Looks like I wasted a small fortune on winemaking gear!

[RickD]

brewsy - make amazing wine & cider at home in 5 days (getbrewsy.com)

 

[Johnd]

brewsy - make amazing wine & cider at home in 5 days (getbrewsy.com)

Guess it won't be long before we see and influx of brewsy users asking a million questions about why their wine tastes bad, is fizzy, drops sediment in the bottles, etc...............you know the drill!!!

 

[CDrew]

I have seen wine kits advertised with the same language. "Ready in a month" "Delicious wine" etc. So maybe it will get more people interested in the hobby. But I agree, it looks a lot like the people who were making wine in instapots a year ago have moved up to "brewsy".

I love how the #1 FAQ is "Is it gluten free?" That just says so much. Lol.

 

[Scooter68]

I'm sure they will find plenty of gullible folks out there Johnd. You know the old ways are dead -So say the kids with no clue and no patience. (Probably won't know the difference it they lost their sense of taste to the Virus.)

 

[Darkroom]

but it says right in their ad "we all know homemade is simply better – and it's true for wine and cider too. "

 

[ThunderFred]

Not everyone came to this hobby because a sainted grandpappy showed them the ropes. Lots of us had an interest and jumped in without a clue. That led to experiments, reading and even finding this website. Lots of folks will fall for the brewsey pitch and realize low grade prison toilet hooch is not really their jam. Some will leave it at that and others will come looking for more information on how to do better.

 

[NorCal]

My Mom always said, if you don't have anything good to say.... Maybe it will get some people wanting to explore the hobby further and will find us.

 

[BernardSmith]

I have to agree with NorCal. Brewsy is not for everyone and certainly not for many members of this forum and sure , the idea of making an exceptionally tasting wine in five days is laughable (unless by exceptional they may exceptionally poor) but some of us who bake bread over a few days look at others who turn out loaves in a two or three hours while others happily buy bread from the local supermarket that probably took considerably less time from start to packaging. It's not for me, but it might be for a friend.

 

[JustJoe]

My first attempt at making wine turned out so bad that I dumped the whole thing and gave the carboy away. It took 15 years before I tried again. If brewsy had been available I could have discovered how bad it can be in much less time and it probably would have been better than what I made. I may have tried a better method right away rather than 15 years later.

 

[NorCal]

This was my first attempt. ~$10 for yeast, nutrient, air bungs. Their box is $49? Oh, it was completely undrinkable, but I had no expectation. It did lead me here!

 

[Scooter68]

I have to agree with NorCal. Brewsy is not for everyone and certainly not for many members of this forum and sure , the idea of making an exceptionally tasting wine in five days is laughable (unless by exceptional they may exceptionally poor) but some of us who bake bread over a few days look at others who turn out loaves in a two or three hours while others happily buy bread from the local supermarket that probably took considerably less time from start to packaging. It's not for me, but it might be for a friend.

This dates me but.... I remember in grade school in San Antonio Texas they took us (3rd or 4th graders) to Rainbow Bread company (Later became Wonder Bread I think). They made that wonderful melt in your mouth white bread. (That was before that days of white bread being declared worthless calories) They walked us through showing how they mixed it let it rise, mixed again etc. According to what I remember even there at that time it pretty much took a full day. I imagine now they have "improved" their methods.
Any my mother made a Norwegian Christmas bread called Yule Kaga (LARGE Raisins, Citron, Nutmeg & Cardamon) That was normally a start today finish in the morning affair. (I lost a lot of skin grating those nutmeg "Seeds" things that were about the size of a grape on her hand grater.) I still live for the first loaf of that. When it comes out of the oven. As a child in our family the first loaf never got to cool off. Slathered with butter and devoured.
Ah but I digress and wander about with my memories.

Nothing will replace the processes we use. They can try all they want but yeast grows and works at it's own pace and wine ages again at it's own pace. Not to mention that grapes and fruit are a little different every year and vintner's who know their grapes have to adjust for those differences.
Brewsy is just another gimmick to take money from the gullible and I know I've said that already but...

