New in Nebraska

[Travisty]

Hey everyone, I have been lurking around this forum for a couple weeks now. I am pretty much brand spanking new to winemaking. Some guys and I from my church decided it would be fun to start making beer together and it got me thinking of what it would be like to make wine. So I looked into it and it looks like a blast. My family and I started a new Christmas tradition this year by starting a batch of MM's Renaissance Chilean Malbec. We are about halfway through the secondary fermantation. I just checked the SG today and we're at 0.998. Should be ready to rack off the lees soon! I've decided, after reading this site a bit, that we are going bulk age this about 6-9 months before bottling it instead of bottling as soon as the instructions say. I work as a QC chemist at a large pharmaceutical manufacturing plant and I can't tell you how much this craft appeals to the chemist in me! I find myself wishing I had all the beakers, graduated cylinders, burets, pipets,balances, and whatever else that I available to me at work available at home too! I'm half thinking about adjusting acid and pHs at work now.


Speaking of work, it looks like Imight be able toget just about as many 4L glass jugs as I wantfrom work for free since we just toss them anyways. I was thinking about using them for any 1 gallon batches of wine I might want to try. But, all these jugs are dark brown in color. Would that be a real bad thing? It'd be near impossible to see what was going on inside of them most of the time. What do you guys think?


Anyways, I thought I'd finally register and say hi.

 

[Wade E]

Welcome Travisty, What was in these 1 gallon jugs is what concerns me. What we need here is another chemist so please stick around. You started off with a pretty darn good kit there. Make sure you add the extra 1/4 tsp of K-meta before bulk aging and then check the free SO2 before bottling after that bulk aging.

 

[Travisty]

Thanks for the welcome wade! I will definitely add that extra 1/4 tsp K-meta before we bulk age.



As far as what was in the jugs, it varys, from Methanol to Methylene Chloride to Toluene, to Acetonitrile, and more. Nothing good I assure you!

But our dishwashing guyhas offered already toput them through the wash that we use for all our glassware and I will be sure to wash them very well before I use them as well. I'm just wondering if the dark coloring is worth using. 1 gallon carboys aren't all that pricey but free is hard to pass up!

 

[Wade E]

You sure dont need to see whats going on when bulk aging so they would be good for that. You really dont need to see whats going on at any stage really after you have some wine making experience under your belt.

 

[Waldo]

Welcome to the forum travisty. Glad to have you onboard

 

[Joanie]

Welcome Travisty!

I love beakers and graduated cylinders too! Beaker was always my favorite Muppet!

My dad was a chemist and I especially remember the white ceramic mortar and pestle he had from his grad school days. It was a beauty! Thanks for waking up some wonderful memories!

You've found yourself a great hobby!

 

[Travisty]

Glad I could help Joan.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I can't wait to keep on learning what I can and hopefully, put it into practice!

 

[uavwmn]

Welcome to fun city!!

Enjoy the process and the wonderful people here.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Welcome Travisty! You have to tell us how you chose that name

. Could be some fun there....


I look forward to learning from you.

 

[Travisty]

Haha,my real name is Travis and I always think someone is saying my name when I hear the word travesty!

I've been using Travisty as a screen name on almost all the forums I've been on for the last 8 years or so.