Zelix Wine Adventures...Beginner Gearing up.

[zelix]

Hello everyone. To keep from flooding the forum with multiple threads I decided to simply make this thread to house my beginning wine making adventures. It will also help me to keep this as a record to sort out all my missteps and record my triumphs ( I hope to have). I hope this is okay with the Admins/Mods here.


Background:
So I used to make "hillbilly" wine.. basically just juice sugar and baking yeast in a gallon jug with a balloon on top.. yeah I know.... the horror.
Now that I'm older (and hopefully wiser) I want to make some really good wine. I'm going about everything with my mind as a clean slate. I'm

I've made some beer a couple of decades ago. Turned out good. I had fun. Life got complicated and I just didn't have the time to continue on with it. I've moved to north Georgia a couple of years ago. I went on an expedition this weekend thru the garage in a massive clean up. I found my old beer brewing kit. I see I a few things that I can use still. I do feel I need to get a new kit though. It would be a shame to go thru the effort of making wine and the equipment fail on me. So I'm researching and trying to make sure I get a great kit.

Present day:
I've ordered a Pinot Noir Wine Kit - Master Vintner- Weekday Wine. from Midwest Supply. I've ordered some beer making stuff from them a long time ago so It was my first 'go to' shopping place. I had good experience with them before. I also got some One Step as well. I will attempt to make this first. It's my understanding that it comes with all the ingredients needed and is as close to fool proof as one can expect. Which is what I need.

After reading thru a lot of the site I found DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine recipe. What a cool name. It really screams at me that I should make this. I immediately sprang into action on Amazon. I have bought a lot of the ingredients to make this. This will hopefully be my second attempt at wine making.




So my first question to everyone is what is the best suggestions for a kit to buy for a beginner? What to look out for...what to stay away from...

(my wifey & daughter said they are going to hook me up for father's day)

I'm looking at this kit at the moment:
Master Vintner® Wine Making Starter Kit
https://www.midwestsupplies.com/col...oducts/master-vintner-wine-making-starter-kitI'm not sure about the The crystal-clear Big Mouth Bubbler PET Fermentor. I'm wondering if that's a pain to clean.



Here's a few pictures of what I have so far:

My bottling bucket is missing a lid. I'm not sure if it came with one or not.

I have a glass carboy.

Just got these items in the mail to make the DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine. I also have the triple berry blend in the freezer waiting. I only have to get the lemon at this point.

I'm hoping that these brands are acceptable.

Thanks for checking this post out. Any suggestions or help you can provide would be appreciated. I'd like to have a decent batch right out of the gate if possible.

 

[crushday]

@zelix Welcome back! My first impression of your present situation is this: You purchased a 6 gallon wine kit but you appear to have equipment that makes 5 gallons of beer. Right away you have capacity issues. I don't know anything about the Pinot kit you purchased but my experience with kits is that they come with all the adjuncts you need.

I would highly recommend the winemakers starter kit from Midwest. You need a couple 6 gallon carboys, however, if you're going to make the Pinot and DDDB any time soon. You'll need a few months of aging for both of those to settle out and clear and, develop a bit before you bottle.

 

[rustbucket]

Welcome to the forum, @zelix. I'll second @crushday's comments and go on to address your concern about the Big Mouth Bubbler PET Fermentor. I have one and find it very easy to clean. You can get your whole arm inside the Big Mouth to scrub down the inside with a sponge making it easier to clean than my narrow mouth PET carboys where I rely on the cleaning action of oxygenation cleaners like Easy Clean.

My only concern with the Big Mouth is that there is a lot of surface area for wine air exposure at the top of the mouth. I primarily use my Big Mouth for primary fermentation and transfer the wine to a narrow mouth PET carboy for secondary fermentation and/or clearing.

 

[zelix]

@zelix Welcome back! My first impression of your present situation is this: You purchased a 6 gallon wine kit but you appear to have equipment that makes 5 gallons of beer. Right away you have capacity issues. I don't know anything about the Pinot kit you purchased but my experience with kits is that they come with all the adjuncts you need.

