Author Topic: Anyone else make his own wine?  (Read 9148 times)

LAdria27

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Anyone else make his own wine?
« on: April 26, 2017, 01:10:57 PM »
Writting this as I drink a cup of my chardonnay wine 2016 :D


TheInsuranceMan

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2017, 02:32:18 PM »
Not wine, but we (a buddy and myself) make our own beer!  Just enjoyed a homebrewed IPA last night!

Optimiser

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2017, 03:37:20 PM »
Been making homemade cider since being inspired by MMM's blog post about it.

HPstache

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2017, 03:42:39 PM »
Yes!  I just bottled my Christmas 2016 blueberry wine weekend... the picture I attached is about 2/3rds of it pictured got 19 bottles total).  I also have 4 Regent grape vines planted at my house that I made about a gallon with last year.  My parents-in-law planted 50 vines last summer so I'll be making lots of in the next couple of years!  I am thinking probably 15-20 gallons or about 100 bottles a year from that when it comes on strong.

Riff

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2017, 03:49:56 PM »
I love to make beer and wine, although I only do the kits.  I've got 4 different wines in my "cellar" and one in the queue, a Gewurztraminer.

Good wine, plus it's pretty cheap once you have the basic equipment.

Spork

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2017, 04:55:09 PM »
We make our own -- though not huge amounts.

When we started our county was "dry".  You had to drive an hour round trip to buy wine.  With that being the case, we were planning on churning out as much as we could drink.

Since then, things have relaxed and we can buy beer/wine in the grocery stores and the economic/pain in the ass factors are relaxed.  We now only make wine from excess things we grow.  So far we've done blackberry, blueberry, fig and muscadine. 

We've found that the non-kit wines need a LONG time in the "cellar" (closet) before they're ready.  We don't drink anything under 2 years old.

lchu

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2017, 04:04:56 PM »
Homemade cider -- not as good as store bought, but not terrible either!

NorCal

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2017, 04:26:22 PM »
Making wine is my favorite lazy hobby.  A batch takes about 3 days of work, yet you can tell all your friends you're making wine for over 6 months.

I've only been doing kit wines since I had kids due to time restrictions.  I'd love to go back and do more fruit wines if I get more time.  Cherry is my favorite.

I have a lead on some free blueberries this year, so maybe that will be motivation to do a full batch.

leighb

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2017, 05:51:03 PM »
We make all of our wine. It's a great and easy hobby. This weekend I'm making Lilac wine.

SharkStomper

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2017, 06:35:49 AM »
I've been making beer for years now and the wife just started making wine a couple months ago.  I hoped to save money by making it ourselves but the truth is we just drink more. 

Maenad

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2017, 02:49:09 PM »
I made my first batch of raspberry wine about 1.5 years ago. Last year's crop went to other things, but this year I'm hoping to do more. It's easy once you get the hang of it, and I'm thinking of experimenting with different yeasts, as well as making some of the wine into port.

TomTX

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2017, 06:45:50 PM »
Made my first batch in 1991.

...kinda fell out of the hobby because I don't drink that much anymore and the backlog of full bottles just got enormous.

lilvixen

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2017, 03:48:25 PM »
I've fallen hard for this hobby in the last year, and I'm loving it. I only do kit wines due to available resources around me, but I've made 8 kits so far, and I have 5 more in the closet waiting to start. Once they're all made, our makeshift cellar in the back of the master closet will give us a nice variety to enjoy with dinner. It's been a bit of an investment to get started, but the fun of the hobby is worth it. Plus we get to drink the fruits of my labor!

BudgetSlasher

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2017, 11:31:13 AM »
We generally keep a mead, a cider, 2 beers, a red wine, and a white wine on tap.

A fun hobby, but one that I will never break even on.

Spiffsome

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2017, 12:38:27 AM »
Heck yes. I started with a mulberry wine in 2014 (a very good year for mulberries) after my grandparents sent me about 5 kg (10 pounds) and I got sick of making jam. I'm kicking myself now, because I gave away most of it at the beginning of the year when it was drinkable but not great, and 6 months later the last of it has aged into the loveliest red wine!

Mead counts too, right? My second batch of apple mead (4 litres apple juice, 1 kg honey, 1 tsp yeast & nutrient, wait 2 months) has clarified beautifully.

