Kit Winemaking Tutorial

[3rd base]

All caught up now and tagged...
Vintner, I gotta say I really wish I was able to devote the time to this hobby right now! Between the stuff you do and the other stuff folks bring to this thread, it's all demystified and quite inspirational, to say the least.
Looking forward to reading the results of your ginger beer experiment. I've had one or two that were really tasty and enjoyable and quite a few that had so much bite it was unpleasant and irritating even.
Thankfully, until I have something to contribute I can still enjoy all this vicariously...

Oh and ehonda187, great worming thread, btw!

 

[vintner]

Thanks for the kind words 3rd base I'm glad this thread has been an inspiration. You make a very important point. The skills and knowledge are easy and readily available. Time is an important factor though. Once you start a batch of anything, be it wine, beer or what ever, there's a certain time line that has to be followed. You can't just let it sit till it's convenient. Nor can you rush a step cause you've got commitments.
I got into makin my own wine cause I'm cheep! No joke, that's about the only reason. It's a lot of tedious work, but it's also a lot of fun to share it w/others, and, @ least w/wine, if your patient, (as I am most often NOT! LOL) you will be greatly rewarded for your labor more often than not. I drink a lot of it before it's time, but I always try to put a case away. When ya find something good though, it's worth the wait.
I like to try a lot of different things. Hence the ginger beer. There are so many different areas one could take a hobby like this. Meads of all kinds, cyders, beers, wines............ That's what makes it so fun. But, ya got to realize it's a bit of a commitment.
Ok, I'm stoned, but I'm done rambling now.
Stay safe n high everyone

 

[vintner]

2 of the jugs went out in the garage today. One had an SG of 1.022, and the other 1.028. I'm getting impatient LOL. :friends: The last had an SG of 1.030. I'm gonna let that one go a few more days. I'll up-date again when I bottle.
In the mean time, I've started a 6 gallon batch of blackberry wine
18 pounds of blackberries I found a good sale.
6 cans of Welches concord frozen grape juice concentrate.
6 pounds of sugar
2 tbs of yeast nutrient
4 tbs of acid blend
2 tbs of bentonite
1/4 heaping tsp of pot meta
1 tbs of pectic enzyme
I bought a pare of queen sized nylons and dumped the berries in them and tied them off and put this in my primary bucket. Brought a gallon or so of water to a boil, dumped it in the primary, grabbed a potato masher and smashed the hell out of the berries. Then added the grape juice and topped the bucket off. Once it comes to room temp I'll sanitize it w/the pot meta. 12 hours after that I stir in the pectic enzyme, take a SG reading, and get er goin :friends: Sorry no pics
Edit: Starting SG = 1.082

 

[zeppelindood]

Great thread... nice work vinter and most impressive Tolpan ~

I've been making my own for years now... some fruit wines such as Pear and Cherry but mainly Chilean red grapes such as Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir ~

 

[vintner]

Thanks for stoppin my and checkin out my wine work zeppelindood My wife is a huge zeppelin fan. I like the heavy reds too, but I enjoy more than the "subtle" hints of fruit flavors you get w/them. I've done a pear wine. If I remember correctly, it left lots of mushy lees in the primary and needed to sit for at least a year and a half.
Stop by any time. I can talk wine all day LOL Stay safe n stoned

 

[3rd base]

 

[vintner]

Update

Update

3rd base
I racked the blackberry into a carboy today. In less than a week it was pretty much fermented dry. There was such a large volume of berries that I topped up the carboy w/nearly a gallon of water that I added 2 more cans of the welches grape juice concentrate to. It shouldn't raise the ABV too much though :friends:
The 3rd jug of ginger beer is down to about 1.022 SG. I'd like to let it go till it reaches @ least 1.018 for a good comparison.
I'm also going to start degassing that shiraz kit that I showed a pic of quite a while back. I put that in the primary about 3 weeks ago.
Stay safe n stoned everyone

 

[vintner]

Ginger Beer Bottled

Ginger Beer Bottled

The jugs I had in the garage didn't seem to clear any, so I bottled them all @ the same time. None to taste test, so I'll up date again when that happens hopefully next week some time :friends:

