Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in equipment, maintenance & cleaning on Oct 26th, 2007
What I hate about winemaking Once I pressed the Merlot, it was time to watch airlocks bubble as the wine fermented out and then slowly cleared. It was also time to clean the fermenter. This is on the list, along with washing bottles, of my least favorite things about making wine. The best way to [...]
Posted in enology, equipment, winemaking on Oct 22nd, 2007
When to press red wine When making red wine from grapes, you crush the grapes then ferment them. You leave the skins and pulp in the fermenting wine, for a time, then you press it and leave the solids behind. The amount of time will vary according to the style of wine you’re making. Three [...]
Posted in winemaking on Oct 20th, 2007
The Chardonnay is fermenting in two carboys, pictured below. The one on the left contains the press juice and the one on the right contains free run. The free run juice contained a lot more sediment than the press juice, and the yeast had a quicker start in the free run. I’ll leave the wine [...]
Posted in enology, winemaking on Oct 19th, 2007
When making red wine from grapes, you will be fermenting crushed fruit. So the skins, seeds, pulp, probably some stems and other debris are all mixed into your fermenting wine. When the yeast are active, all the carbon dioxide (CO2) they produce is rising to the surface pushing those solids up with it. They collect [...]
Posted in halloween, pumpkin wine, Recipes, winemaking on Oct 18th, 2007
How much pumpkin and acid? This isn’t a common wine to make, even for a country wine, but I did find some recipes. Every single one of them agreed on using 5 lb/Gallon (600 g/L) of pumpkin, but they were very different in the amount of acid and sugar. I think it makes sense to [...]
Posted in enology, winemaking on Oct 17th, 2007
Grapes in the crusher and burgers on the grill The grapes I ordered arrived on Sunday (10/14/07). I brought home a 24-gallon fermenter with 100 lb (45.4 kg) of crushed Merlot grapes and two 5-gallon (19 liter) carboys, each with about three gallons (11+ liters) of Chardonnay juice. The boxed grapes arrived in a truck, [...]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Oct 15th, 2007
I harvested 14 oz (400 g) of the Pinot Noir on 10/13/07. That completes the harvest for 2006; here are the details: Pinot Noir: 21 oz (600 g) Leon Millot: 37 oz (1050 g) Price 17 oz (480 g) Siegerrebe: 11.5 oz (325 g) All: 86.5 oz (2455 g) 5 lb 6 oz isn’t a [...]
Posted in halloween, pumpkin wine, winemaking on Oct 11th, 2007
Being a kid on Halloween meant dressing up in a costume, staying out after dark, and asking strangers for candy. Saying it like that makes it sound kinda strange – maybe even dangerous – why on earth would I do something like that? I was a young boy, so I did most things because they [...]
Posted in enology, troubleshooting, winemaking on Oct 9th, 2007
Great news for fungi, bad news for grapes The cool climate, here in the Puget Sound Region, keeps growers on the edge. We want to grow noble varieties like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which will ripen here but just barely. We also want reliable grapes that ripen even in bad years like this one. Grapes [...]
Posted in gardening on Oct 8th, 2007
More on growing rhubarb and tomatoes for wine.