General chit chat

Khannie

Didn't think this deserved its own thread and a bit of chinwag is good.....

Anyone else expecting a dramatic increase in the number of wine kit questions coming in here?

Anyone think the 10c on other drinks will push people towards home brewing?

ian_m

I'll probably increase the frequency of my brews because of the price increase and drink out less (not that its very often anyway). It will only go one way until they realise they are making things worse for our country.

Hopefully there are more people on here. I often bring homebrewing up in conversation when I can and encourage people to at least try a homebrewed beer. :cool:

sharingan

Khannie wrote: »

Didn't think this deserved its own thread and a bit of chinwag is good.....

Anyone else expecting a dramatic increase in the number of wine kit questions coming in here?

Anyone think the 10c on other drinks will push people towards home brewing?

Home brewing as a hobby is growing anyway.

Making simple wines, is probably the cheapest kind of decent booze you can make. Kit wines can be expensive, but with a bit of patience and research, you can make very decent drinkable wines for very little money.

I made a raisin, ginger and beetroot wine for about 15e / 30L and people really loved it

Ratsathome

sharingan wrote: »

I made a raisin, ginger and beetroot wine for about 15e / 30L and people really loved it

How about the recipe for it?;)

adamski8

Im moving to brewing wine now, as well as beer, but how are the kits expensive? They seem to work out at 2euro a bottle!

antodeco

My missus generally only drinks Bud or Corona. I've been trying to get her try different beers but she doesn't like other beers. Since I've started my own brewing she loves all the beers and wine. Slowly converting her!

Khannie

adamski8 wrote: »

Im moving to brewing wine now, as well as beer, but how are the kits expensive? They seem to work out at 2euro a bottle!

Some of the good quality ones can be pricey enough, but I think you're getting what would be very expensive wine from them, so it's a trade off. We bought one of the more expensive ones for our first batch. With hindsight it would have been better to wait until I'd done a few.

The one that's turned out the best so far was a magnum one that was cheap as chips.

In general I find them a bit thin though and so does my wife. I'll be reducing the amount of water I put in with them in future.

Sky King

I love red wine... I am hesitant to try a kit though because I have this idea that it could be pure muck.

Any success stories or kits to recommend?

Khannie

For anyone who likes ginger beer, I just got a kilo of ginger for 4 euro in the Asian supermarket on Drury street. Win!

sharingan

Ratsathome wrote: »

How about the recipe for it?;)

I have actually an old blog post on it that has been on hiatus since forever.

Will try and get the details over the weekend.

I am redoing it this time with more flavour components and honey. That variant is a bit better documented and I used pectolase in the wine must to get MOAR out of it.

sharingan

Khannie wrote: »

In general I find them a bit thin though and so does my wife. I'll be reducing the amount of water I put in with them in future.

That is the problem. You are using a grape extract, and substituting the sugars with plain sugar usually (which adds no body).

I get better results when I make wine with honey, but I dont think I would use honey with a wine kit.

sharingan

Khannie wrote: »

For anyone who likes ginger beer, I just got a kilo of ginger for 4 euro in the Asian supermarket on Drury street. Win!

Since I came to the UK, I can get a kilo of Ginger for £1.

So yeah, I use a lot of ginger in my brewing :-)

tteknulp

This one is quite good its white italian but theres a nice red also . http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/cantina-gold-pinot-grigio-5-day-kit-30-bottles-p-661.html ,like all brewing time makes better wine ,2-3 mths ,7 days i think it would be muck : )

redser7

Kenridge and Beaverdale would be top quality wine kits. You get what you pay for. The more expensive it is, the more concentrate you get. Also the better the quality of grape it comes from. For a 30 bottle kit (23 litres) aim for 10 lt conc. for a good result. The best ones will give you 16 or 17 litres of good varietal grape concentrate. Steer clear of kits that ask you to add your own sugar. Qulaity kits will either have enough sugar in the grape concentrate naturally, or will have inverted sugar already mixed in the bag. Some comes with aok chips/elderflowers and other additives and you can get great wine. Depends on the size of your wallet
And dont be a slave to the time frames in the instructions. This is just marketing, people dont want to be patient. Usually give each step more time than it says and trust your judgment when to move on to the next step.
There are great supermarket jucie recipes that work out about 70 c a bottle and ready drink in about 6 weeks. Google Wurzels Ornage wine and Fruit T-Bag wines. Wouldn't recommend them if they didn't work, really really nice, cheap, quick and easy peasy to make

sharingan

Ratsathome wrote: »

