Archive for August, 2005

This evening, I started some ginger wine. I found a recipe which I adapted for my own ingredients on hand, and doubled up as I want to make two gallons – one that is sweet and one gallon of dry.

It took me about an hour all together to chop up fresh ginger root, simmer it with raisins, sanitize my equipment, and get all the ingredients all mixed up. I likely could have spent less time but my brother called and chatted with me for a bit while I was in the middle of it all.

I’m very interested in how this will turn out. Ginger by itself has health benefits apparently – will the wine retain those? As well, I used demerara sugar instead of white sugar. This is something new for me.

If you are interested in the recipe, it’s right here!

I’ve had some email correspondence with Sunni Maravillosa which has included a wee bit on the subject of wine making. Sunni indicated to me that she was interested in making her own wine, but wondered about the amount of time that would have to be dedicated to this. I’ve tried to convince her that basic winemaking, which can produce very good wine, takes up 15 minutes to get going, and about 15 minutes a week until bottling time. Bottling time for 5 Imperial Gallons will take about an hour or so – but it’s not critical to bottle on any particular day. In fact, if you can’t bottle exactly 28 days later (for a one month kit), your wine will do nothing but bulk age a bit longer, which is a good thing!

So with this email discussion in mind, I have added a new article on Getting Started, and specifically had Sunni in mind when I wrote it. I hope she’ll read it and get started! The article is available at Getting Started – Part 2.

I did not get to starting a ginger or cranberry wine today, however I did rack my Pinot Noir from a primary into a carboy. I had a wee taste of it at the beginning of the syphon process, and it was quite nice already! The specific gravity measured at 1.010. Dead on for the secondary fermentation in the carboy.

I did start an inexpensive four week Liebraumilch kit, which was the basis of the new article I wrote, mentioned above. I was disappointed that dried elderberry flowers were not included in this kit – and I’ll have to see if I can pick some up somewhere and add it to the muss in the next day or two.

So tomorrow, hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to start that ginger wine! I might try two different batches, if I have enough ginger. One that will be fortified with grape juice later, and one that won’t be.

I’m also beginning to like the smaller pails with the tight fitting lids. I just have to punch them down a few times each day during the primary fermentation process – but I can even stack a couple of pails on top of each other, which I can’t do with the larger pails and the non-sealing lids. I know that some folks like to have an airlock on their primary fermenters if they have tight fitting lids, but I’m not convinced this is necessary if I’m around to punch the lids down.

I’ve also come across an interesting study on whether or not oxygen is important in the ageing process. Too much oxygen is BAD. But some swear by ageing bottles of wine with cork bottle closure. It’s this belief that small amounts of oxygen can pass through the cork to assist with ageing that has kept many wineries using cork with their more expensive wines. I’ll have more on this when I do more research on the study.

And that’s about it for today!

I came across this website today, a commercial wine storage business called “The Fine Wine Reserve Inc.” Based in Toronto, the business offers two levels of storage – private locker and custodial service. This is an interesting service aimed at those who have invested in high quality wine that needs ageing in a temperature and humidity controlled setting.

They also have a tasting room, and a one year membership at $240.00 provides unlimited access, with booking priviledges for one’s own events including business meetings, free of charge.

I think I’ll try and head to Toronto to visit this facility and see if I can get a tour.

I was planning on starting a new batch of wine today, but events didn’t quite go as planned so that has been postponed for a day. I am sipping on some of my Valpolicella this evening, and have added two new articles to the main site:

The New Site, an introduction as the title implies to the Home Winery website, and Getting Started, a brief introduction to getting started in home winemaking and the equipment one will want to have.

Tomorrow, I’ll spend more time on populating the various pages on the site, write a few new articles, and start my Libframilch as well as a cranberry wine and ginger wine.

It will also be time to bottle my beer!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my winemaking experiences. Since my last post, I’ve done the following:

1. Last week, bottled the Chamblaise. A nice light wine, and if I’m going to have Liebramilch in the same evening, the Chamblaise must be consumed first. The Liebrafmilch turned out to be a very nice fruit fully tasting wine, and has been well received by my guests. Naturally, I’ve put a number of bottles away so that both the Liebframilch and Chamblaise may age longer.

2. Believe it or not, all of the Valpolicella, but for one bottle, has been consumed! For my red wine lover guests, this was such a hit, with several friends taking home bottles, I decided to start two new batches. I want some around for Christmas! So I started a four week kit and a six week kit.

3. I’ve also started a Shiraz which I may bottle on the weekend.

4. Another Liebframilch to be started any day now!

5. I’ve also decided to try my hand at beer making. Now, the true beer making snobs will likely roll their eyes about this, as the “snobs” like to buy all their own ingredients. I bought a kit for 13.50, which includes the hops and other ingredients all mixed together in a can. All I had to do was add water and yeast. This was a “Canadian Red,” and we’ll see how good it is in a couple of days. A little different than wine making, and doesn’t take as long before bottling too.

But 65 bottles of beer for $13.50 and a couple of bucks worth of sugar – I’d say that’s a good deal!

This evening, I did bottle the four week Volpolicella wine. I’m sipping some now. My business partner is heading to Edmonton in the morning and wanted to take a few bottles of wine along, so tonight was bottling night. I would have left it for another week – even thought it’s already been over four weeks – aging a bit longer is always a good thing. However, Wendy asked me nicely, so I agreed.

A couple of other notes – I’m excited that my wine area has just about been completed. We built a small room, added plumbing, a kitchen type sink and counter top with drawers, and next is to put up some shelving. It’s not a huge area, but big enough to have 4 five gallon carboys, about 5 one gallon carboys, and 3 or 4 primary fermenters. I’m beginning to like the wider pails with the tight fitting lids for my primaries – I can stack them if I want as long as I remember to punch down the lids a few times a day during the primary fermentation process.

I need to figure out a better lubrication for my floor stand cork press. After corking about 20 bottles, the lower steel rod becomes seized, and spraying WD-40 just doesn’t work very well. I guess I can try oil or perhaps carbon powder. Anyone have any good tips or ideas for this?

More coming in a day or two – I’ve got some plans to start a cranberry wine and a ginger wine! I love anything with ginger – and I’m fascinated by the thought of trying a ginger wine. More on this soon!