New to wine making need advice

[bridgeview]

I am interested in producing my own wine. I am going to start small making a few gallons of different types of wine, then moving to a larger scale production. I am hopeful that I will be able to open my own winery in 5-7 years as I have 5-14 acres of ideal land for a vineyard.

Anyway, I'm a beginner. I like a sweeter wine that isn't very dry. I thought that I'd start with a nice strawberry wine since I have a large patch growing already. Can anyone point me to a good recipe?

Also, I would like to get 15-20 gallons (total) of wine going, of various types. I need to get supplies and would like to buy them as cheap as possible. Are there good sites on the internet that you can point me to?

Can someone suggest a good wine making book?

Finally, what other wines are a good starter wines that I can begin with.

I really appreciate any help you can provide! Thank you.

 

[user 32114]

hi and welcome
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

to start you need a wine/beer hydrometer triple scale,, you'll need yeast, pectic enzyme, potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulfite also called K-meta or Campton tablets, if you look on the main forum page the top couple 3 will tell you what everything is called, how to use, and well about anything you should know, wine from grapes forum,, any wines from fruits and berries will be on the county wine forum, as you get started people on here can tell you where to buy grapes lugs or juice, www.colomafrozen.com will have different single fruit concentrates, and they are in the next 3 or 4 weeks adding 4 reds and 4 whites of grape concentrates
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

there's a classified add forum at the bottom of the main forum page
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

depending on where you live maybe crags list,
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

if you are starting small then finger hole jugs have 38-400 threads so a 6.5 drilled bung will fit, i buy my gallon,,, half gallon and pints all with 38-400 threads at i think , to be sure I'll have to check www.filmorecontainer.com www.homebrewohio.com , been sipping so if wrong i will correct the links, and will add a few more,
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

www.labelpleers.com www.morebeer.com
that should give you a start
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

Dang 2 with brown B's
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

LMFAO man that was a guest, i bet this wont remain secret
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

Dang and 2008 at that, OK maybe i've been gulping instead of sipping,
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

you got me better than anyone on here... you're the man, hands down,,,,,
Dawg

 

[winemaker81]

13 years later? I wonder how the OP's plans to build a winery turned out.

 

[Eda-wines]

First of all I'm a total newbie in wine making. Started just a few months ago, Sep 2020 to be precise, but became hooked, line and sinker into this hobby. My first batch started off with local cherry fruits. The wine came out pretty well, and most everybody liked and commented upon it. The only problem was I had added too much sugar, so they ended up very sweet with a strong solid punch of alcohol content. Now I just got my first batch of grapes, but unfortunately that went wrong again, as the consigner sent in TABLE grapes instead. Undauntingly I went ahead and fermented the lot. My initial SG of the must turned out at about 1072 (with no added sugar or water in the must). So I added a kilo of sugar which brought the must to SG 1090. Added 2 teas spoons of ammonium nitrate and started the fermentation. Fermentation started immediately and went on like crazy and after 5 days quitened off. SG came down to somewhere below 0.999. My question is do I need to add more sugar to the must or is that enough? Please advice

 

[winemaker81]

My question is do I need to add more sugar to the must or is that enough? Please advice

This depends on what you want. An OG of 1.090 produces ~11.5% ABV, which is a nice table wine, and most yeasts will ferment that dry.

I generally target the OG between 1.080 and 1.100, with 1.090 my preferred target.

Following is a Specific Gravity vs. Potential Alcohol table. I've seen variations on the table, but this one is good enough for you to gauge what the ABV will be.

SG PA
1.070 8.9
1.075 9.4
1.080 10.2
1.085 10.9
1.090 11.5
1.095 12.2
1.100 13.0
1.105 13.7
1.110 14.2
1.115 15.0
1.120 15.7
1.130 17.1
1.135 17.8
1.140 18.4

 

[JeffA]

I am interested in producing my own wine. I am going to start small making a few gallons of different types of wine, then moving to a larger scale production. I am hopeful that I will be able to open my own winery in 5-7 years as I have 5-14 acres of ideal land for a vineyard.

Anyway, I'm a beginner. I like a sweeter wine that isn't very dry. I thought that I'd start with a nice strawberry wine since I have a large patch growing already. Can anyone point me to a good recipe?

Also, I would like to get 15-20 gallons (total) of wine going, of various types. I need to get supplies and would like to buy them as cheap as possible. Are there good sites on the internet that you can point me to?

Can someone suggest a good wine making book?

Finally, what other wines are a good starter wines that I can begin with.

I really appreciate any help you can provide! Thank you.

Hello to you Bridgeview,

For starters it is great to hear of someone who wishes to do this. However, know that operating a vineyard is entirely different from operating a winery. They are two completely different occupations. Even so much that if you were to be working on a degree for it, you would take a whole different set of courses for them.

I too prefer a sweeter vs dry wine. Most all wines I make are a semi-sweet. Best advice for this is to go ahead and ferment your wines dry (.999 or lower). Then back sweeten your wine with the same kind of juice you made the wine from. For example. If you make a strawberry wine. Back sweeten with more fresh strawberry juice. Google can provide a lot of wine recipes. One thing I learned was make it with bold flavor. My strawberry wines are done with no less then 4lbs of berries per gallon of wine. Five works best.

As for supplies? I do not know the rules on here about sharing link’s, so I will not do it. With that being said, I will say if you have a local brewer’s type store, they may be your best bet since you would not have to pay any shipping. If you really want to order online you can search for “More Wine Making”, Home Brew It” or “Midwest Supplies” to name a few. And for your good wine making book? I love “Wine Maker Magazine.”

Any wine is good for starters. All wines are amazingly simple to make. You just need to keep in mind the most important ingredient to add to any wine, “PATIENCE.”

Happy Fermenting;
Jeff

 

[Rembee]

Ok, now my side is hurting!!

 

[Scooter68]

JeffA said Any wine is good for starters. All wines are amazingly simple to make. You just need to keep in mind the most important ingredient to add to any wine, “PATIENCE.”

Yup I'll second that.

 

[Rembee]

13 years of "PATIENCE"
I'll second that also lol

 

[user 32114]

Hello to you Bridgeview,

For starters it is great to hear of someone who wishes to do this. However, know that operating a vineyard is entirely different from operating a winery. They are two completely different occupations. Even so much that if you were to be working on a degree for it, you would take a whole different set of courses for them.

I too prefer a sweeter vs dry wine. Most all wines I make are a semi-sweet. Best advice for this is to go ahead and ferment your wines dry (.999 or lower). Then back sweeten your wine with the same kind of juice you made the wine from. For example. If you make a strawberry wine. Back sweeten with more fresh strawberry juice. Google can provide a lot of wine recipes. One thing I learned was make it with bold flavor. My strawberry wines are done with no less then 4lbs of berries per gallon of wine. Five works best.

As for supplies? I do not know the rules on here about sharing link’s, so I will not do it. With that being said, I will say if you have a local brewer’s type store, they may be your best bet since you would not have to pay any shipping. If you really want to order online you can search for “Morethat fell Wine Making”, Home Brew It” or “Midwest Supplies” to name a few. And for your good wine making book? I love “Wine Maker Magazine.”

Any wine is good for starters. All wines are amazingly simple to make. You just need to keep in mind the most important ingredient to add to any wine, “PATIENCE.”

Happy Fermenting;
Jeff

look at bridgeveiw's date,,,, now i ain't the only one fall for @bugout sneaky little trick, teach me to sip skeeter pee port and post,
Dawg

 

[user 32114]

I won't tell anybody. Promise

@bugout as you can see the vultures are already circling,,, oh you fit right in,
Dawg