I got the Pinot Chardonnay under way today.  It was really a case of following the instructions and getting the temperature up on a cold day.  I raised the temperature by putting boliing water in to the reservoir I had made earlier in the day (which was 10l too much – I’d forgotten about the liquid in the kit!).  This got the temperature to 20 degrees, but I wanted 25 so put it in a sink full of hot water for twenty minutes.

My main issue was that the instructions said that the OG should be 1.080 to 1.095 and mine was 1.060!  I left it for a while to ponder this issue.  When I returned I had decided that a good stir, right to the bottom of the container, was in order.  This was hard because my usual plastic spoon was about 2mm longer than the depth of the water and the longest spoon (stainless steel) in the house was about 50mm longer than that.  My hands had been in the sterilising fluid though, so I did my just did my best.  After a good stir, the OG was magically up to 1.080.  Density rules in this case.  I suspect that my water had trickled in too slowly to affect the sugary syrup at the bottom of the vessel.

I popped in the yeast, which was EC-1118 Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ex-bayanus) and left it on the top, as per instructions.  Then off to the utility it went with its little brew belt starting on 50/50 on/off.

The next step is in eight days where I check the SG and rack it off if at 1.010.  This is all logged in the brewing calendar.