I have several beer kit s to brew and I am procrastinating tasting and bottling a batch of Aronia berry wine. Tastes terrible so I plan to back sweeten and add some blueberry concentrate. A small glass for experimenting made that seem doable.
What R you doing today?
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Yesterday I was just watching wine age until I found a local source and placed an order 350 lbs of Norton and 200lbs of Tannat grapes. Now I have to build a crusher and press, find larger fermenting vats, buy more carboys or small oak barrels, start buying lab equipment. My first attempt at making from grapes but I was never one to test the water with my toe.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Fred,
I've got a press you are welcome to borrow (I think you live VERY close by). It may be a little small for your batches, but I've pressed and cleaned up after 3 batches (~100lbs each) in a few hours with one helper. Did you end up getting grapes from Pearmund?
Honestly I still have that order at Pearmund as well, forgot. These I am getting from Chrysalis. I may change the Pearmund order to Petit Manseng unless you want something. Thanks for the offer on the press I may take you up on it but if I have time I may still want to build one. On another note and being still new to this I was wondering if after Easter you could come by and taste my wine with me. It's not bad but needs something and I'm just not sure what that is.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
I might be interested in some Viognier, depending on the price. I want to try both theirs and Chrysalis, as they both age in neutral barrels and utilize sur-lie. Here's a snippet from Chrysalis: "Fermented sur lie and aged to perfection in French oak barrels and presented in our distinctive antique Burgundy bottles, this Viognier represents the epitome of Chrysalis Vineyards’ commitment to excellence in every aspect of the grape growing and winemaking process."
Tasting wine? OK, twist my arm...
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Busy morning. Measured and adjusted SO2 on the 2016 Chileans and the WS Amarone. I then bottled the Amarone. Then tasted, tested and did some bench trials on the 2016 CA Viognier. pH is high - 3.7. It was 3.8 prior to fermentation and I added tartaric, targeting 3.6 (didn't want to get too aggressive). Today, I tested samples ranging from 3.2 to 3.55 and decided that 3.5-3.55 is where I want this. High for a white wine, but at 13.5 ABV, there is already a little bite. Overall though, it is an outstanding wine and I'm very, very happy with it. Will adjust the carboy and bottle in the next month or so. She'll be ready to roll for the dog days of summer, but I plan to save most of it for next year. After all that was done, I kicked off the Blueberry Hard Lemonade. Added about half the f-pack, 1L of white grape concentrate and a little sugar to get me to 1.086. Kind of a Rose color now, from the f-pack. But it'll definitely be blue when its done.
Wow, you did have a busy morning. I'm putting the final tweeks on my refrigeration system for my wine closet. Have to build a stand for my chest freezer to get the proper head for the pump. Then add the anitfreeze and keep my fingers crossed it works. Cost of system as of now is just over $100.00 plus I have a place to keep my grape skins for the next batch.
Julie
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Good Luck!
the_rayway
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We had my daughter's 7th birthday party today. After all the minions left I went to give my latest batch of freezer clean out wine a shake... Cracked the bloody carboy!! Emergency racking completed just now. At least it will get me moving on bench testing and bottling - that was my only 4 gal glass, and I don't want to leave it in a 5 for very long
Julie
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Wow, glad you didn't get hurt and had a successful recovery!
the_rayway
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@julie Me too!! That would have been a disaster!!
We went for a hike; DW and one friend went about 5 miles, while I and another friend went ~10 miles. Feeling it now! Then we came home and had the dinner described here: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=644802&postcount=3877.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Yikes! Glad you got it racked OK.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Church, a short run, then more yard work. Edging the beds (there are a ton of them) and weeding. 7 cubic yards of mulch arriving in 12 days and I'm trying to have everything ready so all I have to do is spread the mulch.
Beautiful day. Got some materials to fix a hole in my 23 yr old tractor deck (trying to get another year out of it, saving money for a new one next year). Fixed the deck while drinking a beer. Whipped up some marinate for london broil for the kids, while drinking a beer. Cut the highest parts of the lawn to test out my deck fix, then drank a beer to admire the nice looking lawn. Fired up the charcoal grill to cook steaks and the london broil, then drank a beer while they were cooking. Just took a shower and jumped on this site, with a beer in hand. Maybe I'll read a little and drink a beer before I go to bed...
Making up for lost time, are we, Craig? 
Beware, it's like Sister Mary Margaret said about pleasuring yourself -- it isn't so special if you do it all the time!
Beware, it's like Sister Mary Margaret said about pleasuring yourself -- it isn't so special if you do it all the time! 
Johny99
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Church, Home Depot for more shrubs for a rental property, then back to pruning. Pruning is finally done and the veggie garden spot prepared. It was a beautiful spring day, magnolias and daffodils in bloom, that ended with New York's on the bar-b-que.
Making up for lost time, are we, Craig?
Actually it was nice to draw a few beers from the keg, but it wasn't as special as I imagined it would be. It always seems more special when you aren't allowed to do something, then when you do it's "why was I thinking this would be better than it actually is"? I think I'll have no trouble keeping out of the beer or wine this week as I institute my no school nights drinking policy. I'll have to watch this weekend as I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with the rate my two brothers drink, which is fine. I'll be the first to go to bed and the first one up sans a hangover, which will be good.
the_rayway
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Did some "ombre" on a wall in the kitchen. Practice for when the plaster is dry in the Wine Lab...as you can tell, I prefer bright colours
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