Tag Archives: winemaking

Making and Breaking Hard Apple Cider From Scratch

I have made moderately terrible wines from grapes. I have made a few lovely beers with my brewing wife (thanks to my wife). I have never toyed with hard apple cider. With Fall upon us, nature throws an emergency-opportunity my way: Continue reading

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Wine From Vines: Planting my First Vineyard

So it begins. After years of making wine from bought grapes, finally, finally, I could plant my own vines. It only took buying a home with a quarter acre…minor details… Continue reading

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END.GAME.

The end is nigh. Fermentation has slowed in my six gallons of vidal blanc juice. Less than a week has expired since I picked up the juice. Last night’s reading (below) was a call to arms (and racking siphon tubes). … Continue reading

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FILTERED.FINISH

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

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ELEVATING.ESCAPISM

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

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