Newbie in Toronto area

Machine · Oct 2, 2013

Hi all. Love wine, love gardening, figured I'd throw in some wine grape vines. Got enough this year for a small batch, so figured what the heck, and ordered a winemaking kit and some accessories, just to give it a try. If its too undrinkable then maybe I'll convert the kit to making beer instead. I'm sure I'll have plently of questions, probably a lot of "what can I do about the horrible smell coming from my wine".

Thats all for now...
Anthony

Arne · Oct 3, 2013

Hi Anthony, welcome to the forum. If you run into any snags, or wind up with questions, ask away. Somebody will probably try and help. Arne.

froeschli · Oct 3, 2013

Hey Anthony,

I live in the GTA as well, and one tip I can give you: it's worth to shop around.
Some places may give you cheap sodium bisulfate, but you pay an arm and a leg for their wine kits....
If you're ever out that way, there's a place in Hamilton called costas, they have very reasonable pricing on fresh juice (must) carboys etc. if you're looking for 1G jugs, Uline, of all places, sells them, along with food grade buckets (not sure about price comparison there)...

Anyhow, have fun & don't worry too much

Cheers,

Karin

Machine · Oct 3, 2013

Thanks Karin, wow never would have thought Uline had those types of products (I have ordered wine shippers from them before...I buy a lot of wine, have it stored in NYC and bring it back to Toronto when the opportunity presents itself...maybe I should have looked closer at their catalogue!).

I found that searching for wine kits online in Toronto gave me links to a bunch of places that touted "wine equipment and supplies" that were, in actuality, stores that allow you to make your own wine...not exactly the same thing. I'll take note of Costa's and maybe next year if I manage to pull 70 or 80 pounds of fruit I can graduate to a 5-gallon setup.

Tonight I'll be cleansing equipment, putting grapes in nylon bag to continue crushing, putting that in ferment bucket, and adding campden and covering with cheesecloth for an overnight sit, while must (which is in fridge right now) comes up to temp and campden does its work.

Tomorrow night measuring/adjusting sugar levels and acidity, pitching RC-212, adding to must, adding some DAP, and waiting to see what happens...and crossing fingers.

froeschli · Oct 3, 2013

Wow, you sound organized ;-p
I usually just pick up whatever fruit is on sale, throw in some k-meta, lemon juice and sugar, wait a day, then throw in pectic enzyme and yeast. I may measure the SG. But usually not too thoroughly. I just keep adding sugar until the fermentation slows down. Haven't had a bad batch yet.
Yup, I bet I jinxed it now

And nope, I doubt I'll ever manage to replicate any of those experiments.
When I buy juice though, I am more thorough...

Arne · Oct 3, 2013

Yes guys, the greatest thing about making your own wine is you can make it however you want it or like it. Good luck with all your winemaking. Arne.

Machine · Oct 4, 2013

For me I love to cook but hate to bake (because I hate measuring...would rather eyeball everything), but I figured with this winemaking attempt I better at least try to go by the book. Had I used the grapes as is (acidity either undetermined or off the scale, have to test again tonight...and SG at 1.045 so simple syrup on its way into the mix some time tonight too) I think I would have ended up with a wine-like beverage, but I don't want to discourage myself by ending up with a mess of an end product on my first try, if avoidable...I'll leave that for when I decide to throw away the gauges and freestyle a few years down the road!