Welcome to the club! I've been making beer and wine for probably 20 years now. I started with beer but find wine an easy brew. In years past I've made several grape, rhubarb, apple, and the famous elderberry. I highly recommend those think about giving it a try do so. You can start with a gallon of apple juice which might even come in a glass gallon jug! Get the kind without preservatives. A cork and bubble lock like you see in Gardengrl's are only about $2-3. A cup of corn sugar (dextrose) per gallon will up the alcohol content to a reasonable level. Wine yeast is only a few cents per packet. Buy a simple instuction manual and your bottles won't explode. Forget Grandpa's way... he plowed his fields with a horse. There are better ways now. My favorite thing about homemade wine is that I can leave the sulfates out! Shelf life is reduced and you have to bottle it dry. I like dry wine and appreciate not having a pickled stomach from the sulfates. Not that I don't enjoy a nice claret but it would be nice if France (or Italy or Germany or whoever) could ship it over the ocean without chemicals. When in the mood I sweeten my wine glass by glass with pop or juice... plain water makes an excellent mixer! Great post Gardengrl! Got me thinking about the grapes I see growing out in my field. Five gallons of apple-blueberry being "inspected" by Luna Looski as I was getting ready to bottle and cork it in regular wine bottles. A magical picture because my cats never get on the counter.... Lulu probably Photoshopped herself in the pic? A cheater wine because the apple juice was store bought and the blueberries dry. : ) lyra

Why not choose wines both you and your fiance like, that way you won't have to worry about buying too much. I don't think 1/2 bottle for prewedding, dinner and post dinner is nearly enough. At the bare minimum I would order at least 18 bottles, that's only 1 1/2 cases. Remember, most places give you a 10% case discount. A lot of your decision will also depend on how many non-drinkers you have. You may also want to have a few bottles of champagne available for wedding cake and toasts. If dinner is going to be something that goes with red wine than 67% of the wine should probably be red. If dinner is roasted chicken or lobster, I would do 100% white, plus champagne. If you run out of wine just after dinner, I suspect your guests will depart shortly after - which may or may not be a good thing! Good luck, jerri

In his vinting links the second link Is The Home winemakers Manual,(it's free) It is also on Jack Kellers blog. HAve you heard of free cycle, that is a site, about people trying to get rid of things in your area, that cluttler up the house, you may find some demi john's(1 gallon jug) or if your lucky like me a carboy(5 gallon jug) alot of people drink carlo rossio, and throw the jugs in the recycling bin, maybe a person on freecycle would drink it alot. you can also get bottles, for a resturant, recycling center(if you have one) I could tell you more, but Im sure lots of information can be found. One thing though is you could freeze the fruit, it breaks down the cell walls, and the fruits practicaly, juice themselves.(if you do it with a apple it will be softer then a tomato when thawed) Oh And some recipes call for a high percentage of alcohol,(ORIGINAL GRAVIETY) or even just to be finished sweet (BECAUSE OF ORIGINAL GRAVIETY), and the yeast will die, leaving you with a sweet wine, you might want to modify them to 12 to 13 percent. higher alcohol takes longer to mature also.

Another way to get the suction started in the siphon hose is to fill the hose with water by placing one end of the hose under the tap and the other end of the hose directed at the sink. Water will start flowing through the hose and into the sink. Once there's enough water in the hose, cover both ends with a finger from each hand, to try to keep the water in the hose (some air pockets along the hose are okay). Then put the rigid hose end into the primary container (container with the wine), taking your finger off the hose end just before submerging. Of course, depending on which racking you are doing, you may want to be careful not to let the hose touch the sediment on the bottom, so maybe you have to hold that end a bit up in the liquid. Then, place the other end of the hose into the secondary container, taking your finger off the end right before you put it in. This should start the water flowing into the secondary carboy, and the wine will follow right along with it. The water is of such a minor amount you don't have to worry about it diluting your wine. I hope I explained it well. Basically, you fill the hose as much you as you can with water ahead and try to keep the water in the hose until you place in the vessels. Then, once the water starts flowing it sucks the wine right after it into the container as well. This works quite a bit of the time, but I have been known to do the "mouth" siphon method as well. Glen