Wine Making
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Tips and Tricks
Here are some of the things that Gilbert & I have learned, since our first bottling experience, other than following the instructions on the wine kits, as best as possible (cleaning, sterilizing, etc.) Remember... when in doubt, contact your local people at your local wine and brew store!
TO DO:
NUMERO UNO on our list... Buy a small thingy (called a "Blast Bottle Washer") that goes on your kitchen tap to help you clean and rinse your bottles, aprox. cost $15.00. This is not a necessity but it WILL save you a lot of time and headache.
If you buy a second "Primary Fermenter" (plastic bucket), you can start a 2nd batch of wine aprox. 2 weeks after the first is started.
You don't need to make a "hole" in your Primary Fermenter to attach your "Airlock and Stopper". All you need to do is place the cover of your Primary Fermenter loosely, on top.
Go to your local liquor store and ask if they have any empty wine boxes (with the cardboard dividers). Once you start washing, rinsing and steriling bottles, you can place several layers of "paper towel" on the bottom of this box, put back your cardboard dividers, put your freshly cleaned and sterilized bottles - bottoms UPSIDE DOWN. These will drip dry onto the paper towel. No excess water in your ready-to-be-bottled wine and thereby saving you from purchasing a "tree rack" for your bottles.
Go to your local Bottle Redemption Center. You can usually purchase as many different kinds of wine bottles, as they have on stock. Our local guys are very helpful, and will put aside odd or different shaped bottles for us.
Try and find a REALLY special or different shaped bottle and on your label, put the specific bottling date. We started doing that with our first batch. We call this bottle our "Anniversary Bottle" and plan on uncorking it once the year is up.
You can purchase all sorts of "cute" and "dollied-up" labels, for your bottles. We decided, since we're not the "fancy" types, to go on our computer and "design" our own label, along with our own personal logo. And rather than use color ink, to print these labels, we decided to experiment with colored papers. Samples of our labels included below.
A glue stick. Yep! To glue your labels. These come off really easy, after you're bottle is empty and you wish to re-cycle it yourself.
If you happen to get a hold of a smaller sized wine bottle, like an ice wine bottle, for example, these make great little wine bottles to take on a picnic and you don't have to lug around a half full bottle of wine in your car. A 375 ml bottle will give you aprox. 2-1/2 glasses of wine - just the right amount for 2 people on a picnic! And they're not so "hard" to give away as gifts, also.
When following directions on your wine kit, don't be afraid to mark "dates" on your calendar, on your agenda or on your forehead if necessary.
We started a duotang with information for each and every batch. We cut out and scotchtaped the side of the wine box, scotchtaped the receipt and a copy of our labels and marked the dates we started, finished and bottled each batch. We suggest you put in as much information as YOU want or think you may need for future references. This will be your OWN personal wine book.
Since we had problems with room temperature and fermentation, Gilbert designed a small, but sturdy wooden crate (or frame) with a light bulb (60 watts) inside it. He added aluminium foil in the bottom of the crate and then attached a "timer" to ensure that the light underneath didn't stay lit too long. The carboy (or bottle) sits on top of this crate. This helped us a lot.
NOT TO DO:
Do not... I repeat DO NOT... try and bottle your wine in beer bottles. Our wine was good for 2 or 3 months, and then it had the WORST taste in history! Something like mildewed cork and rotten wine. We believe that the cork didn't seal well enough.
Once again, we cannot tell you how important it is to check with your local wine and brew store or visit your "wine kit's" web site, should you have any questions.
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Rosa Robichaud & Gilbert Crevier
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