I would highly recommend the winemakers starter kit from Midwest. You need a couple 6 gallon carboys, however, if you're going to make the Pinot and DDDB any time soon. You'll need a few months of aging for both of those to settle out and clear and, develop a bit before you bottle.

I believe that bucket will hold 6.5 gallons. It's a bit larger than a 5 gallon bucket.

I'm taking your recommendation and I just bought the winemakers kit. I'm guessing the only thing I need now is a corker and some bottles. I'll get them in a week or so. I've already put the word out for people to save wine bottles.

Welcome to the forum, @zelix. I'll second @crushday's comments and go on to address your concern about the Big Mouth Bubbler PET Fermentor. I have one and find it very easy to clean. You can get your whole arm inside the Big Mouth to scrub down the inside with a sponge making it easier to clean than my narrow mouth PET carboys where I rely on the cleaning action of oxygenation cleaners like Easy Clean.

My only concern with the Big Mouth is that there is a lot of surface area for wine air exposure at the top of the mouth. I primarily use my Big Mouth for primary fermentation and transfer the wine to a narrow mouth PET carboy for secondary fermentation and/or clearing.

Thanks for your reply. I've purchased the winemakers kit. I'll use the big mouth as the primary and the carboy as the secondary.

 

[zelix]

Quick question for everyone. I've asked everyone to save their wine bottles. Does it matter if the bottle is a screw lid or not when it comes to corking them?

 

[Johnd]

Quick question for everyone. I've asked everyone to save their wine bottles. Does it matter if the bottle is a screw lid or not when it comes to corking them?

You’ll get some mixed answers here, there is some risk with corking a screw cap bottle, that the mouth is weaker and has the potential to break. Some will say they’ve never had an issue.
If you plan to keep your bottled wine for some aging, you’ll want to use the #9 size, 1.75” corks, which will probably necessitate the need for a floor corker. A floor corker is worth its weight in gold when you make lots of wine, Portuguese and Italian models are very popular here.

 

[zelix]

You’ll get some mixed answers here, there is some risk with corking a screw cap bottle, that the mouth is weaker and has the potential to break. Some will say they’ve never had an issue.
If you plan to keep your bottled wine for some aging, you’ll want to use the #9 size, 1.75” corks, which will probably necessitate the need for a floor corker. A floor corker is worth its weight in gold when you make lots of wine, Portuguese and Italian models are very popular here.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I might just bite the bullet and buy enough bottle to make this first batch. I'd like to come out of the gate with a win if possible. I'm thinking just follow the kit and everything to the letter. After that I can experiment with different ingredients, bottles and such. Does that sound like a good way to go or am I being over cautious?

One of my upcoming questions was to be asking about what to look for in a corker. I'm guessing there are different size corks as well. I'll look into floor corker.

 

[Johnd]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I might just bite the bullet and buy enough bottle to make this first batch. I'd like to come out of the gate with a win if possible. I'm thinking just follow the kit and everything to the letter. After that I can experiment with different ingredients, bottles and such. Does that sound like a good way to go or am I being over cautious?

One of my upcoming questions was to be asking about what to look for in a corker. I'm guessing there are different size corks as well. I'll look into floor corker.

If you search this forum, you’ll find countless threads about re-using old bottles, billions of methods to clean and remove old labels, etc.....baking, soaking, you name it. Ain’t nobody got time for that. At least not here.
I bottle only in new bottles or in bottles that I purchased that I’ve consumed or that have been returned to me. My bottles are all uniform In size and shape and the labels peel right off with no effort or glue left behind. Nice and simple.

 

[crushday]

I’m in alignment with @Johnd - all my bottles are uniform, new or recycled from my own use. I don’t ask for bottles back so I never get them returned. The purpose in my uniformity has to do with storage. My immediate bottling storage employs rectangular milk crates and I can store 25 bottles in a compact foot print not much larger than a bottle box which holds 12.

You’ll find that the Portuguese floor corkers are less expensive than Italian. I can’t vouch for the build quality or how they hold up over time. I have an Italian model and it’s never failed me.

