# Made My Way To The Wine Making Mecca!



## ibglowin (Oct 28, 2011)

Made our way over to the Wine Maker's Toy Store today to see about the grape arrival time for tomorrow and take a look around the place. We just missed George so hopefully will see him tomorrow but did get a chance to meet Joseph and introduce myself. Have to say the Toy Store is by far and away the BEST stocked Home Brew Store I have ever been in (and I have been into many!). 

Here are some pics I took. Sorry some are tad bit blurry, taken with the cell phone. 

Enjoy!


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## robie (Oct 28, 2011)

Better than a candy store!!! Drive safely.


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## Julie (Oct 28, 2011)

Wow, that place looks awesome


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## Runningwolf (Oct 28, 2011)

Mike, thanks for sharing. He sure does have a lot of kits. Other than kits you really don't need much space with supplies for the home winemaker. It's amazing how little you really can get away with until you get out of control with carboys, vct tanks and barrels.


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## ibglowin (Oct 28, 2011)

He has a pretty good size back room where they assemble the orders for shipping. Two guys were back there getting orders ready to go out for the day.


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## Wiz (Oct 28, 2011)

Awesome. Wish I had a place like that here in Costa Rica.


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## GerardVineyard (Oct 28, 2011)

I could spend a lot of time and $$$$ in a place like that. In the picture with the primary bucket full of spoons, to the left of that is what looks like a stopper / bung with a ? shaped tube going thru it, what is that for?


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## Deezil (Oct 29, 2011)

GerardVineyard said:


> I could spend a lot of time and $$$$ in a place like that. In the picture with the primary bucket full of spoons, to the left of that is what looks like a stopper / bung with a ? shaped tube going thru it, what is that for?



That appears to be a degassing whip that you'd attach to a drill


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## Wade E (Oct 29, 2011)

Yes, that is The Whip gas remover.


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## GerardVineyard (Oct 29, 2011)

Wade E said:


> Yes, that is The Whip gas remover.



Does that do a better job than the one with the plastic coated stainless shaft with the wings that spread out when it spins? That's what I have.


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## rhoffart (Oct 29, 2011)

Well, at the Mecca ... but no grapes. Another delay, it looks like they won't be here till 8pm.


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## ibglowin (Oct 29, 2011)

Doesn't get any better than this (or does it)......


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## tonyt (Oct 29, 2011)

That's just a ploy by George to get y'all to hang around all day and buy more stuff. Lucky


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## ibglowin (Oct 29, 2011)

George said the driver was in Deming NM this AM of all places for the love of baby cheeses! Thats in my hood and still 750 from Dallas!


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## rhoffart (Oct 30, 2011)

Well it was an adventure for sure. I drove 5 hours from Boerne to Dallas. I arrived at 1pm expecting the truck at 3pm. There was delay, after delay, after delay. The truck arrived at 1:00am and we unloaded the grapes, crushed and de-stemed Robert's then mine. At 2:10am I had 30 gallons of must loaded and on the way back to Boerne. I pulled in the driveway at 6:50am dead tired. This afternoon I pulled most of the stems out and tested the must. Here are the test results.

Merlot

3.66 ph
Brix 24.2
SG 1.106
TA 0.310
TA 0.337
Added 60 grams Tartaric acid - This is 50% of what i calculated needed

Cab

3.85 ph
Brix 24.5
SG 1.106
TA 0.322
TA 0.315
Added 60 grams Tartaric acid - This is 50% of what i calculated needed


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## Wiz (Oct 30, 2011)

That's really cool! I'm so jealous of you guys with.
Mike


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## rhoffart (Oct 30, 2011)

Here are a few pictures.


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## ibglowin (Oct 31, 2011)

Awesome pics Rick! Did the driver ever say anything to explain any of the delays? George said this is more than likely the last year for him to mess with fresh grapes and who could blame him after this fiasco.


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## rhoffart (Oct 31, 2011)

No. but it was obvious that this wasn't his first stop as promised. The truck was less then half full. George was talking about switching shippers, but not quitting. After a few days of rest all will be good.

I look at it this way ... we got the grapes, and the numbers were not too bad. It could have been worse, they could have been warm, moldy and starting to raisin. 

Glad you made it home safe.


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## rhoffart (Oct 31, 2011)

I took a quick PH sample this morning with my pocket PH meter. Both Cab's were at 3.5 and the Merlot was at 3.4. If these numbers are solid tonight, I am glad I only 1/2 the caculated acid.


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## ibglowin (Oct 31, 2011)

Yea, always, always add 1/2. That pH will drift up with fermentation and MLF so don't worry.

I have been testing all day and just got done with the first round (pH, TA, SG) and a couple of retest as some were very different than the others. Looks like I will be adding some acidified H2O on two batches due to high pH and a brix of 27.5!


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## rhoffart (Oct 31, 2011)

Man, I didn't realize how much variation you can get from the juice to a blended mixture. For my first time I am learning a ton about this process. I tested juice only and found a low PH and a High TA but then I took a mixture and added it to a blender (per instructions) and re-tested, after that the PH and TA were right in line. 

I got the yeast pitched ... about 4 hours of testing and mixing. But it's all good, I'm having a blast.

Which grapes were 27.5 ?


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## ibglowin (Nov 1, 2011)

Petit Verdot and one of the cans of Merlot. Tested the Merlot twice with consistent results. The other Merlot was close to your numbers. Could have come from another vineyard I guess. Added 2.5L of water with 15 gms Tartaric and all seems well now.


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## rhoffart (Nov 1, 2011)

after 10 hours all three buckets show signs of fermentation starting. I guess I'm doing something right.


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## ibglowin (Nov 1, 2011)

Will make final tweaks today and pitch tonight. I moved them all into the house until I press. Supposed to get two cold fronts this week and temps will drop 15-20 degrees by the weekend. I may be pressing in some cold weather in a week or so. Hope it warms back up by then. Nice for one more day.


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## docanddeb (Nov 1, 2011)

Beautiful colors!! Good luck guys!

Debbie


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## rhoffart (Nov 1, 2011)

Well I have now punched my first cap. It was a little one only about 3/4 of an inch but it was cool. All three buckets doing great. I think I will wait till tomorrow to toss in the Fremaid-K for the first feeding.


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## rhoffart (Nov 1, 2011)

docanddeb said:


> Beautiful colors!! Good luck guys!
> 
> Debbie



Thanks, I may need a little luck


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## rhoffart (Nov 3, 2011)

A quick little video of my [ame="http://youtu.be/l37TvFbL8M4"]Cap Punch[/ame] this morning.


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## ibglowin (Nov 3, 2011)

Looking good, I finally got by yeast pitched yesterday morning. All 7 brutes were humming along nicely by last night. Must temps are still a little cool so have had some space heaters going on and off trying to warm them up closer to 70. Punched down this AM. Should be really rocking by tonight.

What are you using for a punch down tool!


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## rhoffart (Nov 3, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> What are you using for a punch down tool!



a 99 cent potato masher in a 1 inch pvc pipe. Hey it was Sunday and I was tired.


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## ibglowin (Nov 3, 2011)

You sir are the MacGyver of winemaking for sure!


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## rhoffart (Nov 4, 2011)

Check the Brix on all 3 last night and it's coming down fast in spite of the cool temperatures in the garage. They were 14.5,15 and 16 Brix ... looks like it's time for the second yeast feeding tonight.


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