What's going on in your winery today..

[Darren]

Tried to put a table up in the winery (Cellar) last night but struggled it was getting late and it was after a couple of glasses i will go down this morning to find what sort of mess i made of it.

[ms67]

moved the 5 gallon batch of green tea & ginger from primary to secondary. topped up with around 300 mls with sugared water (1055). They are all wrapped up in tea towels, old t-shirts and blankets as my lil' brewing room is chilly!

[ms67]

i'd rather err on the side of a little cooler than warmer, just how i have always brewed ... no hurry. All that gear costs too much for me anyway, sadly. but happily blankets and t-towels have always done the job and they cost nowt! there is enough space (just) in warmer rooms but really i dont want brewing to take over the place, its already dominates one room, has the cupboard under the stairs and takes over the kitchen frequently. All this in a flat no useful storage place like a loft. but i'm happy really

ta for the thoughts tho

[wisp]

Try Farm Foods, all 3 come in cheaper and I've made the best apple wine yet with their apple juice. I just wish they did grape juice

[goldseal]

Now the temperature has risen a bit, I have been checking my Grapefest carboys:

Merlot - it has lost some of its deep colour, presumably because a lot of suspended solids have dropped out. It seems more mature than it really is, developing a beautiful smooth, almost leathery flavour.

Ciliegiolo - much lighter and fruitier - really clean tasting and could probably be drunk now (but I won't ).

Time to rack both of these off the oak, add a bit of sulphite and leave another 6 months.

Grenache (GF 08) - FINALLY coming around. I'd almost written this off. Last time I tried it it resembled supermarket-red-grape-juice-with-vodka-in-it, but it seems to be developing some charater of its own. I thought I could detect an acetone-type smell, but Mrs.G can't. I think I'll chuck some sulphite in and forget about it for another year.

[goldseal]

I have just got a 5 gal batch of MFK on the go.

I also spent a while trying to work out why we have a house and garage full of bottles, DJs and carboys, but have almost run out of things to drink

[lockwood1956]

I'm finding these posts a tad hard to read..........now I'm a charitable kind of guy...............


but this is just too random for me........and I'm using random in the way it was intended, and not the way the younger generation use it today


(you may wish to note though that another admin may be on a shorter fuse!!!)

[NorthernWiner]

Who.... moi?

Surprisingly I understood that last post, even picking up the references to Chateauneuf, Tavel, Burgundy, etc.

I also picked up the Sgt. Pepper reference in ohbeary's sig. Clever.

But as a speaker of colonial English (and a thick-headed one at that), I admit my short fuse usually stems from being unable to comprehend posts that are written in a "slang" sort of dialect.

So, ohbeary, if you could just please "simple it up" for the Yank, it would be greatly appreciated.

[lockwood1956]

Needs "simpling it up" for us all dude

[lockwood1956]

I also picked up the Sgt. Pepper reference in ohbeary's sig

That's because you are, mentally, stunningly agile, a match for anyone I ever met.

[spritzer]

OhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhKaaaaaaaaaay...


Back on topic

Tonight ....
I bottled a Youngs Chardonnay
And also a pineapple number one wine was bottled (hic)
Both of these should have been bottled waaaay before xmas, as family love them... but they werent clear in time... so, now I have 40 odd bottles of xmas wine, and no xmas

I was going to rack this years raspberry and rhubarb, but that will have to wait till another time.

[NorthernWiner]

That's because you are, mentally, stunningly agile, a match for anyone I ever met.

Hmmm... agile as a bear on ice skates I'm afraid...

So yes, as Carole says... back on topic.

Tonight I dug a bucket of late harvest Riesling out of the freezer. I would like to make a sweet Riesling, maybe something along the lines of a beerenauslese. According to the guy I bought it from, the sugar is pretty close to where you'd want it for that style.

[lockwood1956]

MFK?...., please excuse my ignorance

MFK = Modified Fruity Karl

[goldseal]

I'm planning a major racking/bottling/blending weekend. Mrs. G is away, so I can make as much mess as I like

I have a very detailed plan, which will obviously fall apart within the first 10 minutes.

I have also accidentally bought a discounted Chocolate Raspberry Port. I have 5 gallons of the stuff in the garage already, but it is so nice that I had to have another, especially with 30% off. Details here: http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/s...ead.php?t=4162

[NorthernWiner]

Planning to do some bottling here, too.

The missus told me in no uncertain terms that I must start putting something in all the empty bottles, or they will be headed for the bin.