A Fine Time For Fine Wine

[RednekF350]

The 2023 Juice is peacefully fermenting in the garage.
36 gallons of Barbera picked up on Friday night at Gino's. Two hours of scrubbing and sanitizing the demijohns on Friday and 2 hours yesterday sweetening and putting it put up.

Can't wait to get stupid! Or stupider.

 

[bobpbx]

I look foward to it Scott. I mean, there's always Uber or Lyft.

 

[RednekF350]

I look foward to it Scott. I mean, there's always Uber or Lyft.

I couldn't do that Bob, that would be a sign of weakness.
It hasn't happened yet but I would much rather sleep in my truck, tucked neatly away in the Pines, and then drive out the next morning with a beautiful sunrise in my rearview on my way back to P'town..

 

[Ben Ruset]

Scott, are you going back to wild yeast this year? What are you using to sanitize? Star-san?

I sanitize my carboys by mixing up 5 gallons worth of Star-San, siphoning it into another carboy, syphoning it back again, and then once more. Overkill but i like running it through my siphon a few times. I do everything in glass so there's not really any scrubbing I need to do.

 

[RednekF350]

Yes Ben, I played around with adding yeast for about 3 years and I was very disappointed with the flavor at the end. The guy that taught me how to make wine with the fresh juice never added it and he still doesn't. The only reason I went to yeast was because I had a bad year where my fermentation only lasted a few days and left me with a low alcohol wine, which is as worthless as t*ts on a bull.

I put the wine up on Saturday and my fermentation is rolling like a freight train at this point. Garage temps are staying above 70 degrees which is perfect. It hit 55 here overnight and I put a liquid filled radiator style heater out there last night. It doesn't really do much because my garage has no ceiling. It does warm the concrete blocks on which the demijohns sit a little bit.

For years, I cleaned with nothing but a high pressure hose nozzle and hot soapy water with Dawn. My buddy still does, but I have started using One Step as the final rinse. Gino's sells it and it's as cheap as dirt. It certainly can't hurt.

I am doing all Barbera again this year. We really like the bold flavor.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I started a batch of cider today in my fancy new conical fermenter. This'll be a small one - only two gallons. Got the cider from Battleview Orchards right by Monmouth Battlefield in Freehold, added a cup of sugar, and half a package of ale yeast. The kitchen looks like a science experiment which I guess it is.

I also started a tincture with some cinnamon sticks, a vanilla bean, a few cloves, and some ginger that I'll be adding in later.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Four days later and the yeast is taking off. Science!

 

[ecampbell]

Four days later and the yeast is taking off. Science!

View attachment 21165

Alchemy

 

[RednekF350]

Well, I would be remiss if I didn't make this post today.
It's wine season and I was at Gino's in Hammonton this morning stocking up on Barbera.
36 gallons again this year. No yeast, just the sludge in the bottom of the buckets. 36 gallons seems like the magic number for the last few years for me, my wife, hunting buddies, hiking buddies and other wayward souls to consume by about April of the following year.

Happy Fall everybody! I mean like as in taking a fall.
Salud!

 

[Ben Ruset]

I was looking at the wine list yesterday. I may pick up a bucket of Pinot Grigio.

Scott, why no yeast?

 

[RednekF350]

I was looking at the wine list yesterday. I may pick up a bucket of Pinot Grigio.

Scott, why no yeast?

In my limited experience with yeast, I got off flavors. One year I didn’t add enough sugar, but I did add the yeast. It was the driest wine I ever made.
I have been making wine for close to 30 years now and I just rely on the sludge in the bottom of the bucket to get my yeast action.

 

[RednekF350]

Another year slipped by on me but I always gotta do the wine. It's been 16 years since I started this thread.. That's pretty hard to believe..
Well, anyway, I'm still alive, but I currently have a bad wing. I had rotator cuff surgery in July and I'm now into the painful PT. Sling has been off for a little more than two weeks which was a blessing but I am still really limited what I can do with my right arm.

While I still had the sling on about three weeks ago my wife said, I guess we're not doing wine this year. Our carboys still needed to be cleaned and sanitized but we managed to pull that off with me in my sling Putting in the sanitizer with my left arm and brushing the inside of the carboys. she helped hold the carboys still and dumped the wash water out of each one. I still have my doubts about. Getting the juice and all the work that's involved with that, these are six gallon buckets, sothat's 48 lbs. of liquid plus the bucket. I'm used to carting hem around, walking them from the truck to the backyard to get them ready to go into the carboys in the garage. This year, I backed my truck into the driveway and set up a little wine station. We drained half of each bucket into a clean bucket, did our prep and then I carried the half buckets back to my garage with my, with my good arm.. My wife was able to dump the half buckets into the carboys until the very end where we started to have to lighten the load a little bit.. We got it done. The carboys are now resting peacefully and I am waiting for the first bubbles to come through the airlock.

