Hi all, I have a real beginners question to ask here to save myself
time, money and get a real level of expectation.

I'd like to start making my own wine at home. I prefer reds, namely
Merlot, Sharaz and Cabernet. So, I'd like to start off with making a
Merlot.

I have no equipment or supplies, but will buy everything I need to
complete the process the right way.

I'm not looking to make some fast 24-48 fast cheap wine to get drunk
by, but really honest to goodness quality red wine that people will
enjoy.

I'm in the North Dallas, TX area, so here we have places like Home
Brew Headquarters (don't now of other places yet) that I can go to buy
most everything to get started.

So, where should I start, what should I expect, what are your
recommendations?

Sincerly,
Basil Fawlty

Start by picking up a good book or two on wine making. C.J.J. Berry's First
Steps in Winemaking" is a classic and should be on every winemakers shelf.
It is concerned primarily with country wines (non-grape) but it covers the
basics very well without confusing the issue with too much science. i.e. it
will get you going. For grape wines Cox's From Vine To Wine is very good.
It is readable and will give you more info than you will need to start with
but you will grow into it.

Then get a good winemakers hardware kit. Less than $100. These are pretty
standard and any Winemakers Supply can help you. Pick up some extra carboys
in different sizes as you find them: 5, 3, 1, 1/2, any size you can find.
This is all stuff that can be used over and over.

Then you can get a wine kit. Get a good one. I am not overly impressed by
Red wine kits but many people like them. A good kit will make yield 5-6
gals and will run between $65 and $100. These will make wine that is at
least pleasant and maybe really good in 6 mo. to 1 year.

If you want to go all the way then you can order real wine grapes and do it
right but they will not be available until Sept. or around then. You will
need to rent a stemmer crusher when they arrive to process them and then get
hold of a wine press (rent?) about 2 weeks later to crush them. This is not
something I recommend that a new person does by themselves on the first try.
It is not hard but it does require a little experience to do it right.

The best thing would be to get with someone who has made wine before and do
an apprenticeship or start simple like with kits or country wines and work
into it.

By the way, I don't think any of us make wines just to get drunk on the
weekend. Far too much pride in produce for that here. Suggestions and
recommendations will be aimed at quality products.

Ray


"Basil Fawlty" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all, I have a real beginners question to ask here to save myself
> time, money and get a real level of expectation.
>
> I'd like to start making my own wine at home. I prefer reds, namely
> Merlot, Sharaz and Cabernet. So, I'd like to start off with making a
> Merlot.
>
> I have no equipment or supplies, but will buy everything I need to
> complete the process the right way.
>
> I'm not looking to make some fast 24-48 fast cheap wine to get drunk
> by, but really honest to goodness quality red wine that people will
> enjoy.
>
> I'm in the North Dallas, TX area, so here we have places like Home
> Brew Headquarters (don't now of other places yet) that I can go to buy
> most everything to get started.
>
> So, where should I start, what should I expect, what are your
> recommendations?
>
> Sincerly,
> Basil Fawlty
>

Thanks for the sound advice and feedback Ray. I have scoped out a
$110 dollar wine making kit. It comes with a red and white wine
starter setup. From there I can acquire a huge variety of wines,
includng vintage stock and grapes. Also for what didn't sound like
that much money, like $125, I could buy that grape crusher you spoke
of if I want to get raw grape, and for $100 a fancy floor style
corker,I Guess if I'm really cranking it out! Thanks again, Basil


