Category Archives: OENOLOGICAL ODYSSEY

Follow my fall into wine making here. With no training, I craft horrible wines to better understand the process that confects grapes into alcohol.

FILTERED.FINISH

Posted on February 24, 2011 by waywardwine

A ten day vacation looms. The wine tank can’t come with me. It’s time to bottle it. That or turn our fridge into a cellar. Bottling my first and second wines required crafty recycling. This would be no different. Once … Continue reading →

Posted in OENOLOGICAL ODYSSEY, VIGNOLES VENTURING | Tagged achilles, Beverages, bottle, filtering, Ohio, running out of time, Shopping, South Essex, Sparkling wine, wine, winemaking | 1 Comment

HUMAN.SIPHON

Posted on February 22, 2011 by waywardwine

Weeks of chilling and racking the wine into near clear perfection have passed. It seems like a lifetime since I blew it up and even longer since I traveled to the Finger Lakes to buy juice. The tank has traveled … Continue reading →

Posted in OENOLOGICAL ODYSSEY, VIGNOLES VENTURING | Tagged cold stabilization, fermentation, grapes, home winemaking, mini-fridge, racking, sado masochism, secondary fermentation, vignoles, wine | 2 Comments

MINIMAL.RETURNS

Posted on February 18, 2011 by waywardwine

Chilling wine in an ice tank did crystallize a small amount of tartaric acid. Moving the wine to the freezing outdoors for another week just wore me out. Sure, it was cold in the car. But re-parking in the shade … Continue reading →

Posted in OENOLOGICAL ODYSSEY, VIGNOLES VENTURING | Tagged alcohol, Beverages, Clarification and stabilization of wine, cold stabil, drink, Food, home winemaking, Recreation, sleepy, Tartaric acid, vignoles, wine, wine making | 1 Comment

WANDERING.WINE

Posted on February 14, 2011 by waywardwine

Brace yourself. My hunt for winecraft’s golden fleece, cold stabilization, has brought the glass carboy to the car. The outdoor freeze presents my last chance to chill the wine. But dangers and complications ensue… A bleary but hopeful the morning … Continue reading →

Posted in OENOLOGICAL ODYSSEY, VIGNOLES VENTURING | Tagged alcohol, carboy, Clarification and stabilization of wine, cold stabilization, drinking, finger lakes wine, home winemaking, Litre, Tartaric acid, vignoles, wine | 2 Comments

ELEVATING.ESCAPISM

Posted on February 11, 2011 by waywardwine

It is Thanksgiving break. The students have left. Now is my chance to truly cold stabilize my wine. A week of ice bucket chilling and siphoning helped to remove most of the floating solids. Yet the wine never got below … Continue reading →