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Steve707

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I didn't see anywhere in this forum where this subject was available. I did notice it in other forums so I thought what the hell, I'll try and get something started. My apologies if it was buried in this forum somewhere.
First one is a Merlot, second, a Apple/Cherry, and third a Strawberry.

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Nothing fancy as far as labels, just filled bottles aging, Pino Grisio. Started with 29 bottles, down to 19, need to make more soon :D

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I just bottled my cider, and it turns out that I had just enough spots on the wine rack to add it in, making a full square of 144 bottles. It's a beautiful sight! From left to right, Cider, Red Zinfandel, Merlot, Blueberry/Blackberry Blend, Mead, and a few bottles of banana on the bottom (without the shrink tops). The wines are form kits, the mead, cider, and berry are all made from scratch.

The tough part of having it on display (it had to look nice as a condition to the wife), it resisting the "good stuff" early. I don't plan on touching the mead, zin, or berry for another year at least, while i rotate out some of the cheaper merlot kits and cider. I've finally been able to build up a pipeline so that I can start aging most of them in carboys. I've got a cabernet, syrah, another merlot, and two ciders going in the cellar! Need more room...

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I know, I know, its about SHOWING the wine. But I'm getting ready to move in a month or so. Everything bottled so far is tucked away, waiting transport. Maybe I'll post some pics after my next bottling session. :)

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I bought them off amazon, they were ~ $99.00 each IIRC. They came natural, and I stained them that color. They also had some redwood options that were more expensive, but to be honest, the time I spent staining, and buying the stain would have probably evened out for the same color.

I may buy two more this summer to go on either side. They make a pretty good setup, and are sturdy if you glue/nail them together instead of just nailing. I'm sure they could be made for less, but the thought of cutting hundreds of 8" sections for the bottle holders makes me cringe.
 
Here is a couple of racks I threw together in my basement. I would still like to stain them even though I already put them together.

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that looks very nice. If I weren't living in an apartment at the moment, I would have done something similar to that. Are those bottles angled enough for he solids to collect on the bottom rim? Or are they just laying flat. I can't really tell from the picture.

BTW, your shelves are too empty!
 
The bottles are laying flat enough that the wine is on the cork, but not flat enough to fall off the rack. I plan on filling both racks. I got 5 gallon peach, 6 gallon concord, and 6 gallon strawberry fermenting right now. I showed my non wine making friends those racks and they said " WOW that's a lot of wine", I show you guys and you say " your shelves are to empty". I love it.:D
 
I would like to hear your strawberry recipes / see what it looks like. I started a 1 gallon batch, just to test, and I'm afraid it's going to come out too weak. I used ~ 52 oz of cut strawberries in about 1.25 gallons of water so that I would have a gallon after racking off the strawberry stuff after the primary fermentation was over. I used enough sugar to get it to ~12% abv. I don't expect it to come out "red", but it's nearly transparent with a slight tinge of orange/pink/red color.

BTW, even with those, you shelves will still be too empty :).
 
Well here is a pic of the strawberry that I just racked today from the primary I started 7 days ago.
Really simple recipe.
24 lbs. of frozen strawberrys
12 lb. of table sugar
2 cans of welches white grape concentrate
1 64oz. bottle of welches white grape juice
6 tsp. citric acid
3 tsp. tannin
6 crushed campden tablets
3 tsp. Pectic enzyme
1 packet yeast

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By the way, that's 6 gallon. And yes my shelves will still be empty. As long as I have space I still see the need to make more. I figure I can get about 280 bottles on those 2 racks. As long as the wife sees all that space I won't here about making all this wine. :)
 
You do, EVERYONE needs a diversion, that's how we all get by.:p I love that you knew that was a Tele from that half ass photo of mine. Hahahaha
 
This was my winter project built it into the concrete basement wall so the temperature will not be a problem. Designed to hold 150 - 160 bottles. Got anxious to put the bottles up that I had so it may never get stained.

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Oh, it will get stained. when you build a rack on the other wall.:) other wise, VERY nice.I built mine in the basement like that also. Is that sunlight or artificial light?
 
Here is what I will be bottling in a few months, 5 gallon peach, 6 gallon concord grape, and 6 gallon strawberry. Strawberry just got racked today from the primary.

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Batch of green apple reslieng and a batch of berry zin they both turned out awsome. Before and after labeling.

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To Steve707,

Artificial light. The closet it was built in is no where near a window. Underneath I left space for lots of carboys and oak kegs.
 
cwebb said:
Look what I picked up off Craigslist this weekend. Gonna make my life a whole lot easier.

Nice! I showed this to my wife to reinforce the idea that I DO NOT have too much brewing equipment. ;)
 
Steve707 said:
Here is a couple of racks I threw together in my basement. I would still like to stain them even though I already put them together.

Sick icehouse 30 pack. Haven't seen that stuff in awhile.
 
I've only got a few batches under my belt thus far, but I love designing labels. Here's my 66% apple - 33% red grape wine I called "Grape Ape", and a Cranberry Apfelwein.


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Look what I picked up off Craigslist this weekend. Gonna make my life a whole lot easier.

Nice find! Having a crusher destemmer can be a real game changer for your winemaking. Nice press, too.


One year ago today, I picked up this Zambelli 80 liter bladder press and Eno 15 crusher destemmer off Craigslist. Last fall, I crushed and pressed one ton of grapes with them.

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The topic of this thread is pretty open ended, but here are some of my wines bottled in 2008. We make a lot of different wines every year and design custom labels for each one.

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Wow! I feel like a deadbeat I never make labels...I wouldn't know where to start...I just write on the bottle with a sharpie.
 
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