MJ Approved: Artful Winemaker
I brew beer, as often as I can. Saisons, brown ales, pale ales, Russian Imperial stouts — I’ve tried my hand at them all, most of them successfully. Brewing is an involved process that includes a day of boiling, weeks of fermenting, hours of bottling, $60 worth of hops, grain, yeast, and spices and at least $200 in equipment. It also requires a baker’s precision and chef’s sensibilities. So when I was shown the Artful Winemaker, a plastic tub that, I’m told, turns a pouch of grape juice (included) into wine in 28 days with no effort, I blink. The full $150 kit comes with the tub, spoon, empty bottles, corks, and the ingredients — juice, yeast, clarifiers, and wood chips, when applicable — to make 12 bottles of wine. Each 12-bottle refill kit after this is $60. The process is simple: Sanitize, pour in the juice, drop in the yeast and let it bubble. At day 14, you insert a cone to capture the yeast and sprinkle clarifiers to settle debris in the wine. On day 28, you insert the second cone and it’s ready to bottle and drink.
LOVE IT: To be blunt: The 14 bottles of wine you end up brewing aren’t much more complex or drinkable than something from Charles Shaw. Still, 60 days and two batches later — a chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon — I’m plotting my next batch. The process is middle school, chemistry kit-satisfying. And at roughly $3/bottle, it’s the perfect way to make sangria for 30—because you can tell ‘em all that you brewed it.
LEAVE IT: The process is almost too easy: While you could tweak recipes or go rogue with store-bought (or home-grown) grapes, this kit is built to follow their directions and ingredients — there’s no learning curve, and no matter how many times you try, the quality will likely not improve.
[$150; artfulwinemaker.com]
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Posted by Dania
on 00:57. Filed under