I had hoped to ferment my mead in about two weeks, but at the thirteen day mark (yesterday) the specific gravity is still 1.020. Bubbly clumps on the surface of the mead told the same story; it’ll take more than two weeks. The mead was fizzy, but less so than last time, and tasted sweet. [...]
Monthly Archive for May, 2007
Homebrew Organic Fertilizer
Posted in gardening on May 20th, 2007
An important part in rejuvenating the rhubarb patch and preparing the tomato vineyard, is to fertilize them. Steve Solomon is my favorite gardening author, and this organic fertilizer recipe is from his Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Natural Gardening: 4 parts (by volume) seed meal (I use cottonseed meal) 1 [...]
Rhubarb Wine: Rhubarb needs love too
Posted in gardening on May 18th, 2007
Rhubarb is hardy, but you still have to water, weed, and fertilize to get a good crop.
One Step Closer To Tomato Wine
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 17th, 2007
Vote For Washington Winemaker! Grapeseek is a directory of grape and wine related links, and they are having a vote for their top ten. I would love it if you voted for Washington Winemaker. Click here to cast your vote. I’ve been looking at the 10-day forecast for clues on when to transplant my tomatoes. [...]
Cluster Thinning For Better Wine
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on May 16th, 2007
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that my Pinot Noir clone, ESP374, is not highly regarded. Its biggest problem is that it sets more fruit than it can ripen well. It over-promises and under-delivers, and, ever the optimist, does the same thing year after year. To make good wine from this clone, I pluck out immature [...]
Pinot Noir: What’s in a name?
Posted in viticulture on May 15th, 2007
Pinot Noir was one of the first grape vines I acquired. My research indicated that it was the only traditional red wine grape that would ripen in my neck of the woods, and I was right about that. What I missed was how many different kinds of Pinot Noir there are. It’s a very old [...]
Honey Prices: Making sense of colony collapse disorder
Posted in colony collapse disorder, mead on May 14th, 2007
When I buy honey for mead, I do it in 5 gallon (60 lb) buckets. With last year’s dip in US honey production and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) wiping out honeybee colonies, I’m keeping a wary eye on prices. Predicting 2007 production and prices is as dicey as guessing the cause of CCD, so I’ll [...]
A Simple Mead Recipe: Not yet
Posted in mead on May 13th, 2007
I measured the specific gravity (SG) of my fermenting mead yesterday, and it came to 1.046 @ 64 degrees Fahrenheit. So fermentation is about halfway done. Temperature affects the measurement, so it’s important to record and adjust for it. Hydrometers are calibrated to work at a particular temperature, 60 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15.5 Celsius) in [...]
A Simple Mead Recipe: When to rack
Posted in mead on May 12th, 2007
My mead is bubbling away in a primary fermenter, a large open topped container. At some point I’ll want to rack it to a secondary fermenter. That is, siphon the mead to a closed container where it’s protected from oxygen. There are two problems with siphoning mead or wine that is still fermenting. First, the [...]
Between A Pot And A Cold Place: When to transplant tomatoes outdoors
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 11th, 2007
I’m making tomato wine this year, and for me that starts with growing tomatoes from seed. I transplant them into the garden when it gets warm enough, meaning overnight lows of 50 Fahrenheit or higher. The latest forecast is for lows in the mid 40′s for the next 10 days, though, so I should delay [...]