Wine Worries

I got the juice pails from Universal Carbonics yesterday.  There were no instructions.  The woman at the store said just stir up the yeast and wait. I waited until the buckets had thawed and then opened them.  After sanitizing my equipment, I took hydrometer readings (1.080 for the Lambrusco and 1.090 for the Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend.  Then I stirred them and recovered them. In three days, I'll check them out to see if fermentation has begun,

I'm worried that there  might not be enough headroom in the supplied buckets.  There is only 2" headspace and it may foam over.  I probably should have two 7.9 gallon fermenters to transfer the juice to.  I have one and I may put it into action.

It will take a year to complete the aging of the wine.  I don't know if I have the patience for that.  I made Sherry about 30 years ago and it was so good, I drank it within two weeks.

Beer and Wine

OK, since my last post the homebrew club tasted my beer.  Those that chose to comment like it.  What else can I say? 

Now I'm switching to winemaking.  I bought two frozen juice kits from Universal Carbonic, the local homebrew/winemaking supply store.  One Italian juice (Lambrusco) and one California juice (Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend).  They won't be here until the beginning of November, so I'm doing the winemaker thing, collecting bottles by drinking store bought wine.

It's not that I've forgot about homebrewing.  I'm planning to get some bulk supplies to try and make my own recipes.  I'll probably also get a few more kits as part of my learning process. In the meantime, I'm drinking my way through the Full Sail Amber Ale Clone beer that was my first beer.  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.