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+--- Thread: wine making (/thread-15087.html)
- willp58 - 02-21-2004
Hello, I live not 20 miles from the Welch plant in Westfield NY.
I'm thinking about making some wine as Welchs sells fresh juice at the plant.
Would it be better to buy a kit or just go ahead and fly solo??
I would like to have a nice red semi-dry wine as a final product but have no idea how to get it.
Can you leave the wine in a barrel and drain off what is needed or does it have to be bottled?
Thanks
- Thomas - 02-21-2004
Willp58, take a drive into Pennsylvania, to Presque Isle Wine Cellars, in Northeast. Ask for Doug; tell him the ex-owner of Cana Vineyards, in the Finger Lakes, sent you.
In addition to being a fine commercial winemaker, Doug services all that a home winemaker needs, from juice to supplies, to information.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-21-2004).]
- willp58 - 02-23-2004
Foodie,
Thanks! Erie is only about 45 minutes from me. I will go there for sure.
I thought I'd try some wine making for a couple of reasons.
One is it sounds like a dandy project.
Two is the fact that I spend at least 30 bux/week on wine and I need to cut that back a little!
- willp58 - 03-27-2004
Foodie,
I went to PI winery today and talked with your friend. I had a great time!
He was patient and explained all about wine making and answered all our questions.
I purchased a kit with all the peripheries from him to make Cabernet.
I have it gurgling as we speak!
Thanks!
- Thomas - 03-28-2004
Keep us informed on its progress. Here's a story for you.
The first batch of wine I ever made was at home--it was Riesling. I had previously fallen in love with the wine while living in then secular Iran, drinking great Riesling from the Caspian Sea region.
Anyway, I did everything the kit advised except that I was not patient. I bottled the Riesling after thinking it had finished fermenting and it had clarified properly. I did not spend money on equipment that would have told me accurately if my assumptions were correct.
One Friday evening in spring, my wife and I got home late. Mingled with the perfume of spring flowers was a decided yeasty/hot aroma. My nose followed the source of the aroma to the cellar; there, I saw a lake of Riesling with corks bobbing in it. The bottles I had filled with the wine were all more than half empty.
The wine had re-fermented in the bottles.
I soon enrolled in a winemaking course.
- Musky Dime - 03-31-2004
Am new to this board, but have been making wine at home for a year now. Have had exelent success, thanks to studying what other people have learned and posted on the internet. My third batch was made from Welch's grape juice as someone told me it was possible. Everything went fine, throughout the process. But then found out why more people don't make Welch's Wine...It don't taste good. It's very potent, but tough on my pallet.
- willp58 - 03-31-2004
Foodie,
That's a funny story..
Actually I was wondering just how you DO determine when the wine is completely done working.
I bought a cabernet kit that was of course a concentrate..The directions say that this is completely finished and ready to bottle in 28 days.
Can this be right??
- Thomas - 04-01-2004
Yes and no.
It is right that it is supposed to take the prescribed number of days but--and a big but--nothing, with regard to fermentation, is exact. Environmental temperature fluctuations, time it took for fermentation to begin, juice nutrition, et al, contribute to the timetable for completion.
The best way to tell if the fermentation is complete is to measure the resulting sugar after the prescribed days. You can do this not with a hydrometer, which is great for measuring juice brix, but horrible at measuring wine (the alcohol changes readings) but with a thing called Clinitest--a tablet that is intended to measure sugar in urine of diabtics. You can also use color chromotagraphy to measure resulting sugar.
Knowing the resulting sugar is the only sure way of knowing when fermentation has completed.
- willp58 - 04-01-2004
Foodie,
What should the results be if it is ready to bottle??
NO sugar present? Hmm, this is getting comply-kated..
The directions state that the 1st 7 days should be at about 71-77 degrees. I've tired to keep it at that..I started this last Saturday and it was visibly working till yesterday. Now it doesn't seem to be working.
Also the directions state that on day 7, I should syphon into a carboy and that it should be just about done working at that time..
At day 20, it should be completely finished and at that time should re-syphon into another carboy to clear the sediment...
Does all this sound right??
Thanks again for all the info.
- Thomas - 04-01-2004
Not being there, it is difficult for me to be specific. Generally, fermentation is violent for the first couple of days and then it settles down to a nice purr.
Are you using an air lock? If so, you should see no more bubbles popping when fermentation has stopped. But that does not guarantee you have most of the sugar out--the fermentation could get stuck at any time for a variety of reasons.
So, when the air lock bubbles have ceased, check the sugar content. If your sugar reading is .5% or below you are there, provided you did not seek a sweet wine.
Get the wine off the dead yeast cells and into a clean carboy. Let rest until more sediment drops out, and then rack it again.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 04-01-2004).]
- willp58 - 04-02-2004
The 1st 7 days call for the juice to be in a tub of sorts so no, at this time there is no air lock, just an open, loosely covered tub.
On day 7, I will move it to a carboy with an airlock.
- Thomas - 04-02-2004
Sorry, I jumped ahead of you.
Don't know why you were told to do it in a tub if you used grape concentrate or juice. A half filled carboy should have been ok.
Now you run the risk of taking off the yeast cells to get it into a carboy before fermentation is completed
This is why I said earlier that without being there, it is hard for me to specific.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 04-02-2004).]
- willp58 - 04-02-2004
hmm, The tub thing and the timing is all outlined in the instructions I got with the juice. Actually I wondered about the air getting to the juice while in a tub..
Another friend that has done this said what you did about putting the juice into a carboy right from the beginning..
I have only one more day before the 1st transfer to a carboy.
After that, it will be under an airlock from now on.