Advice Needed: Wine Making on a Boat

[astokel]

I have a few questions about winemaking on board. We have been cruising for several years and find we often run out of the precious Bacchanal at the most inopportune times. It seems a shame to cut the trip short just because the Chardonnay is corked or the Cab Sav has gone all barnyard.

I’m considering putting in a fermenter just aft of the chain locker and forgoing the tiresome act of bottling and corking by running a line from the secondary fermenter to the bar with about 2 atmospheres of CO2 to keep it running.

Is this possible on a 26-foot sailboat? Any thoughts?

Also, some crew members prefer spirits. How difficult would it be to add some method of distillation?

[sailormed]

For destillation look on Australian websites. They sell the necessary stuff there. As for the wine, forget it...unless you drink dangerous garbage.

[Sojourner]

I used to make wine.... as much as I love the stuff, you cannot make it onboard. Between temperature differentials, motion, aging, it just isn't worth it.

Some thoughts on alcohol on board (which is a priority for us):

1) Distilling liquor and then making it into various other things. Stills are a couple hundred bucks, and the process takes 5 days or so in a bucket. Getting one for our boat for sure... Check out the Delos crew make the stuff in this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-S_2YvCoeg&t=60s

Still: https://www.amazon.com/Distiller-Moo...70_&dpSrc=srch

2) We love prosecco.... instead of having lots of glass bottles on board, we have a good supplier of white wine in boxes. It keeps forever even open, unbreakable, and we can store a ton in the bilges. Then enter Sodastream, and fizz it up. Works like a charm.

3) Maybe try beer making? Anything will be easier than making decent wine....

[Sparx]

Good wine needs to rest quietly at uniform temperature for months. Italian reds at my house are a year in fermenters then a year resting in bottles before being ready to serve. This is not compatible with a boat. However the better box wines have perserved and served well on our boat.

[RaymondR]

Not worth the trouble. Buy box wines and remove the bag from the box, disposing the box and storing the bags in the bilge to keep it cool, you can store a lot of wine in a small bilge this way.

On the spirits drinkers.

Some years ago I encountered a person on a Wharam cat who I thought had battery problems as his genset ran all day. When I commented on the problem he informed me that it was supplying power to his electric reflux still. When I then commented that he must be a pretty dedicated alcoholic he informed me that he did not drink alcohol and that bootlegging was how he funded his cruising.

[snort]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Some years ago I encountered a person on a Wharam cat who I thought had battery problems as his genset ran all day. When I commented on the problem he informed me that it was supplying power to his electric reflux still. When I then commented that he must be a pretty dedicated alcoholic he informed me that he did not drink alcohol and that bootlegging was how he funded his cruising.

Excellent story and very entrepreneurial sailor!

[denverd0n]

Making wine is pretty easy, but it won't be very good if it cannot rest quietly for some time.

I would second the advice to buy boxed wines, remove the bag from the cardboard, and take it that way. Honestly, despite what the wine-snobs will tell you, boxed wine has come a long way from its early days, and much of it is more than adequate as a table wine.