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Speaking of butt kickings, I've had to work more this week than the last month (maybe longer). Workmate gave short notice of her retirement so we had three days to extract 30 years of knowledge from her brain. It was tough but I think we'll be okay, we'll find out next week when we are flying solo.

I sort of enjoyed my semi-retirement. Guess that is done for a while... time for another beverage.

Edit: I guess I like working for my $$ verses having to take UC doing nothing. I feel for all those who are out of a job and can't find a new one.
 
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Wedding wine...check.

My son living in California has been diagnosed with CoVid19 and cannot be here for the wedding. We trust he’ll be fine as he’s not in a risk group typically known for a deadly outcome.

We’ve been planning on a wedding with over 300 and now our confirmed attendance list has been reduced to 52 (thus the reduce quantity of wine in the picture). I feel bad for my son who is getting married and his to be wife and her family. The effects of CoVid have squarely disrupted many things - our wedding not withstanding.

We have much to be thankful for!

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I have to admit though my butt is a little kicked.

Fred, so sorry to hear about your plight. Keep us posted...

I just had an opposite experience. Last fall I ordered 6 Meglioli kits that finally came in a few weeks ago. So, I have an active ferment going. I checked the ferment room a couple hours ago and I found the temperature in that room 105 degrees. I use an Ink Bird controller and it must have failed and kept my chicken coop heater on for a couple of days given that the must was all registering just shy of 100 degrees. I certainly hope the wine isn't ruined. It's fermented dry but I hope not "burned" tasting...

Here's some shots of my Tilt units...

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I've pretty much finished up on the construction part of my new winery. Final tabulations: Approx 15 days work and 1000.00 in materials. Finished size is 270 square feet. I've still got to replace the sink behind door number 2 with a utility sink and buy a work bench but that's a chore for after I pay off the Home Depot card. I also plan to start hauling all my wine stuff back in and organizing during the next couple of weeks, I'll probably buy a wine kit or two just to get a winemaking fix. I can't believe it was about 2-1/2 years ago I bottled my last batch in preparation of moving to arizona. All in all I think it's going to work out really well. "Winehouse on the Rocks II " Before and after Pics - first and second same view, third looking towards my art studio and office.

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Krafty, I love it, and I am so jealous! When I get my newly-installed wall-to-wall carpet paid off I am going to hire local Amish to build a wine room/cellar onto the back of my garage. It looks great.................job well done!!...............................Dizzy
 
Materials and Supplies:

Purchased oven (1000 plus) from Cuore - BrazilIan company. Had to ”manipulate” a 6” inch double insulated pipe to accommodate a 14cm (5.5”) hole. Didn’t take too long. Oven was shipped freight from Florida.

Put all the components (19 pieces) together, insulated and got the first of three rounds of stucco on. It will eventually have 5 inches of stucco to help keep the heat in the oven.

My landscapers have been busy the last month (only a day or two a week because of rain) prepping the spot, laying 500 square feet of pavers that includes a sidewalk to the front of my house. This wasn’t too troublesome as the 3” thick round finished concrete table (60”) took about a month to create and cure. Also, they had to pour footers and a 6” concrete foundation because this thing will weigh over two tons when it’s complete.

I’ll do the second (morning) and third (evening) coats tomorrow. The third coat will be more a skim coat and will have die (charcoal) as color. I’ll mortar the front bricks as the last step.

More pictures tomorrow.
Someone must really love pizza! It looks wonderful................................Dizzy
 
last night I went to get a few bottles of wine out of the cooler to bring home and found my AC unit was froze up. It was around 80* when it is normally at 55*. One of the carboys had wine coming up through the air lock. Grabbed a heat gun to defrost it and found when I turned it back on it started freezing up again. Went to Lowes to get a new one but it was around 9:00 when I got back. Set the Inkbird to 75* and it seemed to rest long enough to thaw the ice. Had to be at my job @ 4:30 this morning to get a crane set up so I was back at the shop at 3:00 making sure it was still working at 75* and no luck. I pulled the old one and put in the new one and just let it run on it's own controls at 64*. So now I'm working on getting the new one set permanently. I have to admit though my butt is a little kicked.
Fred, sorry to hear of your troubles. How do you think your wine has fared with the dramatic changes in temperature?..........................Dizzy
 
Fred, sorry to hear of your troubles. How do you think your wine has fared with the dramatic changes in temperature?..........................Dizzy

I think it's fine, thanks for asking. Not knowing how long it was like that I was afraid there may not have been enough ullage in the bottles. No extruded corks that I can tell.
 
