Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in apple wine, DIY equipment, equipment on Sep 14th, 2010
What can you do when you’ve got too many apples for a juicer, but you don’t have a crusher and press? Here’s how I coaxed about 35% juice yield from 8 lb of apples with very little equipment and what I would do to improve that yield next time.
Posted in enology, equipment, measurement & testing, winemaking, winemaking clubs on Feb 5th, 2008
A man, his contraption, and a different way I learned of a different way to test for titratable acidity, the other day. At the last meeting of the Puget Sound Amatuer Wine and Beer Makers club, Don Proctor demonstrated this method using an odd looking device. He used ordinary baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to neutralize [...]
Posted in equipment, winemaking on Dec 18th, 2007
I made good use of my new 3-gallon (11 liter) carboys this weekend. Three 1-gallon (3.785 liter) jugs, plus one wine bottle, of cherry wine fit perfectly into the carboy. Eight gallons (30 liters) of Merlot filled a 5-gallon (19 liter) and a 3-gallon carboy with a little left over in a wine bottle. Higher [...]
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 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 enology, equipment, maintenance & cleaning on Nov 7th, 2007
What is a buffer solution? You need to calibrate your pH meter for it to work properly, but to do that, you need to immerse it in a solution of known pH. Buffer solutions are the way out of that little chicken and egg problem. These are made of precisely measured ingredients that combine to [...]
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 equipment, winemaking on Sep 25th, 2007
I’m excited about making red wine from grapes this year. It will be my first red, and I needed some new equipment. My largest fermenter has a ten gallon capacity, which is enough for five or six gallons of white wine, but too small for five gallons of red wine. Red wine is fermented on [...]