 

[vintner]

Well, I'm thinking the ginger beer experiment was a bit of a flub. Not all is lost though. Don't worry friends. I don't give up that easily, & what doesn't kill me will get me pretty buzzed in the mean time LOL. I'm such a cheep SOB LOL. Came home after a long work weekend interspersed w/boughts of shoveling 2ft of snow to try my ginger beer. I grabbed a bottle w/the most ginger. To say the least, it's WAY too gingery, and WAY too alcoholic. Think "young, cloudy ginger wine " I already know that my next attempt is going to be a much smaller batch (in case it does turn out toxic LOL), and not fermented anywhere near as long as this batch was. I'll of course try them all, but hope to get another batch started this week. Started another peach/apricot kit last week, and want to get more of that rollin soon as well.

 

[vintner]

Put together another batch of ginger beer tonight. Bad as it was, the first 3 jugs are gone LOL :friends: This batch includes...
2oz diced ginger
1 pound of sugar
1oz cream of tartar
The zest and juice of a lemon and a lime.
I followed the same process as last time, so I didn't bother to take any pix.
Once it cools I'll take an SG reading and add a partial packet of yeast. I don't plan to let it ferment nearly as long this time. I'm shooting for about 3% alcohol. Another thing I didn't like about the last batch was that it wasn't very carbonated at all. Stopping fermentation much sooner will solve that problem as well.

 

[kava]

wow just found this thread and took 2 days to read it all. I would like to thank you all for the info. I can remember making wine with my dad when I was young and have made some on my own. I make it the low tech way and reading your info has helped a lot. thank you vintner for starting this thread. I usually make mine as straight one flavor and haven't thought to mix them together. I lived in Florida for a little while and made mango and strawberry they weren't to bad. I have learned so much in a couple days and ready to do it again with new methods. My dad had a friend who had a vineyard and if someone wanted grapes but didn't come to pick them up after they were picked he called dad to just get rid of them and still make at least half price per basket and that's how he got most of his grapes. Just a thought for procuring supplies at a discounted price (just an idea) Again thank you and got this one locked in to keep reading. Stay safe and move foward every day.

 

[vintner]

kava Thanks for stoppin by & for the kind words. Glad to hear I could be an inspiration to ya Stop back soon and share your adventures :friends:
Ginger wine update. Had to add another 6oz of sugar to bring the SG up to about 1.062, but it's under way and we'll see what we get in a week or 2
Stay safe n stoned

 

[vintner]

Well, I wouldn't call this second attempt @ ginger beer a resounding success, but there is marked improvement I only let it ferment down to about 3%ABV. (I think the last batch was over 6% ) I bottled it early yesterday am, and left the bottles in doors to continue to ferment. By late eav they were pretty rock hard so I put them in the fridg. I might let them go a bit longer next time, but the thought of exploding bottles makes me nervous I'll also let it sit in the fridge longer next time to give the yeast a chance to settle out, but I was anxious to try it LOL.
So, anyway, it's nice and bubbly w/lots of residual sweetness. Maybe a bit too gingery. One thing's for certain, there's way too much lime. Might cut that out entirely next time.
Stay tuned

 

[vintner]

So I pitched yeast on another batch of ginger beer last Thurs (3/4/10). This batch contained...
1.5 pounds of sugar. I got it right this time
1.5 oz ginger
1.5 oz cream of tartar
the zest and juice of just a lemon
Water to make 4Lt & champaine yeast. Starting SG=1.072
I put in just a tiny sprinkle of yeast, and it took right off! I'll take another SG reading tomorrow and bottle some time later this week. I plan to let this batch sit in my fridge till I get home from vacation in a couple of weeks. Well @ least one bottle LOL :friends:
Stay safe & stoned! I know I am

 

[vintner]

General Up-date

General Up-date

The ginger beer was about 1.052 SG when I checked it today.
Blackberry wine update: I can't remember right off when I started the blackberry wine. It fermented really fast in the primary. When I racked it to the secondary I topped off w/more of the frozen grape juice concentrate and let it ferment to dry, SG 0.995. I racked and stabalized it after a month or so, and just recently topped off the carboy w/about 2 cups of simple syrup (1part water to 2 parts sugar) which brought the sg up to about 1.004. I'll keep an eye on how fast it's clearing over the next few weeks, then treat it like I did the welches wine I made. ie: rack it into 4Lt jugs and add more sweetener in varying amounts. I'll bottle it soon after that.

