Homemade Merlot Wine - Easy Delicious Wine Recipe

[@CitySteadingBrews]

So I said merlot might be Italian in the video. Well… nope, it’s French.

[@frankensplean]

if it were italian, it'd be «merlotto» or some such...

[@kevinmencer3782]

Hey @CitySteadingBrews, have you ever or do you have plans to make a muscadine wine? I'm a North Carolina native, and I would love to see my home state represented.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If we had access to enough grapes we might.

[@TheAraxin]

@citysteadingBrews In which stage would u do the degassing for this recipe?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

@@TheAraxin wow, this comment was buried... when would we degas? We likely wouldn't, just let it sit and it does on it's own. You can degas after first rack if you wanted to though.

[@LawlissLanterns]

As I was making my first Mead, my 7 year old daughter (who watched MANY of your videos along with me, as I traveled my educational path) asked... "Where's your 'RED BUCKET OF SANITIZATION!??" and she said it with all the same excitement and fervor as the lovely Derica :) I just laughed and hugged her, showing her my "Clear Bucket of Sanitization" - Sláinte

[@CitySteadingBrews]

That's hysterical!

[@Kotiare]

Kitty Steading!! The channel I didn't even know I needed.

[@bluehaze2001ify]

One heck of a way to start 2023. Merlot and Chianti are my go to red wines.

[@edwardcunningham6315]

Great starting recipe for 2023. Not too difficult for a well liked wine 👍. I agree more with Brian, I like sweet(er) drinks 👍😁

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

I’ve used various juice concentrates for meads and fruit wines, but never grape concentrate intended for making a wine. Now I will! Happy 2023!

[@keithmcauslan943]

I have been using the calculator by my side line the last few weeks. Thanks to you. I give you credit.

[@SW6511B]

When it comes to sanitizing buckets, my favorite color is clear

[@kirtgunnard1038]

Words…stuff….. :) thanks again for the smiles you guys rock!

[@ZepG]

I love dry wines and hate sweet wines, thanks for giving me a few pointers before I try my first batch.

[@michaelsaylor559]

Yes I love this more, I am gonna have to try this myself I love Merlot

[@hotsauce1646]

Your shirt the malt wiskey is da bomb . Happy new year by the way.✂️

[@lloydnsarahsheffer3802]

What a fantastic way to wake up to a new year - new ideas for brewing! Although, you've already given me more ideas than I have room to brew, so now I've got to go and redo my ideas list. C'est la vie. Have a great new year

[@alexcan669]

That’s an awesome way to start the new year. Merlot is a French grape varietal and it is awesome. I do recommend you try the slightly more expensive juices they have on the market. With concentrate some of them come with packets of grapes as well for you to add. Please try Syrah/Shiraz wine it is a very dark and intense varietal. Happy new year 🎈🎆🎊

[@Exit_343]

Hey!! Just the video I've been waiting for;! Been wanting to make some merlot, just didn't have the knowledge! Now I do!!

[@Exit_343]

A 9.5! No way!! I'm definitely going to make this!! Now make a Semi Sweet Red Blend!!!

[@msritaj]

Happy New year! From PEI Canada. We are going to the Levees and they are not dry! I enjoy your channel, you and Derica.

[@goranstamenkovic9483]

Happy New year! From Serbia

[@hbg8683]

Morning Y'all. Have a Healthy Happy Holy Strong New Year, Love yall. 🌷

[@Ian-Johnson]

Thankyou so much for all your time and efforts to share these recipes with people.

[@kelvinnance8371]

I am totally happy you made this varietal. Merlot is pretty much my favorite red, even though I would drink a cider before a red . Having a dependable 'recipe' from you is worth far more than commercial producers, though, especially with your explanations and evaluations. Thanks much for another project to look forward to! Happy New Year and much success and happiness in all your endeavors!!

