What's going on in your winery today..

[goldseal]

It is all to do with the size of the oak pieces.

Oak chips (such as wot Karl sells) have a high surface area relative to their size, so require a short contact time (days or a couple of weeks). Cubes require longer, spirals longer still, and barrels longest.

[SiSandrine]

And also smell and taste regularly. Karl sells American or French Oak and either Medium or Heavy Toast. I have tried both and my personal view is that American Oak imparts the most oaky vanilla flavour whereas with the French Oak it is much more subtle and requires longer contact to achieve an effect.

Main advice though is to smell and taste weekly or fortnightly at most with the chips.

[billybuntus]

Roger, We'll make it a date. 26th aug.

Diablo and abbey are next on my list. How does the framboise taste?

Well Mr Owl,

Its tasting good. A very nice bitter. Not my favourite but very good. How do you find it?

[goldseal]

No wine stuff for a few days, apart from stabilising a Beaverdale Cal White kit made with D47.

The Great Bread Starter From Elderberry (And A Crab Apple) experiment is going well. I reckon Barry (for that is the starter's name) will be ready for his first mission in a day or so.

[owlwithoutfeathers]

Well Mr Owl,

Its tasting good. A very nice bitter. Not my favourite but very good. How do you find it?

Hey there! Well, i bought a couple of bottles of the real deal St Peters IPA and blind tested with my buddy against the hoke brew.

And it tasted bl00dy lovely! I am well chuffed!! Its amazing.

The bouquet was fruitier than the original - so thats a plus.
There was a good head on it - better than the original bottles stuff. Again a plus.
Nice malty tones, but then the wonderful zip of hops (it is after all an IPA).

I cant believe how good it is, particulalry for something so young.

I converted my buddy who's going to be buying some of this stuff to do next week.

[billybuntus]

Hey there! Well, i bought a couple of bottles of the real deal St Peters IPA and blind tested with my buddy against the hoke brew.

And it tasted bl00dy lovely! I am well chuffed!! Its amazing.

The bouquet was fruitier than the original - so thats a plus.
There was a good head on it - better than the original bottles stuff. Again a plus.
Nice malty tones, but then the wonderful zip of hops (it is after all an IPA).

I cant believe how good it is, particulalry for something so young.

I converted my buddy who's going to be buying some of this stuff to do next week.

Very good idea indeed. Pleased to here your enjoying it. I've just cracked open a cheeky (small) bottle of belgian triple

[owlwithoutfeathers]

How is the triple? Is it a Brewferm kit?

[billybuntus]

How is the triple? Is it a Brewferm kit?

Yup its a a breferm. Its very good its quite 'zingy' (I don't make a habit of using that word in public). Good mouth feel and you definitely know its gonna give you a hangover after a few pints. A tasty beer indeed.

[Rich]

Spent today modifying my igloo cool box for use as a mash tun. Cut/shaped some perforated stainless steel for a false bottom and attached some feet. Then cut shaped a piece to cut out the headspace in the lid. I'll need to insulate behind that before it gets fitted. Lever tap fitted in the side for draining. I'd post some pics, but it's still in the back of the truck, and it's raining outside. Maybe tomorrow.

[billybuntus]

Racked two gallons of orange wine and 5 gallons of barolo. The barolo tastes excellent even thought its only a few weeks old.

[owlwithoutfeathers]

The Barolo is excellent - thats if its a Beaverdale? I did it back in October 2009 and have (sadly) 1 bottle left.

I'm thinking of buying another 5 gallon kit and maybe tweaking it with some extra sultanas/raisins and tannin? Oh and Lalvin RC-212 or K1-V1116 yeast.

Owl.

[goldseal]

Preparing for a bottling day tomorrow: mainly sorting out bottles in Bottlestore Galactica (the shed)

[billybuntus]

The Barolo is excellent - thats if its a Beaverdale? I did it back in October 2009 and have (sadly) 1 bottle left.

I'm thinking of buying another 5 gallon kit and maybe tweaking it with some extra sultanas/raisins and tannin? Oh and Lalvin RC-212 or K1-V1116 yeast.

Owl.

Certainly is, can't wait for it to age a few months

I plan to tweak too, k1v next time instead of the standard yeast. Just wanted a benchmark run first.

Been blackberrying today, hardly any compared to last years haul (30lb in all this year)

[goldseal]

Bottling session today: Minijets, Enolmatics, pipes and bottles everywhere

I finally got 5 gal of my GF09 Ciliegiolo bottled (only 5 gal left in carboys now), along with the GF10 backsweetened Trebbiano, some Wine No.1 + Gooseberry and some P ...... P ....... Par ..... Pars ...... no, I'm not going to say it

[waggoner]

Not done anything for a few months now!!! So back with just starting 2 gallons of crabapple wine