Picking out the fruit and deciding on a recipe is only the begining.

Homemade wine making is a wonderful experiance. Picking out the fruit and deciding on a recipe is only the begining. Cleaning and cutting up the fruit can be tedius at times, but I get a surrea feeling as I go through the fruit. Selecting only the best specimons and discarding the bruised and battered pieces. Then comes preparing the must for the primary. Measuring the fruit, doing this I never use a scale or measuring cup. I just make sure I come close to the reipce I’ve decided on.

If I used my feet none of my friends would drink it.

With some recipes I get to sanitize my hands and smash the fruit to smitereens. If I used my feet none of my friends would drink it. Getting your hands dirty is a blast, and makes it more of “hands-on” experiance. Carefully measuring the chemicals, sugar, and water makes it feel like you are preparing your next masterpiece. You start to imagine how the wine is going to tun out, picturing the final color in your mind, realishing how the body will turn out, and already starting to design a label in your head.

There are many breweries with free tours and of course Free Beer!

The anticipation while your at twork the next day is always exciting. When you finally arrive home you rush over to the primary bucket and check for the tell tale signs of an active fermentation. You see the bubbles and do a little happy fermentation dance. Next I always put my nose up close and smell the yeast working. It reminds me of driving through Milwaukee. For you beer lovers out there a trip to Milwaukee is a must (pun intended). There are many breweries with free tours and of course Free Beer!

Sometimes I ease the pain of waiting by printing the labels.

Each day as you punch down the must your excitement grows. Your next little baby is taking shape. As you move into the secondary stage you start to feel like a protector, making sure the bung is nice and tight and the air lock is set. Gotta protect the wine from all that pesky oxygen. Once the batch has been racked a few times and we get to the aging process, patience is the key. I go a little crazy during this stage. Every few days I fo and peek at it. I check the color and make sure nothine wierd has happened, or started to grow in there. Sometimes I ease the pain of waiting by printing the labels. I also make sure I have enough bottles and corks ready to go.

As the corked bottles start to pile up, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment.

Then finally the day of bottling comes. I ussually invite someone over to help. Having a friend over for this can double the excitement. They can also help to determine the amount of sweetening the batch needs. Once we get the sweetening worked out, we pull off a bottle (or two) for us to enjoy during the bottling. As the corked bottles start to pile up, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I start to thinkhow my loyal fans are going to like this latest batch. After the entire batch is bottled and labeled, I like to sit and look at all the bottles as I reflect on the joy I had in creating them. Then I uncork another one and start thinking about what I’m going to make next

If you’ve never made homemade wine before, I highly reccommend starting. It’s not as difficult as it may seem and I promise you’ll love it when that first batch is done. If you have any questions on the process feel free to contact me.

Question: Which wine was produced in honor of a celebration created on the Seinfeld show?

Use this bottle while enjoying ‘The Airing of Grievances’ and ‘The Feats of Strength’

Festivus Red, Pinot Bris, or Spongeworthy Shiraz.

Discuss in comments, answer in tomorow’s post.

Yesterday’s Answer:
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