[@AdamFranklin500]

If you do decide on other varieties I would love to see a Cabernet Sauvignon. That's my go to wine. Loved the video as always

[@definitelydelish]

It's fun, I've done, thru amazon too, a classic pinot noir grape blend concentrate. As much as I enjoy doing the meads and fruit wines and experiments, to make a red or white on my own and then using some of the knowledge gained from you both to play around with tannins, acids, sweetness, etc to make it more of a wine with its own character based on my choices is cool and fun to do.

[@beep-beepwatermelon4203]

Omg I’m so excited for the kitty channel!

[@Iambenjiwild]

Thanks! I’m planning my first attempt this month with plans of giving it to family at Christmas. You have got me excited about it ❤

[@Jmb905]

I know this is not a mead video but I wanted to say thank you for all of the mead 101 videos. I have been a home brewer for a while and never really knew how easy mead was to make. We are making our first one today. Its a simple mead and if it comes out alright we will make more and you know how that goes

[@uqox]

What an interesting project! Hhhhm.🤔🤔🤔I think I must invest in some 1-gallon vessels and stretch some of what I brew. Thanks for the wood recommendation also!!! That will be interesting to look into.

[@j.sobers1996]

This merlot was my first attempt at making wine after watching your videos for a while. It. Is. Delicious!!!!! Thanks so much for your videos! You guys are the best! 🍷🍷 I look forward to making another of your recipes.

[@porkfied]

At 39.00 a quart no way thanks but no thanks.Your videos are the best great information.I just made a cranberry- strawberry wine with bread yeast that is doing just fine in the fermenter smells great and no off flavors ,but thanks again for your show you are teaching us alot.

[@wfqsfg]

Thanks for showing this. I am a big Merlot, Shiraz and Pinot Noir fan.

[@douglasharley2440]

16:34 lol, i just got started (about to start my third brew this evening, this very merlot! 😎👍), but the best way i've found is dampen a paper towel with some isopropyl alcohol and wipe both the stopper and the inside of the vessel mouth...the alcohol will kill anything, and then evaporate immediately and the stopper *never* comes out. yet. ✌🤣

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Just remember that stuff is toxic.

[@douglasharley2440]

@@CitySteadingBrews only if one ingests hundreds of ml.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

160-240 ml is lethal, but it's all toxic. Just something to keep in mind. I just dry the bung and it works fine.

[@douglasharley2440]

@@CitySteadingBrews ethyl alcohol is also toxic, but thanks for the word-to-the-wise. 😎👍

[@davidwright-ot5ff]

I've made several gallons of pear wine from Walmart juice, It came out excellent every time. The first two gallons never made it to the bottle. It's very cider-like for a few weeks. Have a gallon clearing for the long-term now.

[@redbirdsrising]

I just did a tasting of my Pinot Noir from the same brand of juice. I used black tea and grape stems in primary, medium french oak spiral in secondary, then I got fancy and added Malolactic bacteria for Malolactic Fermentation. 3 months later, it's smooth, buttery, and delicious. I'm going to bottle it in another month. Next time I'll get the larger bottle for a 6 gallon batch.

[@VincentsLeder]

“ey Redstar, did you see that?” Brilliant guys! Luv ya!

[@jeffberridge176]

I’m looking at this, because I’m thinking of making a blackcurrant wine, rather than blackcurrant mead, using berries from my garden… taking ideas 👍🏼

[@seashizort]

31:00 I’ve been obsessed with this black current/blueberry/ apple juice from Wegmans , I’ve been refining my recipe to the point I tried a 6gallon batch, it turned out amazing. Took the SG at 1.082 using white granulated sugar (2cups/gallon),(1/2tsp/gallon)pectic enzyme , (1/2 tsp/gallon) yeast nutrient, Red start cote des blancs Final SG 0.992 = 12% +- Little added water due to the juice being 52oz containers, so I saturated the additives. (Edit= had 1 tea bag/gallon in 1 cup of water black tea also) Anyway Wegmans has a few different types of apply juices to offer with no additives 100% juice.

