What R you doing today?

[Kraffty]

looking very professional there

 

[sour_grapes]

Today I bottled 375 bottles of 2020 red wine:

1. Merlot from Livermore
2. Cabernet Sauvignon from Livermore
3. Cabernet Sauvignon from Knights Valley
4. A blend of Zinfandel (Lodi) and Petite Verdot (Knights Valley) that I've named Synergistic
5. A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot that I've named Soiree

All of these were barrel aged for just under 7 months and were bulk aged prior for approximately 7 months.

View attachment 82072

Whoa! That's a lotta bottles in a day! Looks great...

 

[mainshipfred]

Yesterday I was doing a rack and return on my last 2020 barrel when I found a 6 gallon carboy of 2019 Grenache hiding in the corner. It had a solid bung and per my notes it was last sulfated in January 4 2020. The notes say it was sulfated to 65 ppm at the time. A little concerned I checked the free SO2 and it was at 9 ppm. This is after 2 years of not touching it which I find extremely interesting.

So I thought I'd bottle it today. I already filtered it with a 1 and then a .5 micron though it was really clean to begin with. The pH was 3.52 so I took the sulfite level to 40 ppm. It has a bright cherry nose and an extremely long lasting grapefruit finish though the mid palate is a little lacking. I have peach, Chardonnay and Viognier I may play around with adding a little but probably going to keep it the way it is, perhaps a little glycerol.

 

[jswordy]

We are prepping for a round of severe weather that could be quite long-lasting. It is due to start sometime after noon CST here and continue through midnight. Right now we are getting some 12-15 mph gusts and it is 73 degrees. Winds are expected to pick up to 20-30 mph with gusts to 60+ later today. Hail and tornadoes possible, etc.

Should we survive that, lol, tomorrow starts at 53 degrees at 12:01 a.m. and falls to 35. Rain in the afternoon changes to snow showers at night. No accumulation. Low of 25.

Dang it, I am gonna have to close the house windows and turn my furnace back on!

 

[sour_grapes]

Yesterday I was doing a rack and return on my last 2020 barrel when I found a 6 gallon carboy of 2019 Grenache hiding in the corner. It had a solid bung and per my notes it was last sulfated in January 4 2020. The notes say it was sulfated to 65 ppm at the time. A little concerned I checked the free SO2 and it was at 9 ppm. This is after 2 years of not touching it which I find extremely interesting.

So I thought I'd bottle it today. I already filtered it with a 1 and then a .5 micron though it was really clean to begin with. The pH was 3.52 so I took the sulfite level to 40 ppm. It has a bright cherry nose and an extremely long lasting grapefruit finish though the mid palate is a little lacking. I have peach, Chardonnay and Viognier I may play around with adding a little but probably going to keep it the way it is, perhaps a little glycerol.

That is a happy find!

 

[ChuckD]

Yesterday I was doing a rack and return on my last 2020 barrel when I found a 6 gallon carboy of 2019 Grenache hiding in the corner.

is wine making just a hobby for you? I can’t imagine making so much wine that I can misplace a whole carboy for two years. Nice problem to have though.

 

[Neb Farmer]

Happy New Year! What am I doing today? Nothing. Not a damn thing.

 

[jswordy]

Had to time my opening the west-facing barn doors, the wind was so strong against them. Finished my battening-down by bringing in a sixer of Presidente from the farm shop. We may get all torn up, but there's no reason to go without! House windows still open. Currently 76 and 99% humidity, with winds steady at 9 with gusts to 25, and the storm front is still 100+ miles away. Could be a fun 12 hours. Even more fun for the cattle, poor things.

 

[Boatboy24]

 

[crushday]

A little concerned I checked the free SO2 and it was at 9 ppm. This is after 2 years of not touching it which I find extremely interesting.

Fred, I’d like to hear more about what you find interesting. Interesting that a sealed (solid bung) carboy would loose free SO2 to that magnitude over two years or that it didn’t shed more?

I’m asking because I have wine in carboys that are about 2-2.5 years old now and need to bottle. My assumption has been that leaving it alone in a dark basement is enough to keep it stable as long as it’s topped up and has a solid stopper.

