Tuesday 23 November 2010
More Racking and Degassing
Late last night I squeezed in a little more brewing activity and racked the next 5 gallon batch of Blueberry & Cranberry. Started degassing it too. Busy times!
Saturday 20 November 2010
Racking and Degassing
A day in the brewery that feels like an immense amount has been achieved. Well moving 30 bottles of wine one step closer to imminent drinking would do eh!
So this is the 5 gallon batch of Blueberry & Cranberry Rosé, today I racked it and started degassing it by swirling and rocking each DJ. It's a funny thing but it gives me a nice connection to my wine, I always want to call it "burping the baby". Place the DJ in your lap and swirl/rock it while you watch the dissolved gasses (mostly CO2) come out of solution and bubble up through the airlock. This is what the end of 4 degassing sessions, on 5 DJ's, looks like. I love the colour and clarity of this wine and it's not even 8 weeks since it was started. Tastes fine too! But will need more degassing yet before stabilising and bottling.
and this is what it looks like the moment you stop the burping
You'll get a "head" on your wine each time you do this for some time. But it is worth it, the wine will be still. If you don't it'll have a slight fizz (I think the poncey term is frizz). Personally I quite like it, but if folk are not expecting it then they'll either be suspicious of your abilities, or if they are wine competition types then they'll tell you it's a fault and "mark you down" for it.
I kinda see what "they" are aiming for. There is nothing bad about wine with this frizz, it's just not fashionable in those circles. But once upon a time new world wine was sneered at too. Fashions change, whether you're in the inner circle or not. But I think I'm a bit of an odd-ball brewer anyway. I choose my yeast to suit my preferences (low foaming and extra esters). And also to suit the conditions; rather than change the conditions (temperature with a heating belt/mat for example) to suit yeast. I avoid all finings if at all possible and prefer to wait. I have never filtered. I haven't failed to clear a bottle of wine for a few hundred bottles but if offered cloudy or hazy homebrew I'll drink it as long as it tastes right. And I won't sneer at it either. Cos I love home-brewing and as long as you keep it a pleasure then you will too.
So if you're starting out, or still pretty new to it all, then take it slow and easy, don't fret about the small stuff, you'll still love drinking what you made. And by the time you know enough to make "improvements" then you will have given your senses something out of the ordinary. So then you can decide whether or not you want to change it. There's nothing wrong with making a generic wine, and it's easy enough to do, there's plenty of step by step recipes for those wines on the web. But making something unique and quality, well that's special.
Was that a rant?
So this is the 5 gallon batch of Blueberry & Cranberry Rosé, today I racked it and started degassing it by swirling and rocking each DJ. It's a funny thing but it gives me a nice connection to my wine, I always want to call it "burping the baby". Place the DJ in your lap and swirl/rock it while you watch the dissolved gasses (mostly CO2) come out of solution and bubble up through the airlock. This is what the end of 4 degassing sessions, on 5 DJ's, looks like. I love the colour and clarity of this wine and it's not even 8 weeks since it was started. Tastes fine too! But will need more degassing yet before stabilising and bottling.
and this is what it looks like the moment you stop the burping
You'll get a "head" on your wine each time you do this for some time. But it is worth it, the wine will be still. If you don't it'll have a slight fizz (I think the poncey term is frizz). Personally I quite like it, but if folk are not expecting it then they'll either be suspicious of your abilities, or if they are wine competition types then they'll tell you it's a fault and "mark you down" for it.
I kinda see what "they" are aiming for. There is nothing bad about wine with this frizz, it's just not fashionable in those circles. But once upon a time new world wine was sneered at too. Fashions change, whether you're in the inner circle or not. But I think I'm a bit of an odd-ball brewer anyway. I choose my yeast to suit my preferences (low foaming and extra esters). And also to suit the conditions; rather than change the conditions (temperature with a heating belt/mat for example) to suit yeast. I avoid all finings if at all possible and prefer to wait. I have never filtered. I haven't failed to clear a bottle of wine for a few hundred bottles but if offered cloudy or hazy homebrew I'll drink it as long as it tastes right. And I won't sneer at it either. Cos I love home-brewing and as long as you keep it a pleasure then you will too.