 

[NoQuarter]

WOW. 44.99 for yeast (and 5 other ingredients).
You supply juice, sugar, tools etc.

 

[cmason1957]

Any my mother made a Norwegian Christmas bread called Yule Kaga (LARGE Raisins, Citron, Nutmeg & Cardamon) That was normally a start today finish in the morning affair. (I lost a lot of skin grating those nutmeg "Seeds" things that were about the size of a grape on her hand grater.) I still live for the first loaf of that. When it comes out of the oven. As a child in our family the first loaf never got to cool off. Slathered with butter and devoured.
Ah but I digress and wander about with my memories.

My mother (being half German, half Norwegian, second generation in America on both sides) made a very similar bread Yula Kaka was the name she always said. I probably am spelling it incorrectly, I see there are recipes out there for julekake. Maybe I need to try some.

 

[JohnT]

Oh, it was completely undrinkable, but I had no expectation. It did lead me here!

View attachment 71261

Read the label. it is self explanatory (LOL)!

 

[Old Corker]

15 years ago or so (before moving to Texas) we lived in Lodi CA. Huge grape growing area and it seemed that everyone who had a few acres tried their hand at it. I had 5 acres and thought I would too. I went to the nursery to talk to the proprietor about buying some vines. He asked me what exactly I wanted to do. I told him that I eventually wanted to make wine and admitted that I knew nothing about it. He said if a want to make wine I could just wait until crush time and would be able to easily find all kinds of juice for sale to make wine with. He sent me home telling me to think about what I really wanted so I did that. On the way home I stopped at one of the many local wineries in the area and bought a few bottles. Making my own wine did not occur to me again until I moved to TX where you don't find great little wineries everywhere. So yes, we all start from somewhere and evolve...or not.

 

[Scooter68]

My mother (being half German, half Norwegian, second generation in America on both sides) made a very similar bread Yula Kaka was the name she always said. I probably am spelling it incorrectly, I see there are recipes out there for jule kake. Maybe I need to try some.

Yeah - I went looking for the correct name and we always pronounced it the way you spell it but on all the sites appearing to genuine "Nordic" they spelled it Kaga or Kage. Go figure. If it tastes right you can call it what you want. (If you've ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding - there's a seen where the star as a little girl has her school 'friends' laugh when she pronounces the the name Moussaka - I cracked up because it's almost the same sound.)

I've had folks compare it to "Fruit Cake" I try not to snap at them since to me it's vastly different. And my mother almost lost it at a neighbor when she announced that she wanted the recipe because she loved it with Jelly and peanut butter. WOW ! To the moon Alice! Needless to say that neighbor got no more Yule Kaka and certainly never had any hope of even seeing the recipe.

 

[Raptor99]

My grandmother used to make Yule Kaka. It was one of our favorite Christmas treats. She also made a fruitcake that was mostly fruit, with only enough dough to hold it together. Then she soaked it in rum for about 2 months. It was awesome, nothing like the dried up bricks they sell in the stores. I generally refrain from telling anyone that I liked my grandmothers fruitcake because I don't want them to give me those awful bricks. Please note: real fruitcake is mostly fruit and is soaked in rum. No commercial fruitcake I have ever tasted even comes close.

 

[Mead Maker]

I hope one of our experienced winemakers with $50 to spare will try a Brewsy kit and report back to us 5 days later.

It sounds like a pile of manure.

 

[ThunderFred]

Mead maker, just chuck some turbo yeast into a jug of gape juice and tell us how it goes. Save $49.

 

[Scooter68]

Mead maker, just chuck some turbo yeast into a jug of gape juice and tell us how it goes. Save $49.

I've heard that there is enough yeast in the air that if you crack the top on a bottle of grape juice or apple cider, wave over it a few times and then let it sit for a couple of weeks with the top on loosely - Presto - Wine/Hard Cider.

In fact in church there have been couple of times when the communion grape juice became wine, much to the surprise of the congregation on a Sunday morning. Kids reveled in their consumption of wine in CHURCH and the faces were funny as folks looked around to see how many others notices. Of course if you didn't notice you were a suspected tee-totaler.