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I finished bottling the 2013 Chilean Carmenere today. Fortunately there was 3/4 of a bottle left over so I stuck a vaccu-vin stopper in it and set it aside for this evening. Wow, it is fantastic! Absolutely the best I've ever made! Now hopefully I can leave the 250 bottles alone for another year.
 
Spent the day helping my son at his house. His soil stack was leaking under the floor. He broke the concrete and I did the plumbing. Shits running down hill and not leaking from crevices again....
 
Hosted nephew's wedding on our back patio this afternoon. In case you were wondering how much red wine you need for 65 guests on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in April, you can plan on a Double Magnum of of Super Tuscan, a Magnum of Nebbliolo, another Magnum of Petit Verdot and a bottle of five year old Amarone. That is in addition to several bottles of commercial white wine, Champagne, craft beer, iced tea and bottled water. And that was just the beverages!

You might notice the 30"X40" ceramic tile replica of my label hanging on the patio wall.

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I just got back from the beach in Port Aransas. Took Old Yeller down there to take advantage and load up some of the spring seaweed bloom. Sunny and 87º,perfect day.

My tomatoes are going to LOVE me for this!
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we bottled the Pinot Gris, racked and filtered 2 batches of Diamond, 2 batches of Skeeter Pee and a Cranberry Pomegranate. We made sure to filter and rack the Pinot Gris to avoid any potential secondary fermentation issues. The Diamond was still dropping plates of wine diamonds.....
 
we bottled the Pinot Gris, racked and filtered 2 batches of Diamond, 2 batches of Skeeter Pee and a Cranberry Pomegranate. We made sure to filter and rack the Pinot Gris to avoid any potential secondary fermentation issues. The Diamond was still dropping plates of wine diamonds.....


Don't forget the sorbate if you are planning on back sweetening the Pinot Gris. I need to get to the cellar this week. Going to be a tough chore.

I offered to help my neighbor install the hardwood floors in their house this weekend. We are going to do the layout work on Thursday evening then I'm going to take a half day vacation on Friday to get the flooring started. He had roughly 700 sq feet of flooring. With any luck we should be able to knock that out by sometime Sunday, maybe even get done on Saturday.
 
Racked 6 gallons of Fredonia, 15 gallons of Concord, 6 gallons of Blackberry and 5 gallons of Blueberry. The blue and black berry were sweetened. I think they were too high sg at start. Good, but stronger than wanted alcohol flavor. I may try to locate some juice and dilute the alcohol some. No fermentation is occuring. Hoping to blend and bottle some this weekend since I'm picking up my 4 Chilean pails tomorrow.
 
I absolutely, positively HATE when I don't listen to wise, sage advice. Sometimes, I am too bull-headed so I have to learn my lesson the hard way. Such is what I learned today when I got home from work and walked into the winery and smelled a nice fruity, grapey smell. Checked all the carboys - no problems. Checked the bottles and found out that a Seyval Blanc had popped its cork and spilled out, leaving about a quarter bottle. When I checked the wine left in the bottle, it was almost sparkling due to not stabilizing before bottling.

Ah, FUDGE.......



So, having learned my lesson (which cost me only one bottle of wine), I sulfited and stabilized 12 gallons of Diamond and 11 gallons of Skeeter Pee.
 
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Ordered my All In One and the suggested whole house filter thingies today. SUPER EXCITED!!! Got to talk to Steve. I see why everyone goes on about customer service.

Racked and back sweetened 8 gallons out of my triple batch of Blackberry DB. Gonna leave the rest sitting a bit longer in the demijohn.

Racked and stabilized 5 gallons of "Tea Pee" from Primary. It's got some ZING to it!

Original Skeeter Pee is quickly becoming a thorn in my side. My first batch made an excellent household cleaner, but not much else. This new batch stalled out at 1.070 after being started at 1.082 last Wednesday. I assume it wasn't warm enough. Re-pitched yesterday with a good starter and got it all cozy and warmer today. It's looking better now.
 
Ordered my All In One and the suggested whole house filter thingies today. SUPER EXCITED!!! Got to talk to Steve. I see why everyone goes on about customer service.

Racked and back sweetened 8 gallons out of my triple batch of Blackberry DB. Gonna leave the rest sitting a bit longer in the demijohn.

Racked and stabilized 5 gallons of "Tea Pee" from Primary. It's got some ZING to it!

Original Skeeter Pee is quickly becoming a thorn in my side. My first batch made an excellent household cleaner, but not much else. This new batch stalled out at 1.070 after being started at 1.082 last Wednesday. I assume it wasn't warm enough. Re-pitched yesterday with a good starter and got it all cozy and warmer today. It's looking better now.

doesn't it leave a sticky residue after cleaning something with it?
 
doesn't it leave a sticky residue after cleaning something with it?

It was one of my first attempts, sadly it went bad and was something resembling lemon vinegar before I even got to back sweetening.

It did clean the Bejeezus out of toilets, washing machine, and dishwasher.
 
Picking up 4 buckets of Chilean Juice this afternoon from Consumers. I purchased 3 reds and a Pinot Grigio. We'll give the white a go one more time. Just can't get the Chilean whites the way I would like. Will likely stick with PA whites going forward.
 
I absolutely, positively HATE when I don't listen to wise, sage advice. Sometimes, I am too bull-headed so I have to learn my lesson the hard way. Such is what I learned today when I got home from work and walked into the winery and smelled a nice fruity, grapey smell. Checked all the carboys - no problems. Checked the bottles and found out that a Seyval Blanc had popped its cork and spilled out, leaving about a quarter bottle. When I checked the wine left in the bottle, it was almost sparkling due to not stabilizing before bottling.

Ah, FUDGE.......



So, having learned my lesson (which cost me only one bottle of wine), I sulfited and stabilized 12 gallons of Diamond and 11 gallons of Skeeter Pee.

Oh no, now who would have ever thought something like this would happen :slp :<
 
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