 

[cmason1957]

My wife and I bottled 10 cases over the weekend. All recycled, some having been returned to me over time, others from a winery near me where the labels fall off after a 30 minute soak in warm oxyclean water. I'll second the avoid the screw top bottles, sure you can cork them, generally without problem. The glass at the top is thinner and when taking one out a few years ago, I had the top break on me, no harm came to me, but what a mess and a wasted bottle of wine. Since there may have been small shards of glass in it. Never had that happen with a non-screw cap bottle. I use an Italian Model (blue, brass jaws) floor corker and love it.

 

[rustbucket]

The Portuguese floor corker has worked well for me since I'm not a big volume bottler. I typically make 4 to 5 six gallon batches of wine per year.

 

[hounddawg]

i hear the Portuguese floor corker has plastic jaws, just heard don't know, i use the italian floor corker, with brass jaws, and it is a great floor corker.
Dawg

 

[zelix]

i hear the Portuguese floor corker has plastic jaws, just heard don't know, i use the italian floor corker, with brass jaws, and it is a great floor corker.
Dawg

I've spent some time yesterday looking at floor corkers.

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on a Italian floor corker. It's a bit more costly than the protuguese but it looks like it requires less force to use it. I'm thinking it will be worth it in the long run spending the extra money.

I don't know just how much wine I'll make per year. I'm sure 4-5 batches.

 

[cmason1957]

I've spent some time yesterday looking at floor corkers.

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on a Italian floor corker. It's a bit more costly than the protuguese but it looks like it requires less force to use it. I'm thinking it will be worth it in the long run spending the extra money.

I don't know just how much wine I'll make per year. I'm sure 4-5 batches.

Excellant choice and you are correct, due to the longer lever arm on it, much easier to use. I had an old one, no idea how old, that my wife traded an old lawn mower for about 10 years ago. The person she traded with father had passed away after making wine for at least 30 years. I think it had sat outside for a bit of time, but we used it for 9 years. It was then beyond repair. My local brewshop let me borrow a Portugese one and it was much harder to use. Very quickly replaced it with a new Italian one.

 

[zelix]

Excellant choice and you are correct, due to the longer lever arm on it, much easier to use. I had an old one, no idea how old, that my wife traded an old lawn mower for about 10 years ago. The person she traded with father had passed away after making wine for at least 30 years. I think it had sat outside for a bit of time, but we used it for 9 years. It was then beyond repair. My local brewshop let me borrow a Portugese one and it was much harder to use. Very quickly replaced it with a new Italian one.

Yeah I'm just thinking.."Hey this is a hobby. This is what I'm choosing to do for fun. Why not make it as enjoyable as possible?" I'm an older fellow...and each year getting older. I don't want to look towards bottling day with shear dread.

I'm still waiting for my kits to arrive. I'll be ordering a few cases of bottles, corks and the Italian corker soon.

 

[zelix]

My recipe kit arrived. Still waiting for the equipment kit. Getting excited.

 

[hounddawg]

I've spent some time yesterday looking at floor corkers.

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on a Italian floor corker. It's a bit more costly than the protuguese but it looks like it requires less force to use it. I'm thinking it will be worth it in the long run spending the extra money.

I don't know just how much wine I'll make per year. I'm sure 4-5 batches.

JUST WAIT FOR THE ADDICTION TO GET YOU, lol,,, not drinking but the love of creating wines the art of it, i'm small potatoes but i got 60 gallons aging so far this year, 5 types of country wines and am planning several more,
Dawg

 

[zelix]

JUST WAIT FOR THE ADDICTION TO GET YOU, lol,,, not drinking but the love of creating wines the art of it, i'm small potatoes but i got 60 gallons aging so far this year, 5 types of country wines and am planning several more,
Dawg

This might be a ridiculous question but what is a country wine?

 

[hounddawg]

This might be a ridiculous question but what is a country wine?

wines from anything but grapes, all fruits and berries, flowers, you name it, grape is concidered tradishinal wine, ever thing else is country wines, elderberry, muscadine, blackberry,dandylion ect. and no that is a good question,
Dawg

 

[The Dutchman]

Also, I would recommend looking for a used floor corker, oftentimes they can be found anywhere from 20 to 40 dollars. I found my Italian floor corker for 25 dollars. I took it apart to give it a good clean, sanded some rusty spots, and repainted it, and it is as good as new.