Tag Archives: California Connoisseur Pinot Chardonnay (kit) 2013.12

Bottling day plus IPA

500D_2206I did a lot of bottling today.  The Golden Stag made 22 litres, then I moved one of the demijohns of Pinot Chardonnay in to six and a bit bottles for ease of drinking.  The remnants were disposed of appropriately.  I completely forgot to measure the gravity of the beer before adding the priming sugar.

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To celebrate I thought I would try some of the IPA.  The head was excellent, creamy and long lasting, and the taste was fine.  I am sure it will get smoother over time, but it is already drinkable.

I now have nothing major going at all for the first time in ages.  I have over forty litres of IPA and golden stag to work my way through.  I suspect that if I open a 1 litre bottle that will get drunk so in reality it is about 40 drinking nights.  At my current rate of progress the beer will be gone by Christmas.  Wine goes much faster, so the next project is going to be a rosé kit, thought I have not yet bought one.

Storing the Pinot Chardonnay

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So I syphoned it off in to my carboy-with-tap and decanted it in to four demijohns, two bottles and a massive puddle on the floor when I got frustrated by the tap being so high above the bottom of the carboy and upended it for the last demijohn.  Oops.

The last one and the two bottles were so vigorously poured they were frothy, so I chucked a campden tablet in to the demijohn and an eighth of a tablet in to the two bottles.

The wine is obviously not clear!  The one on the right on the picture above is the wine I made from Waitrose grape juice that I also racked off today for comparison.  With the wine in the demijohns it should clarify slowly, but I think I will buy a filter for next time.  They are not that expensive (£25) and would make a big difference.  Filtering out the yeast would also guarantee fermentation to stop.

The Waitrose one is rather dry, so some sneaky sweetener might be popped in before serving.

Californian Kit – Lift Off – Day 28

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So, here you have it – drinkable wine after just 28 days.  I did not have time to syphon it off, so I scooped out a couple of glasses worth using a sterilised jug.  It is more than drinkable, and just as good as many bottles we’ve bought.  I don’t know how many bottles we’ll end up with, but it will be about 30 for £45, working out at £1.50 per bottle.  It is not super clear yet, but you hardly notice on drinking.

Trying to show the slight lack of clarity to the wine
Trying to show the slight lack of clarity to the wine

When I get the time, I will syphon to demijohns and let it clarify further in them, bottling from the demijohns in a just in time sort of way.  Then on with the IPA!  I think I should have left it to clarify in my container with a tap, but there is supposed to be one more syphon before bottling.  Not quite sure why that is – maybe it is to avoid disturbing it too much when bottling.  Maybe I will syphon to my tapped carboy then use the bottling attachment to fill the demijohns.

Pinot Chardonnay, day 22

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Shoved in some potassium sorbate, which appears to be a microbe inhibitor, then a fining agent (#5 Isinglass Ichtyocolle). A good stir, then off to the utility room to clear for six days. We think it smells very much like wine, so we’re feeling very positive about drinking it.

Next Saturday it will hopefully be clear, and I can decant it in to the demijohns. If it is not clear, I can either wait or rack it off from them another day, and get a filter kit next time around.

Once the bucket is free, onwards with the IPA!

Rice and Pinot

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The rice and raisin after filtering

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.

DateSpecific GravityAlcohol Content
30th December 20131,0800%
6th January 20141,00210.3 %
18th January 201499411.4%

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

DateSpecific GravityAlcohol Content
12th January 20141,0900%
18th January 20141,0406.6%
15th February 201499213%

Remnants, and the bag I used for filtering
Remnants, and the bag I used for filtering