I can't think of a better way to spend your last day of vacation, other than bottling a fine batch of Chardonnay. (Shhhh... of course a little bit of football is also a good thing!)
We used the WE Dry Creek "unwooded</span>" kit to create this fantastic Chardonnay wine. I have to admit that...
Hippie -
Ahhh -- This is a "un-wooded" variety from the dry creek area of Sonoma.
"A fresh, well-balanced wine with typical Chardonnay characteristics of
tropical and citrus aromas and flavours. The fruit quality of these
grapes is allowed to shine through, and the rich, round...
Stage 2 :: 10/29/05 :: SG = .999 :: Temp. = 73 deg</span>
Rack'd from plastic primary bucket to glass carboy.
Not much to do but let it sit for 10 more days...
The arrow is pointing to the temp of 73 degrees F.
Batch of Selection Estate Chardonnay (Sonoma Dry Creek ~unwooded)
Started this batch around noon and it's already starting to ferment. Cool stuff!
Notes:
Fruity smell /taste (almost smells like apple juice?)
Dark color - I expect that it will lighten up before...
Thanks for the nice compliments!
You might have noticed that a couple of bottles have disappeared...
We ended up with about 28 bottles of "clear" wine from the primary bucket.
The remaining wine (~2 bottles) at the bottom of the carboy was poured
into a one gallon jar. Simply...
Here's the first bottling from Jack Rabbit...
Some comments on the process:
<li style="font-weight: bold;">Lot's of fun!
Transfer to the primary bucket from carboy just before bottling.
We opted to use the spigot and bottle filler vs. auto-filler
Remember to use...
Great label concept to begin with and excellent touch up work!
Clean and simple - that's the best design approach. I like the result!
The other option is to take your image to Kinkos or local print shop
and have them print your labels with a laserprinter (300dpi or better)
to...
Everyone -
Awesome advice!
Thank you all very much - I enjoyed the many tid-bits of information
not included in the instructions but rather from real "experience".
Ah yeah... gotta like that!
I really had no idea that it would take weeks even months to clear a
"kit" wine...
Hi Med -
I racked and (sorta) splashed yesterday (day 22 of clearing) then I
added the K-Meta. Instructions spell out 15 days before adding
the K-Meta.
It sounds like I still should have waited until the very end (no visible sediment) before I added the K-Meta?
Since, I already...
Hippie -
Step 4 of the kit's instructions:
Note: Wineexpert kits contain very low levels of sulphite
compared to commerical wine. If you want to age your wine more
than 6 months, you "must</span>" add
extra metabisulphite power to prevent oxidation. To do this, dissolve
1.5...
Hippie -
Ok, I just finished racking from the carboy to the bucket and back to the carboy again.
A couple of details:
Very slow auto-siphon from carboy to bucket (min. oxidation)
I left the thick sediment behind in carboy this time.
Cleaned and sanitized carboy...
Med -
Ok, I'll take your advice:
Saturday (step 3) </span>~ Check
sediment level ... Is it visible on the bottom of the carboy? If
yes--> Rack it again and give it at least one more week.
2nd Saturday</span> ~ Check
sediment level again. If it's still visible, rack again...
Hippie -
- Ok, here's what I'm thinking:
Thursday</span> ~ Rack wine from Carboy into Plastic Bucket
Thrusday</span> ~ Carefully rack wine from Plastic Bucket back into Clean & Sanitized Carboy and let it settle until Saturday.
Saturday </span>~ Use the Buon
Vino bottle...