Behind the scenes

[joeswine]

cleaning up

WELL ITS BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE SPOKE ,BUT I WILL NOT PUT DOWN IT PRINT ANYTHING I HAVEN'T DONE UNTIL ITS DONE,SO OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS THE TEMP. HAS DROP IN THE BASEMENT ,SO NOT MUCH IN THE RELEAM OF WINE MAKING GETS STARTED, JUST THE BASIC MAINTENANCE AND SOME BOTTLING,THAT BEING SAID i HAVE BEEN DE- LABELLINGS BOTTLES AND SANITIZING
.
HOW DO YOU DO IT? HERE'S HOW I DO MINE.

FIRST AND FOREMOST I DON'T MAKE IT A CHORE,SO THE FIRST ITEM OF BUSINESS IS TO LIST OR WATCH?DO I PUT ON THE CD'S OR TV,CHOICE MADE .NEXT IN MY 15 GALLON RUBBERMAID CONTAINER I ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE BOTTLES SITTING IN A SOLUTION OF 11TEASPOONS OF ONE STEP ANS 1/2 CUP OF BLEACH,STEP ONE.

STEP ONE POWER WASH THE INTERIOR OF THE BOTTLE AND TAKE OFF THE ENCLOSURE CAPSULE IF ANY,THEN PARTIALLY FILL THE BOTTLES WITH WATER,3/4,PLACE THEM IN THE CONTAINER AND THEN FILL THE CONTAINER WITH HOT WATER,THIS WAY THE ONE STEP AND BLEACH SOLUTION HAVE A CHANCE TO HELP CLEAN AND DISINFECT THE INTERIOR ON THE BOTTLE.

STEP TWO,AFTER TWO WEEKS I THEN RETURN TO THE EVENT AND REMOVE THE LABELS WITH A PLASTIC SCRAPER AND A SCOTCH BRITE PAD,POWER SHOOT THE INSIDE WITH HOT WATER ,THE POWER SPRAY THE INSIDE WITH KMET FROM MY GLASS CLEANING TREE,AND LET IT SET AND DRY ,BUT IF IM IN A HURRY I THE JUST PLACE THEM INTO THE DISHWASHER FOR A SHORT 140 DEGREE WASH CYCLE ,ALLOW THEM TO COMPLETE THE FULL CYCLE AND WHEN IM READY AND THE NEXT DAY I REMOVE THEM FOR SORTING.

IT SEAMS LIKE A LOT OF WORK BUT IT'S REALL NOT WHEN YOU ARE SET-UP AND CAN FLY WITH IT....

 

[joeswine]

January's wine meeting

We are going to hold the January meeting of the South Jersey winemakers here at my house, it takes a lot of preparation first we had have a menu so Lucille and I like to have a baked ham, and coleslaw the rest of the group will work around that. Our subject matter is going to be how to make and use extracts, zesting and simple syrup.

We're going to explore for the new members and there are a few how to extract the zest, and make it an extract or how to use it on its own, were also going to discuss, heavenly cellos, I will make my expressive cello as an example of how to.

Like I said takes a lot of preparation to the tables and chairs the forks and spoons all the things that go with a club meeting, table covers etc. etc. So stay tuned I let you know how it went

 

[joeswine]

Sam's Club

Sam, is a good friend of mine Saturday the bottle is cab franc from 2009, it held up quite well we did roughly 60 bottles and by the time was over we were both pretty well plastered, if not for the drinking just the aroma, of quite a few people make wine in my basement, kito, Sam and tresa are all in my basement making wine with me.

 

[joeswine]

Things to do

Did you ever have so much to do and not enough time, if you had the time you have it desire to do, well it's my dilemma.

I have right now in the basement, a coffee port, banana pineapple the viognier, to get started on but the temperature the basement is around 62° I have belly bands to use his warmers if I choose to, I really want to start making these to kits as soon as possible, but 62° is a bit to overcome and I don't want to incur stuck fermentation.

