Today’s post is a guest post by my lovely fiance Rob. I’ve mentioned him more times than I can count on this blog and I thought some of you might want to put a face voice pen? to the alias. He’s quite the handy guy so his post today is about DIYing.
Becoming a Do It Yourselfer can save you money in many ways. The most obvious reason naturally is that you no longer need to pay for a service you can do on your own, but on a whole other level it gives you a new and fulfilling hobby that can take you away from more common and expensive hobbies. Rather than spending money on collector items, expensive games or the newest tech gadget choose a project that will be rewarding, save you money, occupy your down time and see it through to the end.
Do It Yourself Alcohol
One such project that meets those goals is wine making. My fiancée and I absolutely love wine. It’s one of those things that make nearly everything in the evening better when it’s around. Not to say we’re a couple of alcoholics (maybe), usually just a glass or two will do, but it is just great to have on hand at the end of a long day when we just want to relax. Plus a fully completed wine kit with nice clean bottles on a beautiful wine rack adds a lot to the frugal décor of our house.
Anyone who enjoys wine as much as we do knows that the price can start to add up. You can typically get a decent bottle of wine for around $12 with the occasional $9 dollar sale, (that’s here in Canada, I know the States has better deals). But for a great bottle you’re easily looking at over $20. Home made wine has come a long way and can compare in quality to a store bought $12 bottle. If done correctly your first batch of wine should work out to between $3 and $4 a bottle and go down from there each time after.
The reason it’s more expensive the first time through is because you need to buy all your equipment. If you factor that into your first kit it is a bit more costly. The key to starting is to shop around. Wine and brew stores love to get new customers and will very often have specials on that include all the equipment you will need plus a wine kit. Really nice wine kits can get very expensive, sometimes up over $120, but I’ve never bought one over $60. If you shop around your local wine making shops you will almost certainly find a whole starter kit, equipment included, for under $100. This will include everything from the carboy and tools to the corks and labels.
After you’ve got your equipment and are a little more seasoned, keep an eye on specials at your local brew store every two weeks or so, you never have to buy a kit for more than $60 and they can get as low as $30, although it is fun to splurge once and a while and try out a nicer $80-$100 kit, which would still only work out to $3 – $4 a bottle.
Once you have all of this all you need is bottles and you’re ready to start brewing.
Scavenge Your Materials
You should be able to find bottles for free. If you’ve made the decision to make wine then you’re probably already a wine drinker. Start saving your bottles. Make sure to rinse them when you’re finished, as this will make cleaning them much easier. Another option for free bottles are local recycling places, some restaurants and bars would give some out or ask a friend. In my experience you just basically need to ask around a bit and you should be able to find some bottles.
Making Wine Is Easy
Once you have all you need it’s time to start brewing. These instructions will come with the kit so to bore you with them here is quite unnecessary. I will just say this, do not be intimidated. It may seem daunting and at times confusing but in the end it is quite straight forward and quite hard to screw up. As you make batch after batch things will run more smoothly but I can offer a few tips to start you off.
- Follow the instructions exactly – sometimes it will look funny or seem like you shouldn’t be doing what it says, just do it and it will work out.
- When you first mix the ingredients on day 1 make sure to only rest the lid on the primary fermenter I sealed it and the pressure almost made the bucket explode, had Jord not been home and called me when she heard it hissing it very well may have.
- On bottling day make sure all the bottles are thoroughly cleaned and all lined up ready to be filled before you start. Once the wine starts coming through the hose it goes quick and you will bottle all 30 pretty quickly, it helps a lot to have them all in a nice organized order to make things go more smoothly.
Once you’re done your first kit I promise the sense of accomplishment and pride will make any mess, confusion and uncertainty worth it. When you look at your 30 bottles of wine and think about how awesome the evenings over the next few months will be you’ll want to go out immediately to start your next batch.
Have you ever made wine or beer before?