 

[vintner]

Bottled my 3rd batch of ginger beer today. Final SG was about 1.040 which would give me an ABV of about 4%. It still has to ferment a bit more in the bottles so it gets nice and bubbly before it gets refrigerated, and since it took so long to get to get to the SG I was looking for, I'll let both bottles sit till I get home from vacation in about 10 daze. Once I get a recipe I'm happy with, I might look for a strain of yeast that will ferment it a bit faster. It might just be that I'm using old yeast, but it seems a bit unusual for something to take nearly 10 days to reach 4% ABV.
Till then, stay safe n stoned everyone

 

[kava]

good deal I hope it turns out the way you wanted it too

 

[vintner]

Thanks for stoppin by kava I expect I'll be workin on gettin the ginger beer right for a while to come. As I mentioned I'd like to find a faster working yeast. I primarily use champaine yeast in all my home wine making cause it leaves behind nice compact lees, but 10 days to reach 4%ABV is a bit of a pain.
Now don't hold me to this, but if I find a recipe I like, I might just give up my Yuengling Lager but that's a tall bill t fill, and I'm stoned, so can't be held accountable for anything right now LOL.

 

[kava]

Well I am back and I can share my low-tech way of making wine. I dont have any high tech items unless you consider a flashlight to be high-tech. I decide what kind of wine I want to make (cherry, grape, peach, or even fruit cocktail if you want). I get the fruit or juice (if fruit I run it through a blender) I add this to a gallon jug (glass) I decide how potent I want it and add sugar to up the alchol level (and bite too in some cases). I get dole dark cherry juice in the store (no preservitives) remember that juice needs to be room temp. Dump this in jug and add 1 cup sugar. Fill jug up to about 3 inches from the top the jug(more space for narrow mouth jug)now I add some yeast (1 out of 3 pack bread yeast)to the glass add enough warm water to make it liquid. Add this to the jug and only)stir if not foaming when you add it (be carefull of foam volcono, it can react very fast big mes potential) I have a large mouth jug so I get sandwich bag and rubber band and put over the top of jug to keep dust and bugs out of it. Set the jug in a 60-70 degree Farenhigth cabinet and wait. look at it every week or you will forget it is there and it will go bad. about a month later (depending on how much sugar you added). You will see it start to go to clear or foam subsiding.then I will pour it out of jug into next jug to cut down on the sedemantation. I top this off with water to within 2 inches of top and reseal with bag and band and wait untill flashlight shining through it reveals no bubbles at all. Now you can taste test it when it tastes good it has aged enough to drink. Very low tech but also very basic. If it didnt work last time dont do it the same way again change it till it works. Now take this and the other info and you will see that they are kind of the same but also different and learn how and why it did or didnt work lol take care

 

[vintner]

Hey Kava: Sorry I haven't responded to your post sooner. Had some PC issues.
You're method sounds very simplistic. Nothin wrong w/that! Ya do what works for you.
I came home from vacation last month to another flop w/the ginger beer. At least I know why, and I learned a valuable leason. Never add anything to your wine/beer/mead... if you don't know what it is. While on vaca, my mother in law told me that cream of tartar is an acid. I increased it in the last batch cause I didn't notice any taste of it in the ginger beer. The bigger amount of cream of tartar in conjunction w/the lemon was WAY too much acid. It was very bitter, and both bottles went down the drain. I've been too busy to start more, but hope to do so soon.
Since we've been back I bottled a batch of peach apricot, and resweetened the blackberry wine. Man oh man that stuff is going to be hard to keep my hands off till it ages for a while :friends:
Stay safe n stoned