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Author: Subject: Winemaking advice?
D Beddows

posted on 5/6/12 at 04:39 PM Reply With Quote
Winemaking advice?

Times are hard Knocked the few cigs I used to smoke on the head and taken up vaping instead (Google it - if you smoke it might be a revelation!) and now need to reduce spending on booze..... any product/technique/site/forum recommendations to reduce the 20 quid or so a week I'm spending on wine?
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iank

posted on 5/6/12 at 05:21 PM Reply With Quote
Could just go down to 1 bottle a week or stop...





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Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
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mookaloid

posted on 5/6/12 at 05:24 PM Reply With Quote
Some say vaping e-cigarettes is worse than smoking the real thing Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/some-say-vaping-e-cigarettes-is-worse-than-smoking-the-real-thing#ixzz1wwNqxsIE





"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."


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shaft

posted on 5/6/12 at 05:32 PM Reply With Quote
Go on the RHOCaR forum and search for the member "Not Impressed".
He has whats more or less a Micro Brewery and makes Wine, Beer etc regularly.

The wine is really good and also very strong. (P####d quicker)
The beer..... well, we got through 92 pint of it on draught at Stoneleigh.

He should be a great source of information to get you up and running.







my opinion might be wrong you know...

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D Beddows

posted on 5/6/12 at 05:46 PM Reply With Quote
quote:

Some say vaping e-cigarettes is worse than smoking the real thing Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/some-say-vaping-e-cigarettes-is-worse-than-smoking-the-real-thing#ixzz1wwNqxsIE



and an awful lot more people say it isn't so people should Google a bit more past that one article then make up their own minds


quote:

Could just go down to 1 bottle a week or stop...



Could do, don't want to because I enjoy a drink at the weekend - simple as, and am interested in an alternative to paying Off Licence/Supermarket prices while doing something Locost rather than a critique of my drinking habits, I don't have to come on here for that to be honest!


Thank you Shaft - will look into that/him



[Edited on 5/6/12 by D Beddows]

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iank

posted on 5/6/12 at 05:57 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
quote:

Could just go down to 1 bottle a week or stop...



Could do, don't want to because I enjoy a drink at the weekend - simple as, and am interested in an alternative to paying Off Licence/Supermarket prices while doing something Locost rather than a critique of my drinking habits, I don't have to come on here for that to be honest!


No criticism implied or intended, I'm certainly no teetotaller.





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Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous

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D Beddows

posted on 5/6/12 at 05:59 PM Reply With Quote
No fair enough Ian, no offense taken really
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jossey

posted on 5/6/12 at 06:36 PM Reply With Quote
The Internet is your friend.

Buy some cheap fresh juice But it cannot have additives.

Or goto your kcal fruit market last thing Saturday and buy cheap fruit.

The rest is on the net.

You need demijohns etc but I got these free of free cycle.

Try carrot wine mmmmmm hiccup





Thanks



David Johnson

Building my tiger avon slowly but surely.

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mookaloid

posted on 5/6/12 at 06:58 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
quote:

Some say vaping e-cigarettes is worse than smoking the real thing Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/some-say-vaping-e-cigarettes-is-worse-than-smoking-the-real-thing#ixzz1wwNqxsIE



and an awful lot more people say it isn't so people should Google a bit more past that one article then make up their own minds





Absolutely - better to just stop smoking though?

mind you I can't talk - Whilst I gave up smoking about 15 years ago - I'm addicted to food instead and I wish there was an electronic version of a burger or fish n chips or beer which was just as satisfying but had no calories





"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."


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D Beddows

posted on 5/6/12 at 08:32 PM Reply With Quote
In an ideal world yes in a world where you're constantly at stress level 5 out of 10 at least it's not that easy! Put it this way smoking cost me about 4 quid a day - vaping costs me maybe 25p, no it's obviously not as healthy as not smoking at all (exactly how much less healthy is a subject under debate but so far A LOT more than smoking cigs seems to be the answer) BUT I'm not stressed, my taste buds and sense of smell have come back, my teeth are whiter than they have been for a good while and I just feel so much better generally

Still interested in wine making tips btw

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BenB

posted on 5/6/12 at 09:52 PM Reply With Quote
My advice would be

1) don't use concentrates unless you still have no taste buds left
2) don't use extra sugar unless you like foul tasting wine and hangovers
3) keep everything super clean
4) use some good yeast not the little cheap packets of evilness masqueraiding as "wine yeast" in some homebrew places. Search out a good one that compliments the grape types being used.

Actually- please ignore all the above the first time you make wine. Most people stop at this stage because of the foul taste. Then when you've recovered from the shock of how god awful the stuff tastes do it properly and marvel at the difference

The way I look at it is this- even if you do 90% of the process properly brewing will pick up on the 10% you do wrong and punish you for it. So you need

1) good grapes / juice
2) good yeast

Equipment can be homebrewed or quite simple- as long as it's sterile and you keep it that way. Please don't start vacuums for syphoning with your mouth, really good way of getting pediococcus bacteria into the brew which will make it taste foul.

Another good tip is to keep the wine (when it is bubbling away) out of sunlight. It looks pretty with the sun shining through it but it won't taste pretty.
And don't let it get too hot. If it gets too hot the yeasts start "sweating"- read putting out shite. Another reason to keep it off the window-sill.
And easy on the sulphites when you want to clear the wine, personally I preferred not using Campden tablets and just giving it longer in the bottle in a cold place to settle. It'll taste better due to the lack of sulphites and longer resting, all you have to do is build up a month or two's worth of stock before you start opening them....

Anyway, have fun.

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D Beddows

posted on 6/6/12 at 02:56 PM Reply With Quote
Thanks Ben (and Jossey), that was just the kind of thing I was after!

[Edited on 6/6/12 by D Beddows]

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gunman

posted on 6/6/12 at 05:17 PM Reply With Quote
I do a bit of homebrewing too. Beer works out baout 50p a pint from a kit, less if you want to buy the ingredients and stink out the house boiling them up.

I have just made a batch of alcholic ginger beer from fresh ingredients, works out about £4.50 for 20l of the stuff. Blooming strong it looks like it'll be too!

I've only ever done a couple of wine kits so can't comment too much on them too much. There are some tips for homebrewing tho, firstly, the greatest ingredient is patience. Whatever time the kit says treble it You're meant to leave the beer in primary fermenter for 1 week, I never leave it less than 3 weeks (unless I rack it and leave it to condition in a secondary before bottling).

Build up a stock or you'll end up rushing your brew and drinking it too soon. you want one batch to drink, one in bottles\Keg conditioning (aging) and one for you to drink. It in reality takes a 3 week beer kit 3 months berfore it's conditioned properly. The wine kits I've done were the same, it took a lot longer than the instructions said.

My Dad has pear trees so I'll be doing a pear cider with them when they produce fruit this year, plenty can be made without kits and works out cheaper than chips, esp if you can find a cheap source of sugar.

Ideally, you should be starting to think about your xmas brews soon.

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wilkingj

posted on 10/6/12 at 10:15 AM Reply With Quote
Cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to wine and beer making, unless you do a lot of cooking with wine vinegar

As for beer... Two Malt Kits to make one 5Gallon mix, and use Honey instead of some of the sugar, (4lb honey in two kits) and this makes a good dark beer. Mate of mine does it and its as good as most, and in some cases better than pub beer.
ie MUCH better than following the instructions on the can which tends to make watery beer, that is mediocre, but still drinkable.

Just my 2d's worth.






1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk

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