Also last may, I started from fresh juice a Chilean Melbec and acamarer( I think I spelled it right). The started out at 23 brics the potential of 11% alcohol, in the melbec, I added raisins powdered oak and oak chips for the first three months flavor started off real good body start of decent, did the first racking into primary primary to secondary, at that point in time all was well, about two weeks ago I tasted melbec and the carmere and was very disappointed in the body of wine, I could understand being lite in body but it had the same consistency as if you were to pour a glass of wine and added ice cubes to it, I was just wondering out there if any of you people in the Northeast have the same problem with the Chilean wines, especially if you live in the New Jersey area. Now , I asked a couple of the winemakers in my group if they too had the same problem and believe it or not they didn't even taste wine up to this point, as anyone out there experienced this with fresh juice, cause it seems to me and I have stated this before, because it seems to me that the product is coming in more diluted than ever and even though the cost is relatively inexpensive as compared to a higher and kit is still very disappointing have a very flavorful wine and 8 to 9 months into the experiment and not have nobody to speak of................... any thoughts?

 

[joeswine]

kito's vioginer

Yesterday went pretty eventful, kito came over and we bottled is viognier, you cannot quite nice had aroma, the color was straw, and the taste was sweet and tart at the same time. The viognier, is a real easy wine to make from juice became take off in any direction you like to, kito likes his wine a little on the sweeter side and with a little more, and that's how we designed.

Sam's, cab Franc was also bottled, the aroma was slight, the color was excellent and the taste had just enough tannins and in the back of your jaw. Although Sam was here I bottled it for him anyway no pick it up later. It's nice to have friends make wine in your basement, you get to see with a different take on winemaking is, from the people in the flavor profiles they prefer.

Kito and I also made a coffee cello, remember I stated that winemaking isn't all that we can do, cellos are fun part of that process, and the coffee cello is extremely tasty and fun to make, you try with the extract coffee beans and simple syrup, and espresso coffee, three great flavor profiles and put together can open up your I at any time and over. Of time the coffee cello will take on a chocolate hue...

 

[joeswine]

retry

Had a few country wines that had stalled fermentation,or stuck Fermentation for the correct term,what I did was added yeast nutrient and primer star yeast and see what happens ,its about 66degress in he area for I'm hoping to get it started again,

I also racked my two Italian whites,brought one down from a six to a five and added glycerine too my camerae and melbec the body is starting to regain some grown,

washed 24 bottles ,delabeled 24 bottles and placed in to the last stages of sanitation,the dish washer,started a piesporter,Riesling and pino Gris all inexpensive kits which I can adjust to my liking as the grow along..
all in all a good day in the wine cellar

 

[joeswine]

Action in the basement again

It seems like when I need something to do THERE IS , something to do in the wine cellar, Saturday was a good day I did a small job on the street in the morning, headed down to the basement and took a look around.

It was time to get my three wines are IN the primary moved into the secondary, my Riesling, Pino Grigio and piesporter are ready to roll out of the primary buckets and go into the glass carboys, all three had an SG of 1.0 but i will keep watch for the next 10 days to see how they settle out, also had 24 bottles in the soaking tank to delable them sanitize them and place them in the dishwasher, took another 24 bottles and put them in the soaking tank that only leaves the about 12 bottles that I have not touched, finally getting caught up I guess I must have about 70/80 cases bottles in reserve, that's enough for one guy at least me.

Started my fun kits, Seville orange sangria, and island mist mojoto third batch my wife really likes these, and the new one to try piña colada interesting that these kits only produce 3 gallon while the Seville produces six and yet the cost is all the same, I like starting three at a time that keeps my life simple next in the wings are a coffee Port and a banana, pineapple viognier.................. sounds interesting trying to heat the basement up a bit to about 70° that should help some of the fermentation that I going on there..... Was an interesting Saturday and productive...

