Hello from Sonora, California

[Zintrigue]

Hello everyone. I stumbled upon this site in a search for "when to add chocolate to my wine." As you can see from my screen name, I'm rather fond of Zinfandel. Red, of course.

Admittedly, I've never made wine before. I've been interested for some time. I found a very basic recipe here. I realize most of you will scoff at the rudimentary simplicity of this, but as I've yet to actually make anything I figured I'd start simple and small.

Except I'm going to be using table grapes instead of juice.

I couldn't find a demijohn anywhere near me, so I purchased a large 4L glass jar of Carlos Rossi Sangria in store ($8!) and siphoned the rather disgusting drink into a milk jug, leaving me with a perfect sized demijohn!

Anyway, I'll probably have loads of questions to ask. If I get good at this wine thing I may purchase the supplies to take it seriously.

Here's to the adventure.

-Zin

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT, Zintrigue!

Good luck with your experiment. I think you should do as you proposed, but please be advised it is very likely that it will not produce wine you enjoy drinking. But you will learn something.

 

[wineforfun]

Welcome.

I would like to add you need to consider adding some sugar back into that wine you are making when it is finished. It will at least make it drinkable and somewhat enjoyable.

My son and I did the same thing you are doing when we first started a few years ago. I did not know about WMT and about backsweetening so our finished product was not very tasty.

After you finish with your current wine, look into a winemaking kit, ie: primary bucket, hydrometer, racking cane, chemicals, etc. We started with a 1 gal. kit just to get started and learn the proper processes. You can get them online for approx. $60-$70.

 

[Zintrigue]

Thank you both for the advice, I really appreciate it. I look forward to the learning experience.

Adding more sugar will probably happen, just to make it drinkable.

Will a winemaking kit help me achieve a product similar to the ones I get from wineries? Or can these flavors only be achieved by commercial equipment?

-Zin

 

[wineforfun]

Will a winemaking kit help me achieve a product similar to the ones I get from wineries? Or can these flavors only be achieved by commercial equipment?

-Zin

Yes and yes..............possibly. If you buy a higher end kit, 16L-18L juice, then you will end up with a bottle of wine comparable to a $15'ish bottle of wine.

Now that is a much better bottle of wine than say Barefoot, YellowTail, etc. but nowhere near as good as some higher end wineries.

 

[Zintrigue]

Yes and yes..............possibly. If you buy a higher end kit, 16L-18L juice, then you will end up with a bottle of wine comparable to a $15'ish bottle of wine.

Now that is a much better bottle of wine than say Barefoot, YellowTail, etc. but nowhere near as good as some higher end wineries.

Well that's not bad! Barefoot is one of my favorite table wines. For the price, it tastes the least like rubbing alcohol out of the lot.

What is the difference in a higher end kit versus one of the cheaper ones? Specific additives? Sheer volume (which somehow makes the product different)? More specific tools? I order everything from Amazon (Prime!) and have found that, despite so few options, I am somewhat overwhelmed and clueless.

I do apologize for all of the questions. I should probably find a book on this and save everyone's fingers the trouble.

-Zin

 

[wineforfun]

Well that's not bad! Barefoot is one of my favorite table wines. For the price, it tastes the least like rubbing alcohol out of the lot.

What is the difference in a higher end kit versus one of the cheaper ones? Specific additives? Sheer volume (which somehow makes the product different)? More specific tools? I order everything from Amazon (Prime!) and have found that, despite so few options, I am somewhat overwhelmed and clueless.

I do apologize for all of the questions. I should probably find a book on this and save everyone's fingers the trouble.

-Zin

I agree, Barefoot is a decent lower end wine, unfortunately for my pocketbook, my taste has moved beyond that.

The main difference in the higher end kits is they contain more juice than the cheaper ones. Most higher end kits will have 16L of juice and a 2L grape skin pack.
The cheaper ones won't have a grape skin pack and maybe only 10L of juice. You have to add water to make up the difference, therefore diluting the juice and flavor.
On the other hand, the cheaper kits are usually ready to drink quicker than the higher end kits.

No worries on the questions, I still have plenty of my own. There are A LOT more experienced members on here than myself.

 

[heatherd]

Hello everyone. I stumbled upon this site in a search for "when to add chocolate to my wine." As you can see from my screen name, I'm rather fond of Zinfandel. Red, of course.

Admittedly, I've never made wine before. I've been interested for some time. I found a very basic recipe here. I realize most of you will scoff at the rudimentary simplicity of this, but as I've yet to actually make anything I figured I'd start simple and small.

Except I'm going to be using table grapes instead of juice.

I couldn't find a demijohn anywhere near me, so I purchased a large 4L glass jar of Carlos Rossi Sangria in store ($8!) and siphoned the rather disgusting drink into a milk jug, leaving me with a perfect sized demijohn!

Anyway, I'll probably have loads of questions to ask. If I get good at this wine thing I may purchase the supplies to take it seriously.

Here's to the adventure.

-Zin

Welcome!!! This hobby is really fun and rewarding.

There are also lots of recipes on this site. Also, you might try our two threads for skeeter pee and dragon's blood. Those are quick and easy recipes that lots of people have made successfully - plus if you have questions you can ask the folks in the forum for help.

I agree about proper equipment being useful. The things I think you'll need first are a hydrometer, fermenting bucket, auto-siphon, and bottle filler. First and foremost, the hydrometer, as that will tell you when your brew is done.

