Anyone Recommend Homebrew Wine Making?

[lukemarsh]

I've been brewing beer for over a year now and I really love it and feel I've just about got the whole process down... I am starting university this year doing Viticulture and Oenology (Adelaide Uni) and thought I might give homebrew wine making a go.
I drink mostly red wine, and would like to give it a shot making it. Has anyone here got into homebrew wine making? I get the feeling it's probably a lot harder and complicated compared to beer brewing (using kits and extracts)... has anyone found it to produce really good wines?

 

[benny_bjc]

I've been brewing beer for over a year now and I really love it and feel I've just about got the whole process down... I am starting university this year doing Viticulture and Oenology (Adelaide Uni) and thought I might give homebrew wine making a go.
I drink mostly red wine, and would like to give it a shot making it. Has anyone here got into homebrew wine making? I get the feeling it's probably a lot harder and complicated compared to beer brewing (using kits and extracts)... has anyone found it to produce really good wines?

I have never brewed wine myself and am pretty sure it is harder to produce a nice wine compared to producing a nice beer. I know someone who did a bit of homemade wine... the problem was they didn't like wine so they can't exactly produce something good, especially when they use cheap grapes or other fruit with poor characteristics.

If you want to match a good commercial wine (I think) you are probably looking at paying a lot more to make it yourself and you will probably want to source your grapes from a vineyard from the region which produces your favourite wine. Grapes also vary in character from season to season so you would need to take that into consideration.

Having said all that, I think it is definitely worth trying if you are interested in wine and if you don't want to go to all the effort of sourcing and paying for particular grapes etc then by all means buy grapes from the market but atleast choose ones which are full of flavour.

I have also heard of people making wine with various berries such as elderberry wine - which does sound very tasty!!!

You can also get wine making "grape concentrate" kits but they are pricey and I'm sure not as good or as fun as making from fresh grapes.

Again I have no experience in this so hope I have not mislead you. Others may be able to help you more.

 

[Tanga]

I'm not a wine maker (except for a few experimental batches), but here's my understanding:

If you can get hold of some of the pressed grapes then it'd be possible (and you'd probably be able to get the contacts to do this through your course), but yeah, it is a lot more complicated than extract brewing. Probably on a par with AG brewing.

You can use grape concentrate, in which case the process is almost the same as for extract beer making, though a glass fermenter (called a carboy) would be preferable (due to the longer ferment times, and possibility of oxidisation). The time you need to store the wines before they are mature enough to drink is also a lot longer (especially for reds).

I've just made a wine from the berri dark grape juice you buy at the store - not really recommended, it's pretty ordinary, but it is possible to do this if you want to just play around, and technically it is grape wine.

There is a beer and winemaking group in Adelaide who are meeting on the 1st of February (see the clubs section of this site) who would be able to help you. They seem to know their stuff. They are usually pretty experimental in the fruits (and even vegetables) that they use though, so not sure if it's what you're after. Chances are there are some oenoligists amoung them. Some of the faculty could probably tell you more about homebrewing too.

I knew a guy who made his own wines, it is possible, and even tasty, but he put a lot of work into it. I wish I'd picked his brain more before he passed away (last year). He once made this sultana grape wine which, if I can get hold of some grapes darkened on the wine, I am going to try and emulate. It was delicious, like a smooth brandy.

 

[stef]

I reckon without proper equipment, the wine you'd be able to produce wouldnt be worth the time you spent on it. Especially considering how much wine is commonly available. My brother is a chemical engineer who works with wineries assessing their processes, and i asked him the same question. If you are at Adl uni though, they have a lot of gear you'd be able to use, particularly if you can get access to what they use at the Waite.

 

[manticle]

There are a couple of people on here who are either professional or amateur winemakers. Dr Smurto, Kirem, Boston and Fraser John all spring to mind. I also think polkobinguy works for a winery in a winemaking capacity. There are certainly others I can't think of at the moment.

I have been meaning to get into it for a while - I even bought Fraser John's old grape crusher for the purpose but so far have only made 5 bottles of very average white cooking wine with a work colleague's grapes.

I believe from reading that the process is no more difficult than AG brewing or cidermaking. Obviously there are differences between all but similarities too. Basically you need sugary liquid and yeast to ferment it - beyond that there are any number of variations of ingredient blends, additives vs natural etc etc.

There is a winemaking sub forum on homebrewtalk.com and a show us your wine thread on this forum here: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=31935

Interested to hear how you go and hopefully I get my arse into gear either this season or next.

 

[Rotgut]

I do the occasional barrel. I'ts not that difficult to get great results as long as you start with great fruit! I do it with a mate to share costs and only do it when we can get good grapes at good prices - during harvest in the Yarra Valley. We source enough grapes to do a 220lt barrel at a time, red only, I hear white needs more controlled temperatures when fermenting.

The equipment's reasonably cheap and readily available to hire. Once you source your grapes put them through the crusher/de-stemmer, pitch your yeast & nutrient, ferment for a couple of days (just in any old tub big enough with a lid to keep out the vinegar flies), add some more yeast nutrient to boost it along, ferment for a few more days. Put it through a press, stick it in a barrel, let it do its malic acid ferment for a few weeks then rack, SO2 and age!

Couldn't be easier! There are a few tests you need to do every so often to make sure everything's on track, but your local brew shop can help you out there!

Very rewarding, no more difficult than making beer - but far more un-predictable results!

