How it has all changed today

[marathon]

Just taken up wine making again last year with a break since the early 70's. In those days I purchased wine concentrate from Spain through a small UK company.

I started again making wine with my home grown UK white grapes, cartons of pressed merlot grape juice and also kit wines.

The only familiar bits to me are the campden tablets used and a filter pad system very similar to vinbrite. No bentonite, finings, sorbate, degassing, ph testing or anything else etc.

I was interested to see if any of what was suggested by the kit instructions etc was valid today. So I made my wine the same old, teenager way, with no primary racking etc and letting it clear normally by itself and then straight into bottles. Results were as I remember. Clear and very drinkable wine, which will get better with time. My kits have been kenridge showcase and beaverdale cheaper ones.

I have a suspicion that many people are making this very complicated.
I do wonder why it seems much more complex and that it is not really required. I had never heard of degassing until recently and still do not see the purpose, except impatience! I have now read lots of forums and this is a good one and very interesting. My overall impression is that for a new person it now seems so complex and it just is not. For example, I purchased a new plastic squeezy corker. Useless! I went back to the simple wooden corker and mallet.
Please inform me if I am wrong in any way as this is my first post and I could not resist making a few observations.

 

[Julie]

Hi Marathon,

Welcome to WineMakingTalk. Not sure why you are here, you seem to be set On the way you make wine. If you are happy with the results good for you! The advice that is given is to make the same wine successfully everytime you make it. Without testing and logging your test results will not give you a great wine repeatedly. As far as degassing, yes leave it in the carboy long enough and you don't need to degassing but there are some on here trying to create a a wine cellar and want to get their wine into bottles so they can start making more.

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the forum!

Apparently home wine making is a hobby that can be enjoyed on many levels and with varying processes all resulting in an enjoyable glass of wine. That's pretty cool isn't it?

Stick around. I think we can learn a lot from your wine making experience.

 

[zalai]

Hi Marathon,
The reason behind the extra steps of kit wine making now, is to ensure that you have a drinkable or serve able wine within 4, 6 or 8 weeks, rather than waiting for natural processes to take place over longer periods of time.

 

[ceeaton]

Hey Marathon,

I agree with all of the posts above mine.

I think you have what many of us new winemakers don't, patience. I would love to see a video of using a wooden corker and a mallet, that sounds like fun. I look forward to hearing what you have learned over such a long time span of making wine, so please share.

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Runningwolf]

Just taken up wine making again last year with a break since the early 70's. In those days I purchased wine concentrate from Spain through a small UK company.

I started again making wine with my home grown UK white grapes, cartons of pressed merlot grape juice and also kit wines.

The only familiar bits to me are the campden tablets used and a filter pad system very similar to vinbrite. No bentonite, finings, sorbate, degassing, ph testing or anything else etc.

I was interested to see if any of what was suggested by the kit instructions etc was valid today. So I made my wine the same old, teenager way, with no primary racking etc and letting it clear normally by itself and then straight into bottles. Results were as I remember. Clear and very drinkable wine, which will get better with time. My kits have been kenridge showcase and beaverdale cheaper ones.

I have a suspicion that many people are making this very complicated.
I do wonder why it seems much more complex and that it is not really required. I had never heard of degassing until recently and still do not see the purpose, except impatience! I have now read lots of forums and this is a good one and very interesting. My overall impression is that for a new person it now seems so complex and it just is not. For example, I purchased a new plastic squeezy corker. Useless! I went back to the simple wooden corker and mallet.
Please inform me if I am wrong in any way as this is my first post and I could not resist making a few observations.

Marathon,
If you're used to drinking mediocre wine keep making it the way you always have been. If you want to improve the quality and longevity of your wine pay attention to some of the new ways and why they do it. I want to make the best I can in the most convenient way possible. Doing things the same old way continues to get the same old results and if you're happy with that, then don't change.

With that said look at look at the new ways and understand why they are what they are. Then pick and chose which processes you want to change and which you do not. There are many ways to make wine.

Remember the ONLY absolute in making wine is that you and your spouse has to like it.

 

[Tnuscan]

Just taken up wine making again last year with a break since the early 70's. In those days I purchased wine concentrate from Spain through a small UK company.

I started again making wine with my home grown UK white grapes, cartons of pressed merlot grape juice and also kit wines.

The only familiar bits to me are the campden tablets used and a filter pad system very similar to vinbrite. No bentonite, finings, sorbate, degassing, ph testing or anything else etc.

I was interested to see if any of what was suggested by the kit instructions etc was valid today. So I made my wine the same old, teenager way, with no primary racking etc and letting it clear normally by itself and then straight into bottles. Results were as I remember. Clear and very drinkable wine, which will get better with time. My kits have been kenridge showcase and beaverdale cheaper ones.

I have a suspicion that many people are making this very complicated.
I do wonder why it seems much more complex and that it is not really required. I had never heard of degassing until recently and still do not see the purpose, except impatience! I have now read lots of forums and this is a good one and very interesting. My overall impression is that for a new person it now seems so complex and it just is not. For example, I purchased a new plastic squeezy corker. Useless! I went back to the simple wooden corker and mallet.
Please inform me if I am wrong in any way as this is my first post and I could not resist making a few observations.

Are you sayin you fermentated strait thru to bottlin, then went ta whackin at ta bottles with a mallet, an then went ta drinkin?
Yes today we have white films a growin, weird smells, funkie tastes, and young drinkable wines. All for $100.00+ , Oh and if you want it shipped add $25 more bucks( fer kits). Lol Welcome to 2016. Where grapes can be shipped half way around the world, de-steamed and crushed, and sold for $60.00 dollars, but if you want them shipped another 500 to 700 miles, well that will cost you around $50.00 dollars more, per bucket! Hail Yeah!! And yes were still talkin Merlot!!!
Think I'll put this rock I live under up for sale!

