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Homemade in full swing

Brickhouse

Brickhouse

J.C. Newman owes me royalties.
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
10,158
Been making a lot of progress in my home wine making project over the past year and more. Things are turning out great and I’m upgrading in a lot of production tools and such.

I’ve been dabbling in the home wine making for about 5 years now, but have really ramped things up. My wife and I share the hobby and have a great time working the products. We do not bottle anything without at least 1 year aging (except whites which max out benefit around 6 months). I can honestly say I’ll put any of my wines up against a $25 store bought, and those that have sampled agree. It’s a lot of fun, but even more rewarding when the product reflects the time and effort.

Just sharing the current status for the fun of it. I know we’ve got some home brewers on here.

Currently going....top left to bottom right (first pic):

Enigma Red: Big Apothic style blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot, and Cab Sav

Eclipse Shiraz

Empty Carboy (😄)

LE 19 Tempranillo

Australian Boomerang White: White blend

Pinot Gris

LE 20 Double Noir: Pinot and Gamay grapes

Cape Blend South African: Pinotage Blend

Three Moons Cab: Italy, California, Australian Cab Sav Blend

04C710EA-8730-4FC3-BA0F-D6607E6C6C71.jpegF2358649-F307-4AD1-8E0E-761A48A0FB36.jpegB6C79E15-C0EC-4FA0-8D11-ECF66E76210D.jpeg
 
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I dabbled in wine making, years ago, but it always tasted like home brewed wine. How do you keep it from tasting yeasty/vinegary/etc?
 
Man, I miss brewing! :(

What are you using for the fermentables? How much are you getting into altering pH? Bordeaux with brett? Details!
 
bfreebern said:
I dabbled in wine making, years ago, but it always tasted like home brewed wine. How do you keep it from tasting yeasty/vinegary/etc?
Click to expand...

Without trying to sound too nerdy, it really comes down to monitoring your Specific Gravity to ensure you are ready to move to the different stages of fermentation and also preventing any oxygen from touching the wine after fermentation. I use a vacuum pressurized system to rack (move my wine from carboy to carboy) every 90 days. This pulls it off the sediment, degasses, and allows me to add KMeta (Potassium Metabisulfite). The more you do this, the better. Allowing at least one year to mature really minimizes the things you speak of.

But sanitization of tools to the maximum paired with all of this is what gets you a clean, flavorful, and smooth product.

There's some more to it....but really, those things is what gets you there. Specific Gravity monitoring is paramount.
 
Brickhouse said:
Without trying to sound too nerdy, it really comes down to monitoring your Specific Gravity to ensure you are ready to move to the different stages of fermentation and also preventing any oxygen from touching the wine after fermentation. I use a vacuum pressurized system to rack (move my wine from carboy to carboy) every 90 days. This pulls it off the sediment, degasses, and allows me to add KMeta (Potassium Metabisulfite). The more you do this, the better. Allowing at least one year to mature really minimizes the things you speak of.

But sanitization of tools to the maximum paired with all of this is what gets you a clean, flavorful, and smooth product.

There's some more to it....but really, those things is what gets you there. Specific Gravity monitoring is paramount.
Click to expand...

THIS.

Before I moved to brewing beer this was the most frustrating aspect for me. Too many additions, stabilizations, steps where something could go wrong. I made a few that were decent but the majority were balsamic vinegar after a while.

Beer is definitely more my wheelhouse, but I love wines, going to wineries, and appreciate all that goes into making a quality homemade wine.
 
Brickhouse said:
Been making a lot of progress in my home wine making project over the past year and more. Things are turning out great and I’m upgrading in a lot of production tools and such.

I’ve been dabbling in the home wine making for about 5 years now, but have really ramped things up. My wife and I share the hobby and have a great time working the products. We do not bottle anything without at least 1 year aging (except whites which max out benefit around 6 months). I can honestly say I’ll put any of my wines up against a $25 store bought, and those that have sampled agree. It’s a lot of fun, but even more rewarding when the product reflects the time and effort.

Just sharing the current status for the fun of it. I know we’ve got some home brewers on here.

Currently going....top left to bottom right (first pic):

Enigma Red: Big Apothic style blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot, and Cab Sav

Eclipse Shiraz

Empty Carboy (😄)

LE 19 Tempranillo

Australian Boomerang White: White blend

Pinot Gris

LE 20 Double Noir: Pinot and Gamay grapes

Cape Blend South African: Pinotage Blend

Three Moons Cab: Italy, California, Australian Cab Sav Blend

View attachment 37644View attachment 37645View attachment 37646
Click to expand...
Wow!! Very impressive!
 
Do you source the grapes and then crush and press yourself or do you source them pre pressed?

If the first one I want to see pictures of you Costco shopping cart haha.

This is awesome, I’ve considered buying a small still to give making whiskey a shot. With some 5 gallon barrels the aging process would be much shorter. More for something to do.
 
I know it’s a hard comparison but what’s out there that you think is in the same ballpark ?
 
CgarDan said:
I know it’s a hard comparison but what’s out there that you think is in the same ballpark ?
Click to expand...

Interesting question. I'll give it a go.

I think they are a step above Josh, 19 Crimes, Meiomi, or lower spectrum Robert Mondavi just to name a few.

Maybe I'm aiming a tad high, but I might try to be close to Decoy????
 
ConDaddy said:
Do you source the grapes and then crush and press yourself or do you source them pre pressed?

If the first one I want to see pictures of you Costco shopping cart haha.

This is awesome, I’ve considered buying a small still to give making whiskey a shot. With some 5 gallon barrels the aging process would be much shorter. More for something to do.
Click to expand...

No no no....I wish I was that level, but alas I am not. I have been doing kits for about 5 years. I really stick to high end kits with skins. There's no doubt that the higher end you go, the better the product and better it ages. I'm able to tweak some things, but still being amateur at this, I don't mess with them too much. Basically I just take really good care of them and they've turned out great.
 
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