Massachusetts group grape buy

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I tried the juice this afternoon when I punched down. It is still very sweet, it isn't done fermenting yet. (duh) But underneath the sweetness there is a nice structure, there is a solid earthyness there. It's very rich and deep with many layers of flavor just under the sweetness. We'll see what the next few days bring, but it should only improve and the flavors should come more to the fore as the weather reamains cool. I gave MrsTheNurse a taste and she agreed, said "That's got a lot of potential."

Since she married me I'm going with the strongly held belief that she knows a diamond in the rough when she see's one. (At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it.)

PTN
 
PTN, BullsBeers, JustMrWill, & BeerGears - Thanks for the work you did last week and for posting the pictures!

I'm back from vacation and am full of mediocre lager and cheap rum.

May 31st works for me. What time should we plan on being there?
 
What time on Sunday? It looks like I'll be free by 11:00 am, then a hour+ drive and I should be there.
 
You'll be presentable???

I've got a car tour Sunday morning and will pop in after that... don't worry, i won't drink much. It will probably be around 4 or so before you guys see the new HUGE me.
 
Melana said:
You'll be presentable???
Click to expand...

It could happen.

PTN

ps

5 Brix, incredible color and a nice nose. The yeast is still dominating the flavor now but you can tell that whats under it is very nice. I think you guys are going to be happy.

I've got the MLB culturing up. I took a few liters of sterile water, added some apple juice and the bacteria and it was hissing away when I opened them this afternoon to listen for activity. The MLB make very tiny bubbles, it's easier to listen for them than to look for them. You put your ear next to the opening and if you hear snap, crackel and pop either you have cereal in your wine or the MLB are doing their thing. I've decided that I'll add the bacteria after we press on Sunday instead of around now, as I originally intended.

PTN
 
Anyone know where we can get cheescloth by the yard? I didn't clean the last bunch I had well enough and it got ugly so I threw it out. I got it at a fabric store near me but it has closed since then. We'll want to line the press with cheesecloth when we put the pommace in. It cuts down on the amount of solids going into the settling tanks by a TON. I'd guess we need 3-4 yards of the stuff.

PTN
 
And not to sound like your mother nagging you but... So far we have Vermiscious, Cranky and Melana/BigJohn saying they are coming. What about the rest of you guys? Could you let me know? If I need to call in extra hands I can do that if I know.

BTW, if anyone wants to swing by and participate in the punchdowns just to get a feel for it, PM me and let me know when you can be in the area and I'll schedule the punchdowns for then. We still have a few days before Sunday and it is an important part of the process. Just a thought.

I'll probably throw some ribs on the smoker in the morning. I don't want to get into the hassle of a full blown BBQ, I'm going to be pretty busy running around on Sunday but we all need to eat so I'll do that at least. If you want to bring something to chow on that will be great.


PTN
 
Cheese-making equipment suppliers...?

Local restaurant..?

Could you sew smaller parts together to make a large enough piece?

Food-grade nylon mesh, if there is such a thing?

I just posted a question about where to get cheescloth / yard on the Food forum on CL - maybe someone there will chime in, and I will relay.

BTW, may not make it Sunday, MIL is not doing well, staying put to support SWMBO, who has a hard time dealing with it (and her lame brothers...).
 
Sorry to be the bearer of sad news but John won't be with me on Sunday. I will be solo... and in my dad's '70 Buick... can someone please leave me some space to park in the driveway? If something happens to that beast i'm never going to forgive myself!

JL my thoughts are with you as well.

I will see waht i can come up with for cheesecloth...
 
Melana said:
Sorry to be the bearer of sad news but John won't be with me on Sunday. I will be solo... and in my dad's '70 Buick... can someone please leave me some space to park in the driveway? If something happens to that beast i'm never going to forgive myself!

JL my thoughts are with you as well.

I will see waht i can come up with for cheesecloth...
Click to expand...

Melana, just pull down the side street and park it on the grass over by the vineyard, it will be safe there.

And you most definately WON'T be alone.

Oh, Alice found cheesecloth, she's picking it up on her way home tonight.
PTN
 
Sorry to miss this...sitting in Vegas, looking out my window at the strip as the sun sets and all the lights come on...boy..I wish I was making wine instead... :cool:.

Let me know when you will need me next (after Tuesday).

