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Spent the afternoon watching my nephew and his high school teammates win the regional finals. State semis next. Cold, but fun afternoon! :db
 
Spent the day bottling two wines and cleaning lot's o' bottles. Obviously had too much to drink while bottling since I posted my images of the bottled wines in the "what's in your glass" thread.
 
About time you started bottling those wines.
Three on the docket for today, all wifey wines. A white zin, a muscato and either a blush (aka white zin or rose, not sure which, cheap kit) or a raspberry peach sangria. I'd love to do the 25 month old malbec but it's been in the basement and I'm sure still gassy. Might move it up into the kitchen to start the warming process then degas.
 
Spent the afternoon watching my nephew and his high school teammates win the regional finals. State semis next. Cold, but fun afternoon! :db

Westfield is going for their 4th Regional Title in 4 years today. If they win they will be going for the same for the State Title. If it wasn't such a nasty day I would go.
 
Three on the docket for today, all wifey wines. A white zin, a muscato and either a blush (aka white zin or rose, not sure which, cheap kit) or a raspberry peach sangria. I'd love to do the 25 month old malbec but it's been in the basement and I'm sure still gassy. Might move it up into the kitchen to start the warming process then degas.

I combined the 2017 cab and merlot today. Sampled... fine, nothing spectacular yet. Will play with some PV blending trials in a few months.

Tasted the Brunello EM I started 6 months ago... I am a fan. Bottling at 9 months.

Tasted the 2018 OVZ... decent for such a youngster.

Need to do a ph test on the three - the cab/merlot, the pv (which is exceptional) and the ovz.
 
Westfield is going for their 4th Regional Title in 4 years today. If they win they will be going for the same for the State Title. If it wasn't such a nasty day I would go.

Yeah, its miserable out there. Glad my nephew's game was yesterday. I've not heard positive things about the Westfields program. Then again, our neighborhood goes to a different, competing high school.
 
Got one batch done. But the white zin needed more back sweetening (was at 1.000, wifey wanted more sweetness). Got the blush (now labeled as Rosé) bottled and labeled. Working on the Muscato (several transfers to degas) but probably won't bottle until tomorrow afternoon. Might as well get something positive done during the Eagles game since they rarely win as of late.

11-24-18_blush.jpg
 
This morning my hubby and I strained the(1)cranberry wine and put it into the carboy. Smells wonderful, tastes pretty good too!
(2) Next we worked on sweetening the apple wine. decided 5 cups of 2 parts water 1 part sugar to 3 gallons of wine. Then a wild hair of blending started to say the least this was our first blend. We added 1 gallon of wine that didn't turn out well for someone. And so we ended up with 5 gallons (1T of raspberry flavor)too. Also added the potassium metabisulfate and the potassium sorbate. Not sure if this was all correct, but it is done. now to sit and wait to bottle, is this next Thursday ok? 5 days?
(3)My second 5 gallons of apple wine was ready to sweeten also. It didn't need much sugar. and we added 5 cups 2/1 mixture. also the potassium metabisulfate and potassium sorbate. ready to bottle

we racked our 30 gallon of foch and 25 gallon of LaCrescent. this week too! So its been a good week.
 
Made me a nice lil oak wind chime today. Can’t wait to hang on the porch!

Edit* and she’s now fully submersed for the next couple months. I actually don’t even know what type of oak it is. They were given to me by a winemaking friend. Smells French to me. IMG_8297.JPG
 
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From rainy and a high of 36 yesterday, to sunny and 60 today. Great afternoon to get the outdoor holiday deco up.
 
As my wife was hanging some lights outside in the nice weather, I was listening to football and eventually bottled wine #4 for the weekend. A muscat/muscato (I don't know the difference other than the trailing "o") on the drier side (makes me happy, and it's all about me). Oh, and the Eagles actually won a game, maybe that's why I'm smiling.

11-25-18_muscato.jpg
 
This morning my hubby and I strained the(1)cranberry wine and put it into the carboy. Smells wonderful, tastes pretty good too!
(2) Next we worked on sweetening the apple wine. decided 5 cups of 2 parts water 1 part sugar to 3 gallons of wine. Then a wild hair of blending started to say the least this was our first blend. We added 1 gallon of wine that didn't turn out well for someone. And so we ended up with 5 gallons (1T of raspberry flavor)too. Also added the potassium metabisulfate and the potassium sorbate. Not sure if this was all correct, but it is done. now to sit and wait to bottle, is this next Thursday ok? 5 days?
(3)My second 5 gallons of apple wine was ready to sweeten also. It didn't need much sugar. and we added 5 cups 2/1 mixture. also the potassium metabisulfate and potassium sorbate. ready to bottle

we racked our 30 gallon of foch and 25 gallon of LaCrescent. this week too! So its been a good week.

Sounds like you guys are having an absolute blast. It's nice you are finding something you enjoy together. I think the majority of us don't have that luxury.
 
Sounds like you guys are having an absolute blast. It's nice you are finding something you enjoy together. I think the majority of us don't have that luxury.

This is a great sentiment! I am very lucky that my SO enjoys the winemaking too, and helps move stuff around for me if I'm feeling wimpy or particularly clutzy! And of course the drinking! He has been very accepting of me moving in racks, and carboys, and rearranging the house to accommodate all the things.

We also got some friends into it, so we have two joint projects on the go with them- an apple and a crabapple. We racked our second batch of tropical DB over the weekend- it's VERY dry, but I think it's got great promise for after back sweetening! I'm going to rack the apple tonight, and plan on how we're going to treat the crabapple, which is getting very clear. We're thinking some with some spices, and maybe some with a caramelized sugar syrup to give a caramel apple flavor. The apple will need some more clearing, so will add some sparkalloid or bentonite after it's racked and given a good degassing.

Also going to set up my Black Forest dessert wine tonight. I've been putting it off while I decide if I want to step feed and boost the ABV to be more port-like. Still haven't quite decided, but I figure I'll have a couple of days before I need to start. Tomorrow I think I'll bottle a red kit I've been working on. That leaves just the Concord grape to continue aging.
 
Proof that I can do something on a Friday evening (other than drink beer or wine or both). Now I think I'm good for another year of Fridays.

Bottled a white zin from a California juice bucket, started 9-16-17 (the ferment, not the bottling). Back sweetened to 1.005, I expect it to be gone within a few months (my wife's friends favorite, or is that wife's friend's favorite. Paul help me with my Anguish (aka English)).

11-30-18_white-zin.jpg
 

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