What's going on in your winery today..

[Cellar_Rat]

I have a good recipe for tea bag and orange peel wine I might give it a go...

[billybuntus]

Started a double batch of Chocolate Raspberry Port

Been waiting 15 months for the second kit!!!!!

In other news, the hop and grape have a chocolate hazelnut kit in stock...

[NorthernWiner]

Racking and adding bentonite to all of the 2011 whites. After that, they are headed out to the garage to cold stabilize until December.

I'm also trying to figure out what to put into one of my soon-to-be-empty barrels. The Syrah I had planned on taking delivery of in October didn't make it, so now I have to come up with 15 gallons of something else. It may be a complete mish mash of different reds. Who knows? Perhaps it will be my best wine of an otherwise crappy vintage.

[Former Canuk]

Hi Folks. I've been away from here awhile. Between sorting a new job and all the things the Mrs has me doing (someone to blame). Opened a bottle of the first wine I ever made tonight. 1 year old. WOW, what a difference a year makes. I can only imagine 2 years. I am so impressed that the bug has bitten me again to get brewing. Cheers to all for all the advice along the way this last year

[goldseal]

Hi Folks. I've been away from here awhile ...

Welcome back to the Slippery Slope

I spent yesterday racking and degassing 10+ gals of Phoenix, and doing some tests on a smelly Wine No.1 Rosé. Oh, and a bit of sulphiting. Somehow, that seemed to take up most of the day. Then again, I work quite slowly on my wine.

I'm starting to wonder whether I can sneak in a couple of 1 gallon Brew-In-A-Bag beers before christmas without Mrs. G noticing. Incidentally, has anyone else (apart from Rich and Graham) actually tried this? If not, why not??

[Cellar_Rat]

Bottling for a nouveau comp next week (eek)
Got to make a start on my Xmas beer.

[goldseal]

Racking and adding bentonite to all of the 2011 whites. After that, they are headed out to the garage to cold stabilize until December.

Steve (or anyone else really),

I added bentonite to my Phoenix pre-fermentation. Do you think there would be a good reason to add another dose post-fermentation too?

[lockwood1956]

If it was added pre fermentation then I wouldn't add any more unless you really had to, and adding pre ferment is good as you need less of it (allegedly)

regards
bob

[goldseal]

That's what I'd hoped you would say (because that's what I have always done )

[NorthernWiner]

Exactly what Bob said. Bentonite removes the proteins that can cause wines to go hazy after a year in the bottle. It doesn't really matter when you add it, though.

[mark g]

i started two gallons of sloe wine fermenting today

[RTPFUN]

Sunday

Made 5 gallions of white wine number one used pressed grape and apple juice as i've had better results with them. Lalvin 71B yeast. Kenridge classic Viognier clearing in the shed now in the DJ with the little bottler tap and ready to bottle next week. Bottled 27 bottles of Pinot from a kit I was bought from Spitting Feathers their own brand but used Lalvin K1V rather than the super turbo fast stuff supplied Tastes Ok we'll see what it's like 3 months from now. Finings into 5 gallons of white wine number one as it's not for clearing on it's own. Thanks for the help from Goldseal with this one as he said to leave it a while and see what happens well I'm please to to report it happend to get rather nice all on it's own turned out all fruity and nice. And......last of all put on a Woodfordes Nog Kit. Been a busy week end

[goldseal]

.... Thanks for the help from Goldseal with this one as he said to leave it a while and see what happens ...

I'm only repeating what Bob & Co. used to tell me over and over again .

Now, next time someone posts here with the same problem, I'll expect YOU to advise them to be patient

[owlwithoutfeathers]

Hi RTP,

I'd be interested to know more about the Voigner - i've had my eye on that kit for a while now. And also like a good Voigner!

Cheers.

Owl.

[RTPFUN]

Viogner

Hi Owl, bottled the Vionger last night. It was dry fruity no off tastes already showing a nice floral nose ( rare at bottle stage for a kit). It's the most balanced tasting kit I've made at this stage in the process. It's 10 ltr kit came with Lalvin e1118 yeast and all the familiar chemicals. Made as per instructions with bottled water. The kit has also won one of the Canadian competitions and the box proudy displayed its gold award. ( bit like the Decanter bronze silver and gold we see on commercial wines in the UK) Often difficult to forward guess what wines are going to be like in 3-6 months but if it's this good now it's going to be a very nice wine indeed. Vineco kits do however take longer to clear than say the Beaverdale kits so bottling was some 8 weeks from pitching day. They off to the shed now looking very nice with the supplied labels and matching bronze shrinks. I'll test one in 3 months time.
Pete