"Ray" > wrote in message om>...
> Start by picking up a good book or two on wine making. C.J.J. Berry's First
> Steps in Winemaking" is a classic and should be on every winemakers shelf.
> It is concerned primarily with country wines (non-grape) but it covers the
> basics very well without confusing the issue with too much science. i.e. it
> will get you going. For grape wines Cox's From Vine To Wine is very good.
> It is readable and will give you more info than you will need to start with
> but you will grow into it.
>
> Then get a good winemakers hardware kit. Less than $100. These are pretty
> standard and any Winemakers Supply can help you. Pick up some extra carboys
> in different sizes as you find them: 5, 3, 1, 1/2, any size you can find.
> This is all stuff that can be used over and over.
>
> Then you can get a wine kit. Get a good one. I am not overly impressed by
> Red wine kits but many people like them. A good kit will make yield 5-6
> gals and will run between $65 and $100. These will make wine that is at
> least pleasant and maybe really good in 6 mo. to 1 year.
>
> If you want to go all the way then you can order real wine grapes and do it
> right but they will not be available until Sept. or around then. You will
> need to rent a stemmer crusher when they arrive to process them and then get
> hold of a wine press (rent?) about 2 weeks later to crush them. This is not
> something I recommend that a new person does by themselves on the first try.
> It is not hard but it does require a little experience to do it right.
>
> The best thing would be to get with someone who has made wine before and do
> an apprenticeship or start simple like with kits or country wines and work
> into it.
>
> By the way, I don't think any of us make wines just to get drunk on the
> weekend. Far too much pride in produce for that here. Suggestions and
> recommendations will be aimed at quality products.
>
> Ray
>
>
> "Basil Fawlty" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Hi all, I have a real beginners question to ask here to save myself
> > time, money and get a real level of expectation.
> >
> > I'd like to start making my own wine at home. I prefer reds, namely
> > Merlot, Sharaz and Cabernet. So, I'd like to start off with making a
> > Merlot.
> >
> > I have no equipment or supplies, but will buy everything I need to
> > complete the process the right way.
> >
> > I'm not looking to make some fast 24-48 fast cheap wine to get drunk
> > by, but really honest to goodness quality red wine that people will
> > enjoy.
> >
> > I'm in the North Dallas, TX area, so here we have places like Home
> > Brew Headquarters (don't now of other places yet) that I can go to buy
> > most everything to get started.
> >
> > So, where should I start, what should I expect, what are your
> > recommendations?
> >
> > Sincerly,
> > Basil Fawlty
> >

Sounds like you are cranked up. You will find that like many hobbies there
is always another specialty item that you can spend your money on. If you
have a place that you can rent one, I would recommend that you rent the
stemmer crusher, at least the first time. They are moderately expensive and
they are only useful once a year when grapes come in. The first expensive
item that I would recommend after the basic kit is a floor corker. You will
definitely want one soon if you continue this hobby. As wines age in
carboys you will need extra carboys and they are not cheap at $20-30 each.
(I have over 20 - I am afraid to count.) The press is useful for many
fruit, not just grapes, and you can get a pretty good one for around $100 or
a really good one for a bit more. I have one with an enameled base and
stainless basket that cost less than 100 and will handle 4-6 gal of must
going into secondary at a filling. I can easily do 30-40 gal.s of grape
wine in an afternoon and it is easy to clean up. It is also small enough
that I do not need 30-40 gals to make it worth using. After those three
items you can get into pH meters and high level titration kits and all sorts
of things.

Like any hobby this can become a money sink. But unlike most hobbies it has
such a delightful end product!

