Starting wine making - step by step

[British Red]

One of the things we are most often asked about in Smallholding life is wine making. As a result we've started a new video series laying out all the equipment, materials and techniques necessary for home wine making.

I know the topic comes up on here from time to time so thought it might be of interest

 

[Broch]

One of the things we are most often asked about in Smallholding life is wine making. As a result we've started a new video series laying out all the equipment, materials and techniques necessary gor home wine making.

I know the topic comes up on here from time to time do thought it might be of interest

I think your finger slipped across the keyboard on the title BR

 

[British Red]

You aren't kidding!

 

[Robson Valley]

I grow grapes. In a past life, I was an amateur wine maker, 450 liters at a time.
BR is spot on. You have time to gather up things for 2021.

To me, most importantly, was a binder of batch notes as a log book.
Every last damn nuance for every batch. You have got to get the process under control and your own written musings matter a lot.

We now return you to your regular programming.

 

[British Red]

I grow grapes. In a past life, I was an amateur wine maker, 450 liters at a time.
BR is spot on. You have time to gather up things for 2021.

To me, most importantly, was a binder of batch notes as a log book.
Every last damn nuance for every batch. You have got to get the process under control and your own written musings matter a lot.

We now return you to your regular programming.

That's so true in everything. We maintain a "flock book" on our rare breed hens. Every egg ever set, source, sire, broody. For example hens brooding this year are 24 days later than last year (caused by temperature variation). We do the same for planting schemes.

 

[Robson Valley]

Home brew wine making is cost effective. Maybe 2 years to pay down the capital cost of the equipment. Used kit cleaned up is fine. Have enough to run overlapping batches.

I made 15 gals of rhubarb wine one year (got lucky, the fruit was a gift).
The wine was magnificent. I needed that log book so badly. I was able to do it again!

 

[British Red]

Because wine is absurdly taxed here, you can break even on a single 5 gallon batch of wine. Thereafter, its a saving of at least 75% on shop price. More gor country wine.

 

[British Red]

The second part of our "step by step guide" to making home made wine is live tonight, with a link to our Elderflower wine recipe - its just in time for Elderflower season

 

[Robson Valley]

BR, you could sell a toothbrush to a chicken. Well done.
With today's choices of wine yeasts, everything on your table is not beyond a starter's choice.

 

[British Red]

I'm thinking of doing a couple of videos showing putting together wine & beer kits. Its so ridiculously simple!

 

[Robson Valley]

Here's the deal. Like I said, I was making wine in 450 liter batches.
I was buying 25 x 36lb boxes of California Zinfandel grapes.
I crushed and ran them into 2 x 45 gal primaries, adjusted the acid and tannin, sulfited and used the select wine yeast of my choice. I stirred them with a canoe paddle. I could hear them bubble from upstairs.
So intense that it was realistic to make a thinner second run and blend.
Cleared in a week, ripened by Christmas and later.

The down side to all this was that the corks (27mm, chamfered, dusted and waxed) were $0.27 each, even 1,000 at a time. That's enough to pi$$ off a saint when you realize that the dang wine was costing me $0.75/liter to make with 3 man-days work in a year.

BR is offering all this to you. You can't buy a decent drop for under $1.00/liter.
But, you can make it with a little effort.

 

[MikeeMiracle]

When I was a kid my Dad used to get me to step in buckets filled with grapes to get all the juice out so he could turn it into wine.

 

[Robson Valley]

My crusher would take a box at a time, little "squirts" of juice could hit the ceiling.
You soon realize that all you have to do is break the skin. The yeastie-beasties are sure to get in there with no more of your help. Pretty funny. Of all the fruit wines that I made, raspberry has to be the most beautiful looking wine of all. Taste as well. #2 would be rhubarb. The blush in the glass was really elegant. I can imagine that strawberry might be in that class. Cherry matures like you don't know what it was made from.