I’m in your classroom…

 

[jswordy]

Well, the NWS was wrong, it looks like. The system largely is to our north, moving NE. Winds now are calm. We might get a thunderstorm or two out of it, but that's it, though we are still under a tornado watch. Looks like the remaining surprise will be going from 77 today all the way to 25 for tomorrow's low, with "little to no accumulation of snow" tomorrow night. I sat out on the porch today with a bottle of Presidente and read Teddy Roosevelt's accounts of his Western hunting trips about 150 years ago. Probably the last day like this for awhile.

 

[mainshipfred]

Fred, I’d like to hear more about what you find interesting. Interesting that a sealed (solid bung) carboy would loose free SO2 to that magnitude over two years or that it didn’t shed more?

I’m asking because I have wine in carboys that are about 2-2.5 years old now and need to bottle. My assumption has been that leaving it alone in a dark basement is enough to keep it stable as long as it’s topped up and has a solid stopper.

I’m in your classroom…

Yes, the fact that it still had that much free SO2 left is what surprised me. This is an extreme case but kind of confirms my thoughts that a 1/4 tsp every 3 months is not necessary.

I wouldn't want to make a habit out of letting my wines get to 9 ppm but the wine shows no signs of oxidation.

 

[crushday]

Yes, the fact that it still had that much free SO2 left is what surprised me. This is an extreme case but kind of confirms my thoughts that a 1/4 tsp every 3 months is not necessary.

I wouldn't want to make a habit out of letting my wines get to 9 ppm but the wine shows no signs of oxidation.

Thanks for the explanation, Fred. I'm going to test a few of my own and let you know what I come up with. It won't be for a couple of days, however.

 

[wood1954]

All my wine is put to sleep for the winter, so I’m focusing on my woodworkin. Currently I’m making a small Greene and Greene style side table that is kind of going to look like this, I’m using mesquite for everything but the legs, I ran out of mesquite so the legs are cherry. Instead of ebony accents I found some African black wood which is really really hard and dense. I just finished this piece for my living room

 

[Boatboy24]

Currently a balmy 60 degrees now. Today, the final decorations come down. Then we batten down the hatches for up to 4 inches of snow by mid-day tomorrow. Certainly not a ton of snow, but what a difference a day makes.

 

[Darrell Hawley]

My son wanted to have some pulled pork for a NY eve party. Put it together a couple days ago. We like ours with little more smoke, so we cut up to smaller pieces. For $.75/lb, I would have bought a few more if there was room in our freezer.



Add all the ingredients, mix and put in the oven for awhile.

 

[jswordy]

Currently a balmy 60 degrees now. Today, the final decorations come down. Then we batten down the hatches for up to 4 inches of snow by mid-day tomorrow. Certainly not a ton of snow, but what a difference a day makes.

Saturday here, 77. Tonight's forecast...

 

[berrycrush]

I did a MLF test of my 2021 cuvees. I left one 1/2 gallon jar without pitching MLB and just want to see the difference. Well the verdict is clear: No MLB, No MLF.

 

[winemaker81]

We enjoyed an unseasonably warm new years at North Myrtle Beach, SC. The temperatures got into the 70's F both Friday and Saturday, although it was chilly at night.

We're supposed to get wintery precipitation in Raleigh tomorrow morning, hoping there's no accumulation. Northerners laugh at how little it takes to shut down an area like ours ... northern transplants also believe they can drive on icy roads ... but they learn, ditches are not forgiving!

 

[Jovimaple]

Bottled a gallon batch of tomato wine. Hubby thought it needed some backsweetening but he likes really sweet wines. I decided to leave this batch unsweetened, but I have 2 more gallons aging now. I may end up backsweetening one or both of those.

After I clean up my equipment, I will be bottling a 3 gallon batch of key lime this evening. Then I am done with wine stuff (except cleaning bottles) for another week when my FWK blackberry and strawberry will need attention. I may end up starting a double batch of WineXpert Apres Chocolate Raspberry dessert wine, though. I need to do carboy and space inventory to see if I can start that yet or if I have to wait until the FWKs are bottled.

Updated with pix: