Florida Wine Making

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

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Joined
Apr 19, 2009
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N. Ft. Myers , Fl
Saw in the Intro section some people were interested in how to make wine in Florida. So I thought I would start this thread & see what interest there is in comparing/sharing ideas. We just moved our home winery from the Ga. Mtn's with a very large finished basement & a sink/counter set up etc. 60* winter, 68* summer. Now in N. Ft. Myers, Fl. my wine room is holding 75* no HVAC running the last 4 weeks. I have a dedicated "Wine Room", 10' X 14'. It will have a sink/tub, need to work out details,[no back to back plumbing], it will have a wine rack for 500+ bottles, counter to work on, place for 10+ carboys, etc. etc. Right now it's storing all the wine, & 6 full carboys & 3 fermentation buckets with wine in process. Will need the sink & additional AC asap. Thinking of one of the LG free standing AC units, sorta portable, but need a 6" exhaust duct to outside,[community we live in does not allow window AC units]. H&C water no big deal,[hot water heater only 16' away] The sink DRAIN will be a challange. Maybe a 5 gal. bucket with a sump pump, like some of you "cave dwellers" use? To a attic vent pipe? Or a 20 ft run inside the garage to "dry well". Other than these issues I don't ee a big difference. Roy
 
Once I kick up winemaking at my Florida home like I have in Bama, I will need to address the heat. Right now I do everyting in a carpeted, furnished garage!

At the least, I will build a airconditioned (insulated) room in my skinny storage shed for keeping wine in bottles extended periods. I will not put them in my house as when we leave in the summer for 3 or so months, I turn the ac up to about 80 degrees and the wine expands due to the heat.

As far as fermenting white wines, I place the bucket or carboy in a "rope" handled tub and rotate about 3 frozen water bottles every 12 to 18 hours. Not a lot of work and keeps the ferment at about 35 degrees.

Sounds like you are very fortunate with a great wine making area. You just left another great wine making area as you well know.
 

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