-Will
 
Well. I just got home a little bit ago....Half in the bag and drank more wine today than I've have in my life....I had a blast today..I have to thank Paul and Alice for inviting me into there home. Every time I go there I have more fun..( and more drinks).....I also have to thank cranky old librarian for bring the anchor for today's wine making, His girlfriend KIM!! If it wasn't for her, I'm not sure anything would have been done. She was a trooper..Much thanks for Vermicous for coming from so far away..He was great...

We HAVE to do this again...The grapes tasted great and I bet will taste amazing in a year or so...Again, thanks to Paul and his amazing bride for hosting a great day..

Congrat's to Melana....She looked fabulous...2 months and counting...hang in there.
 
Kim and I had so much fun. It was great to meet everyone, bottle almost 200 bottles, press the malbec, BBQ, get attacked by a giant lobster claw, and sample so many great wines from Paul & Alice's cellar (the only exception being that banana/berry wine that Paul brought as an example to teach me a not very tasty lesson).

I took way too many pictures and a few videos. Check them out here:

Winemaking June 2009 pictures by crankyoldlibrarian - Photobucket

Thanks again for such a great afternoon!!!
 
Ok so to try to give some sense of what went on yesterday for those who couldn't make it, I'll try to provide a bit of commentary with the pics.

Here we have the first barrel out on the porch, set up on sawhorses so we had vertical distance for a siphon down to the 5 bottle filler. We're in teh process of setting up teh siphon to fill the bottler in this picture.
CIMG2852.jpg


The bottler fills up, in theory the ballcock shuts off the flow when the level of wine gets too high. In practice someone would have to hold the ball up to shut off the flow. Still, once we got cooking we were bottling a case in around 5 minutes.

CIMG2854.jpg


Cranky's girlfriend Kim was the definate WorkDog. She managed to get her hands on every single piece of equipment before teh day was done. Here she is driving the corker.

CIMG2860.jpg


PTN
 
Once the bottling was complete it was time to press the Malbec. Here we have about 1/2 the must over by the press. We lined the press with chesecloth to keep out as much of the pulp as possible.
CIMG2868.jpg



The juice and the pulp gets ladled into the press. A lot of teh juice flows out of teh press basket without having to apply pressure. The must/pulp acts as a sort of filter along with the cheesecloth.

CIMG2873.jpg


CIMG2870.jpg


PTN
 
Fill that baby up!

CIMG2877.jpg


The juice really pours out! You can see in this picture that there is still a LOT of yeast suspended in the wine. That will mostly all settle out over the next few days. It is what we call The Gross Lees.
CIMG2876.jpg



Here we see that we got a TON of wine out without having to squeeze at all. That is over 30 gallons in the barrel behind. and we're just getting ready to press.
CIMG2879.jpg


Who said that Cranky sat back and watched Kim do all the work? We have PROOF he broke a sweat.

CIMG2881.jpg
 
Vermiscious taking a break from pumping the press.

CIMG2886.jpg


Three rules about press day.
1. Wear clothes you don't care about getting sticky and stained.
2. Sandles - Good, Barefoot - Better, Shoes and socks - Bad Idea. As you can see, my legs are purple from the frequent squirts out the side of the press as pressure is applied.
3. Old Balding guys need to put a hat on earlier in teh day so that the baldspot on teh back of their head doesn't get so badly sunburned.

CIMG2887.jpg


The pommace presses down into a pretty solid block. We didn't squeeze it too dry, it adds a lot of harsh tannins that would take a long time to soften. Plus, I know a guy who wanted the pommace/marc to make another wine based adult beverage.

CIMG2889.jpg


PTN
 
Cranky has some videos loaded up too, but I couldn't figure out how to link to them so that they would embed.

I hope everyone had fun, learned a little something and enjoyed the wine we made. The Malbec is pretty darned good at this stage and it's only going to get better. And I hope everyone enjoyed the wines we broke out from the cellar. I know Alice and I had fun and I KNOW Brian enjoyed the Bordeaux. Sorry Brian, I needed to say sober since I was the only one who knew what to do next. Maybe NEXT time you can get me hammered and I'll sell you a case of the Bordeaux for a dollar. Probably not, but you never know.

I added the MLB this afternoon, I want to take advantage of the warm weather and get that off to a good start. We're still planning to rack it off the gross lees on Friday, unless I detect any off smells before then. In that case it happens immediately.

PTN
 

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