hobo

Is it working?

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ok…. So the fermentation bucket is full… now what?

Well, now we need gallon of hot water…

and then we need to use the hydrometer to check the specific gravity of liquids. Now… What can affect the specific gravity? Well…. alcohol.. but we don’t have any yet…temperature… which is not particulary our issue… or lactose… not that I am intolerant… but for now? Well sugar.

And why is sugar important? Because sugar and yeast work together to create alcohol and and carbon dioxide. Or, as I learned so graphically in high school chemistry, yeast eats sugars and pees alcohol and toots CO2. Ahhh, if so many parts of our universe were so simple to understand….

What now? Well, I was instructed to add cold water until we reached the six gallon level.. mmmK.

Now I needed to mix it all up and check the temperature. Why? well we need a temperature between 65o-75oF for the yeast… Because too hot? Kill the yeast.. Too cold? Make it go to sleep… so temperature is important… and quite frankly.. tempermental.

The temperature of our mix? 58. sigh. this is going to be a problem.

Solution? Well, I have a huge sink that I can put gigantic pots and pans into… (‘cuz I have an urge to clean.. NOT) That being said, I can fit the entire fermenter into my sink… which I did… and filled the rest of the sink with hot water. Why? Well, the density of water means that it imparts its heat/energy faster that through the air. Yup, I am kinding of cheating.. heating the water to the proper temperature fast than it would take if I waited the multiple hours that would be required to lift the water to the ambient air temperature. Yeah… Call me impatient.

But luckily it only took a 1/2 hour to raise the temperature to 70 so I could add the yeast.

Now ironically, the yeast packet in my kit came from Red Star Yeast! Oddly, I consider this to be the yeast of me making bread.. but I guess, ultimately when you know one yeast, you know them all… The rule for mixing it into grape juice is that you don’t mix it in with a spoon, but let it works its way in.. and so I did.

After that, the instructions are simple. Put on the top and add the airlock. This is a series of tubes with bubbles in the middle. When you add water into the center it creates a vaccuum. When alcohol and the is excess carbon dioxide is produced it is released into the bucket.. when the bucket fills with it… it is released slowly through the airlock.

Now it is just wait and wonder.. sigh.

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After being chased around the kitchen and whacked with the mixing spoon, I finally managed to get Kevin to think about moving on this wine making project.

The first thing to remember that cleanliness is the best way to avoid nasty contamination and death… or godliness if you will… so we used the sterilizing agent that came in my kit….

Next in went 1/2 gallon of hot water into the “Primary fermenter” or as Kevin and I finally determined it to be the bucket with the tap… into the hot water when a packet of bentonite. Now, my familiarity with bentonite is from my distant past as an environmental consultant.. (I am like an onion… the more you peel me, the more layers you find..) Anyway, my experience with bentonite is that is used to back fill wells used to sample runoff from hazmat sites. Imagine my surprise that it had an application in wine making? My theory at the moment is that it is used as an early filtration agent? Maybe as something that dead yeast can hook on to… If any one knows and would like to tell me that would be great.. because obviously I am such a dork I will continue to ponder this mystery.

After the bentonite was added and mixed into the water… (word to the wise, don’t pour the powder in and THEN start mixing, bentonite is a form of clay and will seize when it hits water… TRUST ME)

Ok.. after I broke up the glob of clay, Kevin poured our Chilean Chardonnay juice into the fermenter. Naturally the cover would not come off the container… so we improvised. I stabbed the bladder pack with a knife and the juice poured forth. With a beautiful shower of golden goodness…..

Ahhh….

More to come….

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Well, well, well…. speak of the devil. No sooner do I get done posting about the soon to be coming hobo wine, but my kit arrive via UPS! I guess that is one time the saying, “You are doing a great job, Brownie” really applies!

I guess the experimentation begins this weekend!

In the meantime, I snapped a picture of the unpacked equipment…

Next up glancing through reading First Steps in Winemaking, by C.J.J. Berry. Lots of unusual recipes in here that I might have to check out… perhaps not the pea pod wine though. And NO, I am not making that up.

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It is an unfortunate fact of life these days that the price of everything we hold dear is increasing.

And this includes wine. sniff.sniff..

And unlike Rory, who works around wine all day and has been known to have access to free wine, Kevin and I, generally have to pay for ours.

Which led me to a thought… a proverb, I believe…

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day… Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime…..

And that is the solution of sorts.

See, when the revolution comes, as a friend of mine says, and you can’t lay your hands on a nice chardonnay, what will you do? Hopefully, I will be able to make my own…

Because I have decided to take my knowledge of winemaking to a more practical level. No, I will not be crushing the grapes myself.. not at this point anyway, but will start with a kit.

I am fully prepared for it to reek.

It will be the satisfaction that I did it myself that will enable me to drink it. Kevin has already started to refer to it as hobo wine and that is ok. So long as the hobos don’t mind wine made with Chilean Chardonnay.

(and my profound apologies to the Hobo Wine Company. I am sure that their wine rocks… as much as I am sure that they will understand my use of the word Hobo to describe my soon to be created vintage er, product.

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