Wine making
 

A few months ago a friend restarted making wine, something I have not done for around 25 years after which I disposed of everything. I was too busy and with wine prices low, it wasn't really worth the effort.

Yesterday I thought - why not, so I began looking around for equipment, both new and second hand. I dropped (very) lucky with second hand, from someone who had been a very enthusiastic wine maker and bought lots of kit, but was having to downsize into a smaller home. There was around £2-300 pounds worth included for £20. My car was full including passenger seat, back seat, floor and boot. Far too much for my needs, so I shall be passing quite a lot of it onto 'friend'.

I'm puzzled by two items in the kit, now I've had a bit more time to investigate...

One red one blue one, made from a flexible foam, mug shaped or glass shaped and they have 'FROSTY' in large letters printed on their sides. Each has a hole in the bottom and they are a touch too small to fit a 75cl bottle bottom.

Some sort of filter? - is there a suction filter pump that they would fit in?

I have worked it out thanks - its an insulator for a chilled can of beer. You pop a cold beer can in the sleeve and it helps to keep it cool.

Ahh yes - obvious from your description now but not so clear if focused on wine “making” - rather than “drinking” :D

We have a couple of these we bought in Australia - where a beer can turn tepid in minutes. Ours are in the shape of little T-shirts that slip over a glass or a can.

Sadly not found much call to use them here even in the height of summer.....

Could always use them in winter to stop the beer freezing.

Included with the kit was a 30 bottle medium Italian white wine kit, which just needed 3.5Kg of sugar, so I bought that on Sunday and had it all set up by 14:30. I was under the impression it would begin bubbling almost immediately, rather than the 2 or 3 days before the fermentation begins.

There was still no action at 09:20 when I checked it and I was wondering if the yeast might have been dead. At 09:30 it gave a tremendous burp, blowing most of the water out of the airlock and its been bubbling steadily since.

Things have changed quite a bit, since I was last involved. Many of the home brewing dealers have gone and there are many more gadgets to be had than ever to ease the process. You can even buy an LAN connected airlock, so you can monitor the process remotely via a smart phone.

Most of the dealers seem to be online sources now, rather than bricks and mortar shops.

Pity your not nearer Harry, I have a vine with a bumper crop of black grapes on it, its 40years old and this is one of the best crops, certainly 20kilos and nearly sweet enough the eat, but its most likely going to feed the Black birds and Magpies. mind you making wine from grapes is a bit of a chore. Best of luck. Chris.S.

Thanks, all is going very well so far. Starting from grapes would be a step too far for me at the moment.

I am though looking at maybe brewing some dark stout from a kit. The only brewing I ever did, was barley wine long ago. It was very drinkable indeed.

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/my computerGood luck with your brewing Harry. I had a very short think about it BUT-----


I'm less than a 100 metres from a seller of wine in any quantity you want made from thousands of M2 that surround our house here in France.----Hic.--Pardon.