How did you find our forum?

[Spencerthebuilder]

Wanted to be a basement dwelling
winemaker. Duck Duck go and here it was. Spent far more hours than I'll admit to, absorbing the knowledge and experience of the members. Thanks

 

[KCCam]

I was searching for a hard lemonade recipe.

I imagine you found the Skeeter Pee thread. If not, check it out. If you give it a try, I've read it's a lot easier to get it to ferment if you only use 32 oz of lemon juice up front. Add the rest after fermentation is complete.

 

[KCCam]

Yes I did thank you. I did a lot of reading there first before I decided to join and get an education here. I may try the Dragonsblood next. I like lemonade, but I bet friends and family would like the DB better than the pee. They are both on the short list

As of yet, I can't speak for the Pee. I tried to make it once, and couldn't get it to ferment, so I "converted" it to Dragon Blood. I'll be doing it again very soon though (I'm going to try it like @hounddawg does it!). Dragon Blood (DB) is based on the Skeeter Pee (SP) recipe, so if you like SP, I'm pretty sure you'll like DB. If you don't like the first batch of DB you make though, don't give up. There are so many ways you can make it more "your own," post your results, get some suggestions, and try it again.

 

[hounddawg]

as @KCCam said don't give up, there's more flavors than vintners,,, always something new to taste,,
Dawg

 

[KCCam]

For variety I started 6 different types of juice on my very first run. Each one has it's own little document telling exactly what was done. I hope to learn enough to make something great someday. Gonna keep'em small at first then scale up as I get better. In the mean time I hope I can stomach one of the first 6, haha !

Documentation. Yes. Best advice I ever got. If you enjoy the result, that's all that matters. If other people do too? BONUS... you can share.

SP and DB are inexpensive. It takes just as much time to baby 1 gallon as it does 6 (or 18!!). I suggest you pick one (if DB, maybe add a little extra fruit), and go for it. It'll give you something to enjoy while you experiment, learn, and perfect your craft.

 

[KCCam]

Hell, I may even use yeast made for wine

Yes, that’s a must (pun intended). Do yourself a favour, for experimenting with SP and DB, get some EC-1118 or similar. Take that variable out of the equation for when (if) you have problems.

 

[KCCam]

har har @ must. Since you brought up experimenting, I may do a 3 gallon side by side with bread yeast too. It seems to have worked on all of my others

I hear you. You might not notice any difference between bread yeast and wine yeast. If so, awesome, no need to spend an extra $0.05 per bottle. I don’t want to belabour the point, but... I’m a computer guy. If you buy a game that recommends a certain minimum CPU, graphics card, and RAM, and you don’t have it, it may very well run fine, but if you have problems, it’s hard for me to help. Especially if it would have only cost a dollar more for the recommended hardware. Bread yeast is bred for, well, bread. Looking forward to your side-by-side.

 

[winemaker81]

For variety I started 6 different types of juice on my very first run. Each one has it's own little document telling exactly what was done.

Yes, keep notes on your wines. If you have a problem, we need info before we can suggest fixes. Plus you may want to duplicate a batch, or vary one, and the notes give you a starting point. I keep all my notes online (see sig below).

har har @ must. Since you brought up experimenting, I may do a 3 gallon side by side with bread yeast too. It seems to have worked on all of my others

Bread yeast is not bred for for wine, so it lacks important characteristics, such as clearing. Wine yeast drops into a (more or less) compact layer. It will also hit higher ABV and bread yeast can produce off flavors in wine. Red Star costs ~$1.00 per packet, and it's worth the money. Going low cost is good, but going too low cost may cost you more than you realize.

No, I couldn't figure out how to use the word "cost" more in that last sentence ...

 

[FrThomas]

This may come as a shock to some, but I found this forum, while looking for wine making forums!!!

I have been making wine since the 1970s as a hobby and never planned to do anything more with it. It was often occasioned by a windfall of fruit from a restaurant, people I knew with fruit trees or running into a lot of grape juice that was near expiration. So I'm an amateur.

