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plonqAfter a break of about 11 years I am finally trying my hand at (intentionally) fermenting things again. The last time around it was beer, this time I am trying my hand at home-made wine. Since my first time working with grapes (my previous experience has all been with barley), I decided to be safe and unambitious, and opted for a 30-day, green-apple Riesling.
If I learned only one thing from my previous forays into the art of zymurgy, it's to sterilize the equipment. I have kept a spray bottle of the sterilizing agent within arm's reach through the whole process. It's a bit too early in the game to tell if my vigilance will pay off, but I'm hopeful. Wine is much more forgiving than beer, and my last batch of beer turned out pretty darned good in my opinion. I'm only three days into being a first-time vintner and I am already making mental notes for things that I will probably change in the next batch. For instance, I may as well put that yeast nutrient I have to good use and pre-activate the yeast next time. The faster you can get it working in the must, the less chance there is for stray bacteria to gain a foothold (or use whatever appendage it is that bacteria use to hold on).
The ambient temperature is a bit lower than they recommend in the recipe, but we're still getting pretty robust fermentation right now. The kitchen is alive with the sound of yeast farts bubbling up through the air trap. Go, little yeasties, go! Eat that sugar and poop that alcohol!
If I learned only one thing from my previous forays into the art of zymurgy, it's to sterilize the equipment. I have kept a spray bottle of the sterilizing agent within arm's reach through the whole process. It's a bit too early in the game to tell if my vigilance will pay off, but I'm hopeful. Wine is much more forgiving than beer, and my last batch of beer turned out pretty darned good in my opinion. I'm only three days into being a first-time vintner and I am already making mental notes for things that I will probably change in the next batch. For instance, I may as well put that yeast nutrient I have to good use and pre-activate the yeast next time. The faster you can get it working in the must, the less chance there is for stray bacteria to gain a foothold (or use whatever appendage it is that bacteria use to hold on).
The ambient temperature is a bit lower than they recommend in the recipe, but we're still getting pretty robust fermentation right now. The kitchen is alive with the sound of yeast farts bubbling up through the air trap. Go, little yeasties, go! Eat that sugar and poop that alcohol!
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Date: 2005-03-02 05:05 pm (UTC)pseudopod-hold ?
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Date: 2005-03-02 06:14 pm (UTC)The French version was "Doux et aigre". This threw me momentarily, because although "doux" does mean sweet, I had only encountered it before in the context of meaning "soft". Soft and sour, I thought? "Aigre" I hadn't seen before, but I assumed it meant "sour". A few minutes later my brain kicked in and told me that it was a component of the French word "vinaigre" - vinegar. Then my brain did some more work. "Vinegar. Vinaigre. Vin aigre. Literally, sour wine ...oooOOOooh, well that makes sense."
Some ideas...
Date: 2005-03-02 09:22 pm (UTC)Also, I learned from my own experience that some imbibables really, *really* need to age. Case in point was a bottle of dandelion wine I got from a friend. It'd aged about six months, and it had a pretty big kick, along with being carbonated.
However, it smelled *exactly* like an experiment I'd done while living alone, where I wore my socks every day for a full week and a half, just to see how rank they could get. So I put the cork back in it and left it in the back of the fridge for a year and a half.
When I came home for Christmas, it'd aged for a full two years and matured into a scrumptious liquor with a delightful bouquet and a kick like a rabid mule.
So yeah...definitely let it age, and don't be tempted like I was to sample too early.
Re: Some ideas...
Date: 2005-03-04 01:46 pm (UTC)T'is a good question, to which the answer has many facets. Firstly, I don't own any really big pots, and some of the components are too large and awkward to fit in a pot anyway (like the 5-gallon pail and glass carboy). Secondly, some of the components would not take well to being boiled (like the hydrometer, for instance). Lastly, spraying the things down with a sulphite solution is a lot faster and more convenient - especially when it's just a spoon that I need to stir up the must.
I learned a hard lesson about keeping properly sterile equipment during my beer-making days. If this wine doesn't turn out, I don't want it to be because I rushed a step, or forgot to clean and sterilize some trivial bit of equipment.