How to start wine making?

[sarahkeast]

Ok, so all this talk of making your own wine has got me thinking...

I have been known to enjoy the odd glass, mainly dry white Pinot or good red Merlot types . I have no equipment, not much spare time, but keen to give it a go.

What do I need ? where should I start ? Obviously keen to not have to buy much/anything. I could empty a few bottles, that wouldnt be difficult ! could put a 'wanted' onto Freegle for equipment. Any particular recipe books or sites ? and just how much time does it take ? I think I have space in pantry or airing cupboard [no hot tank tho so not really warm] to store in the dark.

And I want to make nice tasting wine that I like to drink, or is that a case of trial and error ?

Cheers !

[chickenchargrill]

I posted this on another thread, but this one is a really good one to have a go at before investing too much.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dandelion-Wine

All you need that you might not already have is wine yeast, balloons and filters.

Recipe wise, just work out what ingredients you have to hand and do a google search ;) I've read about a few people making Ribena squash wine that's supposed to be quite easy, but not tried that one.

I've just transferred my dandelion wine to new bottles and got some nettles bubbling away at the moment.

[hedgewizard]

You can't make wine without some basic kit, Sarah - at a minimum a couple of demijohns, airlocks, syphon tube, corker, corks and campden tablets. The only stuff I know you can do at this time of year with no kit at all is elderflower champagne.

Freecycle's really good for getting hold of kit though - why not put in a wanted post?

[hedgewizard]

I posted this on another thread, but this one is a really good one to have a go at before investing too much.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dandelion-Wine

All you need that you might not already have is wine yeast, balloons and filters.

Recipe wise, just work out what ingredients you have to hand and do a google search ;) I've read about a few people making Ribena squash wine that's supposed to be quite easy, but not tried that one.

I've just transferred my dandelion wine to new bottles and got some nettles bubbling away at the moment.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten the balloons trick! That works great provided you're really on the ball with racking etc - no good for lazy buggers like me!

[Odsox]

And I want to make nice tasting wine that I like to drink,

This is precisely my problem.
I've had several attempts at wine making and they taste nothing like the wine I drink, alcoholic beverages maybe .. but not wine.
If I could make (and I've tried) a blackberry wine that tastes like a Cabernet Sauvignon or an apple wine that tastes like a Chardonnay or a Sauvigon Blanc, then I would be happily making wine all year round.
But as I can't I have to buy it ready made.
I blame it on living in France for a few years.

[chickenchargrill]

Has anyone tried the cabernet wine kits?

[MKG]

Sarah, have a look at my tutorials on the main site, where you'll see that you can make wine in a bucket covered with a teatowel. And you can make any kind of wine at any time, although you may have to resort to juices and canned or dried fruit.

But wine that you like? There's the problem. Most homebrew is not made from grapes and so won't, in the main, taste as though it was - I think that goes without saying. The exception is a good elderberry (or elderberry and blackberry), which can taste more like the best grape wines than the best grape wines. If you ONLY like grape wines then the easiest recourse is to buy them and forget homebrew. But that would be a waste. It's so cheap that you can try a load of recipes and you'll very probably find something you like (and you WOULD like a good mature elderberry).

So just for you and Odsox, have a look around for a book called "Making Wines Like Those You Buy" by Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan. The recipes are never single-fruit jobs, and it can get a little specialised, but you CAN reproduce the grape-wine taste in homebrew - although maturation is an important process in the book, so you have to be patient.

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with alcoholic beverages at a push

Mike

[Odsox]

Has anyone tried the cabernet wine kits?

Yes I have, and it tasted nothing like "real" wine, even when matured for a year or more .. hence my resorting to buying wine ready made.

Mike, I tried making wine with my own grapes, Black Hamburg, and it still tasted fairly disgusting.

If you ONLY like grape wines then the easiest recourse is to buy them and forget homebrew.

This is what I've resigned myself to, I'm self sufficient in lots of things but not wine.

[MKG]

Nail on head, I think, Odsox. Black Hamburg, as far as I know, is grown for eating, isn't it? Horses for courses - make wine from grapes bred specifically for winemaking. Try making cider from Granny Smiths and you'll see what I mean. Actually, if you'd mixed those grapes with some elderberry, the wine would probably have been very acceptable

Mike

EDIT: Oh - those kits. If the grape concentrate in those was any good for winemaking, they'd have made wine out of it. And for Sarah - you should be looking at a combination of apricots, sultanas, yellow rose petals and honey. Well, I did say it gets a bit complicated, didn't I? Want the recipe?

[hedgewizard]

The Favorit wine kits are pretty good - I've done a 5 gallen liebfrau that was pretty much like the real thing. I don't see why people are so fixed on making wines that taste like grape wines though - I wouldn't swap my elderflower for the world!

[Odsox]

Yes, you're probably right Mike, except the reason I tried to make wine out of B.Hamburg is because it was a terrible summer and I had several buckets of sour black grapes.

Hedgewizard, I'm not fixed on comparing homemade to commercial wine .. it's just that I like my wine and homemade doesn't taste of anything much. Maybe if you didn't insist on the misnomer of calling it "wine" we could agree to differ ?

[sarahkeast]

Thanks for all the info. I have put out a request on freegle and asked a few neighbours for demi johns etc. I can certainly appreciate what you are saying about not being able to re-create what I get from a bottle [ok, or box] makes sense. If I can gather some equipment I will give it a go, or try the elderflower champagne in a bucket. See if I like it at least !

[frozenthunderbolt]

Good on you Sarah, I wouldn't reccomend dandylion wine for a beginner as you either have to:
a) like the taste of dandylion greens
b) have 5-6 years of maturing time on your hands
c) have the patience to remove EVERY piece of green dandylion caylix from the flower heads
Just FYI :-)
Damson plum wine is good, so is blackberry and elderberry, Quince apple lychee(tinned) and apricot(tinned) as a combo make something like givutstraminer (sp?).
This is a good site to help you out also http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

[hedgewizard]

Yes, you're probably right Mike, except the reason I tried to make wine out of B.Hamburg is because it was a terrible summer and I had several buckets of sour black grapes.

Hedgewizard, I'm not fixed on comparing homemade to commercial wine .. it's just that I like my wine and homemade doesn't taste of anything much. Maybe if you didn't insist on the misnomer of calling it "wine" we could agree to differ ?

Not just me Odsox - the english-speaking world! Got another name for it?
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ... ish/wine_1

[MKG]

... and the OED backs Hedgewizard up. I wasn't going to mention it but ... well, what can a body do?

Mike