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
If you grow your own fruits, wine making is not an expensive hobby at all, its true you need some proper winemaking supplies but when you do some research you can get your supplies very cheap. Producing your own fruits is a good step in the right direction but there are other ways to get fruit for free. If you offer your fruit and vegetable supplier one or two bottles of wine in return of the fruit he did not sell you will probably end up with more fruits then you can use. And because fruits are the most expensive part of winemaking supplies you need, it is a great way to keep the cost of your hobby down. And belief me, when you bring those wonderful bottles of wine to your supplier, he will also be happy that he gave those left over fruits to you. You can even make a deal with him and let him sell your bottles of wines. That is a win-win situation for the both of you.
Winemaking Equipment
The other big investment you need to make in winemaking supplies is the equipment you need for the wine production. I will let you in on a secret, most wine making kits that people get for Christmas never get used, most of the time they end up at e-bay or other auction sites. People buy these kits for there loved ones to give them a nice hobby but in fact the gift receivers never asked for it and they are not really interested. So after a while they sell the stuff and you can buy it at very low prices. And because you do like wine making as a hobby but also would like to make a little money this is an opportunity you really can not let go. This is the smart way to get winemaking supplies cheap.
Save money on wine bottles and wine labels
To get you started you can collect the bottles from people you know, clean them with special sanitizer, make your own labels at the myownlabels website and fill them with your own home made wine. When you do decide to sell your wines you can even make a deal with the buyers, under the name of sustainability, so they bring you the bottles back when they finished the wine.
There are two ways to produce wine labels, you can buy label making kits that provide you with software and paper you can print them on. Or you can create wine labels online and they are professionally printed for you and delivered at your doorstep. Strange enough this is often cheaper then using the label kits. Wine labels give your wine presentation flair and the air of professionally.
These are just a few tips to make your wine making hobby profitable with smart invested winemaking supplies.
CONSUMER INFORMATION
Make CENT$ of it all
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wine Making - Art or Craft
Just an interesting article I found on another site
Wine Making, The Magic Begins!
The magic that is wine making is a fascinating subject, at least for those of us who haven't experienced it up close, and only see the results. Ah but what a glorious result! And it all seems so mysterious.
At first winemaking seems simple enough. The winemaker starts out with some grape juice; he or she puts it in a barrel or stainless steel tank, and then the waiting begins. It can be a few months, it can be a few years, but after all the waiting, we have wine.
If it is that simple, why is it that there is such a great variety in quality, flavor, texture? And how come we aren't all great winemakers?
Actually many people try their hand at homemade wine, and are always on the hunt for homemade wine recipes. For some of these adventurous souls, the results are so-so and decide that it is better to drink the wine than to make it. For others, it is the beginning of a wonderful journey from wine lover to winemaker, and a new career and lifestyle.
So, How Does It All Happen?
Though wine is a very old beverage, the actual chemical processes that makes juice into a fermented beverage wasn't well understood. It has only been in the last couple of hundred years, less at that, that we know that wine making is science at work. It was Louis Pasteur, the man best known for vaccination, that was able to explain to the rest of us how sugar becomes alcohol after a while. This is called fermentation, and it is part of the magic.
Another part of the magic is the maturation, or aging, of the wine. Some wines are meant to be consumed young, that is, soon after they are made and bottled. This period of time can vary from a few months to a year or two.
Other wines benefit from longer aging. This period can be anywhere from two to five years. And some wines have been known to age well for several decades.
Another variation in the aging, as well as in the fermentation, is where the wine is going to be maturing. Will it be in an oak barrel? or will the winemaker decide to use a stainless steel tank? This decision will greatly affect the flavor of the end result. Of course, non of these steps can happen without the key ingredient, the grape. And all wine making really starts in the vineyard.
Not only will the weather and place where the vine is grown affect the final outcome, but most importantly, the kind of grape dictates much of the wine making techniques.
If the grape is a Cabernet Sauvignon, it will dictate a particular set of techniques, as making red wine requires methods that are somewhat different from making white wine.
If the grape is a Chardonnay, then the master will pull a different set of tools from his magic bag.
Is Winemaking Art of Craft?
Some people speak of wine making as being an art, others scoff at this notion. They believe that a good winemaker is just great at his craft, no more no less. I once read that winemaking cannot be an art because the winemaker is working with a set of ingredients and tools, whereas the artist uses his imagination.
It is not for me to say whether wine is a work of art or not, but I think that an artist also has a set of tools and ingredients to work with, it's just that those tools and ingredients are a bit more varied.
A winemaker uses grapes, yeasts, barrels, stainless steel, sugar, etc. to work his magic. an artist uses pain, paper, brushes, wood, marble, glass, fire, to produce his magic.
Perhaps the ingredients and tools that an artist has at her disposal are more varied and unpredictable than those that a winemaker has, but the artist doesn't come up with a work of art out of thin air, she also needs ingredients and tools.
You Decide, Art or Craft?
Wine Making, The Magic Begins!
The magic that is wine making is a fascinating subject, at least for those of us who haven't experienced it up close, and only see the results. Ah but what a glorious result! And it all seems so mysterious.
At first winemaking seems simple enough. The winemaker starts out with some grape juice; he or she puts it in a barrel or stainless steel tank, and then the waiting begins. It can be a few months, it can be a few years, but after all the waiting, we have wine.
If it is that simple, why is it that there is such a great variety in quality, flavor, texture? And how come we aren't all great winemakers?
Actually many people try their hand at homemade wine, and are always on the hunt for homemade wine recipes. For some of these adventurous souls, the results are so-so and decide that it is better to drink the wine than to make it. For others, it is the beginning of a wonderful journey from wine lover to winemaker, and a new career and lifestyle.
So, How Does It All Happen?
Though wine is a very old beverage, the actual chemical processes that makes juice into a fermented beverage wasn't well understood. It has only been in the last couple of hundred years, less at that, that we know that wine making is science at work. It was Louis Pasteur, the man best known for vaccination, that was able to explain to the rest of us how sugar becomes alcohol after a while. This is called fermentation, and it is part of the magic.
Another part of the magic is the maturation, or aging, of the wine. Some wines are meant to be consumed young, that is, soon after they are made and bottled. This period of time can vary from a few months to a year or two.
Other wines benefit from longer aging. This period can be anywhere from two to five years. And some wines have been known to age well for several decades.
Another variation in the aging, as well as in the fermentation, is where the wine is going to be maturing. Will it be in an oak barrel? or will the winemaker decide to use a stainless steel tank? This decision will greatly affect the flavor of the end result. Of course, non of these steps can happen without the key ingredient, the grape. And all wine making really starts in the vineyard.
Not only will the weather and place where the vine is grown affect the final outcome, but most importantly, the kind of grape dictates much of the wine making techniques.
If the grape is a Cabernet Sauvignon, it will dictate a particular set of techniques, as making red wine requires methods that are somewhat different from making white wine.
If the grape is a Chardonnay, then the master will pull a different set of tools from his magic bag.
Is Winemaking Art of Craft?
Some people speak of wine making as being an art, others scoff at this notion. They believe that a good winemaker is just great at his craft, no more no less. I once read that winemaking cannot be an art because the winemaker is working with a set of ingredients and tools, whereas the artist uses his imagination.
It is not for me to say whether wine is a work of art or not, but I think that an artist also has a set of tools and ingredients to work with, it's just that those tools and ingredients are a bit more varied.
A winemaker uses grapes, yeasts, barrels, stainless steel, sugar, etc. to work his magic. an artist uses pain, paper, brushes, wood, marble, glass, fire, to produce his magic.
Perhaps the ingredients and tools that an artist has at her disposal are more varied and unpredictable than those that a winemaker has, but the artist doesn't come up with a work of art out of thin air, she also needs ingredients and tools.
You Decide, Art or Craft?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Making Your Own Wine -Fun, Easy And Delicious!
For those of you just contemplating wine making, here is another article which outlines the ease of the wine making process.
by Georgia Sutherland
Making home made wine is a fast growing hobby. No wonder, making wine at home has a variety of benefits.
One reason is that the information about wine making is becoming much more available. Books with wine recipes, and a number of “How to’s” can easily be found making it easy to get started.
One other reason is that making your own wine can be a lot less expensive than purchasing wine in the store.You can make wine for pennies per bottle. Big difference from the ever increasing prices of commercial wine.
And here’s the best reason: It is just a lot of fun and very gratifying to make your own wine. Making all the preparations including choosing the fruit and or berries to include, what type of yeast to use, and then watching the fermentation take place… it never loosed its excitement.
Homemade wine is also a very special gift for someone. With your own label, of course.
Getting started making wine can be very easy. You do not need expensive equipment and fancy gadgets. What you do need is a fermentation vessel. This can be a five gallon bucket. Then you will need an air lock, which you can purchase inexpensively or make yourself and a few other smaller items.
There are basically three levels of home wine making.
1. Using a wine kit which already have all the ingredients, including instructions.
2.Making wine from fruit juices.
3. Making wine from fruit and berries.
Making your very own wine is a satisfying hobby and art. It is pleasing and nourishing to the palate as well.
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