How about the recipe for it?;)

Basic recipe here:
https://www.facebook.com/The.Sum.of.all.Beers/posts/302354963199463

It just shows the ingredient breakdown, doesn't specify the procedure, but I blended the solids in a food processor into a puree and boiled them, then strained the fluids into the fermenter, and wrapped up the remaining solids into muslin cloth, tied it securely and added it into the fermenter.

Khannie

Sky King wrote: »

I love red wine... I am hesitant to try a kit though because I have this idea that it could be pure muck.

Any success stories or kits to recommend?

I think red is probably going to come out better than white from a kit. We're on our 3rd white kit now. Reaching reasonably drinkable levels. It does take patience and making sure you de-gas properly. I'd consider giving the magnum ultimates a whirl - fairly cheap but reasonable quality. The best white we've had so far has come from one of them (despite it being the cheapest kit we've bought to date).

Sky King

It's hard to justify it though. I got a really lovely red for 7 quid this evening!

With beer it's different, i think. You can get good quality for dirt cheap but i just think the quality might not be the same with wines.

tommyombomb

Went to the porterhouse tonight. Must say the beers are unreal. Bruidvar is my fav. Any recommended kits for this

redser7

Sky King wrote: »

It's hard to justify it though. I got a really lovely red for 7 quid this evening!

With beer it's different, i think. You can get good quality for dirt cheap but i just think the quality might not be the same with wines.

Actually that's not true. If you go for the top of the range and get something like a Kenridge founders kit, you'll pay around 100 euro + for about 28 bottles. Quality of the wine will be around the 15/20 euro + mark, but for 4 euro a bottle. It all depends on your technique and experience at making wine but the ingredients are certainly available in kit form to make very fine wines at very cheap prices.
You can spend much less and get very nice wine, equal to or better than shop bought, and much cheaper.
I'd say the way to go is to get your technique down and practise on super market juice wines, and when confident enough invest in a good kit. That's my plan anyway I cleared that chap on boards out of all his californian conoisseur kits 1st Cab. sav. is nearly done and very promising already. Regular prices are 15 euro for 6 bottle kit and 55ish for 30 bottle kits. So it's less than 2 euro a bottle for a very nice homemade wine.

Sky King

You're selling it to me!

How long do they last in the bottle?

redser7

As long as any other wine. You are using the same ingredients as commercial wine makers. Obviously the more you pay the more grape concentrate you get and the better the grape varietal they will supply. In general the grapes used to make kits would be the ones not best for them to make wine from (not substandard exactly). But something like a kenridge would be very good quality.
For bottling, the advice seems to be that 2nd hand screw top bottles are perfectly fine but not for long term storage. So 6 months to a year should be fine. More than that then you would probably need to cork them. They improve immeasurably with maturation. So 6 months in the bottle would be ideal. However they are sold for drinking within a couple of months if you choose. Trick is to build up a little cellar so you can mature your wine without feeling like you are waiting for it Hence the beauty of the supermarket juice wines and T bag wines - quick, cheap, nice. Get a good stock of these going while you wait for the good stuff to be ready.
You can get plastic reusable corks and they are fine. But regular corks are cheap as anything. You can get a decent lever corker for a tenner on the usual home brew sites.

Conmaicne Mara

Didn't think this deserved a thread of it's own, but I was in home brew west today for the first time (wahey, not a brew shop virgin any longer). I saw mention of it on here when I was looking up cider recipes. Was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop, got me some cider yeast and another fermenting bucket, because I can never have too many (OK I only have two but give me time)............

Khannie

Sky King wrote: »

You're selling it to me!

How long do they last in the bottle?

Corked? Indefinitely really.

Will_D

Wines will mature in a bottle from the time they are bottled to a time when they will peak and then they will start to deteriorate.

How long to peak is a difficult question to answer:

Higher alcohol helps to preserve the wine as does the tannins.

