In November of 2003 we embarked on a new, but highly anticipated adventure. We started our first batch of wine! Although it was a kit and not fresh grapes that we were working with, we were excited nonetheless. It was a Chianti kit from Brew King’s Vintner’s Reserve line. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow.
The process proceeded as expected without a hitch. The primary fermentation lasted about 8 days. We racked it into the secondary and let it sit for 10 more days. Then checked Specific Gravity (SG) on two consecutive days and it was down to .992. According to the directions we then added clarifying agents, stirred it well and have let it sit since. We bottled it a few days before Christmas - amazingly fast, but we tried to follow the directions as closely as we could with this first batch. Preliminary tastings were good - it did not knock anyone’s socks off, but not too bad for a kit.
One thing we have learned from this experience is a little bit about how to use the equipment. Also, we now know what pieces of equipment we are missing. In retrospect, we knew we didn’t have all of the equipment we needed but decided to make do with what we had. For the most part, this worked out well. But a few things became apparent - we need a wine thief, a racking cane and siphon tube clip, a floor corker and at least one more carboy.
Below are some pictures of our first experience making wine - click on images to view a larger version:
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Here is the primary fermentor, a few days into the process. Note the foam ring above the surface of the liquid. You can just see it through the plastic of the primary. This was left behind when the must was very actively fermenting. Note the three-piece airlock. |
| At this stage, we are racking the new wine into the secondary fermentor. For our purposes we used a 5 gallon plastic water jug for a secondary. We debated about this, but finally decided to go ahead and use the plastic for now as this batch would not be aging long in the secondary before being bottled. |
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The freshly racked carboy. Once racking was complete, we switched from the 3 piece airlock to a one-piece unit. In this picture you can also see the SG testing jar, an indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer, the primary fermentor and a heating pad under the carboy. We used the heating pad for a bit early in the primary fermentation, but did not need it the rest of the time. |
| Check out the sludge at the bottom of the primary fermentor! This is actually a fairly light layer since we were not using fresh grapes. But we still needed to be careful to not stir it up during racking. |
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Alright, here is where we fess up about some of our bad practices. In this picture you may notice a few things. Among them:
- Our makeshift racking cane which was actually the handle end of our long spoon. We tied the racking tube to it with a pony-tail holder.
- Our ‘winethief’ - AKA ’sippy cup’. In lieu of a winethief we sanitized a sippy cup and used it to dip samples out of the must for testing.
- The spilled wine in the bottom of this extra container. First off, we spilled more wine than we expected as a result of not having a racking tube clip. Secondly we did not plan to have another container handy to catch wine so rather than spill on the floor, we grabbed this one and it worked quite well in a pinch.
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| Well, here it is…our first sample of something that is beginning to become wine. Note the cloudiness and the bubbles. The clarity of the final product will be noticeable in future pictures. At this point, the wine did not taste too bad. Sort of like a dark red fizzy wine cooler. |
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