What R you doing today?

[crushday]

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.

Ok - I tested my wines:

All three of these had one-way breathable bungs and stored in a basement that only fluctuates 5 degrees throughout the year. **To be clear, after initial dose of kMeta all carboys were left untouched for approximately 24 months.**

Meglioli Rojo Grande - moved to carboy on 12/6/2019 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 9.2

Meglioli Amorosso - moved to carboy on 4/19/2020 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 21.5

Meglioli Nebbiolo - moved to carboy on 12/14/2019 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 11.7

I'm going to be bottling all of these today. I did add SO2 last night to approximately 50ppm.

 

[mainshipfred]

Ok - I tested my wines:

All three of these had one-way breathable bungs and stored in a basement that only fluctuates 5 degrees throughout the year.

Meglioli Rojo Grande - moved to carboy on 12/6/2019 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 9.2
Meglioli Amorosso - moved to carboy on 4/19/2020 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 21.5
Meglioli Nebbiolo - moved to Carboy on 12/14/2019 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 11.7

I'm going to be bottling all of these today. I did add SO2 last night to approximately 50ppm.

I've been waiting for you to do this, I assume you didn't find any oxidative faults.

 

[winemaker81]

My wife & I were going to switch cell phone providers today, at a significant savings. Turns out my phone is worth $100 USD for a trade-in, while my wife's phone is worth nothing. I recalled we had my son's phone, which he gave back to us when he got his own plan, and it's the same as mine. Since the phone was on our current account, it appears we can trade it in!

Except he did a factory reset on the phone and has no idea what the PIN is. For the trade-in, the vendor must have the IMIE # of the phone, which is essentially a global serial #.

I spent the last hour trying everything I could think of to unlock the phone, or at least display the #. This included various web searches. Nada.

Then I realized the # must be accessible to phone repair without being able to unlock it. So I shut it down and launched to the boot menu. For my Android phone, hold down the Power + Volume Down buttons until the phone boots. A menu will be displayed -- scroll to Bar Codes, and select that option. The IMIE # is listed as it's numerical value plus its bar code.

I took a picture with my phone to make it easier on the guy in the cell phone store when I go back tomorrow.

 

[crushday]

I've been waiting for you to do this, I assume you didn't find any oxidative faults.

That's right Fred - no oxidative faults. I did, however, have noticeable evaporation. Meaning, the wine level of each was still in the neck of the carboy but getting close to the "shoulders" of the body - maybe 3/4" to 1" of loss. I attribute that to the breathable stoppers.

I did bottle...got 86 from the wines and 1 Frankenstein Blend.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

That's right Fred - no oxidative faults. I did, however, have noticeable evaporation. Meaning, the wine level of each was still in the neck of the carboy but getting close to the "shoulders" of the body - maybe 3/4" to 1" of loss. I attribute that to the breathable stoppers.

I did bottle...got 86 from the wines and 1 Frankenstein Blend.

Those Frankenstein blends can be surprisingly good, sometimes..

 

[Khristyjeff]

I've not been around this site much recently, my beer brewing has been more of a focus. But I fView attachment 83104inally got around to tidying up the cellar a little bit, and restocked the wine racks. This was brought on by me finally bottling some stuff going back to 2017, and needing some space.
I still have 50 or so gallons of various wines I need to bottle though, not sure where I'm going to put it all.

I like your canned goods, too. Nice variety!

 

[sour_grapes]

I just scored three 6-gallon carboys and two Corny kegs on craigslist for $100 total. These are my first Corny kegs, and I actually bought them for a totally different purpose. However, that purpose has been mooted for the foreseable future, so maybe I will used them for wine storage after all....

 

[Boatboy24]

I just scored three 6-gallon carboys and two Corny kegs on craigslist for $100 total. These are my first Corny kegs, and I actually bought them for a totally different purpose. However, that purpose has been mooted for the foreseable future, so maybe I will used them for wine storage after all....

Time to make something with bubbles!

 

[VinesnBines]

Sour_grapes, If your corney's have the racetrack lid, this is nice for a fermenting tank.

https://www.homebrewing.org/NEW-Cornelius-Keg-Lid-for-Secondary-Fermenter_p_10345.html

 

[sour_grapes]

Sour_grapes, If your corney's have the racetrack lid, this is nice for a fermenting tank.

https://www.homebrewing.org/NEW-Cornelius-Keg-Lid-for-Secondary-Fermenter_p_10345.html

Thank you! I may just do that! Especially as a rack-down option.

 

[crushday]

Started assembling my greenhouse. Today was the first break from rain in weeks. Tomorrow is a 73% of rain so I’ll likely be installing the glass in the rain. Drat…

 

[winemaker81]

Mrs WM81 has to work today while I have it off. It's very poor judgment on her part to leave me without qualified adult supervision!

It's a puttering day, cleaning up little things and generally making a positive impact without unduly straining myself. We stopped at a Mediterranean restaurant /market for lunch on Saturday, and I replenished herbs and spices we were low on. For the things they carry, the ethnic markets often have the best price on quality seasonings, although in the case of this market, it's not a small package. Not Costco-sized, but larger than a typical spice jar.

So I pulled everything out of the cabinet, lined it up, and filled containers. We were low on a few things, such as steak seasoning, celery salt, and ground pepper, so I got out the spice grinder AKA Mr. Coffee rotary coffee grinder, and made a mess.



The jars with green lids are Hellmann's tartar sauce jars from a LONG time ago, which are a good size for larger commercial packages. In general, if I use a lot of something, I buy a larger package, else I don't.

These go back in the cupboard neatly organized, with bulk containers on the top shelf as they are not used often.



This will remain neatly organized until the first time I need to get a jar out of the back, at which time all organization is thrown into chaos!

 

[VinesnBines]

What a beauty Crushday! I'm jealous.

I need to go out to my greenhouse see if my geraniums and the avocado tree are still alive. I think the avocado may have to come back from the roots, again. I keep hoping for a semi warm day to clean out and get ready for seed starting.

 

[ceeaton]

Got a pork butt today, up to $1.69/lb unfortunately. Then looked at the weather online, tomorrow in the 20's with 20+ mph sustained winds. Hmm, not a real great day to smoke a 7 lb hunk of pork. At least we are only supposed to get a dusting of snow. So changed directions and made up a few pizza doughs. Figuring that the oven running for a few hours won't be a bad thing tomorrow afternoon.

Listening to some 70's and early 80's music selections and thinking about what old wine I want to open.



Yeah, it looks wet, but with high gluten four you've gotta let it sit wet before adding the salt and more flour to allow the gluten to form long chains, which equates to a dough you can get ultra thin w/o tearing. Using some King Arthur Sir Lancelot HG flour, 14% protein, one of the highest gulten flours you can buy. Makes a really good dough, or doh.

 

[crushday]

Finished Greenhouse… iCloud (click the iCloud link)

 

[winemaker81]

My morning activity doesn't require as much determination and energy. I surprised Mrs. WM81 with French toast for breakfast, and while I was at it I took the heels from the last loaf along with a last slice that was a bit dry, added the heels from the new load, and tossed 'em in the oven on 200 F. After 30 minutes I turn the oven off and ignore it for another 30 to 60 minutes. When dry, I drop the cubes in Oskar (yes, I have one that still works great!), and I have bread crumbs / coating mix.

When I need "coating mix" for frying meat or veggies, I use bread crumbs and scour the cupboards for last remnants of crackers, tortilla chips, potato chips, pretzels, and cereal that isn't sweet. Grind it all up, and I have a one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated coating mix.

 

[VinesnBines]

Finished Greenhouse… iCloud

Gorgeous! Congratulations!

Oskar (yes, I have one that still works great!).

The Oskar was hands down the best food processer ever built. My original has a dicky switch that sometimes works and other times I have to plug and unplug the unit to use. I've tried others and nothing matches the Oskar. When I needed a food processer for our second house, I bought an Oskar off ebay.

 

[TurkeyHollow]

Ok - I tested my wines:

All three of these had one-way breathable bungs and stored in a basement that only fluctuates 5 degrees throughout the year. **To be clear, after initial dose of kMeta all carboys were left untouched for approximately 24 months.**

Meglioli Rojo Grande - moved to carboy on 12/6/2019 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 9.2

Meglioli Amorosso - moved to carboy on 4/19/2020 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 21.5

Meglioli Nebbiolo - moved to carboy on 12/14/2019 and SO2 added to 50ppm. Free SO2 test on 1/8/2022 came out at 11.7

I'm going to be bottling all of these today. I did add SO2 last night to approximately 50ppm.

Do you ever vary the amount of free SO2 to correspond with the pH or do you feel the 50 ppm is a "sure shot" number that fits all? ...or are your wines consistently in the same pH range?

 

[cmason1957]

Here's a picture of what my wife and I were doing today, at least part of it.



Filtering or two Fine Vines wine kits. Super Tuscan and Bordeaux. They will be bottled either tomorrow or next weekend. We also racked four carboys of Chambourcin, they are on the table to the left of this picture. Two of them came out of cold stabilization the weeks ago, the other two today. Tasting very good, I really like French Oak winestixs, they will stay in the carboys for annuity couple of months.

 

[BigDaveK]

I bake bread year round but in the winter I venture into other baked goods. Chocolate cake with Kahlua buttercream frosting. Since it's from scratch and no preservatives it has to be eaten quickly, right?

For some odd reason the pants I wore in November never seem to fit in April.