r/winemaking

Im a longtime homebrewer, 1st time homemade wine attempter ... I am about 30 days into the making of a VineCo (with grape skins and oak cubes) brand cabernet kit. I am in the "polishing / racking / aging" stage, according to the instructions. Everything seems to have gone well, and my gravity readings look good. As a beer maker, I only have opaque fermenting vessels, so that's what its in - it's in a 2nd opaque vessel having already moved the wine (as instructed) at day 14 rom vessel 1 to vessel 2. I have ordered a clear carboy to now finish the job (a vessel 3) - and so I can see when the wine is clear. That said, should I risk transferring it again? If I do transfer it again to the clear carboy, I would also want to transfer the oak cubes with it, correct? So just using a siphon wont accomplish that task. If I siphon I can keep the oxygen exposure lower, but I cant move the oak cubes. Can I just "pour" or dump the wine from vessel 2 to vessel 3 or would that be a disaster due to clouding and oxygen?

Hi all! I'm on my fifth batch of homemade fruit wine (this one is apricot, cardamom, and marjoram) and I'm starting to speculate about ways to take my wine further or just experiment with new things. I poked around a bit on the internet and it looks like there are a couple of people selling new, toasted, 1-gallon oak barrels (I mostly do 1 gallon batches, I just don't drink that much wine) for a price I'm willing to consider - but it's a bit pricey for an experiment, so I wanted to ask the community for opinions.

I mainly want to know if there's anything undesirable about aging in oak that I might want to consider, and how long it would take to see noticeable results. Also if you have opinions about using the barrel for more than one batch of wine (aging for X time, bottling, then reusing the barrel for a new batch). Obviously not doing any actually fermenting in the barrel.

Thank you in advance! (image of the apricot mash for eyeballs)

https://preview.redd.it/pqftwyfa462h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e9f281fff40c0e6dffa27351d0b47b49928c558

Hello everyone, ive got a few questions in regards to a brew im running rn. Its the first time ive ever done a fresh fruit mash, and im having bad issues with airlock overflow. Using cherries and nectarines with supplemental sugar, ec-1118, all in a 2 gallon fermenter. Its insanely vigorous even though the average temp in the room its in is 75°. Should I just keep cleaning it as it does so or move it to a location closer to the AC (which is set to 75 cuz I live in the south) i dont have a blow off tube because I have a cat and thats just asking for trouble and I have nowhere else to put it

If you’re a home winemaker in Northern California, I wanted to share that we have wine grapes available this season 2026 from our vineyard in Contra Costa County.

We currently have Grenache Noir, Grenache Blanc, and Carignan available in both small and large quantities. Our vines are cultivated using organic practices and are deeply rooted in the sandy soils that Contra Costa County is known for.

These low-yield vines produce intensely flavored fruit with beautiful balance and character. The wines made from these grapes show vibrant fruit, spice, structure, and silky tannins with a strong sense of terroir.

Feel free to message me if you’d like more information or availability details.

Wine Grapes Home Wine Maker, Wineries and Cellars Buyer.

Grenache Blanc

Grenache Noir

Just like the title says, I have a new filter that we are going to start using with our 5 gallon batches. I was just a little confused with the options of the #1, #2 and #3 pads. Will all three of these be used every time? Or are some more commonly used than others. And dumb side question, but it is good for just one use correct?

Looking forward to the tasting notes (the best part of entering in competitions) but I did OK this year. 10 medals for 13 entries:

Gold (1 medal): Valvin Muscat

Silver (6 medals): Aromella, Estate Traminette, Traminette, Peach, Blueberry, Sparkling Riesling,

Bronze (3 medals): Baco Noir, Estate Marechal Foch, Riesling

New York State Fair competition is next up then AWS and Cellarmasters of LA follow shortly after.

[delete if not allowed, I'll understand]

I make exceptional limoncello, orangecello, tangerine, and about 6 other citrus liquors and blends. I also make fantastic floral liquors, specifically single note roses and blends with elderflower and fruits (have you ever smelled a beautiful rose? They taste amazing.). Almost all of my work, roughly 500 bottles per year, goes to a couple high end art galleries for consumption on special event nights, and people cannot get enough. I understand our products are different, but they share much the same process outside of the actual product. I have a couple great farm sources of organic citrus in essentially whatever volume I can use, the rest is neutral spirits and specific sugars to make essentially simple syrup + some subtle ingredients to really set up the accents.

Questions for the pros:

How did you get your first distributor?

Who do you buy your empty bottles and screw caps from?

Who do you buy your bottling equipment from?

I live in San Diego, a big city, would you recommend shared kitchen incubators or is there a better way for starting out?

How did you survive the income desert when you first started? My estimates are around $100K on the lean end to set up a small bottling kitchen to start shipping in small numbers of pallets, and 2-3 years to break even. I have a family and small children (I'm older, but my kids are young), I am not financially independent, I would have a very hard time there even keeping my day job.

I've had vintners tell me that they don't have to fire up their tractors nearly as much as their neighbors striving for organic certs.

I've heard an example about spot treating with a copper spray instead of treating everything with a sulphur spray. I lack the details around this, but I'm sure our farming friends can help us out.

Hey everyone,
I’m curious to see how different cellars and tiers of production manage their sulfur dioxide monitoring. Whether you are a home winemaker, a boutique estate, or running a massive commercial operation, what is your primary go-to method for routine Free and Total SO2 analysis?

Drop your vote below, and feel free to share your setup, volume, and why you love (or absolutely despise) your current method in the comments!

Your answers are much appreciated for a wine project looking to leverage medical testing equipment for our benefit.

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