Just Homebrew Tips

Have you been disappointed with the way your homemade wine has turned out? I know quite a number of people who have not been pleased with their results. Sometimes it’s off flavors. Or worst of all, wine turning into vinegar. Here are some common mistakes that home winemakers often commit which could result in something your not all that proud of:

Mistake #1 – Not Sanitizing Equipment Read the full post

Sonoma and Napa Counties are known for its fine wines.

The golden sun and the abundant soil yield luscious, flavorful grapes. These are then carefully fermented and blended with closely guarded secrets that have been passed on from generation to generation, and perfected—like wine itself—through time.

Visitors to Sonoma and nearby Napa County can arrange wine tours where they can visit different vineyards and learn at least some of the techniques and technology that goes into each bottle. Each label has its own secret, and its own philosophy. Read the full post

“Marbles for home winemaking?” you ask. “What on earth would marbles have to do with making wine?”

Well, marbles certainly won’t impart any flavors to your wine (unless of course you have not sanitized them first – and that would be a bad thing), but marbles can come in very handy. Marbles don’t seem to be as popular in the school playgrounds as they were when I was in grade two, but we used to have fun with both the large and small size marbles. Both sizes can be very handy in your winemaking endeavors. Read the full post

Creating your own wine at home is much easier and simpler than most realize.

List of supplies needed to make your own home brewed wine:

-A fairly large container, jug, or pot to store the fruit juice in
-An electric juicer (extracts the juice from the fruits you will use to make the wine).
-Sugar – super market
-Boiling water or sterilizing solutions or tablets
-Glass containers used to ferment and store the fruit juice. You can get the proper vessel at a brewing shop or online at a  winemaking supply website.
-A plastic tube for siphoning purposes.
-Yeast which is available at your local super market Read the full post

On a recent trip to Napa I was speaking with a winemaker who said that Petite Verdot was his favorite type of grape. It made me do a double take for a couple of reasons: to start Petite Verdot is seldom if ever made into its own wine and secondly to be honest, other then it being a red wine grape……I didn’t know much about it. Read the full post

Making your own wine or brewing your own beer at home is a very interesting hobby and it can be even a profitable hobby if you are a smart investor in the right winemaking supplies. In this article we will point you in the right direction.

Free fruit Read the full post

Anyone who has made wine for a while knows the correct level of liquid in the airlock is vital to assuring good wine. But questions come up about what exactly one should put in the airlock to protect the wine from air and other contaminants. Some suggest just plain water, others say a sanitizing solution of water and potassium metabisulfite, while yet more suggest vodka or some other alcohol-based liquid.

What should you use? Let’s look at the three different recommendations:

Water Read the full post

The first Italian winemaker to start a blog in 2004, it was Crociani, she has gained many new clients, restaurant owners and professional buyers, after launching a Facebook page. She has also started to use Twitter just a few months ago.

According the responsible of the winery  the advantage of social media is that you don’t have to pay (for making yourself known) but to invest your time.

In the case of the winery Crociani the contacts through social media have boosted  online sales with the number of orders doubled to 50-60 a month, a considerable help for the small company which makes 60,000-70,000 bottles of wine a year. Read the full post

Up until a few weeks ago, I thought I knew quite a bit about home winemaking. I’ve been making a variety of wines for years – both from kits and from “scratch.” I’ve discussed the subject of making wines at home with others who have plenty of experience, learned from them and learned quite a bit on my own.

What happened three weeks ago? Daniel Pambianchi’s book, Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Chateau-Style Wines published by Vehicule Press (Montreal) in 2008 arrived at my door. When I opened it up in the evening, I began reading and didn’t stop until about 2AM. I devoured the first 149 pages before fatigue set in and even though I wanted to keep reading, I needed to sleep. Read the full post