Happy fall everyone!

 

[Ben Ruset]

It's not wine but cider over here. 5-ish gallons of cider from Battleview Orchards in Freehold. I had them sitting in my garage for a few days before my sanitizing supplies showed up and during that time they restarted fermentation. So I've got a one gallon experimental batch where the orchard yeast is doing its thing and the rest with a commercial champagne yeast.

Fingers crossed that THIS year I finally end up with a drinkable cider.

 

[RJG]

Another year slipped by on me but I always gotta do the wine. It's been 16 years since I started this thread.. That's pretty hard to believe..
Well, anyway, I'm still alive, but I currently have a bad wing. I had rotator cuff surgery in July and I'm now into the painful PT. Sling has been off for a little more than two weeks which was a blessing but I am still really limited what I can do with my right arm.

While I still had the sling on about three weeks ago my wife said, I guess we're not doing wine this year. Our carboys still needed to be cleaned and sanitized but we managed to pull that off with me in my sling Putting in the sanitizer with my left arm and brushing the inside of the carboys. she helped hold the carboys still and dumped the wash water out of each one. I still have my doubts about. Getting the juice and all the work that's involved with that, these are six gallon buckets, sothat's 48 lbs. of liquid plus the bucket. I'm used to carting hem around, walking them from the truck to the backyard to get them ready to go into the carboys in the garage. This year, I backed my truck into the driveway and set up a little wine station. We drained half of each bucket into a clean bucket, did our prep and then I carried the half buckets back to my garage with my, with my good arm.. My wife was able to dump the half buckets into the carboys until the very end where we started to have to lighten the load a little bit.. We got it done. The carboys are now resting peacefully and I am waiting for the first bubbles to come through the airlock.

Happy fall everyone!

View attachment 25490View attachment 25491

I haven’t made wine or beer in 25-30 years. What’s the typical price for 5 gallons of grape juice from Gino Pinto this year?

 

[RJG]

It's not wine but cider over here. 5-ish gallons of cider from Battleview Orchards in Freehold. I had them sitting in my garage for a few days before my sanitizing supplies showed up and during that time they restarted fermentation. So I've got a one gallon experimental batch where the orchard yeast is doing its thing and the rest with a commercial champagne yeast.

Fingers crossed that THIS year I finally end up with a drinkable cider.

View attachment 25704

We don’t live in a cold enough area to do this, but I was surprised to find out that people in New England used to ferment cider to wine strength, then set it in barrels outside during the winter. Then each morning they would remove the frozen top layer of liquid in the barrel. The frozen liquid contained no alcohol, so each time they skimmed it off they increased the amount of alcohol until they eventually had apple jack whisky.

 

[Ben Ruset]

We don’t live in a cold enough area to do this, but I was surprised to find out that people in New England used to ferment cider to wine strength, then set it in barrels outside during the winter. Then each morning they would remove the frozen top layer of liquid in the barrel. The frozen liquid contained no alcohol, so each time they skimmed it off they increased the amount of alcohol until they eventually had apple jack whisky.

 

[Boyd]

That's from the Oregon Trail, isn't it? My daughter just loved playing that on my Apple ][ in the 1980's!

 

[Ben Ruset]

That's from the Oregon Trail, isn't it? My daughter just loved playing that on my Apple ][ in the 1980's!

Yep! And I loved playing it on the Apple ][ as well back then.

 

[RednekF350]

I haven’t made wine or beer in 25-30 years. What’s the typical price for 5 gallons of grape juice from Gino Pinto this year?

https://ginopinto.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-Homewinemaker-Juice-Pricing.pdf

 

[RednekF350]

It's not wine but cider over here. 5-ish gallons of cider from Battleview Orchards in Freehold. I had them sitting in my garage for a few days before my sanitizing supplies showed up and during that time they restarted fermentation. So I've got a one gallon experimental batch where the orchard yeast is doing its thing and the rest with a commercial champagne yeast.

Fingers crossed that THIS year I finally end up with a drinkable cider.

View attachment 25704

Looking good Ben!
We racked our wine last weekend and I snuck a few sips of each. Good flavors and dizzying alcohol content. Just how I like it!!