[@stanleygrover1685]

You 2 make me smile and laugh , !1gallon merlot. thanks for the education!

[@greggbrown0]

I’m surly going to try that. I do like Merlot so much.

[@marcharrison9847]

Great information solid laughs, loved it when b threw the bottle and it broke the window that made me chuckle. And the bejesus stuck in the bottle was too much, it made my sides split

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@JesusIsMySaviorILoveJesus]

I’ve been binge watching your videos for the past couple weeks to prepare myself for my first brew. I think I’m going to use this recipe as my first. Only I think I’m going to use Cabernet Sauvignon concentrate just because I really like cab. Also, thank you for listing all equipment in the description. It makes things a lot easier for folks starting out like me. Can’t wait to start!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Happy to help!

[@doingfreakythings9290]

Happy New Years

[@scottaustin5290]

Thx again for another idea I was thinking of you guys rock Happy new year love what you do

[@Patty336869]

So I literally just got my first home brew kit and all my gear delivered about 20 min ago. I’m excited to try learning something new, and will be attempting a Strawberry wine recipe from another KZbinr as well as YOUR banana wine recipe. During my mediocre research, I found myself wondering about how expensive strawberries can be, and I’ve seen that sometimes the wines could use a bit more flavouring. So I was curious as to if you could add say 2 strawberry tea bags plus the black tea to a gallon to help amp up the flavour, or if that would be too much tannin or something you just wouldn’t really wanna do. I think for my first run I’m just gonna follow the recipes 100%, I was just curious about adding the flavoured teabags for the future.

[@walterpruitt6589]

I made 5 gallons of this. Spoilers coming! Okay here it comes! I threw a handful of French oak in mine. The color is crystal clear and ruby gem like. It’s a bit more gentle tasting then I was expecting. I was prepared a very robust tasting wine. But it was a bit more gentle and relaxed tasting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious and a great wine. And for being made for a black metal stage performance, it’s perfect!

[@blackmetalsilentmortuary7]

Black metal you say?

[@julietardos5044]

I took your suggestion for mulling something you didn't particularly care for. I mulled a cider with spices, ginger, and damuch maple syrup and honey, and it was fan-fricking-tastic.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Cool!

[@jacoenslin1707]

Nice sound effects

[@jongrnl]

We will have to look into making something like this. It’s been on my list but I wasn’t ready to make 5 gallons of it. Thanks for sharing! This might not be the right kind of pear but we bought a few bottles of this fantastic pear juice from Sprouts a few months ago and made a mead out of it. The honey and the pear flavor really played nicely together and right now is one of the best things we’ve made to date. After bottling however we realized it needed oaking.

[@SeraphimPoi]

I will def have to try this, I love merlot. French oak is my favorite wood to age in, I age all my berry meads and most of my spiced meads in it.

[@randomthoughts23]

Can't wait to see the year tasting. :)

[@ThePathman]

Now I'm curious about making a pyment with merlot juice.

[@leontimmermans1163]

Here in Europe I actually can get (unconcentrated) Merlot juice. Pasteurized but with without additives 🙂

[@jimdent351]

He never tried too hard. I did a quick search and found juice in Tampa FL. I live in Southern ON Canada and can get juice any time of the year from California, and select times of the year from Chile, Argentina, and Italy. I've graduated to making from grapes and buy grapes from California every September. Although, I've never made from Chilean grapes they are available in the early spring. He's obviously not tried too hard.

[@nikolaslane5989]

I was so excited to see this video. I saw these concentrates on Amazon a few weeks ago and wondered how they would perform. Thank you for your guys's insight, and thank you Drew for bringing this idea to City Steading! I will be ordering this concentrate within the week.

[@gavinmcgovern11]

Like this. The cider or pear idea is interesting, but maybe playing with some varietals to make a blend. Maybe some recommendations some that play well off each other?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

There are literally infinite variations. I don't really like suggesting things I have not done.

