Wine Making Forums

[jgriffin]

Anyone know any decent wine making forums? Or can answer the following question for me?

a) My first kit (chardonnay) wine came with "Red Star Premium Cuvee" yeast but the hb shop sold me some Gervine B yeast to use instead, is it really better?
B) The yeast says it can ferment down to 10C, but everywhere i read says to ferment at 20C, is ti the same as beer, should i ferment it cooler?
c) should i use yeast nutrient?

 

[sluggerdog]

How did you go jgriffin? I am thinking about making up some wine myself in the early new year to have for next xmas..

 

[Stuster]

It may be a touch late for you jgriffin, but may be useful for you slugger, I have found the winemaking forum on Northern Brewer to be quite useful.

 

[sluggerdog]

Cheers Stuster, have you found the kits to come out nice or is it better off going down the path of getting the grapes?

 

[tangent]

i've been buying a trailer load of grapes on occasion
tell, you what, it's easier making wine than AG beer.
For the Chardy, I'd go with lager practices: cool and clear

 

[sluggerdog]

Thanks Tangent, looking to make a red if possible.

 

[Stuster]

Only just started Slugger. First one fermenting away right now, a white, going to rack it tonight. Then a red after that. I'll report back in a few months on how they go. Unless I forget of course.

How did you crush the grapes, tangent? With the feet? Washed first I hope. Was it heaps of work?

 

[kirem]

I work as a winemaker, use the same principles as with making beer and you can't really go wrong.

I have never used kits.

If you have any questions I can answer them for you.

K

 

[tangent]

i've got access to my old mans gear, he makes wine (i bought him a refractometer for Xmas (but I'm going to borrow his PH kit )

no feet!, crusher de-stemmer and basket press
you're probably using a bag press tho Kirem? (how's those hop plants?)

i've heard (from a bloke who sells them) if you're really good you can almost make a kit wine as good as a $7.50 cask of wine
the poms love them, but i reckon you're throwing your money away h34r:

why not try some clean sanitised rubber boots on your feet? buy some grapes! basic red wine is basic AG brewing but the sugar is already there! i did my first shiraz in beer fermenters and used oak chips
the barrel maturation is HEAPS better but it was a start

because of more grape glut you'll find very cheap grapes as well as some for free if you pick them yourself. sad for the growers but good for us alcohol vultures :chug:

 

[kirem]

Yeah we got a few bag presses here, but I have my own crusher destemmer and basket press. I also make my own.

I've just back from Adelaide for Christmas. The hops seem to be really struggling this year, I think it is lack of water. So I am sorting out some irrigation for them.

 

[jgriffin]

I ended up making two kit wines. The first was a chardonnay - i gave some to some friends who are real wine snobs, and they were blown away as to how good it was - they reckon they'd pay $20-$30 for a bottle of it.
The red is a different story though - fermentation got away from me, and i came home to find it got bloody hot. This one may end up down the drain, or used soley for cooking - i'm hoping that a few months of aging may improve it.
My other problem though is storage, i just discovered a fair amount of the commercial wine i had stored had corked - i obviously am not keeping it cool enough.

 

[Kai]

Wine won't 'cork' from being stored too warm, but it will go off. Corking usually refers to a fungal infection already present in the cork that produces a compound called trichloroanisole, which doesn't taste too crash hot and has a very low detection threshold.

Good to hear the chards turned out well

 

[tangent]

i had a pinot grigio from italy that i had to throw down the sink recently, worst ever.

 

[Screwtop]

Have Viognier, Granache and Mataro growing here. Have made some very bad wine in the past, but all is never lost, run it through the water purifier and drink the grappa.

 

[Batz]

I have a friend who makes wine , he sent me this site

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

I have made a couple of kits and they turned out ok , planning on trying some mango wine when I have a good crop.



Cheers
Batz