Pinot Chardonnay

Day 20 of the Pinot Chardonnay.  Not much to report other than it has moved along exactly as  per the instructions. The brew belt keeping the carboy at a pretty constant 20°C and the gravity was right on target.  It now looks like wine and pretty much tastes like wine.  I   I added potassium metbisulphate (“antioxidant, antioxidase and antiseptic agent against micro-organisms. It gives better phenol stabilisation” – it may also stop fermentation, but my brief researches were inconclusive on that).  It now has to be stirred every few hours to degas before adding the finings and putting in its last resting place before bottling next week.

Rice and Raisin

I also moved along the rice and raisin.  When I decanted it in to a demijohn I found I had slightly underestimated the volume.  Lesson learned there.  The gravity was 1.040 so I whipped up some 1040 sugar water and popped it in.  The rice wine has a lovely condensed milk colour at the moment, so I suspect it will be rather pale once the fermentation has worked itself out.

Rice and Raisin, 2014-01-11