Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in cherry wine, enology, mead, winemaking on Nov 30th, 2007
Making red wine from cherries I made cherry wine, in June 2006 and 2007, like a red wine from grapes. I crushed the fruit, adjusted the sugar and acid, and pitched the yeast. The sugar and acid profile of cherries is very different from that of grapes, so “adjusting the sugar and acid” is a [...]
Posted in equipment on Nov 28th, 2007
The local homebrew shop closest to my house was out of 3-gallon carboys. I was in a hurry, so I decided to look around for other stores in the area and I’m glad I did. Not only did Larry’s Brewing Supply have the carboys in stock, they sold them for 20% less. The two stores [...]
Posted in equipment on Nov 26th, 2007
I’ve got a little over eight gallons (30 liters) of pressed Merlot that needs to be racked soon. What do you rack eight gallons of wine into? A 5-gallon carboy and three 1-gallon jugs would work, but the best way is to use a 3-gallon (11 liter) carboy. You don’t hear as much about the [...]
Posted in winemaking on Nov 20th, 2007
I’ve had about six gallons (23 liters) of Chardonnay fermenting in two 5-gallon (19 liter) carboys since 10/17/07. That’s when I took delivery of my purchased grapes, 100 lb of Chardonnay and 100 lb of Merlot. I pressed the Merlot on 10/22/07, and racked the Chardonnay a few days ago. Up to this point, I’ve [...]
Posted in apple wine, enology, winemaking on Nov 19th, 2007
I racked my apple wine on 11/15/07. It analyzed out as: Specific Gravity (SG): 0.996, pH: 3.56, Titratable Acidity (TA): 7 g/L So it had fermented out in less than ten days, but the thing that surprised me was the TA. It rose from 5.5 to 7 g/L when I was expecting it to drop. [...]
Posted in enology, equipment, maintenance & cleaning on Nov 14th, 2007
I racked and measured four batches the other day, and it gave me the opportunity to size up my new buffer solution. I recorded TA values for three of those batches while I was still using my old buffer solution to calibrate my pH meter, and they shouldn’t have changed much. Here are the data: [...]
Posted in tasting, winemaking on Nov 13th, 2007
Check up on your wine, rack when needed, measure, and take notes.
Posted in winemaking on Nov 12th, 2007
One constant in the din of conflicting advice about winemaking is the importance of sanitizing your equipment. It’s so thoroughly agreed upon and so often mentioned, “sanitize all your equipment then …” that its rarely discussed. If you’re just starting out, how do you know what to use? Homebrewers transitioning to winemaking might be tempted [...]
Posted in winemaking on Nov 9th, 2007
When I rack a wine or mead, I try to have empty containers of various sizes ready. The idea is to end up with the smallest number of full containers and the least amount of waste. I use 1-gallon jugs, half-gallon jugs, wine bottles (half, standard, and magnum), beer bottles, and even 8 oz (240 [...]
How much acid? I looked in on my mead the other day. It was clearing and had thrown some sediment. It was dry, with a specific gravity of 0.996. The pH, at 3.39, was low enough to protect the mead, but the titratable acidity was only 3.5 g/L. Titration will overstate the amount of acid [...]