New member, new winemaker!

[mstrick96]

Hello,
I'm very new to winemaking. All the instructions I've seen make it seem expensive and complicated. Then I found the YouTube videos that "Paw Paw" has posted using baker's yeast, did a little more research and decided to give it a go! The 64oz bottles are good for me because I can't physically handle the usual 5 gallons. If this work reasonably well, I might try 1 gallon batches.

I'm not using Baker's yeast however. I got some Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast to use instead. I did use the sugar to liquid ratio that he recommends. I also got a hydrometer. I started three bottles of cranberry-apple and cranberry-cherry. Specfiic gravity is 1.110 on two bottles, and 1.120 on the third. It's fermenting at about 70F.

Mat not turn out good, but at least I gave it a try! I'll see how it does and adjust from there.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome!
It may seem expensive and complicated but it's really not. Don't give up and just invest the time to read and ask questions. And then try again. It gets easier and easier real fast. I started in October and I ask silly and/or hypothetical questions all the time. Great people! This is like Wine School!

 

[Ohio Bob]

Welcome! Check out the beginners forum and ask lots of questions.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

We like to believe that you'll find better info here than on youtube. Sounds like you are off to a fine start, though!

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[ceeaton]

Welcome to WMT! I agree w/ @sour_grapes, much better info here in my opinion.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to WineMakingTalk
Wine is an ancient beverage so there are lots of ways to make it. You Tube being one of them. One of the things you will see here and basically all instructions is that air/ oxygen is bad for wine. A few implications of this are that gallon containers expose the wine less, a lot of the equipment available is for dealing with oxygen, and a low technology wine may have only a year shelf life but my great grand father made and enjoyed it.

Have fun, if it is edible you can ferment with it.

 

[TxBrew]

Welcome to WMT. Enjoy the forum and winemaking.

 

[mikewatkins727]

Welcome aboard, @mstrick96. While you're watching the ferment, order another hydrometer for backup. They develop a tendency to break at the most inopportune time. Since you got several batches going, don't forget that important thing called Patience.

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome to WMT. If you reuse bottles, use free/home grown fruit, and purchase just the basics it can be very inexpensive!

Wine making can be as complicated as you want to make it. My first wine was chopped apples, a gallon or two of water, sugar, yeast nutrient, and acid blend. Four months later I had 5 gallons of pretty decent wine… the few bottles that survived to reach their first birthday were as good as any apple wine I have tasted.

 

[ChuckD]

The 64oz bottles are good for me because I can't physically handle the usual 5 gallons. If this work reasonably well, I might try 1 gallon batches.

You can do what works for you but It takes about the same amount of time and effort to make 64oz as five gallons. That’s why most winemakers use one gallon as the minimum for a batch. My small batches are in three gallon carboys and between sampling and sharing they go pretty fast. I would do single gallons for “experimental” wines.

If you really get into wine making you can use pumps to avoid the heavy lifting. Of course that means more . Right now I can still wrestle five gallon carboys around but someday…

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the hobby and the forum! The folks here are really helpful.