Got my own wine kit from a local brew shop... (page 3)

Black Sheep

I just noticed I made in mistake in one of my posts.

The longest I ever left a red wine on the skins was 3 days before pressing.

I got mixed up with making grappa, where I leave the skins in for the entire fermentation.

Thanks! I am going to check it tonight with a hydrometer (bubbling is getting few and far between), and will probably remove the skins and press them, then transfer to a carboy if the reading is within the specs as the instructions indicated.

Black Sheep

Let us know what it says

Taste it. Some brews are very nice at this point and I've refridgerated anything up 10 litres for immediate use.

If it tastes like it might make a good bubbly, consider bottling some with some extra sugar to prime it. Sometimes I just do a couple of 330ml RTD bottles as an experiment to help decide what I'll do with next years crop. I did that this year and decided to rip that particular vine out :-(

sinis

I hate pulling samples out of the fermenter to test the hydrometer and then throwing it away. Is it kosher to clear the must away from the top of the fermentor (making a hole in the middle, cleaning/sterilizing the hydometer and placing the hydrometer in the fermenter???

sinis

Oh, also. I see that walmart sells hdpe#2 5 gallon white buckets that many are saying are foodgrade. Basically what I had in mind was to pick up one of these buckets, and a few 5 gallon painter socks, sterilize both, and then use the 5 gallon walmart bucket as a temp transfer to pour the contents from the fermenter into this, strain and squeeze out the must/mash and then immediately transfer back into the fermenter (with another 5 gallon strainer/sock) to make sure I got everything out, and then rack into the carboy. Do you think that the momentary transfer into a 5 gallon walmart bucket (appearently food grade) will do anything? Its not going to sit in this bucket, just using it to get the pulp out. Thanks again!

Black Sheep

Try to incoporate as little air as possible during the transfers. Use a syphon when you can.

For future reference, this is when saved CO2 comes in handy.

Nickolas

I used to make a lot of wine from grapes purchased directly from the vineyards. Like two plus 40 gallon barrels a year. I used barrels and 12.5 gallon demijohns. One year I did three barrels, which is about 720 bottles. No, I didn't drink all that wine myself in one year, but I sure did my best with inventory control. It was good stuff but you don't get much variety when you're consuming nothing but your own product. The kicker was having to move house. I had the equivalent of a thousand bottles to move and I swore I'd never do that again. With no move in sight now I could get back into it but I just go down to the wine store and restock my wine cellar. Some really good deals out there from Chile and Argentina but most of my favourite reds these days are coming out of Australia. Here in Canada the Niagara white wines are world class and inexpensive for what they deliver, although I'm really starting to fall in love with kiwi whites.

Be careful about sulphites like campden tablets. Headache city for people who are sensitive and possibly the single greatest contributor to really bad homemade wine other than wine that's turned to vinegar. I never put sulphites directly in my wine. Never. I used sulphites to wash everything that would come in contact with the fermenting grape juice and the wine. Barrels, demijohns, bottles, hydrometers, everything. I also used sulphites to rinse bottles before bottling but you could never taste it in the wine and it never gave people headaches. To make consistently good wine without zapping it with chemicals you've got to get religious about keeping bacteria out of the process. Keeping your hands clean is also important, as is maintaining your vapour locks while fermentation is still underway. Don't let outside air come into contact with your fermenting grape juice. I often had to keep vapour locks on the barrels and demis for two months before it completely stopped and I was able to apply seals. I never lost a single bottle of wine to vinegar, even the bottles I stored for 7-8 years.

The batch you're making, btw, is going to be a little on the sweet side. If your yeast has some power you'll end up with a 1 or 2, which is still drinkable in my books. You can get a really drinkable product from DIY kits - especially the one you describe. You can't go wrong with real grapes - but don't expect top end because a year or so in storage does any red wine some good.

On the lighter side, the wife and I drove past one of those big signs with the replaceable letters erected next to a DIY wine shop. The original sign said ... NEW!! 7 DAY WINE, but someone had removed the first N.

moshe

I just has a flashback, of Chumlee from the TV show Pawnstars stomping grapes with is barefeet in his first attempt to make wine.

sinis

NEED SOME HELP!!!!

Its been about five days, pulled the lid (bubbling has pretty much stopped). tested with a hydrometer and its slightly below 1.00. I have noticed, and I really can't tell if it is since I never have done this before, but it has an odd alcohol, maybe slight vinegar smell (like I said not really sure if its vinegar or not). I plan on taking the pulp out tonight and racking. I talked to a few people who have done this before and they said that the smell is normal, but I don't know and I'm freaking out that I fcked something up!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!

The solution, after stirring is a murky clear slightly pale white/tan color.

I hope I did not fck this up. I followed the instructions to the letter and made sure everything was sterile!!! If I did fuck up at what stage will I know for sure????????????????????????????? THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Black Sheep

If there is a problem, it's caused be the instructions saying to stir it twice a day. Hopefully, the Campden has let you off the hook.

Just stick to the instructions and keep your fingers crossed.

Got my own wine kit from a local brew shop...

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