[@gavinmcgovern11]

@@CitySteadingBrews valid point on the number of combinations. I am sure you would get viewers that would take it as “these are the only combinations.” But I see your channel as one that gets home brewers to open up to new ideas while giving a solid example that if they fallow that they will have success and some confidence to branch off here and there in the future. Just thought it might be cool to see that the concentrates might have a little more versatility as variety and not as much kit like as you said it felt like in the video. I liked that you showed that even using the concentrate you still had several options to finesse the brew given things that you had shown in previous videos. Either way I appreciate your videos. It just struck me as something that I thought was up yawls alley and would be interesting to see.

[@loganmaughan7627]

Great video and recipe! On my, “to make list” now! Big shot out to Ken at Barrel Char. He is the rockstar you have made him into. Great company to work with.

[@stanleygrover1685]

Good eye opener! Thank you 2 make me laugh in good humor.!😁

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@uarenothelping3128]

I like to put my wine on a lazy susan and spin it. it really mixes it well. (top on) also can degass or mix later on without opening it up.

[@eroggero]

Looks like another one added to the list.... Do you reuse any of your oak wool in other brews, or just a o e time shot? Curious to if you have done a mango ginger combo wine? Happy new year to you guys🍷

[@casinferneycf45]

I just discovered my love of merlot. I know what I am doing next.

[@jeffsherk7056]

We had a pair of Tonkinese (Siamese/Burmese mixed) cats, and they both liked to chew the wrapping around flats of bottled water.

[@Yantopia]

Well done you two, I'm definitely going to try this. I love your videos.

[@Exit_343]

Hey guys.... coming up on a one year tasting!! I cant frekin wait!!!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Uhh... it's only been 8 months.

[@doskraut]

$40 for the Concentrate, that better be the best tasting wine when done.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Comes to $8 a bottle. Still cheap.

[@kruger4444]

Where I live the concentrate is 45 bucks for 23 liter batch. So it comes down to around ~1.50 per bottle.

[@dannyexotic]

@@kruger4444 Where can i buy this concentrate lol

[@dfitzger]

I typically get pear juice from Sprouts around here, close to racking my pear / perry mead probably next month which used some of it (and Bosc and Bartlett pears). Also I sent you all a message on your website re: the homebrew shop in Dunedin, let me know if you didn't get it! Cheers

[@kentvandevender9731]

Thanks for this video, i suspect the tannin will round out with time.

[@surveyor1995]

Gonna have to make this one...looks like a nice project. Thank you for sharing.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

One of our favorites :)

[@dshevack1]

I would like to try this

[@aubreysullivan3137]

Can't wait to give this a try... does anyone know where I can find Kerner grape reserves? I lived in Germany for 10 years and Kerner is my absolute favorite wine.

[@Jamesbeardsell]

Happy New Year Brian and Dereka. Three things, 1 In the wine tastings I've been to we neutralized our pallets by eating a plane piece of bread with nothing on it. 2 Is the oak you used cut and treaded specifically for this purpose or can any piece of untreated and sanitized piece of oak from a lumber yard be used? 3 Have you used any wine kits in the past? How did they turn out?

[@markstevens7838]

That sounds good to try. My guess is this will be much better after some aging (smoothing out the tannins

[@JennyLoveTarot]

Hi 😊 I just found you a few days ago. Want to start off I absolutely love you guys ❤️ (new subscriber) I just started my homemade wine journey from Welch's grape juice (on day 9) really wanted it to be ready for my bday 10/29 but doesn't seem it will be ready in 3 days (still got bubbles) anyways how long does it last once I bottle it and can I store in the refrigerator? Thank you 💞

[@CitySteadingBrews]

No need to store in the fridge. Should last years if bottled well enough.

[@JennyLoveTarot]

@@CitySteadingBrews ty 😊

[@JennyLoveTarot]

@@CitySteadingBrews one more question how soon do I have to drink the bottle once I open it?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I would consume it within a few days before the flavors go flat from oxidizing.