Ray

"Basil Fawlty" > wrote in message
om...
> Thanks for the sound advice and feedback Ray. I have scoped out a
> $110 dollar wine making kit. It comes with a red and white wine
> starter setup. From there I can acquire a huge variety of wines,
> includng vintage stock and grapes. Also for what didn't sound like
> that much money, like $125, I could buy that grape crusher you spoke
> of if I want to get raw grape, and for $100 a fancy floor style
> corker,I Guess if I'm really cranking it out! Thanks again, Basil
>
>
> "Ray" > wrote in message
om>...
> > Start by picking up a good book or two on wine making. C.J.J. Berry's
First
> > Steps in Winemaking" is a classic and should be on every winemakers
shelf.
> > It is concerned primarily with country wines (non-grape) but it covers
the
> > basics very well without confusing the issue with too much science.
i.e. it
> > will get you going. For grape wines Cox's From Vine To Wine is very
good.
> > It is readable and will give you more info than you will need to start
with
> > but you will grow into it.
> >
> > Then get a good winemakers hardware kit. Less than $100. These are
pretty
> > standard and any Winemakers Supply can help you. Pick up some extra
carboys
> > in different sizes as you find them: 5, 3, 1, 1/2, any size you can
find.
> > This is all stuff that can be used over and over.
> >
> > Then you can get a wine kit. Get a good one. I am not overly impressed
by
> > Red wine kits but many people like them. A good kit will make yield 5-6
> > gals and will run between $65 and $100. These will make wine that is at
> > least pleasant and maybe really good in 6 mo. to 1 year.
> >
> > If you want to go all the way then you can order real wine grapes and do
it
> > right but they will not be available until Sept. or around then. You
will
> > need to rent a stemmer crusher when they arrive to process them and then
get
> > hold of a wine press (rent?) about 2 weeks later to crush them. This is
not
> > something I recommend that a new person does by themselves on the first
try.
> > It is not hard but it does require a little experience to do it right.
> >
> > The best thing would be to get with someone who has made wine before and
do
> > an apprenticeship or start simple like with kits or country wines and
work
> > into it.
> >
> > By the way, I don't think any of us make wines just to get drunk on the
> > weekend. Far too much pride in produce for that here. Suggestions and
> > recommendations will be aimed at quality products.
> >
> > Ray
> >
> >
> > "Basil Fawlty" > wrote in message
> > om...
> > > Hi all, I have a real beginners question to ask here to save myself
> > > time, money and get a real level of expectation.
> > >
> > > I'd like to start making my own wine at home. I prefer reds, namely
> > > Merlot, Sharaz and Cabernet. So, I'd like to start off with making a
> > > Merlot.
> > >
> > > I have no equipment or supplies, but will buy everything I need to
> > > complete the process the right way.
> > >
> > > I'm not looking to make some fast 24-48 fast cheap wine to get drunk
> > > by, but really honest to goodness quality red wine that people will
> > > enjoy.
> > >
> > > I'm in the North Dallas, TX area, so here we have places like Home
> > > Brew Headquarters (don't now of other places yet) that I can go to buy
> > > most everything to get started.
> > >
> > > So, where should I start, what should I expect, what are your
> > > recommendations?
> > >
> > > Sincerly,
> > > Basil Fawlty
> > >

Basil Fawlty wrote:

> Thanks for the sound advice and feedback Ray. > I have scoped out a
> $110 dollar wine making kit. It comes with a red and white wine
> starter setup. From there I can acquire a huge variety of wines,
> includng vintage stock and grapes. Also for what didn't sound like
> that much money, like $125, I could buy that grape crusher you spoke
> of if I want to get raw grape, and for $100 a fancy floor style
> corker,I Guess if I'm really cranking it out! Thanks again, Basil

Since you're in a large metro area, you should be able to find some used
equipment in the classifieds... I've bought 5 or 6 54l demijohns for
less than 10$ a piece. Some people buy all new equipment, make a couple
of kits and decide that winemaking isn't for them, so you can often get
good deals on carboys and demijohns, pails, and other equipment. Do get
fresh sulphites and other chemicals though, as they have a limited shelf
life. I'd recommend going the all-grape route as soon as you feel
comfortable... as for a book, I found Danial Piambachi's Techniques in
Home winemaking very good <http://www.vehiculepress.com/winemaking/> and
up-to-date.

--
charles
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
"I certainly do not drink all the time. I have to sleep you know."
- W.C. Fields

On 18 May 2004 19:11:37 -0700,
(Basil Fawlty) wrote:

Just a thought but have you checked with any vinyards in the
are to see if they would sell you the juice from the grapes?
I go to Grapevine TX a few times a year and see grape vines
all over the place.
I know a place outside of Bryan TX sells the juice at
picking time. It is the Massinahoff winery.
good luck

>Hi all, I have a real beginners question to ask here to save myself
>time, money and get a real level of expectation.
>
>I'd like to start making my own wine at home. I prefer reds, namely
>Merlot, Sharaz and Cabernet. So, I'd like to start off with making a
>Merlot.
>
>I have no equipment or supplies, but will buy everything I need to
>complete the process the right way.
>
>I'm in the North Dallas, TX area, so here we have places like Home
>Brew Headquarters (don't now of other places yet) that I can go to buy
>most everything to get started.
>


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----