Home Brew.

My beer is just fine. I’ve made 5 or 6 kits now and while not fantastic, they’ve all been drinkable and even quite pleasant in a couple of cases.

Wine is a different matter. I think I’ve made 5 lots now and only one was drinkable. And it’s different each time. One was too watery, one was sour, another smelled of JIF and the one I’ve just made is really cloudy. Half the bottles smell of vinegar and the other taste OK but are really cloudy.

I always clean all equipment very thoroughly with the proper products. I sterilise everything carefully and always follow the instructions. Different kits but I just can’t seem to get things right.
It’s usually the same process. Any tips? What always surprises me is how active the wine gets. Afgter a couple of days it’s frothing away like mad, is that normal?

The terroir of your area must be horrible. You’re just going to have to move.

That’s today’s ‘new to me word’ sorted.

terroir |t?r?w??, French t?rwar|
noun
the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate.

• (also goût de terroir |?gu? d?, French gu d?| )the characteristic taste and flavour imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.

ORIGIN French, ‘land’, from medieval Latin terratorium .

Wine fly getting in during fermentation?

Too big an air gap during fermentation in demijohn or bottles??

Are you cleaning sterilisation solution out properly before bottling???

It will froth away like mad the first week or so. Then settle down. Maybe your putting it into demijohn too soon, so its getting contaminated as its frothing through the airlock?

Are you using a hydrometer to read when its ready for the demijohn?
Some wines take longer to clear – finings will sort that out though.

What type of wine are you trying to make? IME it’s v difficult to make anything a grown-up might want to drink. You can do countrified bollox like gooseberry champagne or elderberry wine, but anything more serious is a challenge.

As you say, beer making is relatively straightforward. You get decent results from the get-go, and can get legitimately great beer with some experience. You’d spend a lifetime trying to perfect homegrown red wine and it would still be bobbins.

Same for me. Really good beer, but terrible wine. A cheap red I made was actually ok after 2 years but all the white (5 kits, 2 really expensive, have been pretty much un-drinkable. Makes decent gravy though!

the frothing is normal, it dies down after a couple of weeks; the fermenting wine WILL be cloudy, it only clears down once you’ve racked it off the sediment & applied the finings (included in the kit, usually).

I’d start with a quality 5 litre kit e.g. California Connoisseur or Beaverdale, rather than the sometimes dodgy kits that need extra sugar.
Ideally use a glass demijohn and don’t forget the airlock needs some boiled water in it

Clean all your equipment – and bottles – with VWP or Starsan (or equivalent) and make sure you rinse well before use.
Follow the instructions to the letter and you shouldn’t go far wrong.

You might also want to filter your white wines to prevent a chill haze when refrigerated

Because to make wine you need a vineyard, grapes and a winery, not a kit!

Are you degassing the wine enough ? Any residual carbon dioxide left in can cause an odd taste…

andymac – Member
Same for me. Really good beer, but terrible wine. A cheap red I made was actually ok after 2 years but all the white (5 kits, 2 really expensive, have been pretty much un-drinkable. Makes decent gravy though!

I have always found – a bad wine will only getter worse with age not better. Bit of a myth about it getting better, much the same as it getting stronger the longer its in the bottle.

Damo +1 for decent grown up wine.

If, like me, you can drink ‘plonk’ then a well brewed kit (well = follow the instructions, clean everything, de-gas as stated above, rack it! leave it long enough) will be gluggable, but won’t beat even a £5 bottle from asda.

I’ve made a few kits and it’s ok, but not great. I’ve also made from home grown grapes and it really was shit. So much, that I’m gonna eat the grapes this year, seeds n all.

Because the rule says home made wine is shite.

well. that went badly.

Are u crushing the grapes with your bare feet??

Did you forget the anti-freeze?

My mother (good cook, generally competent) spent decades making crap wine. I made drinkable beer at my first attempt, and its only getting better with practice.

I concluded some time ago that beer is much easier than wine. Brew in a bag is piss easy and makes fine ale in a couple of weeks.

Oh dear, where do I start 🙄

Turbo Chilli Cider FTW 🙂

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZGI_TKGJ6w[/video]

Because to make wine you need a vineyard, grapes and a winery, not a kit!

This

Edit

kiwijohn – Member
Oh dear, where do I start

Don’t just keep doing the good work. Catch up for a ride down south soon?

Any time Mike.
I think starting from a kit was their first mistake.

are you australian?

I’ve made plenty of drinkable kit wine over the years.

Key IMHO is to make sure everything is sterile, and get it all airtight ASAP. Don’t leave it too long once the fermentation is complete, or the sediment rots.