What is the best way to start up?

[d-will11]

I'm new to this. I'd love to get into making different kinds of fruit wines.
-I'm just not sure what equipment to get in the beginning (which size carboy etc). What size batch would you recommend I start with?
-Can someone explain a little about the purpose of acid,tannin, pectic enzyme, campden tablets etc? Do i need to use them?
-Grolsch/flip-top bottles: thoughts on those? I like that they would be extremely easy to use and re-use. I have no experience with corking.

Pretty much any information would be helpful! Any easy recipes to start off with wuold be great too! Thanks so much

-Dani

 

[bernardsmith]

Best advice is to go to your local library or bookstore and see pick a couple of basic wine making books. CCJ Berry http://www.amazon.com/dp/1854861395/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 is a great first book (although written many years ago) .

My advice? Ignore recipes - don't dilute fruit juice with water. Wine ain't beer and wine doesn't need water. You use the juice from the fruit. If you don't have enough juice - then get more fruit OR make less wine..

 

[Yooper]

Well, some juices are just way too acidic to be used "straight" and require dilution.

If someone wants to start making fruit wines, I suggest 1 gallon sized batches of super simple recipes. If you want to start with juices, that's great and there are Welch's juice recipes all around the internet (I even have a couple posted, under my avatar, on the left, under 'recipes'). If you want to start with fruit, I have things like dandelion and rhubarb wine recipes posted but you can use just about any fruit you can think of.

As far as additives, the cider sticky is a good place to start (it's just like winemaking in many ways): https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/cider-beginners-508303/

 

[d-will11]

Which bottling method would you recommend? Cork or flip top? Are there any disadvantages to using the flip tops for wine?

 

[Yooper]

Which bottling method would you recommend? Cork or flip top? Are there any disadvantages to using the flip tops for wine?

No, either is fine, assuming you're not aging for years (and most fruit wines aren't designed to age long anyway).

 

[KD28]

If you watch youtube there are alotta videos that are pretty helpful in giving you an idea what your getting into.
Like all videos, some are good, some are not so helpful but you'll get the jist of it.

 

[d-will11]

So... I spent last night binge watching tons of youtube videos on making fruit wines. The videos clarified a few of the additives that need to be added (campden tabs, pectolase etc) which was very helpful. I'm ordering the supplements online today.

Can someone make a list of things that would be considered part of the "standard fruit wine kit"?

Also which yeast is best/easiest to use for fruit wine making and apple cider?
I did a bit of reading on the apple cider yeast and 'Brewer's Best Cider House Select Premium Cider Yeast' seemed to be extremely successful.

 

[d-will11]

So... I spent last night binge watching tons of youtube videos on making fruit wines. The videos clarified a few of the additives that need to be added (campden tabs, pectolase etc) which was very helpful. I'm ordering the supplements online today.

Can someone make a list of things that would be considered part of the "standard fruit wine kit"?

Also which yeast is best/easiest to use for fruit wine making and apple cider?
I did a bit of reading on the apple cider yeast and 'Brewer's Best Cider House Select Premium Cider Yeast' seemed to be extremely successful.

 

[d-will11]

So far, in my cart I have:
Yeast nutrient
Campden tablets
Acid blend
Pectic enzyme

Other than yeast, what else do I need?

 

[KD28]

Tannin is in most recipes I've seen and used.
And stabilizer for the end.

This and the stuff in your list is what I keep on hand and havent used anything else.
I just keep it simple and use Red Star Monatrachet yeast. I guess I have used champaine yeast a couple times just because.

 

[d-will11]

Thanks for all of the help. Big shopping trip tomorrow!

 

[Pataka]

My advice to you on making your first batch would be, stay away from sparkling and make a still wine. Then, start collecting bottles with screw caps (just remember to sterilise them before bottling your wine in them). You'll get 6 bottles from a 1 gallon batch, and probably a little more. So throw the extra into a plastic soda bottle, and its firmness will be a good indicator of what the rest are doing. If, as my first batch did, the soda bottle firmed up a little, you can use the screwcaps on the main bottles to release the pressure. I never had any damage done to my wine as a result of doing this.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

The swing top bottles are nice until you want so share your wine with others. ( Will they return the bottle? How long until they do?) My advice is to get a hand caper and some oxygen barrier caps. That way you can wash and reuse bottles from any beer or cider you drink.
As for carboy size, I started with one gallon glass jugs. I find they are a nice size for learning and experimenting.
If your new to home brewing in general, make sure you get yourself a nice notebook. Its great to keep notes on what you used/did.

 

[d-will11]

The swing top bottles are nice until you want so share your wine with others. ( Will they return the bottle? How long until they do?) My advice is to get a hand caper and some oxygen barrier caps. That way you can wash and reuse bottles from any beer or cider you drink.
As for carboy size, I started with one gallon glass jugs. I find they are a nice size for learning and experimenting.
If your new to home brewing in general, make sure you get yourself a nice notebook. Its great to keep notes on what you used/did.

I just can't help but love the look of them. I felt like they were an easy bottling option for me to start with. The homebrew store that I went to in my area didn't have the larger capping bottles or capper left in stock. I definitely plan on having more than 1 bottling options in the future, but I don't have the funds to get everything right now. I'm not overly concerned about the swing-top bottles being returned because i'll only be using those with family. I'm waiting for a friend of mine to drink a few cases of wine so I can have those bottles. (And i'm working on the beer bottles ). Slowly but surely i'll gather everything.

My plan is to make a 1 gallon batch of hard lemonade (still "wine") and also a 1 gallon batch of welchs white grape peach (concentrate) wine. I'm hoping to start the lemonade on wednesday after my exam. I'll post a new thread when that gets going. Thanks for the notebook suggestion. I will definitely need the organization.

Thanks for all of the help everyone!

 

[d-will11]

I'm still waiting on a hydrometer and fermenting bucket, but I hope to get my batch of hard lemonade started wed. I just wanted to ask if I should split my yeast packet between the 2 1 gallon batches that i'm doing OR should I use a whole packet with each gallon?

Also, I want to do a white grape peach wine using the welch's concentrate, but I can't seem to find it anywhere! Do you think I could do the recipe using 3 white grape concentrate cans and canned peaches? If so... How many cans of peaches do you think I would need?

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

I've split yeast packets between one gallon batches before. Doesn't hurt anything. Most grocery stores will special order frozen concentrates if you ask them. Just might take a couple weeks.