My first attempt

[jimjohson]

considering I now got a job where I have to talk wine making I figure it'll be a good idea if I actually make a few. For my first attempt it'll be a Cru, Orchard Breezin, Wild Watermelon.

[LouieMacGoo]

I know nothing about making wine accept that you use grapes. I look forward to hearing how it goes and any insights you end up sharing.

[BigPapaG]

Best of Luck and Happy Winemaking Jim!

[BlackDuck]

I was making wine before I started making beer. I don't make it anymore because I drink beer way more than wine. I never made it from the kits though. I always bought fresh grape juice in the spring. The reds would take about a year or so and the whites usually took about 9 months. Lot's and lots of waiting. I guess the kits don't take nearly that long.

Good luck with it!!!

[RickBeer]

[mashani]

I was making wine before I started making beer. I don't make it anymore because I drink beer way more than wine. I never made it from the kits though. I always bought fresh grape juice in the spring. The reds would take about a year or so and the whites usually took about 9 months. Lot's and lots of waiting. I guess the kits don't take nearly that long.

Good luck with it!!!

Diddo, except it was meads and a random maple wine (mead made with maple syrup, which is fooking awesome but also fooking expensive). But except for Hydromel or similar low low abv versions of Metheglin or Melomel or other style it takes a long time too. Even those can take a while unless you use a staggered yeast nutrient schedule.

[jimjohson]

Well truth to tell I ain't much of a wine person. The only commercial ones I like are Franken wines (German white) French and Italian wines are way to dry for me. As stated this is just so I got some practical experience and hoping SWMBO likes wine(she's fascinated by the process so far). I know from experience she's going to want a sweet wine(and she picked a merlot style) but I have learned about "back sweeting" and am pointing her at it. Thanks for the good wishes, like a MrB this kit is pretty much idiot proof.(good thing too)

Bottle in 4weeks, the OG WAS ONLY .065...I wonder if Yankee dag's rule of thumb for aging works for wine...that'd be 6.5 weeks bottle conditioning minimum. Actually since you kill the yeast does it still condition in the bottle?

[jimjohson]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1442664673.080344.jpg (220.21 KiB) Viewed 4316 times

This is 3 days after the first racking. Starting to clear nicely and when we racked the smell was incredible.

[jimjohson]

We killed the yeast, added the flavor pouch, and degassed last Sunday. We racked it off the sediment for bottling tomorrow.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1444005037.709019.jpg (241.87 KiB) Viewed 4277 times

[jimjohson]

Having a glass of watermelon wine. It's sweeter than I thought it would be. Sure tastes like water melon

[FrozenInTime]

Sure looks inviting. I LOVE watermelon, grow lots of it here. One of these days I *might* try to make a strawberry ruebarb since I have lots of those. Nice job jj.

[jimjohson]

Thanks FiT. It's just a kit wine http://www.rjscraftwinemaking.com/?meth ... rd-Breezin everything you need is in the box pretty much just add water.

[Pudge]

I've done exactly two wines and both were the Orchard Breezin kits. They are very easy with step by step instructions and make a decent wine in a surprisingly short time. You just have to remember they're designed as 6 gallon kits and we normally deal in 5 gallons. It simply bumped up the OG in a 5 gallon version.

I kegged it up and have to say wine on tap is pretty cool

[brewnewb]

Thanks FiT. It's just a kit wine http://www.rjscraftwinemaking.com/?meth ... rd-Breezin everything you need is in the box pretty much just add water.

I agree, I've made several of the Wine Expert kits and they have all come out great according to my wife. She and her girl friends LOVE wine so my original intent was to drive the consumption cost down. 9 - 10 bucks a bottle is rough on the wallet. I bought my kits on sale and usually yield 27 bottles. It comes in under $3 a bottle.

I kegged it up and have to say wine on tap is pretty cool

.... and dangerous. I've kegged a few batches of those cheap Welch's 100% Grape Juice recipies. I made the mistake of drinking these like beer from the tap. Knocked me on my arse several times.

We are actually thinking about making a little "wine bar" with a kegerator conversion. Mrs Brewnewb loves wine. She's from Western NY where all those wineries are.

I've made a couple white zin from these guys https://www.homewinery.com/ that came out pretty good. Shipping is a little steep ($14). After talking to the guy last week, he said the most economical shipping was to order 4 at time as the price only goes up a few dollars for 4.

I must admit, I'm starting to like drinking wine.

[jimjohson]

I plan on doing another orchard breeze(SWMBO wants to try the orange sangria) then I'll try my hand at a cabernet sauvignon.


Wine on tap...now that's an idea