 

[joeswine]

Time in a bottle

Well, since the last time we talked the three wines I started running hot straight normal I heated up the basement around 68° constant, and we're good to go fermentation is hot straight normal the red is running ahead of the two whites but with the volume of wine or two whites have it didn't surprise me with surprise me was the fact that was it a three down kit, when it's all said and done, not normally my style but hey et al. goes.

 

[joeswine]

February's wine meeting




Yeah this February, the third Sunday and we had our monthly on meeting with about 20 people showed that's a good number for us this time of year it was hosted by a friend of ours VINCE and his wife Lucille, the subject matter was to see if you could taste the difference in five different SHARAZA'S that he produced last year.

He had five different 6 gallon buckets, he did something different to each bucket, some he fermented with the lids off, some he fermented with the lids on the bubbler, some he eliminated the web of yeast, some he let go into fermentation with the natural yeast, no oak was added to any of them, one year later he broke them down for the wine meeting into six one gallon batches, to see if we could taste the difference in the six and there was some differences we rated them for Roma, taste, as ACIDITY and balance. And we scored them from 1 to 5.,. The findings were little hard to describe but here's how everything down. The one that he had a cover on and used yeast, have the best overall score the ones he didn't use any yeast in scored very low in all thE categories, all five were a little different no doubt. There is a lot more to it but basically that was it we had really good food and everybody brought their best wine, typical South Jersey winemakers meeting.

 

[joeswine]

time to say good-by

Last night my wife and I reviewed some wine in our on going quest for the best, I don't know about YOU but I DO NOT always make the best wine,but what I do ,do is critique my product to the highest standard I can,IF ITS NOT GOOD SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SAY GOOD _BY.

ALSO to premiss this MY weakness is fruit wines and its also my strength,sounds like a double edge sword ,doesn't it.

SO here's ho w it went,never buy fruit that isn't At's its peak of quality,unless you use the foot print on how to (WHEN GOOD WINES GONE BAD) THERE'S A QUESTIONABLE END IN SIGHT.
RESULTS----------- blueberry wine ..OK in taste,lit in body,OK for mixing only,,not exceptionable,when the fruit you start with you constantly have to pick through is boarder bad ..DON"T USE IT..
TWO sets of peach ,first came out very good,liquid gold (3 gallon batch) every good aspect of wine notes was correct, second (6 gallon batch)thin body, good legs,no aroma and little taste.,this one I will dump,,

plum/peach ,has good notes all the way around need to correct the abv,and sweeten just a little ,but this wine will be very good,the PLUM has the lead taste (fresh fruit) the peach was also fresh fruit..this was a 3 gallon trial batch,,,,,,,,,,,,the melbec with the orange added was as my wife put it EXCELLENT,just need to sit a few more months,do not touch,and she is not a RED WINE DRINKER,this was done with CHILEAN MELBEC,oak chips,oak powder,raisins and orange zest, a year old in MAY,..lastly a Chilean camerae..great color ,good on taste,no aroma, good legs ,but still needs time in the bottle.


I guess what the bottom line is s0me of my wine buddies get their fruit very ,very cheep and they bestow there findings on me ,as I stated way back,SOMETIMES I DO WHAT I WANT,AND SOMETIMES I DO WHAT I HAVE TO......................in this case fruit wines pay the price...most all my metals of which IM proud of are fruit wines..so I know of what I speak...

 

[robie]

Yep, win some, loose some. But isn't the game fun?!!!
Thanks, Joe.

 

[joeswine]

It's just a matter of time

You know, if had to do this for living, I would starve, that's why I'm glad I don't, yes it's all trial and error, follow the process, figure out what you did wrong, how you can improve upon it or maybe even it get it right this time, it's just a matter of time............. but that's what makes this old dweller different from professional wine maker, for some of us we have the time and the patience and the desire to keep on trying no matter what, that's life in the fast Lane......... good to hear from you.

 

[joeswine]

And the work goes on

Well here's what transpired this weekend, first I racked the piña colada, motojo and finally the Orange Seville, all three I added the fpacs chemicals in the fining agents, now they're on the way to stretch.

