# What's The Soonest You Can Bottle/Drink A Wine?



## critterhunter (Nov 17, 2010)

I'm on my first wine making attempt- 6.5 gallons of pear wine. Having only one carboy at this time I don't want to dottle around for months not being able to make another batch. Already 5 weeks out the stuff tastes fine to me. Sure, it isn't as clear as a commercial wine yet, but it's plenty clear enough for me. Is clearity really all that important to taste, as I've been told it doesn't really matter?

What I'm asking is this- How fast can I bottle the stuff and how fast can I drink it? Also, can the aging process (bulk aging) in the carboy be done in the bottle instead, because I'd rather free this jug up for another batch.

While I'm at it, are there any particular wines that get done faster than others? I'm really wanting to push this stuff into the bottling process (& drinking process) as fast as possible. How much does the wine's taste improve if it's bulk aged in the jug rather than just bottling it and drinking it in say a couple of months. I'd like to keep my turn around time from fermenting to drinking at about two months. Sure, there will be some bottles that are left to age but that's not to say I don't want to drink some ASAP.


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## djrockinsteve (Nov 17, 2010)

You may drink it whenever you want. However you will get more pleasure by waiting.

Hard o do I know but fruit wines and whites typically wait 6 months while reds are a year. Longer if you can but when you've just begun it's so hard. 

The wine will age faster in the bottle but I prefer to age mine in bulk in caboys. Yes that means you will need more if you can afford them and have access as well. Some bottles asap to free up their carboys.

Choice is up to you. Best to wait if you can. You will be rewarded if you do.


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## PPBart (Nov 17, 2010)

critterhunter said:


> I'm on my first wine making attempt- 6.5 gallons of pear wine...the stuff tastes fine to me...plenty clear enough for me...How fast can I bottle the stuff and how fast can I drink it?
> 
> How much does the wine's taste improve if it's bulk aged in the jug rather than just bottling it and drinking it in say a couple of months.



LOL! That's a predicament every new winemaker faces. You might as well start shopping around for more carboys, because this problem just won't go away.

As for when to bottle and drink, I'm sure everyone here will agree that it's your wine and your choice. One tactic I use, especially with something that I haven't made before, is to bottle a portion of the batch in 375-ml bottles. Those are for tasting and assessing the batch. I'll open one perhaps every month to see how the wine is progressing; if the wine is not "ready for prime time," I've only wasted a small portion. Once I'm happy with the taste, the batch is available and I'll share it with others.


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## critterhunter (Nov 17, 2010)

So it looks like I'm not going to get any advice from guys who rush their wine here. I was hoping for somebody who would said "Hey, in two months I bottle and drink the stuff and it tastes fine to me."

So I'll ask a few other questions...Somebody in another thread mentioned "Mist" kits for making fast wine. What is that, how does it work, and how fast can I bottle/drink that stuff? Also, I did a quick google search for "How To Make Wine Fast" and found many links to people talking about using fruit juice. I've only glanced over that stuff for now but it appears some of them are drinking the stuff like as soon as fermation is done. How fast can you bottle drink fruit juice, and are there any other quick and dirty (with the emphasis on quick and not so much dirty) ways to make wine, bottle it, and get drunk in as quick of time as possible.

Yes, I've got a line on some used Carboys to add to my line up, and I would guess staggering those into 2 month or so batches would keep the wine flowing even if I have to wait 6 months for some batches, but I still would like some quick and dirty ways to make wine with a reasonable taste. I'm not talking wine cellar expensive taste here, just something that tastes halfway decent while I pound some down for a good buzz.


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## xoltri (Nov 17, 2010)

Mist wines are typically low alcohol (8.5%) and heavily sweetened. Things like Peach Chardonnay, Green Apple Gewurztraminer etc are ones that I have made. Google for orchard breezin or island mist. These are typically 28 day kits (from start to bottle), but I find you still need to wait another 4 weeks before you can't taste the sulfites. If you aerate it heavily for an hour before drinking it helps if you want to drink it earlier than that.

