Hello from Athens, GA with Question

[kzimmer0817]

Hello,

I've spent the past 3 years soaking up everything I could on the Homebrewtalk forum. I've only brewed 5-6 batches of beer and have been considering spending the $$ to set up an electric brewery. Unfortunately, my wife doesn't like beer. We do enjoy wine, and she actually said that she would enjoy making wine.

A friend who brews all kinds of stuff swears to me that making wine is much easier than making beer (no boiling, less risk of infection). Can you who have done both give me your take on this? I've read a few brief online document on making white and red wine, and, to me, it sounds more complicated than making beer.

I'm thinking that I will set my electric brewer plans aside for a while to explore winemaking. I would certainly appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[Pumpkinman]

Keith,
I brew a good deal of beer, all grain, and I make a decent amount of wine as well. I wouldn't say that wine is easier to make, there might be less risk of infection, but the amount of faults that a wine can be effected by is unreal.
I think as a whole Home brewers are a lot more paranoid of infections, therefore we go a little nuts when it comes to washing and sanitizing..,.lol
With beer, you have a shorter time frame from start to finish, unless you are making a lambic, we have to worry about mash temps, sparging temps, crush size, and so on, but only have a limited amount of time to get it right, very limited.
With wine making, the wine making process can take up to 2-3 years, during this time it is extremely important to test the wine on a regular basis for SO2, PH, TA to make sure that the wine is balanced, without trying to name a bunch of different faults, it is extremely important to keep on top of the testing. Head space is another game changer with wine making, it can lead to big problems, to the point of losing the wine. With beer, if you get an infection, most times, the recommendation is to let it age a few years and you'll have a sour beer...lol With wine, best case scenario, you may get a vinegar that you can use, worst case, expensive draino.
There are so many products out there to help correct faults, to aid in the crush, to aid in color retention, to aid in converting harsh acids into smoother acids, just to name a few,it can blow your mind!
There is a big learning curve with wine making, not to say that brewing is easy.
It really depends on which type of wine you want to make, Kits, juice buckets, or fresh grapes, as you progress from one to the other, the level of involvement increases, this is the part that I enjoy, you have control over every decision, and ultimately the outcome of the wine.
I enjoy both brewing and winemaking, knowing how to make one, will help you with the other

I hope that this makes sense,

Tom

 

[cmason1957]

I have done both. Let's assume you start with wine kits. Wine is probably easier than beer, just takes longer and no boiling phase.

Beer, is 3-4 hours on one day, then an hour or so to bottle in two weeks, more or less, then drink in a month.

Wine is probably the same time commitment, but you spread it over the whole month or maybe two. Wine might be a bit more expensive.

I would suggest that you not use the same buckets and carboys for both beer and wine, but I have heard that some people do.

Beer requires a bit more worry about sanitation than wine does, wine is a significantly less hospitable environment for bacteria, than beer is. But, only a bit.

 

[kzimmer0817]

Thank you, Cmason and Pumpkinman. One major change will be the "time frame". With beer, you'll know in a couple weeks if you screwed up. Plus, you'll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor in a month or so. With wine, you won't know anything for a year. I've heard some wines can be drunk within a few months.

I tend to do a lot of reading thru the forum prior to asking questions, so I imagine that I will be spending a lot of time going thru the beginner section. Just prior to joining, I downloaded several documents from a thread on winemaking books. I will research what equipment, additives, etc. one needs to get started.

I'm sure I will start with extract, juice, or frozen fruit. It might be good to get several small batches of various wines going so I can have a variety.

We certainly are not connoisseurs of wine as you can see from the following list of wines that we have enjoyed:

Sutter Home "Sweet Red" - very drinkable (to me) red table wine.
Robert Mondavi Chardonnay
Riesling
Moscato
Robert Mondavi "Moscato d'Oro" - haven't seen it in years.
Got a cheap bottle of Sutter Home "Pink Moscato" that we enjoyed.
Various White Zinfandels

I like cheap port such as those by Jonesy and Benjamin - neither of which is carried by my nearest package store.

A friend gave me a bottle of muscadine wine that he had made. It was great.

We live within 45 minutes of the Chateau Elan winery just northeast of Atlanta, GA. They have a few blends that I like such as "Autumn Blush" which includes peaches.

Anyway, enough for now. Thanks,
Keith

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT, Keith! It was great seeing the controls of the Wanamaker organ on the "This is me" thread. I got to hear it many times as a child, but I heard it for the first time in a long time at a recent Christmas concert.

 

[GaDawg]

I have recently made California Muscat - Grand Cru International Kit and it is a quick drinker. If you like muscato, it would be a good 1st kit.

http://www.rjscraftwinemaking.com/p...BrandID=3AFED31D-C983-582C-B008-6B172FB984F2&

 

[kzimmer0817]

I have recently made California Muscat - Grand Cru International Kit and it is a quick drinker. If you like muscato, it would be a good 1st kit.

GaDawg,
I will definitely give that one a look. I need to check to see what additional equipment I will need for winemaking.

BTW, I see that you are in Villa Rica. That's not far from College Park where I grew up. In fact, we (M.D. Collins High) played Villa Rica in football.

Keith