I acquired a winemaking book. The downside of buying secondhand is that sometimes you have to settle - my winemaking book was written in England about 50 years ago, which means I have to convert from British imperial to metric, remember not to use asbestos pulp to filter, and ignore the instructions on using a heater since I'm in Australia. However, my latest batch is orange and lemon wine, which should turn out well, and cost me $12 in ingredients for 8 litres of wine. We'll see how it goes.

WranglerBowman

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #15 on: June 12, 2017, 10:47:04 AM »
My roommate and I used to make wine in college, in our dorm room closet.  We were both under age my freshman year and my biology teacher would always say "You can get anything to ferment" #inspiration  We started buying or picking up whatever fruit Giant was throwing out due to age/appearance, then we'd mash it all up in 5 gallon buckets, add water and sugar, let it sit out in the open air for 24 hours in the dorm, then put the bucket lid on which had plastic hose out of it and into a cup of water.  Stacked four 5 gallon buckets in the closet at a time.  It generally took about 20 some days for fermentation to complete, the point at which bubbles stopped coming out of the lid hose.  The wine that was good we drank, the wine that wasn't that great we stilled at his parents house, real moonshine.  It was a fun rudimentary experiment, never got serious with it though.

HPstache

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2017, 11:03:07 AM »
I am about a week into my 1st attempt at 5gal batch of Dragon's Blood Wine.  It's a simple recipe made from ingredients you can buy at Costco.  Of course the yeast and additives/preservatives aren't available there, but so far, so good!

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41825

lukebuz

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #17 on: June 12, 2017, 08:12:09 PM »
Another Winemaker here!  Over 40 batches now, and yes, a huge backlog of undrunken (drank?) wine.  Super fun to make - just love the smell of a fermenting bucket in the house :)  I forage or trade all my fruit, use recycled bottles again and again, and have cheaper labels.  I bet my cost/bottle is under $2, all in.  Plus, it's infinite variety and better than $2 swill.

Spork

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2017, 08:32:30 AM »
Another Winemaker here!  Over 40 batches now, and yes, a huge backlog of undrunken (drank?) wine.  Super fun to make - just love the smell of a fermenting bucket in the house :)  I forage or trade all my fruit, use recycled bottles again and again, and have cheaper labels.  I bet my cost/bottle is under $2, all in.  Plus, it's infinite variety and better than $2 swill.

My "labels" are masking tape with a Sharpie marking on it.  (I hate removing labels, so printing up something and gluing it on there seems like a pain.)

While we are reviving this thread... does anyone have any recipes for a dry mead they can share?  I feel like I should like mead since I love honey... but all the mead I have tried was terribly sweet.  I'd like something dry. 

Riff

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2017, 06:51:04 AM »
My "labels" are masking tape with a Sharpie marking on it.  (I hate removing labels, so printing up something and gluing it on there seems like a pain.)
For my labels, I make something nice in Photoshop and print them out.  To glue them on I just brush milk on the back of the label and it sticks perfectly well to the bottle.  And they come off pretty easy when you're done with the bottle!

distanceman89

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2017, 07:50:49 AM »
Not traditional "wine", but once or twice a year my wife and I make dandelion wine. Its a similar process, just using the yellow petals of the flower to boil for taste/sweetness, and then adding the sugar and yeast, fermenting as desired. We usually tend to go for less sugar added and longer ferment time to wind up with a super smooth dry wine at the end.

Spend an afternoon picking two quarts of free flowers (weeds if you prefer) in the yard and wind up with a gallon of wine? yes please! For added fun the early spring batch usually includes a quart of violets if we can find enough of them, adds a nice depth of flavor.

We have a bumper crop of wineberries/raspberries and mulberries this year, so we may give one of those a go as well.

Spork

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2017, 08:20:30 AM »
My "labels" are masking tape with a Sharpie marking on it.  (I hate removing labels, so printing up something and gluing it on there seems like a pain.)
For my labels, I make something nice in Photoshop and print them out.  To glue them on I just brush milk on the back of the label and it sticks perfectly well to the bottle.  And they come off pretty easy when you're done with the bottle!

Okay, I'll have to try the milk-as-glue.  I just get annoyed at the long soaking/scraping of factory labels.

El Marinero

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2017, 01:04:46 PM »
  To glue them on I just brush milk on the back of the label and it sticks perfectly well to the bottle.  And they come off pretty easy when you're done with the bottle!

I was gonna say the same thing - I use nonfat milk as a label adhesive. It does stay on well, then comes off with a little bit of soaking.