If you want something to drink ASAP look up skeeter pee. I would bet it's the fastest drinking thing out there, even more so than the mist wines.


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## Catfish (Nov 17, 2010)

I seen a welchs grape juice recipe online somewhere. You put a balloon on top the 1 gallon carboy. It will air up. Then once it goes back down it's done. Like 2 or 3 weeks is all it takes if I remember right. Try it out. Just google it.


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## Runningwolf (Nov 17, 2010)

I would go with a few Island Mists or Orchard Breezen kits myself to get some early drinkers going.


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## critterhunter (Nov 17, 2010)

This Skeeter Pee lemon stuff...Is there any other type of fruit or cirtrus flavor you can use to make the stuff? I mean I like lemon or lime, but it would be nice to make other stuff.

I'll check out the grape juide stuff on the web. That looks to be ultra fast from to bottle too.


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## MN-winer (Nov 17, 2010)

When I started I drank the wines right away but they were cheap kits and I didn't have a developed taste for good wines. Now I'm making more expensive kits, bulk age them and wait. If I need something to drink I use Mist kits or get some from a liquor store. If you want to get something that tastes good and is high alcohol get a mist kit and dump an additional 3-4 lbs of sugar into it and then you will get something around 11-12% that tastes good.

I say if you want to drink it then drink it. But once you save a bottle and try it 1 year from now and realize how much it improved you will have more patience.
Good luck!!!


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## malweth (Nov 17, 2010)

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread (it seems on-topic), but the Skeeter Pee requires the lees from the previous batch. I'm almost going to do my first racking (from carboy to bucket, then back to carboy).

I've ordered a 2nd carboy, but if I wanted to start a S.P. A.S.A.P., how long can it stay in the primary after 1st fermenting (tightened with airlock)? My new carboy will arrive after Christmas.

I'm also planning on buying another when I go get bottles & corks locally, but that seems to be even further off!!


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## PPBart (Nov 17, 2010)

malweth said:


> Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread (it seems on-topic), but the Skeeter Pee requires the lees from the previous batch...



Not really. You can use a yeast starter just as with any other must -- it's just sometimes a bit slower to crank up.


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## JohnT (Nov 17, 2010)

You can drink wine in just a few days. I do make a "Sturm" that is meant to be consumed while the yeast is still active. For the most part, however, you might want to wait a couple of months at least. 

this is a rule of thumb for DRINKING wine. That is not to say that you should be TASTING the wine along the way.


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## kearnmccament41 (Feb 28, 2020)

I have found that drinking your wine before 5 weeks will give you a pounding headache serious heartburn and a dehydrating hangover! Wait until the storm is over and sits a while .It gets so much better after 2 or 3 months


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## dralarms (Feb 28, 2020)

kearnmccament41 said:


> I have found that drinking your wine before 5 weeks will give you a pounding headache serious heartburn and a dehydrating hangover! Wait until the storm is over and sits a while .It gets so much better after 2 or 3 months




If you drinking all yours by the 3 month mark then you’re not getting the best. Most need 6 to 12 months to really come around and at 24 months most will blow you away by the improvements.


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## sremick (Mar 3, 2020)

I have 7 batches going at various stages at this point. All but one are ones that would benefit from 1-2 years of aging. Impatience prompted me to get at least one "quick" kit going so that I could at least have _something_ to drink sooner, even if I knew ahead of time it wasn't going to be as good of an end product.


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## Steve Wargo (Mar 4, 2020)

Supposedly white wines can be drunk sooner than reds. I give a white at least 3 months after fermentation before I start to drink it. With that said I think pretty much everyone has had a few bottles of wine earlier in the aging process. Try cold crashing a gallon of it. Rack it. Then test a glass of it and see if you like it. It's your wine.


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## winemaker81 (Mar 6, 2020)

The straight answer to "how soon can I drink my wine?" is immediately after fermentation ends. If you're bit pickier, after it mostly settles (let's say 2 to 3 weeks).

I recommend putting aside 5 bottles. Open one bottle at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 months after bottling and make notes regarding smell, taste, and overall opinion. You may find the results entertaining.


