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Author Topic: Wine Making Equipment  (Read 3586 times)

Offline cheshirecat

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Wine Making Equipment
« on: July 18, 2013, 07:36:19 am »
Hi all. I am thinking about making some wine in the near future. I have been regularly homebrewing over 3 years so I have a lot of equipment (carboys,refractometer, etc, etc).

Beyond the normal brewing gear what additional equipment might I need?

Also, what tips do you have for a first time wine maker? I know brewing kits often come with outdated or be incomplete instructions. What are some tips, instructions, ideas that will give me a good chance of making decent wine the first time out. I am planning on doing both red and white. I have not decided on a kit yet but will be looking for something on the higher end.

Thanks!

Offline thebigbaker

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2013, 07:58:18 am »
My wife and I did our first wine last year.  We did a Select International Austrailian Shiraz kit and it came out great!  Here's the equipment that we needed to get:

- Large 7 gallon wine fermenting bucket (you'll also need a couple of carboys, but most of us already have plenty of those!)
- Wine bottles (we got 28 full bottles out of our batch)
- Corks
- Wine corker (we got one of those double lever hand corkers)
- Mixer/ degasser like this http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/winemaking/wine-equipment/wine-fermenting-equipment/wine-mixing-degas/mix-stir-stainless-steel.html

I was told that if you can make Kool-aide, then you can make wine.  It's very easy to do and the results were far better than I expected.  Just follow the directions with your wine kit and like beer, keep an eye on your fermentation temps.  Wine seems to be more forgiving with fermentation temps than beer.  When mixing and degassing your beer, you may want to do this in a tub or in the garage as some wine may splash out and you don't want to stain any carpet or hardwood floors.

The great thing about wine, the "brew day" is only about an hour!  Here's NB's video about making wine if you haven't seen it already:  http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/episode/brewing-tv-episode-65-wine-not/

« Last Edit: July 18, 2013, 07:59:55 am by thebigbaker »
Jeremy Baker

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Offline Slowbrew

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2013, 08:12:39 am »
I made 2 batches of wine a few years back.  Was pretty simple and equipment other listed will get you going.

The only thing that seemed to bite me was trying to completely degas the wine.  We had 60 bottles of slightly sparkling Merlot.  It wasn't bad but was a little different.  8^)

I may try it again someday but SWMBO isn't real keen on bubbly red wine. 

Paul
Where the heck are we going?  And what's with this hand basket?

cornershot

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2013, 08:19:53 am »
Ferment reds warm, whites cool. Temperature control!
I asked a pro I know for tips and he said to purge bottles with nitrogen when bottling. I don't have nitrogen so I use my beer gun and purge with co2.
Filter it if you can. My lhbs rents a wine filter. Makes a big difference.
Patience: resist the urge to drink it before it's time. And on that note, make a lot! It takes quite a while to condition, particularly reds. If you want enough to share, a 5 or 6 gallon batch doesn't seem to go far.

Offline cheshirecat

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2013, 10:02:42 am »
Thanks everyone. Getting pretty excited to do this in the fall, it will be my birthday present to myself  ;D.

Ferment reds warm, whites cool. Temperature control!

What temp I am I looking at for both whites and reds?

Thanks again!

cornershot

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2013, 10:36:17 am »
Thanks everyone. Getting pretty excited to do this in the fall, it will be my birthday present to myself  ;D.

Ferment reds warm, whites cool. Temperature control!

What temp I am I looking at for both whites and reds?

Thanks again!

Whites: 50-60f. A too-vigorous fermentation will blow off too much of the aromatics. Think lager fermentation


Reds: 70-80f ambient air temp and just let it do it's thing. Because reds are fermented on the skins, the warmer temperature will help extract the goodness from the skins. Use a heat belt or other heat source if you have to. Think saison fermentation.

Offline cheshirecat

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2013, 10:40:48 am »
Thanks Big Al. How long should they be at these temps? Actually, better way to ask is on average how long should I expect fermentation to last? More important for the white since I will need to use my fridge.

cornershot

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Re: Wine Making Equipment
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2013, 10:56:08 am »
Reds ferment fairly quick. Press the skins when sugar reaches 0 brix.
Whites take longer, but that's the idea. Ferment slowly to preserve the bouquet. 2 weeks?