Then, i racked Riesling,piestporter and Pinot Grigio, as the chemicals in the fining agents to all in the fpacs to the piesporter which I might add smells lovely, but they actually went from a 6 gallon 25 down to a five down vessle, interesting.

D labeled 24 bottles sanitized and turned around into the dishwasher, added 24 bottles to my soaking tank and started all over again. That's The Way, Sunday went about you?

 

[joeswine]

Never a dull moment

This weekend was no different, I had my mojoto, piña colada and orange seville sangria to bottle label and store.

But that was just beginning, I had plan, the plan was to relocate my wines and establish a territories for the different types that I had enough ,you could call these types , the party wines. My wife loves, which are quite extensive, I then moved around all my Reds to my back wall and all my weights to the front all my fruit wines sorted in the middle, and about a case of wine assorted whites that I wasn't really happy with have been around for a long time. I have a friend of mine and Bobby D will take any portion of my wine. He'll either drink it ,or dump it and return the bottles, therefore I can refill them and starting over. Now that may not seem like a big deal but I'm talking about 900 bottles of wine, so me and my cart worked very hard that day to arrange my stock, so that my dear wife will be able to find her wines and she likes the best and deliver them to her girlfriends as they ride off into the sunset, they horseback ride every day or almost every day and at the end of the ride. They toast.

Next on the docket, going to start a coffee port, Trio Blanc and bananna,pineapple viognier this memo, if these three I have three Cosmo wine kits to do. And that'll be all....... I still have 10 carboys left that are waiting for me to work on the be side.these.. It's never done

 

[joeswine]

Time to think out-of-the-box

I have 6 GALS. of tEmpanella wine from juice ,. I have so much TEMPANELLA all ready bottled that I'll never drink, it came out okay has a somewhat woody dry taste ,but remember with this one characteristics are the everyday Argentinian table wine. So my dilemma is this I have 6 gallons of red wine of which already have about 60 bottles of I don't need anymore so what can I do with this one to make a different ?.


I was thinking of making a sangria with. I already have an orange Saville sangria from the kit just process, so what could I do with this tampanella ,got any suggestions I'm open to 6 pounds worth

 

[joeswine]

what to do?

I think I will transform this into a cranberry tempanello,sounds like it belongs and its different Thats the plancranberry tempanello,don't it sound wright!

 

[joeswine]

And the work goes on

Well, finally got back down to the basement in today about my Pinot Grigio, yielded 24 bottles and also Icaramera only with this batch and give it a twist, remember I just got done talking about sangria, well , what I did was added citrus zest to the wine about a week ago. And what a lovely flavor. It added to the wine, nice light dry crisp red wine the splashes citrus on the backside, something different, something of mine, and a great finishing touch................. think outside the box

 

[joeswine]

Work to be done

You never outgrow your need for bottles as long as you make wine at home ,and I'm no exception . Have plenty of people always wanting to give me empty wine bottles in return for an occasional full on ,, so this weekend ID label 48 more bottles and added 24 more to the soaked tub.


Labeled, my Riesling and my caramer, also received my Chardonnay labels , my banana pineapple viognier labels , . I already have my coffee port labels on hand and the correct bottles with now will start right if very get back from vacation . O.

 

[joeswine]

Time for RNR

It's that time of the season ,just before the warm weather hits. I need to take break before I go seven days a week. On thank you for read my thread hope you stick around . We have more to share appreciative the conversation and always remember think outside the box, talk to you soon
.

 

[joeswine]

Back in the game

Well it's definitely will wine season here New Jersey, the Chilean wines are and how many of you out there making Chilean wine this year ?

as for me ,, not this year,, I'm going to concentrate on the six kits I have plus last year's juice juice that's ready for bottling , and also how to get pixs on line , once I get over this cold, . We are going to start all my coffee port , then the been there pineapple viognier it will follow that up with a trio kit , and in the middle have a kit I have to make for a friend of mine , and not sure where this is going to turn out to be to an expensive kit , with through the back details later .

Good ,Good to be, talk you soon ...