Homebrewing/winemaking

[swiggidy]

History:
About 5 years ago I started making beer. Me and my friend got really into it because we were both interning so hats tons of free time. We made 10 batches that summer (5 gallons for ~50 beers). I've made a couple batches since then.

The beer is good. Think quality micro-brew, except it's 6% alcohol and costs 50c a bottle.

Now:
In the meantime I started looking into wine. I started my first gallon batch yesterday (wine is often made in smaller batches than beer). It's super simple, just using frozen fruit juices. Just something to start.

The hardware start-up cost was $10 and the ingredients were $5. This will yield 4-5 bottles of wine for ~$1 each.

I'm going to do 2 more gallons this weekend, these won't be ready for 2 months (minimum). In the meantime I'll have bought a new beer kit and hopefully made a batch or two of that. The kit includes a hydrometer which is necessary for more complicated wines (i.e. using fresh fruit).

I know MrHappy makes wine. If anyone is interested feel free to ask questions. I'll post updates...

[Trashcona]

My wife and I have been talking about getting into winemaking. Do you have any idea if it's possible to make a decent port or icewine?

[swiggidy]

I'm only just getting started with the wine.

The book I have says you basically can't make port; however, you can make something similar. This would be down the road (a couple years) because it's more complicated. I have no idea about icewine.