years ago this was a great forum, with lots of replays. Been gone for a while and nobody answers a question.. time to find another forum..

[winemanden]

Sadly - It seems to be a trend that perhaps folks are looking for instant gratification (Answers). That might be the case, but; as others said, you have to know how to use the site and part of that is also posting questions in a the right forum section. Personally I only look at 2 sections on a daily basis and 2 others occasionally. This particular one being my occasion look forum.

We see a lot of questions that could be answered without posting if the person looks in the right forum. One the most overlooked forum sections is the Recipes forum.

But, I will admit to ignoring some questions because.... well I try to keep a civil tongue on here, most times. The sort of questions that test me are those that look like - "I put 5 lbs of sugar, 1 gallon of grape juice and some Fleishman's yeast in a bottle - how soon can I drink this stuff." I'm pretty sure that this is not the issue here but sometimes.

I've got my own solution for instant gratification and the answer to lot's of questions.
Open bottle! Pour glass! Drink!!!

 

[Scooter68]

I've got my own solution for instant gratification and the answer to lot's of questions.
Open bottle! Pour glass! Drink!!!

Ah the advantages of having a few years of wine making under your belt and on the shelf.

I have a small problem I'm dealing with. I have 3 bottles (well... I had 3 bottles, now 2) in my fridge of excess wine from 3 different batches. I foolishly forgot to label them. They are as I remember Blackberry, possibly triple berry, and Blueberry... Not sure about that last one. For the life of me I'm having trouble telling them apart. So, as long as I don't need them and since they are so similar in flavor. I will use any of them left for topping off the batches I have aging. (After continued efforts to identify them by tasting)
Ah well, it's a challenging task but I guess I'm the only one to do it.

 

[mainshipfred]

Ah the advantages of having a few years of wine making under your belt and on the shelf.

I have a small problem I'm dealing with. I have 3 bottles (well... I had 3 bottles, now 2) in my fridge of excess wine from 3 different batches. I foolishly forgot to label them. They are as I remember Blackberry, possibly triple berry, and Blueberry... Not sure about that last one. For the life of me I'm having trouble telling them apart. So, as long as I don't need them and since they are so similar in flavor. I will use any of them left for topping off the batches I have aging. (After continued efforts to identify them by tasting)
Ah well, it's a challenging task but I guess I'm the only one to do it.

Funny you post this. I often forget to label topping off wines thinking I'll remember what they were but don't.

 

[Scooter68]

Yeah that's exactly it. I like to make little cardboard tags for each carboy but fail often to make another for that extra wine container. As in:

When I bottle the wine I then take that tag and put it on one of the bottles on the rack to identify the wines on specific rows of my rack. Sometimes as I am racking I will slide that tag on it's little yarn loop from the old carboy over onto the new carboy using the syphon hose as a 'pipline' I know odd to do that - I'm easily entertained sometimes.

 

[winemaker81]

I learned the hard way to label everything. Trusting my memory is the exactly wrong thing to do!

Last fall I bottled several batches but did not yet have labels printed. My solution? I used a Sharpie to write a letter (M - Merlot, Z - Zinfandel, etc) on the cork, then I used different colored capsules for each batch. And I wrote down which color I used for which batch. The letter was my failsafe -- if I lost the sheet prior to labeling, I could remove a capsules to determine what is inside.

FYI, I buy capsules in batches of 500 so I rarely have to change colors within a batch, and have enough colors that each wine made during a year has its own color. Makes finding things a bit easier.

That said, I have a bottle on the shelf that I have NO idea what is inside it. It's from 2019 ... but that doesn't help much. At some point I'll open it and either drink it, cook with it, or both.

 

[dralarms]

Guess he decided we weren’t worth it. Hasn’t been back since the 22 of January

 

[Old Corker]

When I started this 3 years ago I started numbering each kit in my notebook (started #34 last night). Take the label off the kit box, stick it on the top of the page and assign the batch number there. I write the number on the carboy with a dry erase marker as I rack. I have recently started cutting a flap off the box as well. I punch a hole in it for a string to hang on the carboy and write the racking dates on it.

 

[Scooter68]

Guess he decided we weren’t worth it. Hasn’t been back since the 22 of January

Maybe they decided to try "Brewsy"

 

[Johnd]

Guess he decided we weren’t worth it. Hasn’t been back since the 22 of January

Hmmmm, hadn't even noticed..........

 

[hounddawg]

When I started this 3 years ago I started numbering each kit in my notebook (started #34 last night). Take the label off the kit box, stick it on the top of the page and assign the batch number there. I write the number on the carboy with a dry erase marker as I rack. I have recently started cutting a flap off the box as well. I punch a hole in it for a string to hang on the carboy and write the racking dates on it.

i keep blue masking tape 2 inch wide it will transfer carboy to carboy and i just write on the tape my info,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

We have to tolerate you, your too much fun not to!

you know i actually do worry that i might be offence by joking to much, most all my life i was always super quite, but after so many times on (according to doctors) my death bed, well ,, i just decide to enjoy life, but to try and put a smile on others faces as well, i like people,, but i love being in the back country, with animals, so this lock down has not bothered me other then several family loses ,,, but hehe normal people this virus has been hard on them, so i figure a liter mood might help some,
Dawg

 

[Meadini]

Being new here, I just wanted to comment on how this thread organically morphed into general chitchat between you all...I got a kick out of it! Oh and thanks for all the advice you have all given out.

 

[hounddawg]

Being new here, I just wanted to comment on how this thread organically morphed into general chitchat between you all...I got a kick out of it! Oh and thanks for all the advice you have all given out.

hehe, most off them can make wine in their sleep,
Dawg

 

[JBP]

Top off labelling:
If making a kit, I use the labels that come with it to label carboys and top-off containers (just peeling back to part of the sticky).
If making something else, I use the spare labels from a kit and just write on it with a sharpie.

I don't use the kit labels for final bottles and hate throwing things away. Of course, hubby reminds me that I am still throwing them away, just using them first

 

[winemaker81]

hehe, most off them can make wine in their sleep,

Quite untrue! I can drink wine while sleeping, making takes a bit more effort .....