Riff

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #23 on: June 14, 2017, 02:15:51 PM »
  To glue them on I just brush milk on the back of the label and it sticks perfectly well to the bottle.  And they come off pretty easy when you're done with the bottle!

I was gonna say the same thing - I use nonfat milk as a label adhesive. It does stay on well, then comes off with a little bit of soaking.

Probably should note too that you should print the labels on a laser printer, not inkjet.

Tom Bri

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #24 on: June 15, 2017, 11:00:58 PM »
No, but I supply my neighbor with peaches and grapes, and he returns  wine a year later.

areox27

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #25 on: June 19, 2017, 11:28:24 PM »
I haven't tried making Wine yet, but I did try beer. Unfortunately I didn't filter it correctly and some of the hops got into it, resulting in some very chunky beer :(

Has anyone tried their hand at cheese? Making my own spread with homemade wine and cheese sounds exquisite.

coconutindex

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #26 on: July 02, 2017, 01:25:21 PM »
Not traditional "wine", but once or twice a year my wife and I make dandelion wine. Its a similar process, just using the yellow petals of the flower to boil for taste/sweetness, and then adding the sugar and yeast, fermenting as desired. We usually tend to go for less sugar added and longer ferment time to wind up with a super smooth dry wine at the end.

Spend an afternoon picking two quarts of free flowers (weeds if you prefer) in the yard and wind up with a gallon of wine? yes please! For added fun the early spring batch usually includes a quart of violets if we can find enough of them, adds a nice depth of flavor.

We have a bumper crop of wineberries/raspberries and mulberries this year, so we may give one of those a go as well.

My first batch of dandelion wine just turned four weeks old. Will rack it tomorrow. Very excited to see how it turns out!

BudgetSlasher

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #27 on: July 02, 2017, 05:38:11 PM »
We make beer, wine, cider, and mead.

HPstache

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #28 on: July 02, 2017, 07:58:21 PM »
My 5gal batch of dragon's blood is clear in up nicely and should be ready for some game of thrones action!  I have used a wine thief to try some early and it is really delicious back sweetened with a bit of sugar!

Heckler

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #29 on: July 03, 2017, 02:05:08 AM »
88 x 5G batches of allgrain homebrew and 16 batches of wine kits under my belt since 2012.

Instead of wasting time with labels, my wife writes the batch nsme and date on the beer cap or the plastic heatshrink over the cork. 


I just finished brewing a ~10% scotch ale today that will cellar for two years before I touch the first bottle. My previous batch of the same recipe wasn't very good until I opened the second to last bottle a month ago - it was two years old and tasted amazing!  Coffee notes from the grains, whiskey and oak finally mellowed out enough and turned into a smooth elixer.

Heckler

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #30 on: July 03, 2017, 02:07:10 AM »
Most of my wine is from the expensive kits. One batch of homepicked blackberry port didnt really turn out, although Im waiting on a few bottles to age and see what happened.

Spork

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #31 on: July 03, 2017, 07:51:02 AM »
Most of my wine is from the expensive kits. One batch of homepicked blackberry port didnt really turn out, although Im waiting on a few bottles to age and see what happened.

In my experience: Blackberry takes *at least* 2 years in the bottle to even think about drinking it.  I think the kits are somewhat engineered for quick satisfaction. 

I've also found the blackberry recipes I have tried were too "thin" on the berries.  I've started doubling the berry amounts in the recipes (but they haven't aged long enough for me to know if this works.)

Sweet wines are a little bit easier to turn out quickly because you can hide all sorts of imperfections with sugar.  Dry-ish wines seem to take time.  I've just started tasting them once when I bottle them and then I don't touch them for 2 years (and even then I might have one bottle and decide to leave the rest another year.)

HPstache

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #32 on: July 03, 2017, 08:23:11 AM »
Most of my wine is from the expensive kits. One batch of homepicked blackberry port didnt really turn out, although Im waiting on a few bottles to age and see what happened.

In my experience: Blackberry takes *at least* 2 years in the bottle to even think about drinking it.  I think the kits are somewhat engineered for quick satisfaction. 

I've also found the blackberry recipes I have tried were too "thin" on the berries.  I've started doubling the berry amounts in the recipes (but they haven't aged long enough for me to know if this works.)

Sweet wines are a little bit easier to turn out quickly because you can hide all sorts of imperfections with sugar.  Dry-ish wines seem to take time.  I've just started tasting them once when I bottle them and then I don't touch them for 2 years (and even then I might have one bottle and decide to leave the rest another year.)

