WineXpert Choc/rasp port progressing well

[Wade E]

 

[Wade E]

Here is the resizing tool if you wish to do it yourself although I dont mind doing it for you!




Here is the image re-sizer and it works great but only with Windows XP and not Vista</font>.
Depending on the size of the original picture determines weather you
have to resize to large, medium or small to get below the 150 kb size
limit for posting. </font>
</font></font></font></font>
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/learnmore/tips/eschelman2.mspx</font></font>
</font>
If you are running Windows Vista here is a image resizer that works like the one for XP.</font></font>
</font>
http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/</font>
Edited by: wade

 

[Joanie]

Cindy, your assistant is cuter than a bug's ear!

 

[cindyjo]

Thank you Joan and Wade. This is Christina, who is my 3 year old daughter and who needs to help Mommy with everything. She did really great even with my spraying sanitizer all over her. She is a very good girl. Thanks for your help Wade.

 

[Wade E]

She is a cutie pie and you are welcome Cindyjo!

 

[Waldo]

She is a doll cindy..looks like mommy is going to have some really good help with her wine making

 

[cindyjo]

Thank you all for your nice comments. Chirstina is a very good girl and a great helper.
So I took a 25 mile one way trip today to my closest wine supply place in search of a 3 gal carboy. The only thing they had was a Better Bottle??? Is this going to be OK for my port ?? The lady there also sold me some special O ring cosure and matching liquid free airlock. Any comments on this. Thanks for your help
Cindy

 

[Wade E]

Better Bottles are great! The only down side to them is you cant vacuum degas in them and if they are very full be careful moving them as a little squeeze will send wine up into the airlock or when let go suck the liquid in the airlock into your wine. Dont know about this closure you are talking about though.

 

[cindyjo]

Thanks for your comments Wade you are always so helpful and supportive.

The SG was 1.010 so I transfered to the better bottle now with this silly airlock on it, I will try to post pics again.
I was a little concerned as the SG was the same as it was before I added the sugar. It went up to 1.020 with the sugar but now it is back down to the exact same level !!???
As my father ( who homebrewed ) always said " It will be interesting to see what happenes"

 

[Wade E]

As far as the sg goes, thats what it is supposed to do to up the abv to make it a Port.

 

[cindyjo]

Cool, nice to know I am doing this right. I still feel like a newbie with all of this. Might du the mix and match special to get some more experience and try some different things,

 

[Wade E]

Those limited editions are the best that you can buy. I have a few that are getting some age on them and really showing what they are and man they really shine!!!!!!!!

 

[dfwwino]

I just finished step 3 of this kit. I started it on November 11, 2008. It had an SG of 1.122. In step three, you degas, add sulfites and sorbate, and finings. You also withdraw 1 liter of wine and add the F-Pack. The SG before adding the F-Pack today, December 5, was 1.008. After adding the F-Pack, it was 1.022. I corked one bottle of the removed wine to use for topup. I am now drinking the quarter bottle and it is excellent, though obviously very young.

 

[cindyjo]

My port has been in the bottle forover a month now, thank heaven I have other stuff to drink 'cause the waitng is agonizing. I think I will open one bottle for Christmas and then save the rest for April or something. I really need to find better storage options and a supply for empties. My husband goes to the recycling center for me and we have told everyone we know to save bottles but I have 6 kits coming so I am going to need a lot of bottles. HMMMMMM, I am meeting a friend for happy hour tomorrow, maybe I can get some bottles there

 

[grapeman]

Just ask them if you can bring the bottles home as you empty them.

 

[Vinnie]

Why is it important to wait for the SG to get to 1.015 or less before chaptalisation (sugar addition). The sugar addition will only raise the reading .015 points higher max so why not just wait till the SG is .015 less then the starting SG of 1.128 – 1.133 like 1.113?

 

[hannabarn]

Just ask them if you can bring the bottles home as you empty them.[/QUOTE
Or better yet, ask them after THEY empty them!!!!!!

 

[Wade E]

Personally I dont see why they say to do it at a certain level other then to just give a new wine maker a time to do everything or they would be wondering when and where to add it. remember, these kits are geared towards a total new wine maker, one that has no clue of the wine making process and needs direction. I would wait till it was a little lower then where you stated though myself as that starting sg could almost already be jusy about to stress a yeast and giving the yeast a break to populate under stress free conditions fist will make a happy yeast. I personally see no problem with chaptalizing at say 1.060 or somewhere abut there but maybe there theory behind this is to make sure it makes it down very far first before adding more sugar and possibly getting a stuck fermentation at say 1.08

 

[Vinnie]

Thanks Wade. This is my first port wine kit out of about twelve kit’s I’ve made and the first to do chaptalisation. Started on 2-19, SG 1.130 and now on 2-24 the SG is 1.040 and just wondered how important waiting to 1.015 was. I’ll wait a couple of more days and check the SG again.