I don't waste sugar and avoid reigniting the yeast.
Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082B76Z...7NWODP8O&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it.

I have used wine conditioner for back sweetening. It has sugar and sorbate so it'll add sweetness but won't ferment.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

If the feces hits the fan I hope we're at our house in France. We have a wine cave with several hundred bottles of wine, 79 bottles of eau de vie, multiple pint jars of plums and cherries soaked in eau de vie, and lots of plum jam. I have a big garden, we still have frozen veggies from last year but if electricity becomes a thing of the past I have at least a hundred canning jars and I'm not afraid to use them This area is covered with grapevines and fruit trees, there's abundant wild game.

A wine cave? How neat! I wish I had a cave, full of wine would be an extra bonus! Lucky you!

 

[corkybstewart]

A wine cave? How neat! I wish I had a cave, full of wine would be an extra bonus! Lucky you!

It was carved out of the local chalky limestone 110 years ago by my wife's grandfather and used to store wine and food. It's not big, maybe 200 sq. ft, but it's more than big enough for us. The ceiling is about 12 ft from the surface and the temperature stays between 50 and 54F year round.

 

[puttster]

If the feces hits the fan I hope we're at our house in France. We have a wine cave with several hundred bottles of wine, 79 bottles of eau de vie, multiple pint jars of plums and cherries soaked in eau de vie, and lots of plum jam. I have a big garden, we still have frozen veggies from last year but if electricity becomes a thing of the past I have at least a hundred canning jars and I'm not afraid to use them This area is covered with grapevines and fruit trees, there's abundant wild game.

When the feces hit the fan your plan might work, but a gang of bad actors can force you to give up all your wine and then kill you. This is why I want to make and barter my wine a bottle at a time.

 

[HBT_Admin]

When the feces hit the fan your plan might work, but a gang of bad actors can force you to give up all your wine and then kill you. This is why I want to make and barter my wine a bottle at a time.

And never let them know you make/or possess it. "I traded for this.". If people know you have resources, people will come for your resources.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

And never let them know you make/or possess it. "I traded for this.". If people know you have resources, people will come for your resources.

Always keep the 9mm close at hand.

 

[An Ankoù]

Always keep the 9mm close at hand.

And a bottle of peppermint cordial.

 

[mashdar]

This took a dark turn.

 

[day_trippr]

I know - Peppermint Cordial! Yikes!

 

[puttster]

Final Report
I had thought my gallon of sugar wash had stopped fermenting because the bubbles were so infrequent but when I sampled, the hydrometer was at zero (from around 1.09 I think). A taste from that wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
I put in a Camden, two packs of grape Kool-aid and ten packs of sweet and low. Let it settle, filled three .75L bottles w corks. Now, much later, I tasted and dang, not bad. Tastes like concord wine, kinda. I'm using it up by adding it to my evening Gallo.
I'll try another recipe in a month or so but as far as making a product that might work as a barter item to alcoholic-dependent survivors, I think this recipe might be just the ticket.

 

[mashdar]

1. edit: Kool-aid has no sugar. Huh.
2. 1.000 is not complete fermentation because alcohol is lower density than water.
3. edit: at least you won't have bottle bombs; you'll get geysers if it goes poorly, though. Perhaps store bottles in a waterproof container.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Final Report
I had thought my gallon of sugar wash had stopped fermenting because the bubbles were so infrequent but when I sampled, the hydrometer was at zero (from around 1.09 I think). A taste from that wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
I put in a Camden, two packs of grape Kool-aid and ten packs of sweet and low. Let it settle, filled three .75L bottles w corks. Now, much later, I tasted and dang, not bad. Tastes like concord wine, kinda. I'm using it up by adding it to my evening Gallo.
I'll try another recipe in a month or so but as far as making a product that might work as a barter item to alcoholic-dependent survivors, I think this recipe might be just the ticket.

Congratulations!

Do you have an idea what the alcohol level is? You be on to a good thing, very nice!

 

[corkybstewart]

Always keep the 9mm close at hand.

Socket or open end?? What exactly does the wrench do for you? It's kind of small for whacking a thief on the head.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Socket or open end?? What exactly does the wrench do for you? It's kind of small for whacking a thief on the head.

Open ended, sometimes with an extension.

 

[Snuffy]

That 9mm tool would sho turn some nuts, right there.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

That 9mm tool would sho turn some nuts, right there.

Works really well on those stubborn nuts.