Do you dose pretty heavily with metabisulfite to get your wines to last 2 years without browning?

Spork

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #33 on: July 03, 2017, 11:17:49 AM »
Most of my wine is from the expensive kits. One batch of homepicked blackberry port didnt really turn out, although Im waiting on a few bottles to age and see what happened.

In my experience: Blackberry takes *at least* 2 years in the bottle to even think about drinking it.  I think the kits are somewhat engineered for quick satisfaction. 

I've also found the blackberry recipes I have tried were too "thin" on the berries.  I've started doubling the berry amounts in the recipes (but they haven't aged long enough for me to know if this works.)

Sweet wines are a little bit easier to turn out quickly because you can hide all sorts of imperfections with sugar.  Dry-ish wines seem to take time.  I've just started tasting them once when I bottle them and then I don't touch them for 2 years (and even then I might have one bottle and decide to leave the rest another year.)

Do you dose pretty heavily with metabisulfite to get your wines to last 2 years without browning?

CAUTION:  I AM NOT AN EXPERT!  TAKE THE NEXT FEW SENTENCES WITH SOME GRAINS OF SALT.

My understanding is that browning is normally due to oxidation (excessive air) and that metabisulfate's purpose is to kill wild yeasts to avoid off flavors.  That said, the recipe I have used for blackberry wine does call for a campden tablet on the first day -- prior to fermentation.  I don't use any after that other that a mist in the bottles (that I then rinse out with water).

The only fruits I have had that had any brown color at all was a fig wine... and there was really just a tint of brown to the original juice.  (It looked like a cross between white/rose with a tiny hint of brown.)

SimpleCycle

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #34 on: July 03, 2017, 02:15:49 PM »
I haven't tried making Wine yet, but I did try beer. Unfortunately I didn't filter it correctly and some of the hops got into it, resulting in some very chunky beer :(

Has anyone tried their hand at cheese? Making my own spread with homemade wine and cheese sounds exquisite.

I make cheese, but aged cheeses are sort of a PITA.  These days I make mozzarella and that's it.

SimpleCycle

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #35 on: July 03, 2017, 02:19:14 PM »
For anyone interested in getting into winemaking, I like Jack Keller's site for smaller batch recipes.  That way you can try something out with low stakes before you commit to a huge batch.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

Linea_Norway

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #36 on: February 14, 2018, 05:17:36 AM »
We have been brewing beer for 2 decades. Now DH has started with planting a few grape vines. They have produced 2 handfuls of grapes. He made wine of those grapes combined with some commercial grapes to make enough volume for a few bottles.

Can someone help us with a problem? DH has cut off the outer parts of the grape fines and put some in water and some in earth, in the hope that they would develop roots. Well, they do develop green leaves, but no roots. The cuttings in water stand in the kitchen. In the winter it is typically only 16,5 degrees C. They windows are modern and don't slip through a lot of UV light. We have also some cuttings in earth on a warm bathroom floor, some covered by plastic to prevent the moisture from vaporizing. The bathroom is quite dark most of the day.
DH recently threw away his cuttings after months of waiting in vain for root development.

We have noticed that buying good quality cold-climate grape vines is not cheap, so it would be a great idea to be able to let them reproduce themselves.

asauer

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #37 on: February 14, 2018, 09:32:12 AM »
I do (though it's 'her own', not 'his own').  My favorite is dandelion wine.  It's a welcome bit of summer in Winter.

Mrs. Rocker

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #38 on: February 14, 2018, 06:09:58 PM »
We used to make lots of wine from either kits or frozen juice. We gave it up when we went on the road full-time. Luckily we taught several friends the process and they supply us with wine when we're in town. It's hard to shell out $$$ for wine when you know you could make it for so much less money. Loved the peach and cranberry kits. Yum!

Linea_Norway

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #39 on: February 26, 2018, 02:26:10 AM »
We have been brewing beer for 2 decades. Now DH has started with planting a few grape vines. They have produced 2 handfuls of grapes. He made wine of those grapes combined with some commercial grapes to make enough volume for a few bottles.

Can someone help us with a problem? DH has cut off the outer parts of the grape fines and put some in water and some in earth, in the hope that they would develop roots. Well, they do develop green leaves, but no roots. The cuttings in water stand in the kitchen. In the winter it is typically only 16,5 degrees C. They windows are modern and don't slip through a lot of UV light. We have also some cuttings in earth on a warm bathroom floor, some covered by plastic to prevent the moisture from vaporizing. The bathroom is quite dark most of the day.
DH recently threw away his cuttings after months of waiting in vain for root development.