The S. African Cab and Shiraz finished MLF about a week ago, so it's raking and sulfiting time. Really wish I could get them in barrels but I think the fall wines still need more time. Plus I want to do some blending with falls Norton, Petit Verdot, Touriga, Nebbiolo, Tannat, Alicante and 2019 spring Cab. My plans are to have each one 75-80% of the varietal with small portions of some of the others for complexity and color.
 
I just found out I'm staying up later than I like to...supposed to be a blood moon or eclipse tonight (haven't researched yet, heard it on the radio). My youngest daughter is into astronomy, so I think it might be a dad/daughter bonding opportunity tonight (she's 12, I think, I get confused, I'm old, that is what wives are for, to remember dates and such).

Time to get out a nice bottle of red. Just hope my eyes aren't too red in church tomorrow.

Didn't realize it was a penumbral eclipse, I think I'll get a good nights sleep instead.

https://www.space.com/buck-moon-penumbral-lunar-eclipse-july-2020-explained.html
 
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This is what I have been doing today. I have owned the Allinonewinepump for probably 5 or 6 years. But I didn't have the filter system. I finally bought the filter components and got it set up today. I had 7 or maybe 9 carboys to filter. Shoo here it is mid process. I am pretty impressed by this, given the cost, I bought 10 filters to get to free shipping from filter fast and thre whole cost was under $100. Oh and on the very right is some extratracting lemoncello.IMG_20200704_154251.jpg
 
Living in a close knit community of over 1000 houses, people do get some fireworks from time to time (New Years Eve is usually the most active, believe it or not). I feel for my wife who has to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning. I'm sitting on my perch at the edge of the garage enjoying the show.

Notice my neighbor behind me who lives outside the Lake not doing anything. Normally I'm thinking of hosing down my roof because he usually puts off quite an array of fireworks. He put on quite a show about three weeks ago. I was driving home from a evening meeting and could see them from miles away. After I got home a bunch of unmarked cars descended on his house all at once, I think it was the Feds. One came back a few hours later with what I would have thought was a warrant, though he didn't get hauled off.

I let the pyrotechnics to the others. Somewhat worried because it has been rather dry around these parts other than a light rain last night.

Happy fourth to all of you out there in wineland!
 
There is a constant, albeit diffuse, din of percussives here. Perhaps other 4ths are like this, but overwhelmed by the "official" fireworks, but it really seems different. Just a continuous bang/crackle/bang coming from 360 degreees.

Happy 4th to all.
 
Oh and on the very right is some extratracting lemoncello.
Oooooo, limoncello! Ever since I got my first taste of “home-made” limoncello on a cruise ship on “Italy night,” I’ve always wondered how to make it properly, but never researched it. I’ve infused lemon and/or lime zest in diluted Everclear for a couple months then added simple syrup. I quite enjoy drinking that, but do you have a recipe you would share?
 
Oooooo, limoncello! Ever since I got my first taste of “home-made” limoncello on a cruise ship on “Italy night,” I’ve always wondered how to make it properly, but never researched it. I’ve infused lemon and/or lime zest in diluted Everclear for a couple months then added simple syrup. I quite enjoy drinking that, but do you have a recipe you would share?
There's is a thread around here somewhere with several different versions. Mine is 3 or 4 bottles of Costco vodka, zesty if about 40 lemons, soak together for 40 days or more. Strain out the lemon. Add simple sryup.
 
There is a constant, albeit diffuse, din of percussives here. Perhaps other 4ths are like this, but overwhelmed by the "official" fireworks, but it really seems different. Just a continuous bang/crackle/bang coming from 360 degreees.

Happy 4th to all.

We noticed the same thing sitting out front with some neighbors last night. A little after 11, it got quiet and one said, "I feel like we were just in battle.". Must've been the cancellation of many local "official" displays forcing everyone to go get their own.
 
There's is a thread around here somewhere with several different versions. Mine is 3 or 4 bottles of Costco vodka, zesty if about 40 lemons, soak together for 40 days or more. Strain out the lemon. Add simple sryup.
Didn’t think to look for a limoncello recipe on WINEmakingtalk! LOL I’ll definitely look it up. How big are your Costco bottles? In Canada ours are 1.75 L, a little less than halfway gallon. And how much sugar/simple syrup for your taste?
 
Didn’t think to look for a limoncello recipe on WINEmakingtalk! LOL I’ll definitely look it up. How big are your Costco bottles? In Canada ours are 1.75 L, a little less than halfway gallon. And how much sugar/simple syrup for your taste?
US has the 1.75 liter bottles as well. I generally add enough sugar water to end up with about three gallons. To be honest, I never actually measure it.
 
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