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harlantk

CAUTION TO THE WIND!
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Well I bit my wallet really hard and placed an order with Finevinewines.
Went with the Caberlot Starter package Fathers Day sale and with being my first order :) another 10% off, so put in extra yeast, nutrient, fining, airlocks, n such to help kick this thing off, so now the wait.... checks the door... but hopefully around Tuesday I will be unpacking things.
I can go with my tap water as it is rather high quality and does not have too many bits of things floating round in it. I have a filter but am concerned that would remove too many mineral like thingies. I will have to let this sit and release that chlorine factor and in the old days we boiled the water first. Just to be certain of no unwished for bacteria.
So that will be my first question, just how much can we trust our water? :rdo
Gearing up!

Tim
 
Tim if you are drinking your water and there is no bad Oder's or iron in it, you should be fine. If you were overly concerned about it you can always go to wally World and get some Spring water but I think you'll be fine. You defiantly Made a good choice buying from George as his customer service is awesome and he stands behind everything. Probably what you didn't know, as a first time buyer he'll also fill your box up with peanuts. Get that wine going so you can enjoy them!
 
Tim,
Welcome. Now remember Patience grasshopper... Aks away here where we will answer all your questions.
 
Tim,
Welcome. Now remember Patience grasshopper... Aks away here where we will answer all your questions.

I am just gonna take you up on that Tom :)
I got the room half done but installed a table for now to work in. Had a clogged drain tonight so am in process of roto mucky :s nasty right after I got the dang room washed down. LOL so only means a little longer before Cracking things open. I wanted to get a good coat of epoxy on the floor but right now am glad the floor is not trying to dry as I am all over it!!
All this just makes for good reading later :) and nope it ain't gonna get to me nope! :c
Either way I will be moving things around first time racking so will hit the floor then hopefully.
I want to make a nice holler for George here as well, in his packing my order, with a 1" hole in the side of the box, torn out to 6"'s each way, I knew there was gonna be breakage inside. But George!! and his crew, had another box inside that surrounded by peanuts, and the inner box only showed a ding in it!
Kudos! All I have to say.
I will post the recipe tomorrow or next Tom, but that will be the one in the box, and there are questions brewing, in my mind, after watching the video included in the kit. I am seeing differences in the way crushed fruit is done versus the kit, like adding bentonite at the beginning, interesting, but I think I see the mechanics here too. So will post up later, and be more clear on my actual question here.
Just an update before I begin.

Tim
 
Well finally things are happening :)
SO2 in Bucket lid on for half hour, drained and added my juice!!
I then added (TAP) water to about 19.5 Liters, S.G. was 1.10 so added a tad more, final S.G. 1.088 :( Total is 21 liters so I held there. PH is 3.3/3.4, TDS is 40, TA is unreadable even though I added the 60ml of water to the sample. One drop I go black, of the sodium Hydroxide. I added another 60 ml of the sample to that and got a dark purple, not quite the sample lightness. Yeast is soaking and so is Bentonite each in 100 ml water. Temp 40 C.
Temp of the must is at 84 F so will wait till morning to pitch yeast.
Nice an d clean, fully sanitized, going slow as per instructions, trying to form good habits.
I will recheck the S.G. before adding yeast, and maybe try again to find the TA.

Tim

SG Small.jpg
 
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Update: With questions :)
I redid the TA test, and twice more to make sure of consistent results.
TA= .22 CC x .25=0.055
Caberlot, using distilled water to test with, add 60 ml to sample (reds) of DI water, 3-4 drops indicator, add Sodium Hydroxide a drop at a time until a color change occurs, holding this against a brightly lit white board of an incandescent lamp The change is rather clear and abrupt, at 21 ml 23 ml and 22 ml (.21 CC .23 CC and .22 CC)
Tell me this is normal for a Caberlot, since I was looking for TA= 0.55- 0.70 range.
Update on S.G. after settling it reads 1.090 right on the money!

Tim...... still learning... still learning.
 
Back on track:
Things are good!
Fermentation is Mighty fierce :) Lot of Foam like a heady beer! Stir twice daily. Temp 76 degrees
I somehow made a mistake in my first TA readings. hmmmmm
Today S.G. = 1.068, TA = 2.7 CC x .25 = 0.675, pH is lower at 2.8
Tastes great! very slight hint of the alcohol, very sweet yet, barely an acid detectable, good bold flavor underneath .