We have noticed that buying good quality cold-climate grape vines is not cheap, so it would be a great idea to be able to let them reproduce themselves.
Modern grape vines use a separate root stock and the variety desired are grafted from cuttings.  So you will need to know more about how that works and source the right components to make your own vines.   So unless you are using a native grave variety, your strategy wont work well.  For example, we have tons of vines from random wine grape seeds in our yard.  Nice vines and leaves for dolma, but they will never grow the wine grape variety we crushed.  I suggest you buy Vineyard Simple by Tom Powers and read up a bit on home vineyard management for ideas or go to Cornell University web site. They researched and developed some cold resistent varieties for the Finger Lakes region of NY.  They are not cheap however.

We have not native variety, as I think they don't exist. But we do have 2 varieties that are good for cold climate. DH said that he has been successful to plant out cuttings in summer that have developed roots. Maybe he need to do that.

He has got a thick book about wine making. I will tell him about the book you recommend.

tralfamadorian

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #40 on: February 26, 2018, 08:22:00 AM »
@Linda_Norway is above the phylloxera line so she is lucky enough to not need rootstock. Also, since she is in Europe, vinifera is her 'native' vine :)

Ideas for what is preventing the cuttings from rooting-
-Are you using rooting hormone? It's a powder- pretty cheap in the US- and may be all you need.
-As you mentioned, it may be that there is not enough sunlight and/or it may be too cold. A heat mat below the cutting would fix the heat and a light over them with an appropriate bulb would take care of that. Also, new cuttings need humidity so if your humidity is low, you may need to tent over them with plastic, which sounds like you were doing already in the bathroom setup.

lukebuz

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #41 on: February 26, 2018, 08:02:05 PM »



While we are reviving this thread... does anyone have any recipes for a dry mead they can share?  I feel like I should like mead since I love honey... but all the mead I have tried was terribly sweet.  I'd like something dry.

Is this a trick question? 

Water.
Honey to 1.085 SG.
Yeast.

Ferment until dry, drink.

?

Optimizer

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2018, 05:16:50 PM »
Yes!

I started after high school by watching some youtube videos. I guess I had two strange features that made me do it and now I see the similarities with this blog's principles.

1) Love for passive processes. Millions of little employees converting sugar (bad?) into alcohol (good??) when I'm doing something else.

2) Interest in stashing. Ever since I was little I liked when there were many similar items on a shelf so it was only obvious to produce something.


I think that brewing/winemaking has quite a few pros besides cheaper alcohol:
- People find you interesting
- It changes your perspective on alcohol. I think that I drink less and enjoy more
- You gain life satisfaction by "producing". I've felt it myself and seen it in my friends' faces after bottling a batch of beer we co-owned. "We just did some stuff and now we have few crates of beer?? Amazing!!!"


I think it's a fun hobby and I suggest to do it.
At first you shouldn't 'overcomplicate' things. Don't buy any equipment, just start simple with a 5L plastic jug or whatevery you have at hand. Get some fermentable juice, throw the yeast in (baker's will do, experience talking) and half screw the cap on to let CO2 escape. Then after fermenation bottle and drink. You will probably fall in love with it and then you can start improving your "producion facilities".

On the somewhat outdated picture you can see some of my "stash". Now I've got more ;)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Anyone else make his own wine?
« Reply #43 on: March 14, 2018, 02:59:44 AM »
@Linda_Norway is above the phylloxera line so she is lucky enough to not need rootstock. Also, since she is in Europe, vinifera is her 'native' vine :)

Ideas for what is preventing the cuttings from rooting-
-Are you using rooting hormone? It's a powder- pretty cheap in the US- and may be all you need.
-As you mentioned, it may be that there is not enough sunlight and/or it may be too cold. A heat mat below the cutting would fix the heat and a light over them with an appropriate bulb would take care of that. Also, new cuttings need humidity so if your humidity is low, you may need to tent over them with plastic, which sounds like you were doing already in the bathroom setup.

We have trying heat and humid tent. I will ask DH about rooting hormone. We haven't tried a lamp. Some of the samples have been in the window, but modern HR windows don't slip through much ultraviolet light. And in the winter there is not much light anyway (short days, low sun, snow).

DH discovered that when he cuts off a branch in the summer, that branch will develop roots. Maybe because there is so much light.