Entering The Wine World?!

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monkeymullins
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Entering The Wine World?!

Post by monkeymullins » Sun Mar 20, 2016 8:36 pm

Hello fellow brewers, I'm trying to decide whether to venture into the world of wine making after seeing a kit in wilkos at £20.

http://www.wilko.com/wine-homebrew-kits ... vt/0318392

Any advice on what I need, how to videos, what kits to get and whether it's worth it or not? Iv done a few kit beers and what's not, how different is the process for wine and what sort of temperatures would I be looking to ferment at?

Thank you in advance for help and tips :)

Chug

Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by Chug » Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:08 am

Checkout the thread on the forum for tesco homebrew sale, if you've done beer kits then wine kits are basically the same just the yeasts used have lower finishing gravity, and temp between 18 -22C, kits are usually optimistic with their time stated to be ready.

Supermarket juice wines are easy and quick to make and ready to drink and are very nice and much cheaper than wine kits, and good wine to drink whilst waiting for fruit, veg etc wines to mature.

oldbloke
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by oldbloke » Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:46 am

There are 6 bottle kits, where all you need is a demijohn (or a bucket and a demi, or 2 demis), plus airlock, siphon etc, most of which you already have.
There are 12 bottle kits, just double up... There are 30 bottle kits where your 5 gallon beer setup is fine.
The main thing is, in general, with wine kits the price does reflect the quality.

But, you could go the Country Wine route (instead or as well).
A few demis with bungs and locks so you can have a few going in parallel.
In spring, nettle and dandelion, very nice whites. Elderflower. In autumn, lots of berry based stuff, especially elderberry. And plums, damsons, etc. In winter: carrot, parsnip. Any idle time, do some mead or a "hippyjuice" fruit teabag wine. Or off-piste stuff like coffee or my Legendary Banana Wine. You can have lot of fun, especially if you can forage.

(with berries, adding some blackcurrants always improves the "wininess". Or a good dollop of chopped raisins)

Capped
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by Capped » Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:49 pm

You've done beer kits; wine kits are even easier. The world is your oyster with wine, as oldbloke as alluded to. Only solid bit of advice I would like to pass on is that you must wait until fermentation has well and truly finished before moving on, and then wait a couple more weeks on top of that! If you don't, you'll be looking at a world of hurt somewhere down the line unless it's supped very quickly. You could always shove tons of sulphite and sorbate in (and thus ruin it anyway ) but that aint any guarantee it won't wake from slumber. I know... Oh, and once you know what you're doing, supermarket juices make very decent wines for the absolute minimum cost. Be rude not to.

monkeymullins
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by monkeymullins » Fri Mar 25, 2016 10:59 pm

Thank you so much for the advice guys, I'm still a little torn whether to give it a go or not... If I do what size to go for as there's a huge leap between 6 bottles & 30. I have 2 fermenters for beer and a spare which I could use for wine I guess if I make the jump to 30, so not all bad I guess.
Which kits would you recommend,

The wilkos

http://www.wilko.com/wine-homebrew-kits ... vt/0318391

Or the Youngs from tesco

http://www.tesco.com/direct/winebuddy-s ... -container

Also

Capped you mention supermarket juices.. Can you advise on this please anything to keep the pennies with quality is always welcome. Thanks again guys. :)

oldbloke
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by oldbloke » Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:14 am

[quote="mamnkeymullins"

Capped you mention supermarket juices.. Can you advise on this please anything to keep the pennies with quality is always welcome. Thanks again guys. :)[/quote]

There's quite a few recipes around that use juice from shops instead of Real Fruit.
One fairly amusing one uses a whole packet of fruit teabags to get the flavour, plus usually a litre or 3 of apple juice or apple+something, maybe some tannin (powdered or a mug of strong tea), likely a few chopped raisins, sugar to get the desired ABV. Often referred to as hippyjuice, so a search for that or 'teabag wine' ought to turn something up

Capped
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by Capped » Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:48 am

monkeymullins wrote: Capped you mention supermarket juices.. Can you advise on this please anything to keep the pennies with quality is always welcome. Thanks again guys. :)
Use whatever takes your fancy, but check the ingredients and reject any which contain 'preservatives' (most don't) or your yeast will be killed. Just view the juice as a replacement for the grape/fruit concentrate you get in a kit. For a gallon of wine, 3 litres of juice and between 600g to a kilo of sugar gives an O.G of approx 1085 and an A.B.V. of around 12%. Scale those quantities up accordingly for making multiples of a gallon. The amount of sugar required will depend on the amount of sugar already in the juice.