Tim
 
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Wade:
Yeah but I am going to err on the side of the operator this time and that it did not go lower in pH while fermenting, I will check again each day as this one ferments, and record the data. Being my first kit I figure just take readings and follow the destructions to the letter, making sure then I am good and able to use the rest of the instruments properly with wine. PH meter is a Hanna PHep 98107
and is new, so I am not sure I can trust "it" yet (Both operator and materials)
But my guess is that it had to be the moonspots and geomagnetic flux of Pluto this time. :) Like my first readings of TA, I am certain that was caused by the phase of the Sun! :slp
I will post todays results later and would be grateful if you would look at them, and take a course of action if necessary as well.

Tim

Oh and HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!
 
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Well hopefully things are as they appear here.
S.G. tonight is 1.030 and I see the CO2 now in the tube unless those are real happy yeasties.. or both.
Temp stable 76.6 and pH is at 3.4 tonight so last night has had to be a moonspots problem. Still tastes sweet but not as much as last night, and flavor is still bold.

Yup thar be wine!

Tim, and Ryan again too, :h
 
WOW S.G. Dropped like a brick today! 1.010, so cleaned up sanitized and racked to carboy.
Notes: A LOT OF CO2!
as in I pulled off a half gallon to a jug fast, VOLCANO!
I was kind of anticipating what I have been reading here on the forum so had a sanitized jug ready to the side ... WHEW!
When I added the yeast nutrient I almost had a volcano in the Primary Fermenting bucket, as in she foamed up right to the :< top.... not...... quite ..... spill over WHEW! :)
So the oaks in, though I think a little late at S.G. 1.010 and probably should have done all this last night.....
pH today 3.4
Smells wunnaful! Still too sweet tasting..:tz

Tim
 
Long term update

Wow time flies...... and flies and flies
Back in the picture again I am going to try to save this batch maybe....
It has "HAD" to sit on the oak since last July, and poor thing. grew roots!
Really though it smells great! and I ordered 2 carboglassajuggy things and went ahead and racked it over.
SG is Negative 0.0000000980 (0.980 seriously) and a heack of a lot of CO2 in there.
I was more afraid this would taste yeasty and oaky from the long spell, but surprised I am for thou doth taste wonderful.
I put my whip in it, attached a drill and went to work and sure nuf', thats some kind of gas. I am now giving my arm a break from drilling, 2 hours so far, still bubbling, for sure this puppy has gas!
My only question is not using paddles, the "whip" is how long I might have to beat errrr whip this puppy, to be safe on adding the K-meta? Will 3 days be enough?????
So advice would be welcomed here.


Tim, back on ma footsies'
 
If your temp is around mid 70's and you really did it for 2 hours then you shpould be done degassing!
 
Temp vs. Time

Hey Wade :) good to see you here still.
Yeah temp is 72 and yup 2 hours and so far lots of streaming bubbles yet coming up the sides.
It is finally beginning to slow down some, so I guess I am getting there. Having had to sit like this for so long, could that make for a more gassy situation? I am whipping now for 10 minutes, and letting it rest 10 so as to allow the gas to come up between agitations.
I will stick with it till it is not so gassy. And I will use caution introducing the K-meta, slowly go I shall.

Thanks for the response Wade :)

Tim
 
Progress and thank you

Well, to all of you who have jumped in and help keep me on a straight path, I thank you :)
I believe you were right Wade, that I had done plenty of stirring, and it was ok to proceed, and proceed I did. I was truly worried in not being able to rack this in the recommended time, and that it had sat an extra 5 months on the oak, that I had ruined yet another batch of juice.
I shall continue though as if all things are fine, and if the flavor and aroma are any indicator, I am one happy camper here.
I am now convinced the kits are a good way for me to go here. I was totally impressed with the flavor, and after a few moments of decanting, the aroma was blissful. I took a sample up to the gal I share the house with, she loves a good burgundy or related, and I respect her opinion of taste and such. First thoughts were this was still green, needs a year of aging. Soon she said wait, sipped a bit more, and said no, maybe another 6 months, and right now decant this a while before drinking. She gave this a 5* rating for color, aroma body and flavor. The flavor was not totally up to par in it was not as bold as she felt it should be, not thin, but with aging it would be great.

A WINNER!!!!!!! :try:try:try
Comments were, young, good sparkle, clear, color was intense, truly the garnet I hoped for.Very smooth and not too powerful aroma, hints of black currant, a little too nutty for her choice but not a negative for this one, a good butter after flavor that is not insistent or lingers.

So now it is time to choose another one to make.
So in "grilling" her to what to shoot for,
Nice dark, boasting of black currant, dark cherry, not so nutty, no raspberry please, bolder in flavor, less oak, I had her look at the kits and she was thinking maybe the Barolo.
I am open to everyones thoughts on this and anxious now to see if I can make drinkable twice!!

Thanks again everyone

Tim
 

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