Smurfe’s Wine Kit Tutorial (Part 1)

[djcoop]

Loved it! As a newbie, I saw a couple of mistakes I made. First of all spoon bad, mixer good! Why did I use the spoon and not the mixer??I'm sure I didn't give it enough oxygen, because SPOON BAD! I will never forget that one. Thank you so much! ~D

 

[smurfe]

Hey all, jut a note to let you all know that I haven't forgotten the rest of the tutorial. It is just taking forever for this wine to clear. I did miss on small step when I racked the wine last. i didn't have a camera available or anyone home to take the pics as I more or less did it on a lunch break one day. The wine is now crystal clear so i hope to be able to bottle this weekend.


Smurfe

 

[PolishWineP]

I for one am looking forward to it! I just love your method of teaching! This would make a great book that could be laid out on the kitchen table for the truly new to follow, step by step with you! Or even a video with STOP sections for the novice to do their work after watching you do it!

 

[smurfe]

I for one am looking forward to it! I just love your method of teaching! This would make a great book that could be laid out on the kitchen table for the truly new to follow, step by step with you! Or even a video with STOP sections for the novice to do their work after watching you do it!

HMMMM, I guess If I could get one of these big companies to sponsor me, I might make them a video!

Smurfe

 

[smurfe]

Well folks, I have some bad news. I had major corking issues and had to end up putting this kit is gallon jugs. I do have a couple other kits ready to bottle in the next week or so so I might be able to take up with those where I left off with this one. Aftergoing through over100 corks, I finally gave up and dumped it in gallon jugs like cheap supermarket wine after I filtered all the cork particles out of the wine.

Smurfe

 

[rgecaprock]

Smurfe,


What happened to the corks? Looks like your dog got ahold of them...


Ramona

 

[Waldo]

What happened Smurf? Have never seen anything like that beforeEdited by: Waldo

 

[smurfe]

What happened Smurf? Have never seen anything like that before

I guess my corker is gorked

I went through over 100 corks and finally gave up.


Smurfe

 

[MedPretzel]

How did you cork them? Dry? Do you have a portugese/italian/double-lever? I forget.

 

[smurfe]

How did you cork them? Dry? Do you have a portugese/italian/double-lever? I forget.

No, I soak them, not over night or anything but for like an hour or so. I have the Blue one, the Italian Floor corker.


Smurfe

 

[MedPretzel]

Try dipping them in water just to get the outsides wet. It seems like they are getting too impregnated with water (even if "just' for an hour), and might cause them to be more unstable.


I am not familiar with the italian corker, but it should be the same as mine. Still, I'd try the dunk-n-cork method.

Let me know if that works out better for you.





Edit: I see in another post that you are getting a new corker.

I guess then you won't need this advice!!!

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[uavwmn]

After much confusion on my part, I found your Part 1 "for dummies" tutorial. What a HUGE relief to find this!! AND I laughed thru alot of it as you are a funny guy!! Seriously, this helped me much more than the CD with no pictures!! Thank you Smurfe. uavwmn

 

[yoyo]

smurfe, in your tutorial what do you mean by put sanitizer in the airlock

 

[yoyo]

hey smurfe i forgort to ask can you use the whip degasser to stir or will that cause a huge mess in the bucket.

 

[Wade E]

It works great to stir everything up and we encourage that as you will get a truer Starting SG and actually introduce more O2 into the must for a better start of fermentation.

 

[smurfe]

smurfe, in your tutorial what do you mean by put sanitizer in the airlock

What I and many do is take some sanitizer solution such as K-Meta and use it in your airlock. You can use water but it will offer no bacterial protection. Have I done it and do I do it? Yes, but only when I don't have any sanitizer made up which is rare. You will see where some will use Vodka in the locks as well as the alcohol will kill the cooties as well but to me that is a waste of good alcohol.

 

[MajBob]

So, it's been a little over 2 years - isn't that wine ready for stage 2 yet??

Seriously, though, what did you do with all that Bentonite solution? Me thinks that I'll have a huge mess on hand if'n I just dump the juice in on top of it. Maybe I need a larger fermentor?

 

[smurfe]

So, it's been a little over 2 years - isn't that wine ready for stage 2 yet??

Seriously, though, what did you do with all that Bentonite solution? Me thinks that I'll have a huge mess on hand if'n I just dump the juice in on top of it. Maybe I need a larger fermentor?

Bob, look around herefor Part 2 that finished the kits. I regards to the Bentonite, there isn't that much in a Wine Expert kit. Maybe a tablespoon or two. It is pretty easy to mix in particularly if you have a Mix Stir device for the drill. It is a fine powder that dissolves pretty easy.Just add a bit of warm water to the primary and sprinkle the Bentonite in and stir it all up with the Mix Stir. You could mix it in a cup in warm water with a spoon as well and dump it in the bucket.


Mosti kits use a bit different form of Bentonite that you put in a measuring cup and let rehydrate in water for around 15 minutes or so before adding to the bucket. Theirs looks like Maggots to me. Little white pellet looking things. After they have re-hydrated you stir the slurry up with a spoon and they dissolve pretty easy and you dump them in the bucket.

 

[masta]

The complete tutorial is located here in the "read only section"


http://www.finevinewines.com/Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1136

 

[MajBob]

Thanks.

I'm sure I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to thank you for a most valuable contribution that will probably be my standard for making my own wine. This tutorial is simply amazing; it is clear that a lot of work went into making this. Thank you sincerely. You da man!

Maybe we can even all get together and raise enough money for socks! You know "Save the Wales," "Socks for Smurfe" . . .

There is a large gap at the end of the tutorial - is that an issue I have with my browser? The last shot I see is just as you are fixin' to stabilize - filled carboy in the center, some U/I must on the right, and a bazillion bottles of wine on the left, all neatly stacked. (They look very nice, BTW.)

Again, I would like to thank Smurfe - and all the others here - who have so generously contributed to my enlightenment. I hope I will be able one day to do the same for some others. Thanks.