So if you're starting out, or still pretty new to it all, then take it slow and easy, don't fret about the small stuff, you'll still love drinking what you made. And by the time you know enough to make "improvements" then you will have given your senses something out of the ordinary. So then you can decide whether or not you want to change it. There's nothing wrong with making a generic wine, and it's easy enough to do, there's plenty of step by step recipes for those wines on the web. But making something unique and quality, well that's special.
Was that a rant?
Monday 15 November 2010
Bottling Again
Tonight I'm emptying demi-johns cos I need 6 empties. Tonight's effort will get the total up to 5. So it was decision time and this is what I went for
1 gallon of Elderberry & Blackberry wine. Started August 2009. My hunch was that this would be best left for around another year due to the elderberry content, but best does not always mean that it isn't just fine a little early, and curiosity got the better of me, especially as I have 3 gallons of it! So the verdict is really quite yummy! It's a bit like the commercial Rioja (2007) that we opened last night. Tho it is a bit lighter coming in at 12.4% ABV compared to 13.5% for the Rioja. It's a little velvety, plenty of body, fruity, a little astringent, medium/dry. If I called it "Rioja light" then I think that would be fair enough. Happy? YEAH! It's a proper red and for a country wine that means you don't have the abundance of options that homebrewers have for whites and rosés. I don't make many reds and I'll make this again!
1 gallon of the 2010 Quickie Elderflower. This is the last of the 5 gallon batch. It's very pleasant table wine. If you get on with Elderflowers then it's the business. Certainly done the job well of be something we can quaff while we wait for the good stuff to age. And the good stuff (3 gallons of it) hasn't been touched as a result.
1 gallon of 2009 Blackberry, from the brambles in the garden. A big rosé that I love. It's one of my favourite homebrews. Great flavour and feel and throw in foraging for free ingredients, top notch fun quality homebrewing. I just noticed while searching for the link, that I haven't written this one up. So I'll get onto that. In my opinion it's a must for the homebrewer who has blackberries around and about. A wild bramble will make sharper wine unless you pick very fussily, but neverthless it's still good stuff. Cultivate a bramble tho and it'll have less fruit to support, which means bigger fruits, more sugar flavour etc.
No piccies today, sorry, hic ;-)
1 gallon of Elderberry & Blackberry wine. Started August 2009. My hunch was that this would be best left for around another year due to the elderberry content, but best does not always mean that it isn't just fine a little early, and curiosity got the better of me, especially as I have 3 gallons of it! So the verdict is really quite yummy! It's a bit like the commercial Rioja (2007) that we opened last night. Tho it is a bit lighter coming in at 12.4% ABV compared to 13.5% for the Rioja. It's a little velvety, plenty of body, fruity, a little astringent, medium/dry. If I called it "Rioja light" then I think that would be fair enough. Happy? YEAH! It's a proper red and for a country wine that means you don't have the abundance of options that homebrewers have for whites and rosés. I don't make many reds and I'll make this again!
1 gallon of the 2010 Quickie Elderflower. This is the last of the 5 gallon batch. It's very pleasant table wine. If you get on with Elderflowers then it's the business. Certainly done the job well of be something we can quaff while we wait for the good stuff to age. And the good stuff (3 gallons of it) hasn't been touched as a result.
1 gallon of 2009 Blackberry, from the brambles in the garden. A big rosé that I love. It's one of my favourite homebrews. Great flavour and feel and throw in foraging for free ingredients, top notch fun quality homebrewing. I just noticed while searching for the link, that I haven't written this one up. So I'll get onto that. In my opinion it's a must for the homebrewer who has blackberries around and about. A wild bramble will make sharper wine unless you pick very fussily, but neverthless it's still good stuff. Cultivate a bramble tho and it'll have less fruit to support, which means bigger fruits, more sugar flavour etc.
