Monday 9 February 2009

Winemaking Tip

So, its been another week, life has been busy for me. I am drinking a glass of mulled cider right now, pretty good. The wine turned out to thin, so I brought about 2 1/2 cups to a boil (yeah I know, some of the % goes away, who cares) and before that added some cinnamon (go easy on it, I added to much and had to dilute with more wine) some whole alspice, dash ginger and nutmeg. Brought to boil added 1/2 cup or so of brown sugar, let cool slightly and served. The cider was dry, so it was not overly sweet.

Alright, on to winemaking. This past week has been busy, planning the new wall and adding up expenese. But I will still push to check my wine and post the weekly tip.

I am taking this from a book by Alison Crowe, a very good winemaker, and get puts it all into an answer and question style book. You can get this from amazon and I higly recommend it. It is a book that you don't just have to sit down and read to find the answer, you flip through the pages and chapters to find the question that you are asking your self.

Anyway on to the tip. The question raised in the book was, How do I know there is enough CO2 on top of my wine to protect it while it ages? And in short she goes on to say that, the gas does disspait over time, especially with the conitually opening of the wine to taste (sample :)). And then she tells about a oxygen meter that will tell you, but it cost alot and is not economical for the home winemaker. So she then shows us the way the French wine makers do it, she puts it "the quick-and-dirty" trick. You take a match and hold it above the opening of the carboy, if the match goes out then there is not enough o2 to keep it going, so, your safe. Now this mainly is for those bulk aging, and have some way to spray this gas inside while it bulk ages.

Well thats it ladies and gentlemen, another week come and gone and life goes on just the same. Hope to be posting some this week, if not then I will try to post next monday, till then. God Bless you, English Vinter.

No comments:

Post a Comment