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Making Wine—Where do I start?
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Posted by g_jorgensen (My Page) on Sun, Jul 22, 07 at 21:16
| I’m sorry if this has been asked a thousand times by new person!
Please Help!
I want to try making wine this fall from Highbush Cranberries. I have never made wine and know very little about berries.
I planted about 50 bushes 5 years ago, which I got from the DNR. Most of the plants are doing fantastic and I will have an abundance of berries this year.
Can anyone point me to a good resource with information on harvesting, wine making, buying supplies, etc...?
Thanks for the help!
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Making Wine—Where do I start?
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| Hi g_jorgensen, Welcome to an addictive creative passion! I make wine but not from my own grapes. I order the juice. However, my favorite source for information, forums, equipment, etc. is www.finevinewines.com. The proprietor has gone way beyond my customer expectations to provide an excellent service. I do know there are wine making kits all ready to use. You've probably done a bit of research already. Another site I have heard good things about is www.wineart.com. Although, I can't speak from personal experience for that one. Another resource is your local Brewery Supply store(s). Ours in Raleigh sells everything needed to make wine (as well as beer.) Good luck and let us know how it goes! Erin |
RE: Making Wine—Where do I start?
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| In addition to Erin's great info I'd also suggest picking up a copy of a good intro wine book like C.J.J. Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking". It covers the basics pretty well and also has lots of fruit based wine recipes (though I don't know if it has anything on cranberries). My limited understanding of cranberries are that like most other berries, they'll need to be crushed / squeezed in some kind of press to get the juices out and then you'd ferment with either just the juice or both the juice and skins (more color and possibly more tannins) so you'll need something to do squeeze them with in addition to the basic winemaking stuff. Just keep asking questions and we'll try to answer as best we can. |
RE: Making Wine—Where do I start?
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| i have recipes for cranberry wine if interested, also another good source is youtube |
RE: Making Wine—Where do I start?
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| I have several winemaking links on my winemaking web page. There are some excellent resources. I would suggest Jack's winemaking page. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Cook Prairie Wines
RE: Making Wine—Where do I start?
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In his vinting links
the second link Is The Home winemakers Manual,(it's free)
It is also on Jack Kellers blog.
HAve you heard of free cycle, that is a site, about
people trying to get rid of things in your area, that cluttler up the house, you may find some demi john's(1 gallon jug) or if your lucky like me a carboy(5 gallon jug)
alot of people drink carlo rossio, and throw the jugs in the recycling bin, maybe a person on freecycle would drink it alot.
you can also get bottles, for a resturant, recycling center(if you have one)
I could tell you more, but Im sure lots of information can be found. One thing though is you could freeze the fruit, it breaks down the cell walls, and the fruits practicaly, juice themselves.(if you do it with a apple it will be softer then a tomato when thawed)
Oh And some recipes call for a high percentage of alcohol,(ORIGINAL GRAVIETY)<----> or even just to be finished sweet (BECAUSE OF ORIGINAL GRAVIETY), and the yeast will die, leaving you with a sweet wine, you might want to modify them to 12 to 13 percent.
higher alcohol takes longer to mature also. |
RE:vinting Wine—Where do I start?
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Oh, and kits
My opinion, is I wouldn't want to do one,
but definety not for the first time,
because one can learn alot from his mistakes, but researching first, should prevent some.
A kit to me is some very easy instuctions, and isn't even you own product, it is already set for you no playing with acid(just add water/yeast to concentrate,
rack (syphon) when they say,and I don't see how that could teach me much. |
RE: Making Wine—Where do I start?
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I'm in the same boat! I'm making my first batch of wine, fig wine. I did buy a wine making kit from a local home brew business but it came with an acid test kit etc. and an intro book. I started the batch last night. I plan on using the expertise on this forum extensively when I run into questions.
Thanks,
Sue |
Here is a link that might be useful: fig wine
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