Search results

@Rice_Guy my day is complete. And it is only 7:30 am

About 2:1 for me. I keep opening bottles of my wine, in the interest of science.

@GSMChris do you tie the canes to the catch wires? Maybe what you are growing Is well behaved. I grow Cab Sauvignon on something similar and all the canes flop over toward the downhill side because they are so heavy. I even use catch clips.

I really must try egg white fining. I have a few bottles of Cab Sauv that still have the seed tannin bitterness on the end of the palate and I wonder if egg whites are the secret. I can sacrifice a bottle to the cause. The bitterness is greatly diminished from when the wine was young, but I...

I used to be very paranoid about oxidizing wine during racking. I use carboys and very carefully avoided any unnecessary exposure. This made racking a ***** because that means I need to have a few empty carboys at the ready. I have recently started racking into a bucket, adding my K-meta or...

I have had carboys turn into volcanoes simply by moving them. But it ususally takes an hour for it to happen, just enough time to leave the room and come back to a mess.

Like everyone else, I say wait if you can. I think there is no fixed number for what bitartrate drops out of wine. It will depend on how much potassium is in the grapes. Also, was your sample degassed before testing pH? CO2 will throw off your measurement.

I am doing the winemaking by Lake Tahoe. We had a great Thanksgiving with the family. Lasagne and garlic bread. No one complained about dry turkey this year. I made a Libby’s pumpkin roll because I insist on SOMETHING being traditional LOL. I saw a coyote gnawing on the frozen lees the next...

International Wine Challenge describes mousiness as: Trying to imagine this. My mind is conjuring up Nacho cheese Doritos, dirty socks and popcorn.

Once again, time is my friend. The blackberry wine is getting better. I notice much more aroma, and a smell that I associate with Kmeta additions has mostly disappeared. All these problems may be due to bottle shock. I just don’t know, but I am learning to just forget about the wine and let it...

Splash racking is the project for today, I am picking up whiffs of stressed out yeast. Jell-O grape pudding pops!

Racking the port off gross lees. Incredibly I am still seeing bubbles. I am not sure of the source yet Not worrying about oxygen like I used to. And what a glob of lees!

I thought steam cleaning barrels was used to get the sediment out, not to santitize.

The 2023 pressing is done! I got ~50 gallons of wine this year, a very good amount considering the trouble I had with the grapes. I woke up to Port wine all over the workshop floor. The airlock has overflowed twice now. Stopping a ferment at 6 Brix is difficult. The port tastes good and now I...

I always think of Sideways when I see a spit bucket

😂 You, and me both. What brand are those square “Brute” containers? I’d like to find some. I have been given “runt of the litter” Zinfandel before and made some undrinkable paint stripper wine. If you have 25 Brix in the must, I would bet you are fine. A sorting table helps.

The port has reached 6.3 Brix this morning. I have a bladder press rented Thursday. Hopefully, the timing works out. Fermentation is slowing a bit. The other wines have hit 0 Brix or lower and are ready for the press. 🤞

^ I have seen “wine trees” like this popping up at a few of the large wineries around here, with a paper describing each wine. And some wineries have a tasting bar for members only. Add a charcuterie board and the affair turns into a picnic. The wineries are almost like destinations now, and you...

Ah thank you. That will make bench trials easier.

It appears that tomorrow morning the port will be at 5.7 Brix, th fortification point! The little jog in the graph is where I switched measuring Brix from refractometer to the hydrometer.