However, I quit using baking yeast a long time ago. My wife told me that all of my wine had a weird finish similar to Fritos corn chips. No matter how I babied the wine, this was the case. Then we moved out of the sticks and into a city with a couple of wine making shops. The first batch I made with Montrachet yeast was amazing, so I never looked at baking yeast again. I have also made wine where it's hideously expensive, like the year I spent in Trinidad.

These days I have been making wine from blueberries, which are plentiful around here. The first batch was so good I just kept repeating the same recipe. What I don't get is consistency. So I thought I'd read up on how other wine makers deal with this issue.

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Rice_Guy]

@FrThomas welcome,
making wine since the seventies probably has produced a few good stories over the years

 

[hounddawg]

This may come as a shock to some, but I found this forum, while looking for wine making forums!!!

I have been making wine since the 1970s as a hobby and never planned to do anything more with it. It was often occasioned by a windfall of fruit from a restaurant, people I knew with fruit trees or running into a lot of grape juice that was near expiration. So I'm an amateur.

However, I quit using baking yeast a long time ago. My wife told me that all of my wine had a weird finish similar to Fritos corn chips. No matter how I babied the wine, this was the case. Then we moved out of the sticks and into a city with a couple of wine making shops. The first batch I made with Montrachet yeast was amazing, so I never looked at baking yeast again. I have also made wine where it's hideously expensive, like the year I spent in Trinidad.

These days I have been making wine from blueberries, which are plentiful around here. The first batch was so good I just kept repeating the same recipe. What I don't get is consistency. So I thought I'd read up on how other wine makers deal with this issue.

Fritos huh, can you get a chili cheese finish to go with that, if so, I'd be putting my order to you,,,, dang Frito-chili-cheese would be to die for,,,
Dawg

OH BTW Welcome to WMT,,,,

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Arne]

This may come as a shock to some, but I found this forum, while looking for wine making forums!!!

I have been making wine since the 1970s as a hobby and never planned to do anything more with it. It was often occasioned by a windfall of fruit from a restaurant, people I knew with fruit trees or running into a lot of grape juice that was near expiration. So I'm an amateur.

However, I quit using baking yeast a long time ago. My wife told me that all of my wine had a weird finish similar to Fritos corn chips. No matter how I babied the wine, this was the case. Then we moved out of the sticks and into a city with a couple of wine making shops. The first batch I made with Montrachet yeast was amazing, so I never looked at baking yeast again. I have also made wine where it's hideously expensive, like the year I spent in Trinidad.

These days I have been making wine from blueberries, which are plentiful around here. The first batch was so good I just kept repeating the same recipe. What I don't get is consistency. So I thought I'd read up on how other wine makers deal with this issue.

Welcome to the forum. If you can get the blueberries to come out with the same ph, acid, sugar content, amount of sunshine, water, and anything else you might think of to make them grow, you can probably make wine come out the same twice in a row. Otherw

 

[CoolerSomm]

Looking for wine making tips from southern england! Not so easy to grow wine down here, any Brits on?

 

[winemaker81]

any Brits on?

Welcome to WMT!

Most of the membership appears to be American and Canadian, but we've quite a few Brits, plus representation from around the globe.

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome! There are indeed a few Brits on here. As far as growing grapes in the UK, just give it a few more years. The UK will be the new Bordeaux!

Looking for wine making tips from southern england! Not so easy to grow wine down here, any Brits on?

 

[Mikal]

I found a link on posted on Facebook by another member

 

[TexLaMs]

I have been soaking up info on some other websites and social media platforms. (information overload) As everything I tinker with I research a lot but I have made 2 1/2 gallon batches that are getting close to bottling and have just started a 1 gallon batch of Apple and 1 gallon of a Cherry Blend. Hoping to learn and make some good wine for my friends and family.

 

[Tom914-6]

First place that popped up when I had a question.