Just a quick note on the Pinot Chardonnay.  It is day 14 today and by day 20 it should have completely speed bubbling. It has slowed down to a virtual stop already, and the temperature has also fallen to 18 degrees. I suspect that this is partly because it is cold here but also because the year is less active. I’ve tweaked up the brew belt anyway. It is now on about 80% of the time.

I know it is chemistry, and I’m following the instructions carefully, but it is still magical to see it all working out.

I mentioned yesterday that I had a major faff trying to get the brew belt to stay in contact with the carboy.  I still was not happy later, so Instigated the “wrap it with a scarf” technique.  This has the added bonus of insulating the brew belt so more energy should go in to the wine.

I also upped the time switch to on 50% of the time because the temperature was slipping below 20°C.  After a night under the new regime the temperature appears to have stabilised at 22°C, which is about perfect I’d say.

I am supposed to move this kit on after day 8.  It has spent the week at around 20-22 degrees; I have been checking the temperature regularly, and adjusting the brew belt on/off times to suit.  It has been bubbling assiduously, but I was still surprised to find that the gravity was now 1.002, and an alcohol content of 10.3%.  I tested using my new glass pipette since I broke the old gravy baster.  The new one worked, but still dripped as much as the baster.

So I syphoned it out, making strenuous efforts not to get too much yeast in there (although it is rather cloudy – which I imagine is the yeast in suspension?) in to my new carboy.  This does not fit in the utility room nicely so off it want to a quiet place in the house that is rather colder than the utility.  I will have to keep a careful watch on the temperature, or sort out an arduino controller.  To that end, I have bought three DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensors for £5 through eBay via Hong Kong, that should arrive in time for the next home brew project.

I had a right faff with the brew belt, since this carboy is just smaller than the belt at the bottom and hence very hard to attach satisfactorily.  In the end I put it half way up.  I don’t think it will matter that much.  I also added one of my new LCD thermometers to the carboy.  Thanks Santa.

The instructions now say leave until fermentation has completely ceased with a SG of below 996 with no bubbling.  I’ll keep an eye on it but the next stage is due in another two weeks or so – Day 22.

The extra wide bore tube is a real boon.  It has an excellent flow rate for these big vessels.  I am really glad I bought it.

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.

Father Christmas got me this “4 week” wine kit.  It has been a toss up about whether I make this or beer, but since I drink beer relatively slowly when it is not Christmas, and would not have enough “nice” bottles to put it in, I am going to start with the wine.  It makes about four demijohns full, and with the new ones from David, I have a ready made storage method.  If I need demijohns freed up I can put one demijohn in to seven wine bottles.  The instructions say leave the water to stand for 24 hours to remove chlorine.  We have a filter for that, but I will still leave it to stand until after lunch.  This photo shows me filling up using my extra useful extra thick hose.

The ingredients include oak chippings, but my wife doesn’t like oaked wine and I’ll leave them out.  Apparently this is drinkable in four weeks, so maybe we’ll be using it to celebrate three years back from New Zealand.  How time flies.