hunterdeneugene

Great idea HDE. Can't wait to see a pic of your fitchased smile after you sample your first batch.

Okay....yesterday found all my supplies at the front door. Today I got up and unpackaged everything and got ready to make wine. The kit contains everything you need. The first step is cleaning and sanitation. Being that it is new, I just rinsed the primary fermenter, which is just a food grade 8.5 gal bucket with a lid that has a rubber grommet in it with boiling water.



Next I sanitized it with some EZ Clean which was in the kit.

After it dries, it is ready. My wine selection came in a box with all the ingredients in it in numbered packets.



Just follow the directions and it is easy as that. I dissolved packet 1 in a half gallon of hot water. After that I added the juice and topped off the fermenter to 6 gallon with spring water. The 6 gallon mark is marked right on the fermenter.



My packet came with oak chips so they are added and stirred and once it settles, I added a packet of dry wine yeast. Like I said these are all included.

I then sealed the fermenter with the lid and filled up the airlock halfway with water. This is inserted in the grommet on the lid.



This will begin bubbling to let you know the fermentation process has begun. Now it should be kept at 65-75 degrees and I have to start testing it in about a week. Stay tuned till then....

Pretty cool, great write up. I can't wait to see the bubbles.

Pretty nice set up Denny. How much did that run you...if you don't mind?

I have 69.00 plus shipping for the kit off E-bay...
I have 60.00 in the wine starter juice kit. Got a couple things left to get , small things and then bottles and labels. Should be around $200 initially. Then after that kits and bottles. Roughly under $7 a bottle as it makes 30 bottles, after that around $2 a bottle....

ok, today is the day that my wine gets transferred to the secondary fermenter. It's a glass carboy and it is as simple as siphoning the wine from the primary fermenter to the secondary fermenter.



Now it sits in the secondary fermenter for 10 days. I placed the airlock on the secondary fermenter and it started bubbling after about 30 mins. After 10 days I have some tests to run on it. Stay tuned....

It looks pretty cool. So tell us how that little 'thingy' on the top works. What is is for?

the thing on top is an airlock. It is half filled with water and it creates a closed fermenting system that allows CO2 to escape, but does not allow air back in to contaminate the wine.

Well it is all too neat. Did you get that big clear jug as part of the kit?

Is it important that the large clear jug be placed out of the light? Or is light good? Or no effect? Thanks, this is a great blog.

the glass jar came with my kit. You can get them with plastic too, but everyting I have read states plastic can be harmful to the wine. I keep it out of the sunlight in the house. I couldn't think of anywhere to put it where it would stay between 65-75 degrees. My basement is finished and my son in college sort of turned it into a studio apt., and it is warmer down there than it is upstairs....They sell covers for the carboy, but my kitchen kinda stays dark, so I am not going to worry too much about it.

If you need someone to test the wine, let me konw!

Looks cool though Denny!

I can just see HDE attaching a nipple to the top of that big jug then laying on his back and holding it between his knees.... chug .. chug.. chug... woo woo woo...

Sure looks like a fun project.

You should put a worm in the bottle when you cork it up.

Only a few more days left!! I am just as excited as if I were making it myself.

I run my first test on it Mon, then check Tue, if the hydrometer readings are the same, I have to add some ingredients to it, stir it and then wait another ten days.....

What does the hydrometer actually measure? And what more ingredients will you add?

A hydrometer measures the specific gravity in the wine which then determines alcohol content. I have to add metabisulphite and sorbate. There is a great amount of sediment at the bottom of the carboy and once I add the ingredients, I have to vigorously stir it all up. The metabisulphite kills bacteria and inhibits the growth of the yeast, thus stopping the fermenting process. The sorbate kills any bacteria which may be present and chitosan which aids in clearing the wine. These are all pre measured and come in my wine kit.

So, I thought of this other question last night. If you just let it keep fermenting what will happen? Can you adjust your wine from sweet to dry by stopping the frementation process at your chosen point? Or is that more a function or sugar and other ingredients? Thanks, this is the best blog ever.

I don't think we went through all this when my parents made it in gallon jugs. But we didn't keep it around for long. Soon as it was ready, it went to camp and never came back.

the fermentation stops when the yeast has broke down the sugar, and the metabisulphite will aid in that. It is pretty much done fermenting now. I ran a hydrometer test on it tonight and it was right where it needed to be, so if it is there tomorrow, it's time to add the last of the ingredients. I am researching now adding sugar to it tomorrow to take some of the dryness out of it cause the wife doesn't like her wine too dry. Sugar in the beginning makes more alcohol and has no effect on sweetness, sugar has to be added during the stabilization phase to make it sweeter.. Tomorrow I'll add pics of the next phase.