Other first time brewer

[Val_Capone]

So my husband bought me a wine kit and supplies a couple of weeks ago. However at the time I only had a glass carboy to do my primary fermenting in. Is that okay? Also it is due to go in a secondary on Sunday and the bubbling in the airlock has slowed down to one or two bubbles every 30 seconds or so. This is a 28 day white zinfandel kit. One more thing...I was given a whole bunch of wine and beer brewing stuff today and there is a sparkling cranberry apple cider kit in it....do they expire? I can't find a date on it and I would hate to throw it out if I can make it.

 

[richmke]

However at the time I only had a glass carboy to do my primary fermenting in. Is that okay?

Yes, and No.

You need air space in the carboy for the juice to foam. So, make sure the carboy is large enough.

You also need transfer to another container in order to "rack". I presume you only have 1 carboy. If so, racking will be a challenge.

Also it is due to go in a secondary on Sunday and the bubbling in the airlock has slowed down to one or two bubbles every 30 seconds or so.

If you got this far, then the carboy has worked for you.

....do they expire?

Yes. But ...

I would replace the yeast, and any chemicals. That will cost you a few dollars. The juice could be old (like drinking a bottle of juice that has been sitting in your cupboard for 5 years. The only way to find out is to try and ferment it.

For a few $'s, it is worth giving a try. Start with $1 for the yeast, and see what you get. If it tastes fine, then buy the k-meta, k-sorbate (if needed), clarifier (if needed), etc. Note: Get the k-meta when you pick up a packet of yeast. It is useful for future batches.

 

[Val_Capone]

Thanks for the info I do have another carboy and primaries now I'm thinking of trying the cider just to see what happens

 

[Val_Capone]

Also could you tell me what the thing in the box is for and there were a few of these clear plastic rod things in the box of stuff I was given..are they relevant to wine or beer making? They seem to magnify if that helps

 

[Deezil]

They look like they could be stir sticks of some sort

And the thing on/in the box is a filter set-up. I've never used one of those models but there's a lot of information out there on how they work. The upright square portion is where the filter pads go

 

[cpfan]

The plastic rods can be used to take up space in a carboy rather than topping up with water or wine. Some people use marbles.

Steve

 

[Val_Capone]

Is there a reason one would need to top up a carboy...do you loose liquid at all?

 

[Deezil]

You'll lose some wine every time you rack the wine, and it's essential to keep the carboy topped up to keep the surface area to a minimum, lowering the risk of infection, spoilage and oxidation

 

[BernardSmith]

Val, Hi and welcome. Given your questions it might be useful to see if your local library or bookstore (or Amazon) has any basic wine making books. They will give you an idea of some of the basic issues so you will have a better idea about what's what... You will (we all do) still have a million questions but you will have a better idea of what is likely to be happening with your wine... but jumping right in - as you are doing - is a good way to learn... although , in my opinion, having a mentor to work with as you learn ( could be the book - or members of this forum) is also helpful

 

[Kiwisholland]

Some good info here Val:

http://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals

 

[Dhaynes]

Here is a list of resources for new kit wine makers that you may find helpful.

Tim Vandergrift - Customer Support Manager for Winexpert - has an excellent series of videos on YouTube.com that covers every step in the process. Go to YouTube and search for "Winexpert I made this". Start with the "Introduction" video then the "Before You Begin" video. *

The Wine Maker's Toy Story in Dallas also has a good set of videos on their website at
http://www.finevinewines.com/Home-Wine-Making-Video.html

Matt Williams also has an excellent eBook on getting started making kit wines that explains a lot of the theory behind the steps in the instructions. You can purchase a copy at:

http://winemakersacademy.com/ultimate-guide-kit-winemaking/

There are a number of other good wine making videos on YouTube made by others. You can pick up lots of good tips but be careful to cross check anything you hear against your kit instructions or other authoritative sources. Well meaning people will sometimes demonstrate bad techniques or give bad information because that is what someone taught them. You will also find out that there are many variations that different people use to make wine. Most of them are okay but some are questionable.*

The most importat thing is to keep everything clean and sanitized. If you do that and follow the kit instructions you will make good wine.


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

 

[Val_Capone]

Thanks again guys....like I said this is my first time, but I've always had an interest in it. I do intend on buying books when I can. In the meantime I was hoping this forum would help me. I plan on keeping a journal of my adventures in wine making. I tend to jump in head first and go all in when I try new things and I'm pretty confident that I have a pretty good set up going to start another batch. What would you guys recommend that doesn't come out of a box? I was thinking of a mead or melonel but I'm kind of weary of how long I heard that it can take, or even trying beer

 

[Deezil]

I can already hear someone recommending Dragons Blood, which is a lighter fruit wine, but if you really want to get your feet wet, I'd recommend an Apple-Pear wine personally. 5 gallons of the best apple juice/cider you can find, and 15-20 pounds of pears, fermented cleanly with proper nutrients, it'll be a nice quality wine that can teach you the process while being consumable in about a years time.