 

[drsmurto]

Winemaking is not that hard, winemakers just like you to think it is :lol:

 

[Chookers]

My dad makes his own wine, buys the grapes puts them through the crusher and ferments the must in open barrels (I think he covers them with fly net) He's italian, so its traditional dry rough red, no additives at all just grape juice fermenting with the yeast on the grapes.

 

[Tanga]

My dad makes his own wine, buys the grapes puts them through the crusher and ferments the must in open barrels (I think he covers them with fly net) He's italian, so its traditional dry rough red, no additives at all just grape juice fermenting with the yeast on the grapes.

That kind of thing generally works better in europe where their wild yeasts are more civilised and temperatures are cooler.

 

[manticle]

That kind of thing generally works better in europe where their wild yeasts are more civilised and temperatures are cooler.

I've had decent reds made by Calabrese living in Keilor, Vic using no additives (including yeast).

 

[Chookers]

I think they generally make it around Easter in Australia, dont know about italy. He has some batches that are better than others, but he drinks them all the same (one glass with dinner) They are'nt to my taste, you can not compare them to the bought stuff. I'd like to experiment with the grape juice next time they crush it, and put some in my Demijohns with a bought yeast and sanitation.. and see what different results I can come up with.. I've been reading The Encyclopedia of Home Winemaking by Pierre Drapeau and Andre Vanasse. It's got some good info in..

MarshBrew, I recommend getting some books on wine making, and also think about the end result you want to achieve.. like what type of red you want at the end.. dry/medium or sweet... do you want it to be fruity etc.. so you can do research on how to achieve these results..

Check out these books http://www.ibrew.com.au/html/books/bookset.html and if you do get books, try to get the ones based on Australia and Australian grapes as different regions could have different results.

 

[Muggus]

Making wine on the small scale is generally harder than doing it on a larger scale.

It's certainly not impossible, far from it infact, but ideally, apart from a means to crush/destem/press the grapes, it really pays to have a means to measure the SO2 and pH levels, and make additions of SO2(PMS probably a bit safer?) and acid when required. Of course, doing a small batch, measuring out milligrams of PMS additions might also require quite an accurate scale to go along. And lets not forget all the wine that goes to waste doing these test. And then there's filtering if required? Barrels?

Not trying to discourage you, but without having these technologies easily available a batch of wine can easily come unstuck and go bad. Having said that I've got a few muscat vines that i'll be harvesting in the near future, and will probably only yield enough to make a 20-30L batch...could be tricky!

 

[Canuck Paolo]

I moved here from Canada in 2011. My biggest disappointment was not effectively being able to make wine on a small scale. My family had made wine in Canada from the time my ancestors arrived. Over the years we made smaller but higher quality batches (approximately 500-1000 litres per year). This wine was fabulous and won awards. There were numerous outlets in which you could buy grapes or as we did refrigerated juices from around the world. In addition to my cellar, I arrived here with all of the equiment to make wine ... but can not source the juices and have become too old to go through the extraction effort myself. It looks like that hobby is over unless I can source reasonable quantities of juice at fair prices.

Here is an example of some of the places you could source juice.

http://www.kamiljuices.com/

and an example of what you could buy

http://www.vinbon.ca/#!fresh-juice-product-list/c1s52

Living in Mackay complicates my chances further, but if anyone has any suggestions ... I'd love to hear from you ... and I am more than happy to share my years of experience with anyone local.

I have made some mead here, but it is not vino ... other like it ... I'll drink it.

 

[bromeo]

How is the course going / how was it?

I just started a winemaking / viticulture degree in Melbourne, hoping I can find a job after this year as a cellarhand.

I've been brewing beer for over a year now and I really love it and feel I've just about got the whole process down... I am starting university this year doing Viticulture and Oenology (Adelaide Uni) and thought I might give homebrew wine making a go.
I drink mostly red wine, and would like to give it a shot making it. Has anyone here got into homebrew wine making? I get the feeling it's probably a lot harder and complicated compared to beer brewing (using kits and extracts)... has anyone found it to produce really good wines?

 

[starcmr]

I have never brewed wine myself and am pretty sure it is harder to produce a nice wine compared to producing a nice beer. I know someone who did a bit of homemade wine... the problem was they didn't like wine so they can't exactly produce something good, especially when they use cheap grapes or other fruit with poor characteristics.

If you want to match a good commercial wine (I think) you are probably looking at paying a lot more to make it yourself and you will probably want to source your grapes from a vineyard from the region which produces your favourite wine. Grapes also vary in character from season to season so you would need to take that into consideration.

Having said all that, I think it is definitely worth trying if you are interested in wine and if you don't want to go to all the effort of sourcing and paying for particular grapes etc then by all means buy grapes from the market but atleast choose ones which are full of flavour.

I have also heard of people making wine with various berries such as elderberry wine - which does sound very tasty!!!

You can also get wine making "grape concentrate Rotwein" kits but they are pricey and I'm sure not as good or as fun as making from fresh grapes.

Again I have no experience in this so hope I have not mislead you. Others may be able to help you more.

Started off with a cheap Cantina Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit for just £26, actually quite drinkable plonk in a stupidly short amount of time.
Next the Beaverdale 5 Gallon Cabernet Shiraz Wine Kit for £42. Really quite good, as nice as some wine I buy... And I only bought this as it was the only beaverdale in stock.

I wonder what next? I only drink red, normally 8 quid a bottle from Naked or Laithewaites. Is it worth going up to a premium brand or is the mid price kit the best option? In either case what brand... I particularly like malbec and cabernet sauvignon.
What's the sweet spot for price Vs quality?