For the missus' 'stock wine' I use 4ltr grape,apple and raspberry juice, 3ltr apple juice, 3ltr grapefruit juice, 1ltr mango juice, 1ltr exotic juice and 3.5Kg sugar to give a little over 4 gallons. She loves it and reckons shop-bought wine is "ok but not as nice". Don't forget a couple of teabags for the tannin and maybe half a kilo of mashed sultanas if none of your juices contain grape. So... dissolve your sugar in as little water as you can get away with (to keep the temperature down) on the stove. Tip all the juice into your fermenter and add the sugar solution. Top up to four gallons or so with cold water, adding a little bit more at a time until you hit a gravity of 1085. Add 2tsp pectolase, 4tsp yeast nutrient, 2tsp citric acid and a pack of yeast once you're sure the temp is ok. The teabags if used can be boiled up with the sugar but don't forget to discard them. If no grape juice in the mix, mash 500g sultanas and simmer with a little water then tip the lot into the fermenter. The sultanas will give a certain body and 'vinosity' which may be lacking in wine not made with a proportion of grape juice but aren't essential. Fermentation takes a week or so but give it two, even if the second week seems totally devoid of activity! Add 4tsp wine stabiliser, reseal the FV and give it 2 or 3 days. Much of the yeast and gunk will settle in that time. Transfer to another FV and add the finings as instructed. Will be starbright within a week and can then be bottled or put into demijohns.

Chug

Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by Chug » Sat Mar 26, 2016 12:13 pm

wows.jpg
selection of wows
The ones I have found to be the most popular are the red grape juice and apple, or red grape, apple n mango, or red grape and tropical. They work out about 50p -£1 per bottle of wine depending on cost of juice, I've found the value juices work well but you get slightly better wine if you use posh juice.

1L red grape juice (100%)
1L apple Juice (100%) (swap this for 1L of apple n mango, or 1l tropical)
750g Sugar dissolved in 1L water
1 tsp yeast
1tps yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectolase
1 mug three tea bag tea left to cool
top up to shoulder of DJ with water

I have added lemon juice and glycerine to previous versions but with the last few I haven't bothered and I think they taste better without but I'm still experimenting and gaining feedback.

I'm looking forward to my latest wow which is red grape juice, apple n rhubarb, I racked and stabilised it yesterday and had a small taster which was nice.

If you like cider then
3L of apple juice makes a nice plain turbo cider, or use a bottle of no added sugar squash if you want a flavoured cider for the ladies

JackF

Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by JackF » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:42 am

Since I'm new to beer brewing but have been making wine for over ten years, I figure I should at least help out where I can 8)

Wine is easier to make than beer. And aside from the filtering process (although you can get a decent filter for under 100 pounds), less exspensive. Using fruit or even bottled juice (add a grated appple to the liquor if you're using juice - the yeast needs a 'floatation device' in order to swim around properly) is easy. I make only wine from wild fruit, so the raw material is free, and it has the bonus of getting me out and moving.

My tip is to use only pure strains of yeast when you're starting out. The expected end alcohol is stated on them, so you really don't need to measure the specific gravity at all. A little vinometer is sufficient - and cheap. I always have two or three on hand in case one breaks. You'll want to have pectinase and lactic acid on hand. And sugar (unless you really are using only grapes). The pectinase prevents the fruit from gelling and breaks it down better, the lactic acid brings down the ph, which is especially important for fruit with little acid, e.g. bananas, blueberries, etc. Fruit with high acid content (cornel cherries for example) is quite tricky, so don't start out with anything like that.

I generally make 20 l batches (150 l for apples), and my rule of thumb is 10 ml pectinase, 60 ml lactic acid max. I usually use either port wine or sherry yeast. When the initial fermentation has stopped, I test the liquor with the vinometer. If it's under 13 % (for port wine yeast), then I add roughly half the sugar that would be necessary to bring it up to 13%. Wait until fermation stops, then do the same thing over. Once it's up to 13 % (the theoretical maximum tolerance for that kind of yeast), I wait a couple of weeks - as has already been mentioned above. Very prudent.

Then you are ready to filter and bottle - or just leave the wine in the DJ (make sure you keep the water in the airstop replenished) and drink it from there (don't stir up the sediment!).

Cheers!

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GAZ9053
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by GAZ9053 » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:21 pm

monkeymullins wrote:Thank you so much for the advice guys, I'm still a little torn whether to give it a go or not... If I do what size to go for as there's a huge leap between 6 bottles & 30. I have 2 fermenters for beer and a spare which I could use for wine I guess if I make the jump to 30, so not all bad I guess.
Which kits would you recommend,

The wilkos

http://www.wilko.com/wine-homebrew-kits ... vt/0318391

Or the Youngs from tesco

http://www.tesco.com/direct/winebuddy-s ... -container

Also

Capped you mention supermarket juices.. Can you advise on this please anything to keep the pennies with quality is always welcome. Thanks again guys. :)
if you want a decent red then start with California connoisseur or beaverdale as the minimum price range, i have tried the cheaper ones and they are not the best IMHO.

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JamesF
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by JamesF » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:49 pm

Yes, I've not been unhappy with the Beaverdale kits (as you can tell from my sig :) I think the most important thing is just not to rush with them.

James

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Horden Hillbilly
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Re: Entering The Wine World?!

Post by Horden Hillbilly » Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:21 pm

GAZ9053 wrote:
if you want a decent red then start with California connoisseur or beaverdale as the minimum price range, i have tried the cheaper ones and they are not the best IMHO.
Seconded. If you want a "walk through" on kit winemaking, click on the uk homebrew link in my signature.

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