First bottling day

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dz-015

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My very first kit (!) - an RJS Cellar Classic Shiraz - gave me 29.5 750ml bottles and 3 375ml bottles. The sulfite taste was strong, and it seemed a little thin. After airing it out a couple hours, it tasted better and the body improved.

I was wondering if the body improves after aging?


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those look like professional bottles. your labels are very nice. I only see one problem, there seems to be an abundance of empty carboys in the second picture. needs to be addressed immediately.
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Beautiful labels and your wine will improve greatly with aging. I would say let it age at least a year and you will see a tremendous difference.
 
Looking good!
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Did you top off with water or a like wine? How long did you bulk age? How much K-Meta did you add along the way?
 
Thanks! For my first kit, I decided to follow the directions to the letter. I topped off with a cheap, dry Shiraz, and the only bulk aging I did was the 30 or so days after stablizing according to the instructions. The only K-meta I added was right after I racked from the primary to stabilize with k-sorbate, and then 1/4 teaspoon right before bottling.

Labels were printed on parchment paper. I don't really have rows of grape vines in my front yard (thank you Photoshop!).

Next up - Peach Chardonnay, Blackberry Shiraz, and RJS Winery Amarone...
 
i have two things to say....
1- top job on the labels
2-plant some grapes in the front yard...what good is grass anyway? :)
 
You were a bit premature on the extra addition of sulfite. Your good for at least 90 days (and probably more) on that initial 5gm package that comes with the kit. It may fade with more bottle time. Letting the wine breath for 30 mins or so will help eliveate the sulfite smell as well. Time will help improve the body as well.
 
Congrats on your first bottling..... Beautiful job on the labels...

And plant some grapes as mentioned before.

It wasn't nearly as bad as you thought it was going to be now was it?
 
Great job. I think your winery area is far to clean and neat. Nessy it up a bit and I think your wine will improve.
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Thanks for the words of encouragement! I'm looking forward to making many more gallons.

Everything went fairly smoothly on my first kit, except for when I was degassing and I dipped my hands in the iodophor sanitizing solution just in case, and as I was stirring, a drop of the solution from my hands rolled in sol-mo down the spoon and into the wine, after which I feared I completely ruined it; and when I found a gnat (not a fruit fly) floating in the wine after 3 months of aging, not knowing how the heck it got in there, then fishing it out not quite intact; and when the hose came off the primary bucket spigot as I was bottling, spraying about 1/4 bottle of precious wine all over the cabinets, which were fortunately stained dark; and when I cut my hand ever so slightly with the double-handed corker and fearing the vapors in my iron-laden blood would contaminate the cork in some way.

Other than that, it went pretty smoothly.
 
Al Fulchino said:
i have two things to say....
1- top job on the labels
2-plant some grapes in the front yard...what good is grass anyway? :)


Thats exactly what God thinks about grasstoo Al.........


<A name="God Finds Out About Lawn Care">God Finds Out About Lawn Care</A>


"Winterize your lawn," the big sign outside the garden store commanded. I've fed it, watered it, mowed it, raked it and watched a lot of it die anyway. Now I'm supposed to winterize it? I hope it's too late. Grass lawns have to be the stupidest thing we've come up with outside of thong swimsuits! We constantly battle dandelions, Queen Anne's lace, thistle, violets, chicory and clover that thrive naturally, so we can grow grass that must be nursed through an annual four step chemical dependency.


Imagine the conversation The Creator might have with St. Francis about this:


"Frank you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracted butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles."


"It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great extent to kill them and replace them with grass."


"Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?"


"Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn."


"The spring rains and cool weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy."


"Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it _ sometimes twice a week."


"They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?"


"Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags."


"They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?"


"No, sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away."


"Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?"


"Yes, sir."


"These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work."


"You aren't going believe this Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it."


"What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life."


"You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and have them hauled away."


"No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and keep the soil moist and loose?"


"After throwing away your leaves, they go out and buy something they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves."


"And where do they get this mulch?"


"They cut down trees and grind them up."


"Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. Saint Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?"


"Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about..."


"Never mind I think I just heard the whole story."
 
Isn't that the truth Waldo?


Thank God for dandelions they make great wine!!
 
Excellent labels! Congrats on the first kit, your hooked now. I see your from Avon Lake; I am from the east side of Cleveland!
 
dz-015,


How Impressive!


I'm a newbie myself. I just joined yesterday. I haven't even received my first kit and supplies yet. You set the bar pretty high for us newbies.
That's great! It gives me a goal to try to achieve.


Congrats!
Flem
 
Flem said:
dz-015,


How Impressive!


I'm a newbie myself. I just joined yesterday. I haven't even received my first kit and supplies yet. You set the bar pretty high for us newbies.
That's great! It gives me a goal to try to achieve.


Congrats!
Flem

Thanks! Beauty is only skin-deep
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. I've probably made every newbie mistake on this batch. This is a great forum to learn from - here are some small things to watch out for, most of which have been stated previously by the experts here:

1) When you secure your airlock to the primary bucket lid, put the airlock on first before closing the lid. If you put on the airlock after closing the lid, you may push in the grommet into the must.

2) Even though you may be at exactly 6 gallons in the primary bucket, the made-in-Italy carboys are closer to 6.25 gallons, so be prepared to either top up with a like wine, or use sanitized glass marbles.

3) I highly recommend a brew hauler for each one of your carboys (when, not if, you get multiple carboys). I've had my carboy slip from my hands and bounce off the utility sink. I've also heard of carboys breaking off at the neck.

4) Don't literally follow the timetables in the instructions. Instead,
use the specific gravity measurement as your triggers for racking. I
racked from bucket to carboy at exactly 14 days, even though my SG was
0.001 higher than the upper end of the range. I could have waited
probably another few days. My ABV was kind of low for a shiraz.


5) Get a stainless steel stir rod that couples to your electric drill. I
stirred so much with the spoon that pieces of plastic were being
scraped off the handle where the spoon rubbed against the mouth of the
carboy.

6) RJS recommends adding 1/4 teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite at
bottling if storing for more than 6 months, at least on my kit.
Actually, k-meta is added at stabilizing so the timeframe is too short
to add additional k-meta. Either wait longer (90 days) before adding k-meta at bottling,
or don't add it if you're following their timetable.


7) Start collecting bottles as soon as possible if you don't want to spend $$$ on new bottles. I've asked friends to save their bottles for me. I asked a manager at a restaurant to save me bottles, who graciously did. One friend owns a catering business - one event or party can bring in several cases of bottles.

8) If bottling from the spigoted bucket, make sure your hose is securely fastened, preferably with some kind of hose clip, or you may find yourself tempted to lick it off the floor when it falls off the spigot.

9) If you're using a bottling wand, some wine bottles with very high punts may interfere with the spring-loaded lever at the bottom of the wand. Be patient with these - the wine will eventually fill the bottle.

10) Put on the shrink-wrap PVC capsules before your labels. Heat water until boiling, turn the bottle upside down, slip the capsule on, use a long ladle to hold the capsule in place, and dip the top of the bottle into the water for 1.5 to 2 seconds. I got a perfect, smooth seal on every bottle.

And a million other little things... Good luck on your first batch!
 

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