# vinbon juice bucket



## torontowine (Sep 27, 2013)

I've made wine from kits in the past. I want to try making wine from fresh juice pails, Here in Toronto we have a company called Vinbon (www.vinbon.ca). I visited one of their locations to inquire about how to make their wine. The lady at the location I attended was friendly but very unhelpful. She wasn't able to give me any instructions on how to make the wine and didn't even know what a carboy was. About all she was able to tell me was that the juice was ready to go with yeast already in the juice and no additives need to be added. I found the instructions below on another Vinbon location's website. The only issue I see is that all the carboys I have are 23 litres. Vinbon sells their juice in 20 litre pails. I've come up with two solutions, 1) either buy a 5 gallon carboy and have a little left over juice, 2) buy 3 litres of commercial wine to top up the carboy to 23 litres. 

Just wondering if the instructions below seem correct--I'm use to making kits and adding yeast, chitosan, sorb ate, etc which is included in the kit. And secondly any other suggestions on how to deal with the volume difference (20 litres of juice vs 23 litre carboy). If anyone has experience with juice from buckets and specifically anyone with experience with vinbon juice I'd appreciate your imput. Thanks!

Instructions:


Wooden barrels are a thing of the past. For a good fermentation, sterlized containers such as demijohns, carboys and food grade plastic barrels work well. Use a potassium metabisulphite solution to sterilize containers.
Every Win-Bon juice has its own natural yeasts, a well balanced sugar content and a minimum of SO2. All of this guarantees a good fermentation. It's not necessary to add anything!

Any interior location where the temperature remains between 18 degrees and 20 degrees Celsius (65-70F) is suitable for the fermentation of Vin Bon juice.
Leave approximately 8-10% of each container unfilled during primary fermentation. For example, in a 54 litre (12 gallon) container, fill only to the level of 52 L (11.5 gal.); in a 216 litre (48 gallon) container, fill to 202.5 L (45 gallon). For the first 4-6 days of fermentation, this precaution limits the overflow of juice and reduces the heat factor. After four to six days you can top up your containers and reattach fermentation locks.
Use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity. When specific gravity is 1.000 or less, most of the juice has been converted to alcohol. Thus fermentation is complete.

When the fermentation is complete, siphon wine from one vessel to another so as to leave behind the sediment. It is at this time that containers should be filled up to the neck. This can be done in two ways. Either siphon the wine from a larger container into a smaller one or add wine (from extra stock of the same wine you've kept on hand) to fill the container. 

Note: When transferring wine from one bottle to another, use a siphon. Pouring can disturb the sediment and damage clarity.

In approximately three weeks, the wine will start to clarify. At this time the wine should be siphoned again. Fill new containers up to the neck. Air locks may be installed but normal plugs will suffice.
Note: Due to the chemical process inherent in wine making, there is an approximate volume loss of 6-10% from juice to finished wine. When purchasing the containers of juice you should bear this in mind and remember too that extra wine must be used for topping up the containers after each siphoning.

Once fermentation is complete, AIR is the number one enemy of wine. A good wine maker keeps containers of various sizes on hand so that the wine may be easily transferred to an appropriate sized container.
During the first four months, a wine should be siphoned at least twice. Even if there is little or no sediment, siphoning aerates the wine. (In principle, this is the same as opening the windows of a house from time to time to let in fresh air).

Now the wine can be bottled. To bottle: wash bottles and sterilize them with a sulphite solution. Let them drain. Siphon wine into the bottle and close them with screw caps, plastic stoppers or corks. If, however, the wine is to be left in its original container, keep the containers full and add a floating anti-mildew capsule to prevent the formation of white mildew. The long tradition of wine making suggests that optimum results are obtained with storage temperatures between 12-16 degrees celsius (53-50F). White wine thrives in slightly lower temperatures.


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## Jbu50 (Sep 19, 2018)

Ferment your 20L juice from pail in a 23L carboy, then rack into a 19L carboy.


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## jgareri (Sep 19, 2018)

If you're interested in good homemade wine, leave the Vinbon juice buckets at Vinbon and see Charles at Fermentations on the Danforth or take a ride to Watson's in Niagara on the Lake for some local grapes .They both have must (not juice buckets) and will be way more helpful. I went into Vinbon once to buy their terrible corks for an emergency bottling but outside of that, you're just buying some grape juice that will produce mediocre wine in the best and most optimal scenarios.


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## Jbu50 (Sep 20, 2018)

Nothing wrong with Vinbon juice if you're moving up from a kit and want to take it to the next level. I like Vinbon because each store is independently owned and stock a lot of supplies of their own choosing from different sources. I was able to buy new Portuguese oak barrels from one store when the owner found a limited supply. Then the next time I dropped in they had a range of different size Hungarian oak barrels, etc. As for corks, I've seen a variety from expensive to cheap. Depending on the location and clientele, some stores rely on kits for the bulk of their business, while other stores rely on their economical "red" and "white" juice for the undiscerning client who is primarily concerned with low cost wine... Their premium juice pails are decent enough.


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