The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Monthly archive: 05 2007

Stabilizing and Clearing

Luckily I had not been told yet to read and follow the directions exactly, and so I waited more than the 10 days indicated in the instructions to do the next step:  stabilizing and clearing.  I didn’t want to cut the time short, and I really only had time to deal with the wine on […]

Making the Labels

While I was waiting for the wine to do what it needed to do, I realized I needed to make some labels.  I figured I would be making more wine in the future, and so I wanted to have a cellar name and a theme for my wines.  I initially considered an animal mascot theme, […]

How Much is Too Much Wine?

I needed to order bottles, corks, and shrink caps for my upcoming wine.  While I was browsing, I thought, hey, the fermentation bucket is empty now.  That seems wrong.  I should fill it!  So, I picked out another wine kit  — Chamblaise.  It is a basic (i.e., cheaper) kit, and the description says it does […]

Gee, the Shower Smells Terrific

The yeast took off, and after 2 days the shower smelled like wine!  It’s cool and creepy all at once.  The instructions said to wait 5-7 days to check the specific gravity, so I checked it the next weekend after starting it out of convenience.  The SG was just right, so I put the bucket […]

First Wine Kit: Cabernet-Merlot

It is difficult to decide where to start, because I like all varietals of wine.  I prefer red wine, so I decided I should definitely get a red wine kit.  I was getting a starter pack that included all of the equipment to make wine as well as a wine kit, and there were limited […]