Dragons Blood is all well and fine, but it's a quick drinker and light flavored, so it doesnt, in my mind, give you the full experience - which includes the patience of aging the wine. I don't make Skeeter Pee/Dragons Blood personally, but if you're interested in Apple or Apple-Pear, let me know and I'll be more than happy to help

 

[Val_Capone]

Apple pear sounds like a fantastic combo, however, where I live pears aren't in season. Could I make a cider out of a good quality organic apple juice?

 

[Deezil]

Sure can, but check the ingredients list to make sure it doesn't contain potassium sorbate or benzoate. Most are pasteurized and contain ascorbic acid, both of which are fine. You'll want some sugar or honey to bump the SG up though.

Do you have a Titretable Acidity kit, or a pH meter? And you probably have a hydrometer? These tools are all pretty much invaluable when it comes to making most wines from scratch.

You may want to consider an order with Doug at Brew and Wine Supply, or MoreWine, both of which sell the additives I'm going to list in single-batch sizes, so you could try them without any major investments. The impact they have on the final product is night-and-day though, or I wouldn't bother recommending them for your first batch (I wish someone had told me about them when I first started), but if you want to make a top-notch wine, they'll help get you there.

Go-Ferm - a yeast rehydration nutrient, exactly what it sounds like. It comes with specific instructions to follow, but it gets the yeast off to the healthiest start possible

Fermaid-O or Fermaid-K - complex yeast nutrients that contain a well rounded formulation that keep the yeast at optimal health during the length of the fermentation. I use Fermaid-O personally. These are added to the wine at specific-ish times, I can go in depth on that if you choose to make the order.

Opti-White & Booster Blanc - these help stabilize color, increase aromatics and 'fill in' the mid-palate of the wines, which a lot of fruit wines can lack. They make the wine have a bigger backbone persay, make it more wine and less like juice. I would order both.

And then there's a few yeasts I could recommend, depending on if you place an order and where you choose to place the order. If you don't want to order anything, I understand and can work with that as well.

 

[BernardSmith]

Making apple cider is in my opinion a great way to learn about wine making. If you live in an area with good apple orchards then finding bottles of locally pressed juice is not usually a problem. Store bought juice is often sorbated and sorbates will inhibit or more likely prevent fermentation so you do need to look at the ingredients . Pasteurization is required here , in NYS, but quality apple juice tends to be UV pasteurized and that certainly poses no problem. Heat pasteurization causes no problem for fermentation, although heat and wine making don't play well together (unlike with brewing where grains and hops require heat, heating fruit and flowers tends to remove flavor and aromatic molecules... ) But pasteurization won't inhibit fermentation once you inoculate the juice with yeast.

The thing about cider - and to a lesser extent apple wine or cyser (the latter two involve adding more sugars to the apple juice to bring the starting specific gravity (SG) closer to 1.090 - the wine might use regular table sugar or apple juice concentrate, cyser uses honey) - is that cider is ready to drink after a month or two but improves very appreciably over months...Being compelled to wait about 9- 12 months before you can really enjoy what you have made can be quite frustrating if you have no "pipeline" of wines aging out on a regular basis. But most wines really do need months of aging...

Last point: meads are - in my opinion - far easier to make than many people think. The secret is not to boil or even heat the honey, to buy good quality varietal honeys (not mixtures that come from various countries) , to use yeasts that are not known for their aggression (champagne yeasts are aggressive), to ferment at the lower range of the temperatures preferred by the particular yeast you are using (cider too is best fermented at lower (in the 60's F rather than higher temperatures (in the 70's) and to use an appropriate quantity of honey to water. All the flavor of a mead comes from the honey but so too does the alcohol - so too much water dilutes the flavor and too much honey creates rocket fuel rather than something that you would want to drink.. So about 2.5 - 3lbs of honey to make a gallon of mead - in my opinion makes for a good balance (this will produce a mead with about 12 % alcohol). If you like your wines dry then that is fine. If you prefer your wines "sweeter", then you still ferment out every last drop of sugar but you back-sweeten (ie you stabilize (stop) the fermentation process and then you add more sweetener).

This is a great hobby - Good luck !

 

[Val_Capone]

Wow! You guys are awesome I can't wait to hit up my local supply store and get my next batch going thanks so much for the awesome advice!

 

[Val_Capone]

Sorry. One more question...how would I make a cider sparkling? Would champagne yeast do it or do I need a keg?