Reddit reviews Lalvin - UX-Y1XE-IDOI Wine Yeast 71B Yeast, 10 Packs, Multicolor

Here we go, I'll try to recreate most of the comment that I had typed up on mobile.

There are tons of good books on this out there, but the two that I have are Hooch, which although it covers the basics of fermentation it is mostly addressed to the home gardener who wants to take their harvest and ferment it. It even has a chapter on growing, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately I don't have adequate sunlight where I live right now for growing anything but trees, so I never tried growing my own, but we have a lot of pick your own places here that grow/sell fruit by the pound, so I've used them in the past. Trust me, that was a huge bummer when I found out most if not all grape vines require ULTIMATE SUNLIGHT, I was so ready to grow my own muscadines. I also have The Joys of Home Winemaking which I know also includes some recipes as well as basics.

Unfortunately, like anything else, you'll have to spend some money if you want to get started but how much depends on what you're looking for. You can totally start with a balloon wine like this or you can go all out on a kit like this, it's the one I have. I recently saw it come up on the winemaking subreddit and it was a good price so I nabbed it. Or you can start a little bit smaller (keep in mind you get roughly 6 regular-sized wine bottles per gallon) with a kit like this. Here is the strawberry base I've ordered although I think I got it from a different site a little bit cheaper, ~$45 altogether with shipping. The yeast I'm going to use is Lalvin 71B-1122 that I got off Amazon, it's normally good for fruity wines where you want the flavor of the fruit to come through like strawberry which is typically a lighter-bodied wine.

Here is Jack Keller's website it's full of recipes, it looks fresh out of 1995 but he has a lot of good info on there. It can be tricky to navigate but you'll find pretty much any recipe you want by just googling "jack keller x recipe".

E. C. Kraus is an amazing resource, it's technically a brewer's supply so you can shop for all the stuff you need from there, but I normally find better prices elsewhere. That's not why I love them, though. There are tons of articles and guides and helpful stuff like "top 10 reasons for failed fermentation" "what to do when you drink poisoned wine and the sky turns green" "blah blah blah" whatever you need.

Someone on /r/winemaking just recommended this website to me as a better source for concentrates like the one I already ordered, and they definitely seem cheaper from this source, plus it comes with a good recommendation on the finished product from them as well.

Hopefully, this is enough to help jumpstart you if you're really interested in trying to make your own wine!

I wanna dedicate this comment to mah ladiez out there... /u/pele21 /u/MyFifthRedditName /u/DeiMudder /u/skivian and /u/AmorLaluz uh huh uh huh

edit: and in case y'all need it, here is a glossary of winemaking terms so you know what the hell people/recipes are talking about!

Lalvin 71b

That is my personal go to favorite though there are plenty of other Lalvin/Redstar/Mangrove Jack/other yeasts that will work. That link is to a 10 pack by the way, if you've got a local homebrew store you should be able to pick up single packets in around the $1 range(Assuming you are somewhere that dollars are the currency.....)

The recipe above is a pretty good baseline but sanitation is key. IF you think you will get serious then Starsan is well woth the money. If not and you've got bleach laying around you can make a bleach solution, clean your gear and then make sure it is well rinsed before adding ingrediants.

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If you are willing to do a tiny bit of extra work then yeast nutrient will get you something that is drinkable far faster than just honey/water/yeast will.

Lalvin Wine Yeast 71B 1122 from the recipe.