Obsessive wine habit!

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dean

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
1,593
Reaction score
7
Okay, so it has been a while since I have posted any pics. This ismy wine habit (habitat too). I was only going to post my lovely new "carboy kozy's" that my girlfriend made for me. I'm very lucky to have a person in my life that is as tolerant of my hobbies. Besides making wine my other hobby is motorcycle racing and she even assists me in the pits/paddock during race days too.


Anyways, here are the photos:


This was 3 weeks ago as I was planning my 2006 vintages. The cat is Coco. The bakers racks that I use are capable of up to 600lbs per shelf! Carboys are empty as I make plans to fill them all! Current wines bulk aging and bottled since then from left to right:


1 gallon blueberry, 1 gallon Cinnamon Cyser, 5 Gals Paklabs Amarone, 3 gals Vanilla Mead, 1 gallon Joe's Ancient Orange (quite dark due to addition of 1lb of buckwheat honey), 6 gals of India Pale Ale.





2006-02-26_170509_3_weeks_ago.jpg



Here is the fabric she chose for my carboys:


2006-02-26_171619_kozyfab1.jpg



2006-02-26_171732_kozyfab2.jpg



2006-02-26_171756_kozyfab3.jpg



Then the prototype came:


2006-02-26_171837_kozyprototype.jpg



Then the Kozy's were created:


2006-02-26_171915_kozy1.jpg



2006-02-26_171936_kozy2.jpg



2006-02-26_171952_kozy3.jpg



And then they were used to make some Happy Wines in for a nice bulk age:


2006-02-26_172040_snuggledin.jpg



Last years Vintage (1 of each):


From left to right, paklab Amarone, Luna Rossa, White Zinfandel, Strawberry Riesling, Shiraz, Pinot Grigio, Blackberry Merlot, CC Amarone, Chardonnay, Chardonnay/Semillon Blend,EP Australian Chardonnay, Joe's AO Mead, Prison Wine(Welches White), Blueberry, Cinnamon Cyser, and Port.


2006-02-26_172131_the_kids.jpg



New Labels that Meighan my Girlfriend made:


2006-02-26_172534_new_wines.jpg



Spare fabic made a nice wine gift bag:


2006-02-26_172619_winebag.jpg



And finally the current setup now:


2006-02-26_172705_current-setup.jpg



It's a mess in there, but the top of the rack to the left has 8 kits waiting to go (All RJSpagnols at this time):


Rosso Grande, Grande Vieux Chateau du Roi, Brunello, Winery Series Shiraz and Valpolicella (with skins), White Icewine, port, and a RQ Monastrell Cabernet. The boxes on top are clean empty 500ml PET bottles for beer (8x24).


Middle of the rack(2 shelves)on the left has the "lab". Lots of chemicals like Idophor, sani-brew(c-brite), yeasts, energizers, nutrients, degassing equipment, oak chips/cubes, 20+ packs of filters for my mini-jet, acid and so2 testing kits, etc.


Bottom shelf on the left has corks, paper for labels, and a LOT of shrink capsules for wine bottles. I saw them on sale and didn't really think of the amount I was buying (3500), so I have enough shrink tops for at least 10 years.


Next rack over to the right has the carboys in their kozy's sleeping for a nice bulk aging along with many other empties waiting to be filled.


Over on the right, we have Heffeweizen in the leftmost primary, then a Winery Series Merlot with skins, then a Blueberry shiraz mist kit. Below that is a Czeck style Pilsner clearing.


I have a few more kits on order that are limited editions as well from Cellar Craft and Winexpert, but I need to get the current ones done and aging. Bottling time will be about november/December of this year for most. Mist kits will be bottled in July, and Beer will be bottled on a ongoing basis. The white pails on the racks were 23L kits from Costco which are from PakLabs.


About the only thing I didn't include is the space the bottled wine is taking up in almost every free closet in the place! As you can see, I don't take addiction lightly
smiley36.gif
 
And sometimes the whole kitchen gets taken over, right? And maybe the tub
in the bathroom...
smiley36.gif


It is all very impressive Dean. Thanks for sharing
smiley32.gif
 
Very nice Dean wine looks fantastic. Great idea on the fabric.


Bill
 
WOW!
smiley32.gif
You are one lucky man! Wow! A woman who sews cozies for you AND works in the pits?! WOW!!
smiley32.gif
Thanks for sharing!
 
Great looking wines Dean
smiley32.gif
smiley32.gif



Your friend could make a killing on eBay with those kozies too
 
Very impressive setup Dean and wonderful job on the labels and kozys....the girlfriend has some real skills!!!!
smiley32.gif
 
Dean & Meighan...
Love the fabric!!! I am also a 'fabric-junkie'
The Prison Wine label is so funny...love it!!!!
We have a wine going that might qualify for your label...we racked and tasted our Pineapple/Banana/Apple wine...my Honey said that "there are sober kids in town that might like it".It tastes like lamp oil...tho I am told it might tone down after a year or two...Tastes like something that could give you heartburn to last a week.....For sure you could use this one for your PRISON WINE label...
smiley4.gif

Edited by: Northern Winos
 
this pics make me smile looks like home. Hey great job with the grape designs. Your not alone with all hobby. It gets in your blood.
 
Thanks everyone! both Meighan and I appreciate the comments. I'm trying to convince her to put a few of them up on ebay. Right now, she has a new little seed business on ebay that seems to be taking off. We actually have the perfect symbiotic hobbies too. She has a love of growing everything, and I have a love of fermenting everything that grows
smiley36.gif
. She really has a green thumb. Later on when it comes time to retire, I'd like to go back to school for oenology courses, and I'd like her to take some viticulture courses. We will start our little hobby farm and make boutique wines. That's the plan for now at least. Of course this all comes after we slave for a few more years (15-20), before we get to slave over our hobbies.
 
Does the kozy total encapsulate the carboy (as in does it cover the bottom). If it does did Meighan have a circular piece of fabric on the bottom Or did she construct it so that when the fabric is laying flat it forms a rectange (no circled bottom)?





JC
 
Please post Meighan's E-Bay site so we can check it out and buy something!!!
 
jcnoren said:
Does the kozy total encapsulate the carboy (as in does it cover the bottom). If it does did Meighan have a circular piece of fabric on the bottom Or did she construct it so that when the fabric is laying flat it forms a rectange (no circled bottom)?


No, the bottom is open. It just slides over the neck of the carboy like a t-shirt, then we cinch it up. Fabric on the bottom might make the carboy too wobbly.
 
Dean said:
jcnoren said:
No, the bottom is open. It just slides over the neck of the carboy like a t-shirt, then we cinch it up. Fabric on the bottom might make the carboy too wobbly.


Saw the cinching at the top of the carboy kozy,.Missed seeing it also being cinched at the bottom....which is why I inquired. Thanks


JC
 
Back
Top