96
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
96 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Lemmy
33478 readers
1126 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I don't know if I'd say "bad" but certainly different.
Today we have catalogs of different strains of yeast one can order to ferment beverages. Prior to that, people would just be leaving the liquid open to the air to pick up wild yeasts. Whether that led to something good or bad was a bit up to chance.
Same with the resulting ABV. Different yeasts will thrive to different alcohol levels. My first experiment making wine was with bread yeast I had on hand. It worked, and the wine was a hit with all who sampled it, but it was lower in alcohol and higher in residual sugar because that yeast has been cultivated for bread, not alcohol. The same starting juice with a modern dry red wine yeast results in just that.
Also some wines like sherry are made by doing things like heat cycling and introducing oxygen that are "bad" for typical wines.
During different periods, sweet wine was in fashion, so we can't really use that as a basis of quality, it's just the choice of the winemaker.
Wine was also made out of a wider variety of ingredients than with most commercial stuff today, so there are probably awesome herbal infused drinks lost to time or things that are still just regional items that most of us have never heard of.
As a big part of culture, our beverages will continue to evolve, and while some may prefer more of what we consider classic wines now may not hold true in the future. What we have today is just built in centuries of experimentation, which for me, is the fun and rewarding part of brewing.
You can buy wild-fermented wines today as well, although you'll usually have to go to a fairly good specialist shop for it in my experience. They've got a very distinct but interesting and pleasant sourness, much like sourdough bread. I imagine that all of the other changes and improvements in processes and ingredients still means it's very different to ancient wine, but it's potentially a good way to get an idea for what that aspect of it can do
I've had some wild beers, but I don't know if I've had wild wine. Sourdough is a good comparison, because those are the same wild yeasts you'd get for brewing that you'd get if you made your own starter.
If you like wild beer and regular wine, you'll probably enjoy wild wine too! Or at least, I do. I just wish it was more readily available near me, particularly since I am somewhat afraid of brewing it myself
I think you should try it! Most of what I've done has been more for for r/prisonhooch than r/winemaking and it's all been ok to pretty darn good.
Get a hydrometer and some brewery wash and 2 jugs that fit an airlock and stopper. I've done almost all my fermenting in used juice jugs.
I never found it harder than making bread. There's no kneading, but I usually make a bigger mess transferring liquids, so it is messier. It's fun though, and very little hands on time. Make small batches and there's very little financial risk. Once you get the hang of it, then invest in some carboys and whatever other fancy things you desire.
If your worried about growing something unintended, do a few with purchased yeast so you can learn how the normal year reaction and the byproduct looks and smells at various stages so when you "go wild" you know what's normal. It does sometimes burp some foul gas depending on the strain of yeast. I forget what gas it is, but it's normal, some yeasts just have stinker gas. ๐
Oh I've made plenty of beer (and fruit wine, and gin, and currently an attempt at bochet that is awaiting bottling)! It really is just the wild yeast I'm afraid of
I figure I could probably do enough reading and learning to make myself comfortable, but there are enough other things I want to make that I'm not prioritising it just now. I had a crack at a pomegranate and date wine over the winter that I particularly want to improve
Oh, very cool! I've only done random wines, and I did distilling once. Pomegranate and date sounds really good!
The theory was to get the proportions right to replicate the pH, sugar content, and tannins close to grape must without having to add much else. Turns out, by chance, that on those three factors, pomegranate and dates are all roughly different from grapes in opposite directions and amounts to each other.
I live in Scotland, which is not exactly prime pomegranate and date territory, so they're both kinda expensive here and not great quality out of season. I did a trial run with pomgranate molasses to just see if I was on to something without spending as much money (or having to crack open and juice like twenty pomegranates)
If I figure out an actual good recipe I'll be sure to stick it on [email protected]