With wine, you can definitely make stuff that rivals $10-20 bottles. It takes patience, but is do-able. Maybe you'll take the plunge and make Zinfandel for your next batch!

Best of luck!

 

[Zintrigue]

I agree, Barefoot is a decent lower end wine, unfortunately for my pocketbook, my taste has moved beyond that.

The main difference in the higher end kits is they contain more juice than the cheaper ones. Most higher end kits will have 16L of juice and a 2L grape skin pack.
The cheaper ones won't have a grape skin pack and maybe only 10L of juice. You have to add water to make up the difference, therefore diluting the juice and flavor.
On the other hand, the cheaper kits are usually ready to drink quicker than the higher end kits.

No worries on the questions, I still have plenty of my own. There are A LOT more experienced members on here than myself.

Oh wow. I was unaware that the kits contained the actual juice; I figured I'd be on my own for that part as the pictures I skimmed didn't show anything of the sort. I'll have to put that on my Christmas list. Thank you for the information.

Welcome!!! This hobby is really fun and rewarding.

There are also lots of recipes on this site. Also, you might try our two threads for skeeter pee and dragon's blood. Those are quick and easy recipes that lots of people have made successfully - plus if you have questions you can ask the folks in the forum for help.

I agree about proper equipment being useful. The things I think you'll need first are a hydrometer, fermenting bucket, auto-siphon, and bottle filler. First and foremost, the hydrometer, as that will tell you when your brew is done.

With wine, you can definitely make stuff that rivals $10-20 bottles. It takes patience, but is do-able. Maybe you'll take the plunge and make Zinfandel for your next batch!

Best of luck!

Thank you! Yes, I did notice in my in-depth searches of this process that it's dauntingly complicated for a first timer. I stumbled upon this video [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zglgFHAPg7E[/ame] of a gentleman from the-gift-of-wine.com giving a step by step and noticed his fancy fermenting bucket and three (!) demijohns. I didn't understand the hydrometer, but I'm hoping there will be instructions when I take that step. And the corker just looks like good fun.

Dragon's Blood sounds enticing. It's a shame I didn't know about it sooner, or I could have some ready for Halloween. I'll look those recipes up, along with the Welches Wine recommended to me in another thread. It's hard for me not to buy the entire proper kit right now and get to work! I know myself and I have to start small, though. I just made my first pickles recently. One jar.

Now I just need to find out where everyone gets their grapes until I can grow my own next year.

My dream is to have a cellar full of amazing wines. I hope they don't have to store at a specific temperature, because we have snow in the winters and blistering summers.

-Zin

 

[wineforfun]

So here is how you should do things, assuming you have the equipment and funds.
Get a good kit(as I mentioned earlier) and get it going and done. It will need 9-12mos. to really make it start to come into it's own.
While it is aging, then start up Dragon Blood, Welchs Super Sugar, etc. that you can have done and drinking within 3-4mos.

 

[Zintrigue]

So here is how you should do things, assuming you have the equipment and funds.
Get a good kit(as I mentioned earlier) and get it going and done. It will need 9-12mos. to really make it start to come into it's own.
While it is aging, then start up Dragon Blood, Welchs Super Sugar, etc. that you can have done and drinking within 3-4mos.

That is excellent advice.

Why are one of the recipes called "Skeeter Pee?" It doesn't sound at all appetizing.

-Zin

 

[wineforfun]

Lon was the creator of that recipe and if I recall, the name was derived from it's pale yellow color and being drank in the summertime, when the "skeeters" are out and about.

 

[CGish]

That is excellent advice.

Why are one of the recipes called "Skeeter Pee?" It doesn't sound at all appetizing.

-Zin

It may not sound appetizing, but it is excellent. It is a great summertime drink. So far, everyone I have shared it with has enjoyed it. I took a couple bottles to the beer club meeting last month and several people went home and started their own batches. Don't let the name put you off - it is very good.

And cheap - let's not forget cheap.

Cody

 

[Zintrigue]

I'm a fan of cheap. Skeeters, not so much. Does it come out dry or sweet? I have a hard time stomaching sweet alcoholic drinks.

Maybe I'll invent my own cheapy if I ever get good at this.

-Zin

 

[CGish]

I'm a fan of cheap. Skeeters, not so much. Does it come out dry or sweet? I have a hard time stomaching sweet alcoholic drinks.

Maybe I'll invent my own cheapy if I ever get good at this.

-Zin

It finishes dry and then you back sweeten it to taste. Since it is lemon, you need some sugar. Dry would be way to tart for me. However, you can tune it to your particular taste.

 

[Zintrigue]

I was searching for small batch advice on dragon blood and came across this post I made over a year ago. I forgot all about it!

Figured I'd report on the simple Welchs wine I made back then, in case someone else wants to try it. It was a fun experiment. Even though I preferred not to drink it.

It came out bricky colored, smelling strongly of welchs grape juice. At first it did indeed taste like a jam sandwich (haha!), but over the year it's mellowed to a less yeasty grape flavor. It's also quite strong, as far as alcohol goes. And bitter. But strangely sweet, too.

I've been using it as cooking wine.

Now that I'm doing a small batch kit of merlot I'm excited to try new recipes. As someone mentioned earlier in the post, I'm going to make dragons blood next. Just have to figure out a few details about a 1 gallon batch.

This is definitely a patient hobby.

-Zintrigue