Just Homebrew Tips

There is controversy about whether degassing your homemade wine is necessary. On one side, there are those that say that it is very important to making wines that you’ll enjoy and be proud of in the months and years to follow.  On the other side, there are those that suggest that degassing is not that important, that the amount of carbon dioxide that remains when you bottle your wine is negligible. But this assumes that you will be bulk aging your wine for several months in the carboy before bottling, which will supposedly allow the carbon dioxide gases to dissipate. Read the full post

If you’re making wine from commercially available wine kits, you’ll have everything you need to make very good wine. Even the yeast is provided for you in the kit. I’ve found that Lalvin EC-1118 strain of yeast is the one that is most often included in both premium and lower quality kits.

EC-1118 yeast is a very good all purpose wine yeast. Originating in the Champagne area of France, it is used to make a wide variety of juices because of it’s high alcohol tolerance, ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures, and it’s neutrality to flavor and aromas. 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

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