 

[marathon]

I thought I would get a wide variety of comments and all are valid.
Yes, I stick it all in a fermenter and go straight to bottle with a campden tablet per gallon added via a quick filter when the wine is clear. It is not 'plonk' as cheap tasting rubbish is called in the UK. I am very flexible and really like reading some of the superb posts. Degassing is something I cannot get my head around. Does that really improve wine? I have no idea.
Here is my trusty and very quick bottling method picture. yes it really is a wooden mallet!!

 

[Floandgary]

I thought I would get a wide variety of comments and all are valid.
Yes, I stick it all in a fermenter and go straight to bottle with a campden tablet per gallon added via a quick filter when the wine is clear. It is not 'plonk' as cheap tasting rubbish is called in the UK. I am very flexible and really like reading some of the superb posts. Degassing is something I cannot get my head around. Does that really improve wine? I have no idea.
Here is my trusty and very quick bottling method picture. yes it really is a wooden mallet!!

Kudos to your "old way" and rest assured that to some extent your observations are shared by others... Always room for worthwhile improvements if you wish to embrace them. This age of "instant gratification" in a rapidly expanding market niche can certainly generate complexities which overshadow the simple basics

 

[Tnuscan]

I thought I would get a wide variety of comments and all are valid.
Yes, I stick it all in a fermenter and go straight to bottle with a campden tablet per gallon added via a quick filter when the wine is clear. It is not 'plonk' as cheap tasting rubbish is called in the UK. I am very flexible and really like reading some of the superb posts. Degassing is something I cannot get my head around. Does that really improve wine? I have no idea.
Here is my trusty and very quick bottling method picture. yes it really is a wooden mallet!!

I'm with you, please take my comment as humorous. I agree that we beat the process to death. My folks and some friends have past on, and I miss hearing things like, "I don't play with my wines, I make them, and drink them." Seemed more like they were trying to keep them hid, than discussed. lol
Some were drank cloudy, some were clear and very nice. I noticed your thread at the same moment I placed mine, and thought how similar (in a small way)they seemed to be. I love to learn, to read this forum, sharing information as friends. Nice to meet you, I've always been teased for being a Southern Hillbilly, Yep Jeff Foxworthy made a killin making fun of people like me.

 

[marathon]

I have to realise that I joined a mainly US forum. I had to google jeff Foxworthy and I have never met a hillbilly or know what one looks like. But I have seen quite a few films, so my imagination has now run wild. I do have a Lynskey titanium bike made in Chattanooga which I have in the UK. That is a superb bike.

 

[Larryh86GT]

I have to realise that I joined a mainly US forum.

Don't worry, we don't bite. I agree with you that it's not rocket science. But many folks like to make wine as perfect as they can. Make your wine the way it works for you and enjoy it. Where in the UK are you?
Larry

 

[marathon]

Canterbury. Centre of the church of England with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Very old city, Chaucers's Canterbury tales. Lots of tourism etc. A nice place to live in. A champagne house has just purchased land on the surrounding chalk hills to grow grapes.

 

[Tnuscan]

I have to realise that I joined a mainly US forum. I had to google jeff Foxworthy and I have never met a hillbilly or know what one looks like. But I have seen quite a few films, so my imagination has now run wild. I do have a Lynskey titanium bike made in Chattanooga which I have in the UK. That is a superb bike.

I pretty much blend with the crowd nowadays. Until I start talking, then I stand out a little. Those are awesome bikes. I'm doing my next kit the way you describe, only using K-meta to try and find the reason for the offensive smell and taste that seem to be in the ones I have used.

 

[MattWI]

Could not agree more with the general sentiment of the OP. I will always rack at least once (usually twice) , but I never degas, filter, or use finings on my wine. My only acid testing system is my tongue and I occasionally entirely skip measurements altogether when I think I can "more or less" predict the outcome.

I appreciate that there is science behind winemaking, but I appreciate the simplicity and low cost of overhead more.

 

[Tnuscan]

Could not agree more with the general sentiment of the OP. I will always rack at least once (usually twice) , but I never degas, filter, or use finings on my wine. My only acid testing system is my tongue and I occasionally entirely skip measurements altogether when I think I can "more or less" predict the outcome.

I appreciate that there is science behind winemaking, but I appreciate the simplicity and low cost of overhead more.

Are you speaking of kit wines also, or are these wines from fruit or grapes?

 

[NorCal]

I just want to see a video of the bottle being corked with the wooden mallet!

 

[MattWI]

Are you speaking of kit wines also, or are these wines from fruit or grapes?

Almost exclusively "country" fruit wine. The closest I have come to a kit is canned wine base for something that doesn't grow well enough in my area to be cheap and plentiful. No offense to kit wines - they're just not my preference.

 

[marathon]

Unfortunately the video version was censored as extreme graphic violence with the murder of a bunch of grapes and much spilt red stuff.

 

[JohnT]

Getting back to the OP..

If you do not see the need for degassing, then you have never had a fizzy wine.

The main reason for degassing(and there are several) is that there are times that CO2 will go into solution. This makes the wine slightly fizzy. Degassing takes care of this.

I know that things might seem overly complicated, but usually there are good reasons for each procedure. You may think that you can produce a very drinkable wine using only a few simple steps (and you are probably right), but what if you could the wine even BETTER?? Would that be worth a little more complexity?

My suggestion is to do some experimenting of your own. Try out some of these procedures and see if you like the wine better. What have you got to lose??