No piccies today, sorry, hic ;-)
Monday 8 November 2010
Fast Ferment
When I moved the Muscat wine from primary to secondary it seemed to have done it's usual and momentarily stopped pushing gases through the airlock. However next morning it was the same, very very slow. I added a pinch of nutrient to each DJ to see if there was any change. Two days later, no change. I was wondering if I had my first ever stuck ferment and the thick layer of sediment also urged me on. So I racked it and in doing so got a sip. That was informative, this taster was NOT sweet! So I measured the gravity, 1001. Wowzer, that was a fast ferment, especially in a cool house. Far too soon to guess at the wine's final qualities, it's pretty sour but there are no off tastes.
Now it's back to the familiar routine of waiting patiently for a sediment and the start of clearing, then racking, degassing and stabilising. I expect it'll drop a few points in gravity in the next few weeks.
The moral of the story: DON'T PANIC
Now it's back to the familiar routine of waiting patiently for a sediment and the start of clearing, then racking, degassing and stabilising. I expect it'll drop a few points in gravity in the next few weeks.
The moral of the story: DON'T PANIC
Friday 5 November 2010
Primary to Secondary
Piccie time!
Tonight I moved the Muscat (grape) Wine to Demi-johns. Still amazes me that these smelly, dirty dishwater coloured, cloudy liquids turn into delicious wines.
Bottling Woohoo
Last night I kept up the steady progress and bottled 3 gallons of rosés, 2 gallons of Oaked Rosé discussed in the previous entry and 1 gallon of Cheapskate Rosé Light. Tonight myself, Mrs Critter Wines and a friend did the taste test; they taste very similar. Our friend couldn't tell the difference. Us critters thought the cheapskate was a little sharper or more acidic. Neither better nor worse, just a little different. And because you keep reading my blog here's a very boring picture of most of the bottles!
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Would You Believe ... More Racking
Just managing to keep up with my aim of racking and bottling daily for a few days. Late last night I pulled out some DJ's to see which were ripe for racking. Found the oaked rosés and got cracking. I have a bit of a cold/flu thing lingering so the taste buds and nose haven't got back to their usual raggedy best yet but they are not far off. But wow did I get a surprise!
I formulated the recipe myself, which was exciting and a timely challenge having never done so before. Usually I take an existing recipe and tweak it to my tastes. But these were my own, not saying no-one has done anything like it before of course, the recipe is simple enough.
Anyway, the wines have a great feel in the mouth, a level of astringency that compliments the acidity, infact I think it would be fair to say the balance altogether is spot on. I can't discern the oak flavours tho. Possibly it's because I'm not accustomed to it and don't know what to "look" for. Possibly because of the tail end of that cold/flu thing. Both acids work well and the difference between the wines is only marginal. One a little fruitier, the other a little crisper, a good comparative experiment to have done in the long journey of educating myself on wine-making.
I wouldn't say it's the best wine I've ever made, but there may have been no better. It all comes down to your mood and setting I reckon. So if you have never played with brewers oak chips then i heartily recommend this wine when you feel experimental, especially if you like to keep the whole process simple (wines from cartons of juice).
I formulated the recipe myself, which was exciting and a timely challenge having never done so before. Usually I take an existing recipe and tweak it to my tastes. But these were my own, not saying no-one has done anything like it before of course, the recipe is simple enough.
Anyway, the wines have a great feel in the mouth, a level of astringency that compliments the acidity, infact I think it would be fair to say the balance altogether is spot on. I can't discern the oak flavours tho. Possibly it's because I'm not accustomed to it and don't know what to "look" for. Possibly because of the tail end of that cold/flu thing. Both acids work well and the difference between the wines is only marginal. One a little fruitier, the other a little crisper, a good comparative experiment to have done in the long journey of educating myself on wine-making.
I wouldn't say it's the best wine I've ever made, but there may have been no better. It all comes down to your mood and setting I reckon. So if you have never played with brewers oak chips then i heartily recommend this wine when you feel experimental, especially if you like to keep the whole process simple (wines from cartons of juice).
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Racking Again
I'm hopeful that in between other things I can do some racking and bottling over the next few days. Last night I started with 3 gallons of Elderflower wine. This batch the one made traditionally, that is to say not a quickie brew. Should be ready to drink in the near future. Which is a good thing as I need empty DJs now!
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