The "richness" of the juice will also provide significant flavour and other molecules that will change profile over time.

So in a nutshell an expensive Chateua Premier Cru at €100 a bottle will last ages ( given a good vintage - but that sets the price ), a cheaper lighter quality commercial wine may peak in a year or two at most.

The same applies to homebrewed wines: Alcohol, Tannins, Quality juces/ingredients will all contribute to the age-ability of your wine.

However most home wine makers I know tend not to have any wine left after 6 months or so. To age a kit made or country wine more than 2 years woulkd require expensive ingredients!

"You gets what you pays for"

Will

Conmaicne Mara

20 bottles of bulmers €14 in Evil-co today, kinda just got them to fill the gap and bonus bottles, not as nice or as strong as the home brews though.

syngindub

Going to purchase a wine kit tonight.
Misses mostly drinks Chardonnay so thinking of giving this a go.

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/wine-kits-australian-blend-7-days-30-botle-c-103_196.html

Anyone tried it?

Conmaicne Mara

Came across this on the Tube, great scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NPKCANhpQ

Conmaicne Mara

Was talking to a fella on another site that brews regularly. He has his brewing bucket in a "builders trug", which he fills with water then uses a fish tank heater to regulate the temperature (acts like a water jacket). I thought that was a good idea, thought I'd share it with ye but it's probably well known :pac:

redser7

Hi syngin dub, I haven't done a 7 day kit myself but have often read experienced brewers say they are muck. 30 day would be the minimum really.

Conmaicne Mara

What happens if I add more than 120 grams of sugar to my brew when I'm batch priming? (60g) splenda as well that's the plan anyway).

Khannie

How much are you priming? I've gone as far as 14g of sugar per litre for priming (so 7g per half litre bottle). I'm mad for the fizz.

Conmaicne Mara

I have two 20 litre buckets on the go, so that would be for one 20 litre bucket. So the sugar just means fizz?

I read about adding raisins and tea as well, what effect do those have? I might try it with the next batch. Do the raisins increase the alcohol content?

Khannie

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

So the sugar just means fizz?

Yep. You're causing a second fermentation to occur by adding the sugar. This produces carbon dioxide which can't escape the bottles so it goes into the liquid = fizz.

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

I read about adding raisins and tea as well, what effect do those have? I might try it with the next batch. Do the raisins increase the alcohol content?

You can still add tea at the bottling stage and in fact I would recommend it. It really enhances the flavour. I've heard that it's mostly for the tannins but I tried adding tannin from a jar of tannin and it wasn't nearly as good. You could put the tea bags in with your priming mixture. Too late to add the raisins in this batch.

They do increase the alcohol content alright, so you need to be careful how many you put in. I boil mine to sanitise them (usually with the tea bags in the pot at the same time) and blend them a bit with a hand blender to expose the sugars.

ian_m

Khannie wrote: »

How much are you priming? I've gone as far as 14g of sugar per litre for priming (so 7g per half litre bottle). I'm mad for the fizz.

I love a bit of fizz myself. 12g per litre was as far as I've gone; straight into the bottle. No bombs yet. I've been using fliptops, coopers PETs and 1litre brown plastic bottles.

Trying to collect a decent set of 500 and 330 ml glass bottles for my next batch at the moment. Weihenstephaner Vitus are the thickest bottles I can find.

Conmaicne Mara

I'll try the tea, and do the raisins with the next batch. Got a small muslin bag for them, hope to avoid mess in the bottom of the brew, not sure if it'll work right or not?

Lol, the first thought that came to my mind when you said to be careful with the raisins was Homer Simpson "Yeah man, careful like a fox" I guess too much alkyhol won't taste too good. I think it was a comment of yours Khannie I read before saying to use a handful or so.

Khannie

ian_m wrote: »

330 ml glass bottles

I couldn't be doing with 330ml bottles. They're just too much effort. In fact I go the other end of the scale and use quite a few 2L PET bottles for convenience. If I know I'm likely to have a few (and my wife will have some too) then they're great. They also withstand ridiculous pressures without breaking.

syngindub

Happy New Year, 17, to all the Home Brewers.
May '13 bring some tasty beers & new brewers onboard the craft.

new years resolution, Make this bottling lark less of a chore.
perhaps look into kegging / tap !! who knows.

