Hello everyone!

[whino-wino]

I've been "away" for a while. It's been quite a busy year and I haven't dropped in to say hi for some time.


As PWP and NW have probably let everyone know, we've had quite a cold and snowy winter up in this area so far.


I was sitting around this evening reading Sherlock Holmes until my eyes hurt so I put the book down and tried to think of something to do because I was bored. I figured I might as well go downstairs and put some more salt in the softener and while I was down there I glanced over to a shut door that I haven't opened in several months. I unlocked the door and peeked inside to see what condition I had left it in....lo and behold there on the countertop was a 5 gallon carboy filled to the top with crystal clear dandelion wine. I had almost forgotten about that. It's been sitting there since June. There was just enough water in the bottom of the airlock that I knew no air had gotten in, but I am concerned since I haven't changed the water in it since late August. I cleaned up a new airlock and filled it with fresh solution and now it sits until tomorrow. I have this feeling I won't be reading any books when I get home from work tomorrow.

I've waited too long. Winter's half over and I haven't so much as lifted a finger to make any wine. I need to get busy. Heck, I've probably got 400 empty bottles in the celler that need filling.


Once I got winemaking on my mind I thought I'd drop in and check out the site again.


George, I've been gone a while and had not seen your videos yet. I've only watched 3 of them so far but it looks like you've done an excellent job! Kudos.


I've also noticed you added a bunch more kits for me to drool over. I'm particularly interested in the Cellar Craft Old Vine Zinfandel with the crushed grape pack. Old Vine Zin is my very, very, very favorite wine. Of the 20 or so commercial bottles I have in my cellar, I'll bet 15 of them are of this variety, but no 2 from the same vintner.


Don't want to make this too long a post so I'll catch up with y'all again soon. It's late and I need to get to bed.


Oh, I there was one more thing in the wine room I had forgot to mention. 24 bottles of sparkling wine, made using NW's tutorial, that at last stage were ready for degorging. Would anyone know if I have perhaps made a mistake here by letting these sit too long with the lees in the cap of the bottle? They are all upside down and I would suspect that all of the sediment is in the cap as I had followed the directions to a "T", I just didn't have the freezer space when it came time to degorge so they've been sitting since July like that. I'll probably give them each a light twist and drop to get any more sediment down every other day for the next week and then finish the job. I don't need a freezer up here in January

 

[K&GB]

Whino, I made the CC Old Vines Zin and recently bottled it after about 6 months bulk aging. Looks to be an excellent wine!

 

[grapeman]

Welcome Back Whino. Glad you made your way back to the "Wine-side"!

 

[montyfox]

Glad to see you back on the forum and looking forward to hearing about your creations.

 

[jobe05]

Welcome back Whino.

I await the answer on your sparkling wine, as I have several bottles that have been in the same position as yours for the past year down in my basement..........

 

[NorthernWinos]

Hello...I was wondering what you were up to...Know that people get busy and have changes in their lives.

As for your wine...If the sediment is all in the caps...don't move it...It's right where you want it.....If there is some sitting on the sides of the neck, then you can twist it....But once it is all in the caps, let it sit again for a couple weeks.

Once the sediment is all in the necks dègorge it at your leisure....The French let it sit for years.

Up in this part of the country we can set the bottles outside and the necks will freeze pretty quickly....Keep an eye on them.

In a freezer that is around 0 to -5°F only put about 5 bottles in at a time as they will raise the temp....Keep them up side down at all times.....Give them about 1 hour and then check every 15 minutes.

Open outside , refill, recap, and 'dispose' of any leftovers from the filler bottle.

Enjoy!!!

 

[whino-wino]

There was a small amount of sediment on the bottom of the dandelion so all I did with it tonight was rack into a clean carboy. I'll let it sit a while longer before bottling. I've got so many empty carboys at this time that I don't need this particular one at the moment so there's no hurry.


NW,


There did appear to be a small amount of sediment on the sides of the bottles where it starts to neck down soI gavethem a twist and light tap. They'll sitfor the next two weeks before I move on.