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## Mike Parisi (Mar 6, 2020)

I am very new to winemaking. My 3rd batch is in the clarifying/aging stage. I have been very impatient in wanting to try the first two (Nero D'Avola and Super Tuscan) but have managed to not drink more than one bottle a week, starting about a month after bottling. I have set aside a case of each and hope to be able to not touch them for at least a year.


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## ThunderFred (Mar 6, 2020)

The soonest I can drink wine is 7am unless I set the alarm and get up early.

I once made a cheap cabernet kit with a friend who was interested in learning about the process. We split the batch and she started drinking her's right away. She loved it. I didn't think it was very good so I left it in the rack for a year and still wasn't crazy about it. At the two year mark I still wasn't impressed so I gave her what I had left. She loved the wine. I suppose it's all subject to individual taste.


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## winemaker81 (Mar 6, 2020)

Mike Parisi said:


> I am very new to winemaking.


I'm not new to winemaking and the urge to sample newer wines is still there. It helps to make quicker aging wines to drink while the other is aging. Sometimes stuffing a case in a closet or the cellar helps -- out of sight, out of mind.



ThunderFred said:


> I suppose it's all subject to individual taste.


It's good to have friends that love the wine that you don't!


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## hounddawg (Mar 7, 2020)

hum something must be wrong with me, for my first time not counting when i was young helping the elders and trying to learn, then i grew up went out doing construction across the states, all them old elders were long gone, so i started 2 six gallons of blackberry, 2 six of strawberry and one 6&1/2 of pear apple blend, all from fresh fruit, bulk aged two years, without a taste, that's when i got on here to see if it was ruined or not, i was fixing to throw it away, this forum saved me from pouring it out, but like these members here told me once you get some laid back it'll get easier, but i'm sure there's better other types but skeeter pee is the quickest i make, but like others a little aging helps it get better,
Dawg


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## hounddawg (Mar 7, 2020)

winemaker81 said:


> I'm not new to winemaking and the urge to sample newer wines is still there. It helps to make quicker aging wines to drink while the other is aging. Sometimes stuffing a case in a closet or the cellar helps -- out of sight, out of mind.
> 
> 
> It's good to have friends that love the wine that you don't!



yep i just unloaded 2 cases of 2016, i forget the type mead it was called,, but it was wildflower honey, 3 lbs blackberries and 1 ounce of some australian flora hops, man i didn't like it at all, lol i got me a label remover for a while,,, hehe, and to think i might of paid him to drink it so i could have my wine bottles back, and to think i just got almost 7 cases of factory labeled used wine bottles and he's going to clean each and every one of them, oh my bad and no shame at all,,
Dawg


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## Kuttyjaya (Apr 20, 2020)

critterhunter said:


> I'm on my first wine making attempt- 6.5 gallons of pear wine. Having only one carboy at this time I don't want to dottle around for months not being able to make another batch. Already 5 weeks out the stuff tastes fine to me. Sure, it isn't as clear as a commercial wine yet, but it's plenty clear enough for me. Is clearity really all that important to taste, as I've been told it doesn't really matter?
> 
> What I'm asking is this- How fast can I bottle the stuff and how fast can I drink it? Also, can the aging process (bulk aging) in the carboy be done in the bottle instead, because I'd rather free this jug up for another batch.
> 
> While I'm at it, are there any particular wines that get done faster than others? I'm really wanting to push this stuff into the bottling process (& drinking process) as fast as possible. How much does the wine's taste improve if it's bulk aged in the jug rather than just bottling it and drinking it in say a couple of months. I'd like to keep my turn around time from fermenting to drinking at about two months. Sure, there will be some bottles that are left to age but that's not to say I don't want to drink some ASAP.


I started making wine without any kits or prior experience..
I made it purely for the purpose of getting drunk. Things I noticed are

The fermentation finished after 5- 6 days...
It started to settle in next couple of days..
I filtered it on 8th day and drank it on the 9th day...
I cannot say the taste was awesome, but I can say it served its purpose...
I got drunk...


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