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Fall Bright, The Winemakers Shoppe, 10110 Hyatt Hill, Dundee, NY 14837
HOURS: We are open all year round! We have always been closed on Mondays.
November to May 31: Tues-Fri: 10-5 Eastern Time Weekends (Saturday or Sunday) by appointment 607-292-3995
June to harvest Tues-Fri : 10-5 Saturday 10-4 Eastern Time
Harvest (Sept-Oct): Tuesday to Sunday 10-5 Eastern Time
Free catalog, mail order of supplies but not grapes and juices.
Making wine at Fall Bright, YOU are the winemaker! We basically provide the amateur winemaker with the grapes or grape juices and winemaking supplies and know-how to make his own wine. Check out our website, www.fallbright.com for information and online shopping.
Call the shop at 607-292-3995.
Now you have some basic information, what do you need to get started?
Grapes will be crushed into your open top container, never a carboy. Juice, if ordered, is ready to pump into your container. To start winemaking, you'll need...
* Juice: 5 1/2 to 6 gallons of juice for 5 gallons finished wine. OR
* Juice: 5 gallons, topping up with finished wine from your cellar. Five (5) gallons will yield 2 dozen: 750 ml bottles.
* Order red grapes at the rate of 12-13 pounds per gallon if fermenting on the skins.
* If cold pressing red grapes prior to fermentation, you'll need 15 pounds per gallon.
* Order your white grapes at the rate of 15 pounds per gallon. They will be cold pressed. White grapes are not fermented on the skins. They oxidize too rapidly.
* 1 full bushel is about 40 pounds of whole grapes. Our picking boxes hold ~30 pounds level full.
A REVIEW OF EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED.
* PATIENCE
* Books, information.
* Carboys. A carboy is a glass container. Popular sizes are 2.8, 3,5,6 gallons. You'll always need an empty one for racking. These glass carboys are not PYREX and will or may crack with the use of hot water. Use warm or cool water to clean. They crack if clicked together so always pad between carboys. Use the cardboard box, buy or make a carrying crate or a plastic crate to protect your jug. Sometimes we have wooden carrying crates at the shop for sale. When cleaning your jug in a porcelain bathtub or a stainless steel sink, place a towel on the bottom of the tub or sink so the jug will not click against the hard surface and crack.
* Pails, White or food grade plastic or Stainless Steele: Our 7.9-gallon pails will hold about 70 crushed grapes. They come with a lid that has a very tight fit. If transporting whole grapes in bushel baskets or cardboard boxes, plastic liners are a must. Plastic liners (clear or our fermenting bags) tied off at the top are advisable to aid in the transportation of crushed must (crushed grapes). Even if in a container with a top, unless it is a tupper-ware tight seal, a tied bag will prevent sloshing.
* Bung, bored to fit the hole in your container and an airlock. The most popular size bung for a 5 gallon jug are numbers 6.5 and 7. Get Both! We also have small bungs (2,3) to fit wine bottles for topping fermentations.
* Airlocks: We carry 2 plastic styles, a triple or twin bubble airlock and a cylinder airlock. The main difference is the ease of cleaning. Airlocks are important for all home wine and beer makers. Affixed to the top of a closed fermenter by inserting in a bored bung and filled half way with water, they allow the escape of carbon dioxide gas produced by fermentation. The gas bubbles up through the water. The water prevents any outside air from entering the fermenter. This helps to prevent possible contamination from airborne microbes. The covers are not airtight and while allowing carbon dioxide to escape, they keep out fruit flies and other small creatures. Watching bubbling airlocks becomes a serious pastime of home brewers and vintners. The cylinder airlocks are not as much fun to watch as the bubble airlocks. Some of the "bubble" airlocks have smooth rather than bubbled sides. NOTE: Check your water level in the airlock frequently. They can go dry. Some winemakers use colored water to help visibility. Some use a metabisulfite solution for airlocks.
* PLUS: Hydrometer (triple scale: potential alcohol, Brix, specific gravity).
* Corn sugar (Dextrose) to adjust the "Brix" or sugar percentage.
Yeast: Your pick, our recommendation. 1 pack per 5-7 gallons. I could have a whole page on this.
Potassium Metabisulfite or campden tablets: anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial additive.
* +5 -5 hydrometer is used for reading at the end of the fermentation.
* Acid Testing Kit
* Clinitest Kit is a test for residual sugar in your finished wine.
* Vinometers give an alcohol reading in DRY wine.
* Fining agents to aid in settling and clarification.
* Corks: Agglomerated, First, Premium, Thermoplastic! What to use??
* Corkers: hand or floor corker?
* Siphon hose and racking tube and holder for racking.
* Bottle filler
* Bottling
* Cleaning
* Bottles 2-dozen (750 ml) bottles per 5 gallons of wine
* Labels and Capsules optional. You can be creative or use masking tape! Actually there are 'easy remove' self adhesive labels available at office supply shops.
* Cane Sugar: Recommended for sweetening your finished wine to taste.
I will expand on the last items in this list next letter.. Luci, our shop manager, will be able to answer a lot of your winemaking questions. She won a silver medal with her 1999 Foch at the NYS Fair last year and a silver medal with her Maiden's Blush from 2001.
