Suggestions for older folks wine making kits...

[petey_c]

My FIL's family (Famiglia Agarenzo) used to make about 250 Gal./year. Mom and dad (in-law) are in their late 70's. They think they might be interested in making wine again, but on a smaller scale (due to physical limitations). Their wine of choice is about $15/gal.. The 1 gallon kits seem too small. Are there any worthwhile 3 gallon kits about? Pete

 

[Yooper]

I've never seen a quality 3 gallon wine kit, except for specials like ice wine or port.

I did buy a 5 gallon bucket of frozen grapes that made a 3 gallon batch of wine and that was quite good and easy to use. I bought that from Midwest about 3 years ago, and they also had pails of frozen juice. I don't think they do that anymore, but it's worth checking into.

 

[podz]

So at their age, the problem is that they can't be maneuvering 5 gal vessels for racking, cleaning, etc?

Put a plastic primary vessel somewhere elevated, then rack into 2 x 2.5 gallon (10 litre) basket-covered demijohns for secondary. Those basket demijohns are nice because they have 2 handles - 2 people can easily carry one of them. They are also a lot easier to clean / sanitise because 2 people can hold it in the air and shake it, then turn it upside down to empty it.

After recently purchasing a 20 litre basket demijohn, I don't think I'll use my 5 gallon glass water-bottle carboy for anything other than Apfelwein which only goes in and comes out one time. The glass water-bottle carboys are an abomination - difficult to move, difficult to clean and simply dangerous to work with.

 

[yessri]

$15/gallon is below my cost for a good 5 gallon kit. Fresh grapes go up from there, if this is a financial question. If not, go with podz suggestions above.^

 

[Heavywalker]

Buy a 6 gallon kit and split it into 2- 3 gallon carboys, or 6- one gallon...

 

[ong]

The three gallon Better Bottles are really easy to handle.

 

[petey_c]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll have to talk it over with them. Pete

 

[huesmann]

Buy a 6 gallon kit and split it into 2- 3 gallon carboys, or 6- one gallon...

This. Easy solution. Although it's kind of a hassle. They could even blend their final product, if you're able to find them some help to lift the blended carboy up for bottling.