Homemade wine making - Now I've tried it!

My Father is in to it, my brother is there, many of my friends always have the bucket bubbling... I have never before tried it myself until now! But I suppose I am hooked now too.

Homemade wine making is fast becoming very popular across the world. You can make it taste the way you want, and basically use whatever you have - or like - for your base flavor. I am most definitely going to play around more whit this!

First things first - how much do you want to make? I recommend at least 5 gallons (~19 liters). Why?

An old truth is this: Beginning home wine makers just cannot wait to taste what they have made. In addition, 5 gallons is only 25 bottles. So you'll get the batch finished, and then you will try a bottle or 2 or 3. Then you'll wait a week and try a few more bottles. Sooner than later, pretty much sooner I noticed, it will all be gone before it has a chance to age and get really good.

With 5 gallons to begin with - you just might be tempted to let a few of the remaining bottles age. Believe it or not, the biggest mistake beginning winemakers make is not letting their wine age in the bottle. The difference in taste is, to put it mildly, AMAZING.

So how do I start, you may ask. Some preparation and materials are required. You have to at least have a hydrometer. You need at least the 5 gallon bucket. AND - you need some kind of near air tight secondary fermentation vessel. In the industry we call this a "carbouy".

Some chemicals may be required as well. Yeast is an obvious first one (not really a chemical but a dormant microbe). Citric acid, potassium sorbate, metabisulfate, campden tablets, pectin enzyme and a few others are pretty common.

The biggest secret in home wine making is, I am told: get the good stuff to start with.

If your batch comes out really good, you will be calling all your neighbors and friends to come and give it a try. I did, and we had a lot of fun that evening!

Here is a site where you find a lot of free stuff about homemade wine making:

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