Hello from South Florida

[bunchabull]

I tried to post this earlier but there seemed to be a glitch so hopefully this isn't a double post.

I come from the world of home brewed beer which I loved. I had a keg setup and initially really enjoyed the hobby. But it started to become a chore with the CO2. Refilling the bottles, making sure a full one was on hand when the current one ran out, keeping the pressure and tube length correct to avoid foam, etc. Portability was a hassle. I only bottled my first batch and went immediately to kegging since I hated bottling so much.

Anyway, I really love wine also, so I thought I might try my hand at wine making. I only have two questions for now:

1) For those who know John Palmer's "How to Brew", what do you recommend similiar but dealing with home wine making? For those of you who are not familiar, I would like a book for wine making that isn't too complicated yet also not too simplistic.

2) What do you recommend as a good online source for equipment and supplies?

 

[Rocky]

I recommend that you talk with George or one of his guys at The Winemaker's Toy Store in Texas. I have found them helpful, competitive and customer friendly. They may not have the lowest price on all items, but there is a value (to me) in great customer service.

 

[Redtrk]

Welcome to the site from my corner in SW Ohio. I'll be down your way in about 3 weeks.

 

[Wade E]

Welcome bunchabull. Im not much on book reading so cant really help you there. I also make beer and have 4 cornies in my fridge but my C02 lasts forever, you sure you dont have a small leak somewhere that you go threw it that fast for it to bother you? Ask any questions you need here as its wy we are here! Happy holidays to you and your family.

 

[Agent007]

I have a winter home in Florida where I am headed shortly.

My recommendation is to find a local store in Florida as you'll save plenty on shipping of wine kits which are notoriously heavy. There are a couple of great stores there that I deal with. My favorite especially for discounting wine kits is down there. They have a friendly and knowledgeable staff plus you'll get your order in one day.

Welcome to the forum and good luck.

 

[Flem]

Welcome to the forum and happy holidays.

 

[timber]

Welcome to wine central ...
great forum, you'll like it.

 

[Runningwolf]

bunchabull, welcome to the forum. As far as losing C02 in your kegorator, I have a huge suggestion thanks to Wade. Replace all of your hose clamps with Fuel injector clamps from an auto supply store. I also went through an entire tank in three weeks. Since I switched my clamps I'm using the same C02 tank from back in June.

 

[bunchabull]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody.

 

[Julie]

I have a winter home in Florida where I am headed shortly.

My recommendation is to find a local store in Florida as you'll save plenty on shipping of wine kits which are notoriously heavy. There are a couple of great stores there that I deal with. My favorite especially for discounting wine kits is www.SouthernHomebrew.com. They have a friendly and knowledgeable staff plus you'll get your order in one day.

Welcome to the forum and good luck.

Hi Agent007, while I am not going to discourage anyone from driving to their local brew shop, we all do this but since you posted a web site I would assume this would be a mail order. Please keep in mind that we try to encourge our members to use the vendors that support our site.

 

[arcticsid]

Hi Bunch, Hi Bond(007)

Welcome to WMT.

For supplies please consider our sponsors.

http://www.brewandwinesupply.com/

They make this all possible. I have not delt with these people, but I guarantee you, if they weren't reputable they would be off here imediately.

There are many others out there. Many of the members have said midwest supply is a good place to deal with.

But, in my opinion, try to deal with your local homebrew store as long as they have knowledgeable staff to work with you. "keep itin the family".

I am fortunate because here we only have ONE!! LOL! and they dont even "make their own" But because of my unique situation, they will offer me a price quoted by theiir online wholesaler. Alot of it comes from Midwest Supply.

So, in other words the price quoted by their online catalog is about what I pay.

Not saying one is better than the other, but this guy George is spoken about highly in here and I would consider him before any others. IMHO.

Best of luck. Pull up a chairr, hang out a while.