[@nicram40]

I love your channel thank you for sharing your information and recipe My question? Is after a week cloudy is that normal? How long do I wait for it to be done

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If you follow along in the video, you see it takes a while.

[@Williegillan]

What body should you say it was ? Any if you wanted it to be more percent what would you have done differently ? Thanks. This is the best I've seen, everyone else's looks light bodied , see through watery looking. Thanks 🙌🏼

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s full bodied. More alcohol would likely ruin it to be honest.

[@dageman-c8p]

Hi and thanks for another great video (even from a year ago). No added sugar in this recipe-is that because merlot just has more fermentable sugar naturally?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If there is enough sugar in the must there is no need to add more. This was a concentrated juice and we just measured it to not need to add sugar.

[@mothergoose229]

Given you've brewed a Sangria, multiple wines and Coca-Cola, you should totally do a brewed "Calimocho." It's a drink popular in the Basque region of Spain. 50% red wine, 50% Coke. Really nice on a hot day. It could be one of your Frankenbrews!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

That's sort of what we did only with cherry.

[@jscoatings1207]

So I have my first brew going. I used your "basic" mead recipe. It's 4 days old. My question is, why can't we use a plastic fermentation device? I wouldn't think it would burst using an air lock. Thanks for your time and help. Love the videos! Oh, my next brew is going to be Dragons blood. Just want to be sure this one turns out good first.

[@Backdaft94]

Plastic can present some hurdles to sanitize (especially if it has scratches) alcohol is a solvent and in theory could leach chemicals from the plastic into your brew, and lastly can cause carry over from your last brew. Now with that said, I do use plastic 2 gallon buckets for primary fermentation on most of my fruit wines, with only 1 incident, that being I ended up with Jalapeno spice in the wine I made after having made a bragonsbreath wine. B&D are explaining things in a best practices setting.

[@dannyexotic]

Was there sediment when you racked the wine from the original carboy to the other container?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I do not recall but probably. It would have been mentioned or shown in the video.

[@MrTacklebury]

Not a fan of dry wines personally. I'd love to see you make a Reisling - my favorite white wine. ;)

[@kanddfamilyfarm]

Love this and if I can ever get the Merlot concentrate or other varietals I'll give it a go. In the meantime though I've got an old red grape vine that will have ripe fruit soon. Any idea how they make the contrates?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

No need for a concentrate to make wine...

[@kanddfamilyfarm]

@@CitySteadingBrews true but it's an option to preserve the fruit that I'm considering, other than freezing.

[@clintonrossouw8274]

Hey guys, loving your channel. From a distilling background and was always taught / told to take an OG before adding yeast / Fermaid etc. from your experience, do you think it effects the reading?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It doesn't seem to affect the reading.

[@clintonrossouw8274]

@@CitySteadingBrews thanks

[@russellfredrick6519]

Would plain old frozen apple juice concentrate from the store give you the cider base you're looking for?

[@nordknotwork]

Yes, just make sure it doesn't have any ites or ates in it. Look for ones that have only one ingredient on the back.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It wouldn’t be what we are talking about no. Wrong type of apples. It would make a perfectly fine cider though. Oddly, we do not have it in our area at least not where we usually shop.

[@ryandougherty4042]

What changes would you make using a white wine concentrate from this company? No tannin? Seems like the perfect way to make your first wine, especially compared to whole grapes

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Haven't made a recipe for that yet.

[@honkeytonkjohnnygumbo1137]

Hi, the company you recommend for the french oak said 1 stick (1 inch by 2 inch) per gallon. Would you put 15 sticks into a 15 gallon demijohn? seems like a lot. And how long would you leave it in there for a Cabernet? Thanks!!! Lastly, can you reuse the sticks?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

15 gallons is a lot, lol. I might use 5 for that much.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We reuse 2-3 times.

[@mikwcas5110]

Going to look for a Pinot Noir right now! And away I go...