Khannie

Yeah Happy New Year.

I might look into the kegging too. I have expended all the time saving options for bottling that I know about (the bottle washer / bottling tree / employing child labour :pac:) and I still find it a pain in the face. Kegging could be just the ticket.

Anyone got anything special planned for 2013, brewing-wise?

I plan on starting a mini orchard in my allotment so that I can make some delicious, delicious cider. They wont strictly be cider apples, but I don't think I'll be overly upset by that. I reckon it'll be at least another 2 years before I get enough fruit out of it to make it worthwhile.

I also plan on pruning the arse out of the cooking apple tree in my back garden once I learn how to prune properly. It keeps promising big, but delivering almost nothing. If I get a decent crop out of it this year I'll use them for cider too.

Tube

Befriend someone who has apple trees, but has no interest in them.

I know someone in Wexford who has ~20 apple trees. I asked who picks the apples... "the birds" :eek:

Khannie

Tube wrote: »

Befriend someone who has apple trees, but has no interest in them.

I know someone in Wexford who has ~20 apple trees. I asked who picks the apples... "the birds" :eek:

:eek:

Do you use them?? I would drive to wexford and give them actual money (or cider ) for 20 apple trees worth of apples!!!!

I have a friend in Wicklow whose parents have 4 apple trees that he said go unused. I figured the cost in petrol wouldn't be worth the drive for me though (North County Dublin).

Tube

Khannie wrote: »

:eek:

Do you use them?? I would drive to wexford and give them actual money (or cider ) for 20 apple trees worth of apples!!!!

I don't use them as I don't have the equipment to deal with them.

Khannie

I don't either, but I'm thinking of building or buying a press. The scratters can be bought fairly cheaply and / or some manual labour and a big plank will sort those apples right out.

Tube

As we're a club, we raise money for club related activities, and we have quite a positive cashflow. There was talk about buying or making a club apple press. I suppose it needs someone dedicated enough to cider to push it through as part of a bigger plan next year. COUGH!

ian_m

Khannie wrote: »

I couldn't be doing with 330ml bottles. They're just too much effort. In fact I go the other end of the scale and use quite a few 2L PET bottles for convenience. If I know I'm likely to have a few (and my wife will have some too) then they're great. They also withstand ridiculous pressures without breaking.

I couldn't agree more. I bottle three or four 330mls just for testers. I have managed to collect a few 330mls flip tops on my travels aswell.

I don't share my beer with my wife though. Thats completely out of the question. :pac:

Conmaicne Mara

Khannie wrote: »

I don't either, but I'm thinking of building or buying a press. The scratters can be bought fairly cheaply and / or some manual labour and a big plank will sort those apples right out.

If you're into your DIY there are all sorts of links on Google for scratters and presses. I bought a bottle jack in anticipation of making a press, then I found Lidl and said sod that

I seem to be surrounded by pioneers locally. Put out a call after Christmas in a local FB group for 300ml empties, a lot of "likes" but not one single reply :eek:

Edwardius

http://vimeo.com/21954920

Yours for only about 6000 NZ dollars!

Herb Powell

Any Cork homebrewers know of a shop in town, or close by? I know the health food place in Paul St. does homebrew stuff, but the selction isn't great at all.

howamidifferent

Herb Powell wrote: »

Any Cork homebrewers know of a shop in town, or close by? I know the health food place in Paul St. does homebrew stuff, but the selction isn't great at all.

Didnt know there was anywhere in Cork. Thanks for highlighting this one.
Would love to know of any others.

Herb Powell

howamidifferent wrote: »

Didnt know there was anywhere in Cork. Thanks for highlighting this one.
Would love to know of any others.

I spose it's handy if you're stuck, but they haven't seemed to have restocked in ages-there was 1 sachet of yeast when I went in the other day/

kevc2

Would 19 litre ballygowan bottles be suitable for making wine? As the secondary fermenter?

Tube

kevc2 wrote: »

Would 19 litre ballygowan bottles be suitable for making wine? As the secondary fermenter?

Plastic is gas permeable and not recommended for secondary.