Friday Wine Making
Winemaking is so much fun. This evening, I racked my gooseberry wine into a 6US gallon carboy – actually, (I can see the dollar signs in Bob’s eyes), I broke the racking wand while trying to get a raisin unstuck from the racking wand that lodged itself right in the curve of the wand.
And I ran out of cheesecloth – so I just decided to siphon the whole lot into the glass carboy. There is quite a bit of headspace, but that’s ok as the fermenation is still going strong, so any air is being forced out through the airlock as the CO2 bi-product continues to be manufactured by the yeast.
And because this will be a wine that will be similar to a white grape wine in colour, I also added bentonite to the carboy to assist in clearing.
I also had an email today from a client of mine who owns an apiary, and I’ll be getting over 100 lbs of honey sometime next week to make some different varieties of mead. From what I understand, mead was the “drink of champions” among my Irish ancestors – before they created Whiskey. For those interested in a little trivia, Irish Whiskey is the only whisky that is spelt “key” at the end – other whiskies are spelled whisky.
More trivia – Whiskey comes from the Gaelic expression, “Uisce Beatha,” which is translated as “Water of Life.”
And in my case, which I will tell you about sometime, whiskey being “water of life” is very true.
Anyhow, a bunch of different types of meads are on the horizon, including Melomels. We’ll discuss the different types of meads when the honey arrives, and I start this year’s batch of mead. I’ll also be using a liquid yeast and will try Lance’s advice.
Hope you all had a great weekend!
Man, You are a winemaking dynamo, and a poet too!!! I’ve got to get my butt in gear and get some more wine started.
Man, You are a winemaking dynamo, and a poet too!!! I’ve got to get my butt in gear and get some more wine started.
Heh.. not much of a poet, but sure do enjoy this hobby
I’m thinking that a good bunch of different wines will make for some Christmas presents next year, and save me money – as long as I don’t drink all the stuff myself! 
Heh.. not much of a poet, but sure do enjoy this hobby
I’m thinking that a good bunch of different wines will make for some Christmas presents next year, and save me money – as long as I don’t drink all the stuff myself! 