[@ronnydam5609]

If you make this again would you still add the wine tannin as well as the oaking?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I would do it the same as we did. It was great!

[@VincentHarrydragonphire]

When Derica was looking for the funnel, It made me think of one of those kids shows where they are like, "Where is the funnel?" Looks at the camera, "Can you see the funnel?" Maybe it was just because of Brian's shirt and him saying that we could see it.

[@Irishfan168]

I was tickled to see the natures best juice, I have used their concentrates on several brews and have been generally pleased. You can order direct from the maker for much less than the Amazon price, even after the shipping. They have a lot of options. Would be happy to provide a link, but didn’t want to step on your Amazon links. Let me know if it’s ok to post it.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I can share a link, thanks though.

[@graziani4]

good afternoon Just curious if you might have an opinion here. I plan on starting a Pinot Noir using the same companies concentrate. My thought is to just follow the recipe you used for the Merlot. Do you think that would be a sound decision?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I've not really researched it, but in general it should be similar I would think.

[@angelland123]

Can you re-use the french oak wood sticks?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yes, once or twice.

[@classifiedsincebirth]

what temperature do you store your wine while aging? warmer or cooler better? dark environment

[@CitySteadingBrews]

70-77f

[@autumnj6246]

Have you done any recipes with local Florida grapes?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We used the grapes from our backyard once.

[@louanngraham185]

My question is not related to this video, I'm not sure where else to ask. I have Red Star Cotes de Blanc, Red Star Premier Cuv'ee, and Lalvin K1-v1116. I want to make a gallon of blueberry wine and a gallon of hibiscus wine. Which yeast would you use for each wine? The store I went to didn't have much left and I don't order on line, they didn't even have the 71b. I was truly disappointed. Can you help me?

[@OneImperfectSaint]

I just bottled a kit merlot, and I'm not in love with it. I added some of it to a metheglin, and I'm really looking forward to that. Have you ever made a hipocras?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's more or less a spiced wine so... yes :)

[@geir.mathello]

Hope you had a really nice New Year's celebration with your family. Cheers

[@RogueMandoGaming]

I need to know, where did you get the malt whiskey shirt?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Amazon I think?

[@chriscomertn]

This is my first attempt at wine. I just racked from primary to secondary. I'm a little concerned because it smelled like yeasty butt, maybe I left it in primary too long - 20 days. Hopefully, after a few months of aging, it will smell like merlot and taste good. Wish me luck...

[@Deadman0011]

I made a chocolate cherry wine with cocoa nibs, and at the end of fermentation was deemed finished (about a month because I forgot about it) I added half a spiral of French oak medium plus toast for 6days and as an experiment for myself and it was overpowering oak flavor which I thought was odd since it seems so many people let it sit for weeks or months. Is there something that can be done to mellow that flavor out without diluting the wine? Or just let it sit and let time try and mellow it?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You want the oak flavor to fade? Time may help.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Most times we go a couple weeks with staves.

[@peterciotola1104]

I want to.make wine from grapes juice San Giovese can be make in to sparkling wine

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Of course.

[@eugenealbert3621]

so what would you use to make a chianti? and how high would your abv should be?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's a different type of grape is the biggest change. Sangiovese if I remember correctly. They range from 9ish to mid teens.

[@nicram40]

Is it normal for the yeast to float to the top after stirring

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It can happen, sure.

[@michaellowry1888]

Hey awesome recipe ; we just started it! We will hope to replicate the results; I forgot to get the wine tannin and will add it a few days later when it shows up; do you think this will work ok? In general it seems like an additive that changes the flavor but not the fermentation; Thanks for what you do; my wife’s favorite wine is merlot so this is the best intro to fermentation

[@michaellowry1888]

@@Polydactyl_Pterodactylthanks for the reply! We are excited; this is the first wine we have ever made so I’m super stoked for it. 🎉

[@garynipp5415]

Just a suggestion, redue you top 5 brews, and 5 your worst, to compare if they maintain their standings.