And it rolls on

The Noir wine and pyment have been racked for the final time and are now in the "polishing" stage. The Grigio wines have now been kmeta'd, sorbated and fined as well. I had to go on a business trip right after that, and when I came back I realized I hadn't used enough on the pyment so I had to add more and re-degass. It seems to have leveled off and stopped now.

I bottled one of the flavor experiments today, my cheater Blueberry Melomel. It was the only one that really cleared on it's own. The others required a Sparkolloid treatment. I also only have enough bottles for two of the other flavor batches so I'll need to go get more. I'm also preparing to bottle the Alfalfa traditional, another batch I had to use Sparkolloid on.

Grigio Pyment in Secondary

The Grigio pyment reached racking gravity and after a short pause is now fermenting again. I have little doubt it will reach it's target FG. I'm hoping I can kmeta/sorbate/fine the Grigios at the same time like I did with the Noirs.

Wine/Pyment update

The Grigio wine has reached it's clarifying gravity but still seems to be fermenting stronger than can be described as "finished". It'll probably be another day or so before it stops, judging by the Noir wine. The Grigio pyment is still churning along, only 8 points now from my target racking gravity.

I couldn't resist taking a small sample of the Noir wine and pyment today. Both are very clear even now, which of course has me tickled pink. The wine tastes very good, though you can tell it's still young. The pyment is spectacular, much better than I had hoped, and if it gets better as it ages I'm probably going to have to make more of it. It is top notch stuff, if I do say so myself. The hardest part of that one will be not drinking it all too soon.

Grigio Pyment

The Grigio Pyment seems to have slowed. I checked the pH and while okay, it seemed a bit low. I added just a touch of Potassium Carbonate along with a dash of DAP and Superfood and stirred gently. We'll see if that helps.

Grigio Surprise

The Grigio got below 1.010 already. Good thing I checked it. I racked it to secondary today. It only took 3 days to get from 1.083 to 1.007. Wow.

Noir Wine and Pyment moving along

I added the sorbate, kmeta and fining agents to my Noir wine and pyment today. Both hit their final gravity at the same time, which was very convenient. The wine kit says to let the wine sit for 8 days or so. Not sure how this will translate to the pyment, but we'll see.

Pinot Progress

The Noir wine is almost ready to get to the kmeta/sorbate/fining stage. I'll probably get that going tomorrow or Wednesday night. The Noir Pyment hit 1.022 this afternoon, which is only 7 points from my target gravity. I might be doing the same to it soon, maybe even the same evening, which would be cool.

The Grigo wine is chugging right along. It has gone from an OG of 1.083 on Saturday to 1.030 today! I'll have to rack it by the end of the week, I bet. The Grigio pyment got off to a slow start. I pitched a Wyeast Chablis yeast, but due to circumstances I had to pitch before it was able to swell. I ended up using GoFerm on a couple of packets of Lalvin 71B and pitching those yesterday. Today the ph got down to 2.74, so I added some Potassium Carbonate to adjust it. It checked in at 1.088 today, so going strong now but just got a late start.

All and all, it's looking very good. I got a chance to taste the Noir wine and pyment a little bit, and I'm happy to say they are both very very promising!

Noir Pyment Racked

I racked the Noir Pyment into the secondary tonight. I got a small taste of it, and I must say it was very very promising! I can't wait until this one is done.

More Pyment

The Noir Wine part is in the secondary, and I started another pyment today, a white. It's made from an Italian Pinot Grigio kit this time. More as it develops.

Pyment Project

I started two batches last night. The base for both is a Pinot Noir wine kit. I split it in half; the first half I'm doing as a regular wine, per the kit instructions (taking all ingredients by 1/2), and the other I added water and honey to to make a pyment. So far both are going well, though I had to adjust the ph of the pyment with some potassium carbonate. Also, I don't know if it's the juice, yeast or oak, but the fermentation smell is really stinky.

More kegging and bottling

The Apple Butter Cyser and Hefty Braggot are kegged and in the kegerator to cool and age. The Fall's Bount Cyser will be bottled by day's end. I'm looking at all the empty carboys and thinking, boy, am I glad I'll be starting new batches soon; looking at empty carboys is depressing.

Do not go gently...

I treated a few of my experimental batches with Sparkolloid yesterday. I think I goofed, though. The instructions I have say to stir gently. I missed that bit, and my stirring was anything but gentle. I'll watch the batch and if I don't get results by tomorrow night I'll reapply, being more gentle this time.

We have heat

I picked up a space heater at Home Depot today. They had sold out, so I got a display unit at a discount. My brew room should now stay warm at night. We'll see what temp my brews get up to overnight. If the heater can keep them warm (and I have little doubt it will), I'll start my wine and pyment the weekend after I get my Chablis yeast.

Kegs

I picked up two kegs and some o-rings and reconditioned the kegs myself. I am amazed how how easy it really is. They turn out just like the last kegs I got from my LHBS (reconditioned) but cost 40% less, net.

I'm ready to keg my Apple Butter Cyser and the Hefty Braggot now.

Brewing Status

I'll make a permalink to this post in the links to the left. This will be where I can post what I have fermenting, aging, clarifying, in the bottle, and planned.

Planned:


In Primary:


Ageing/Clarifying:
Apple Butter Cyser 2007

Bottled:
Traditional Dry Mead
Agave Nectar Wine*
Dark Mead Batch 1*
Dark Mead Batch 2*
Fall's Bounty Cyser
Blueberry Melomel*
Alfalfa Varietal Sweet Mead
Vanilla Mead*
African Red Bush Mead*
Wild Sweet Orange Mead*
Sweet Cinnamon Spice Mead*
Pinot Grigio Pyment
Pinot Grigio Wine
Pinot Noir Wine
Pinot Noir Pyment
Bentonite Experiment*
Blended Traditional Mead (Oaked)
Winexpert Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir (wine/pyment)
Winexpert Washington Columbia Valley Riesling (wine/pyment)

Kegged:
Apple Butter Cyser 2006**
Island Mist Peach Apricot Chardonnay**
Malty Lager**
Easy Hefeweisen**
BrewDude's American Pale Ale**
BrewHut Holiday Red Ale**
Hefty Braggot

* one gallon experimental batch
** on tap

Spring Brew Plans

I have a lot on my plate for spring brews. Planned brews include:

• Group brew traditional
• Group brew orange melomed
• Pinot Noir Pyment
• Pinot Grigio Pyment

Right now, four of my five 5-gallon carboys are in use. I'll need to free up one of them to prepare for the pyments, another one for racking the pyments, and a final one to receive the first rack of the group brews from the 6.5-gallon carboys. It's going to be musical carboys again, but that's what I love about this hobby. I like trying to do the most with what I have by using a little planning.

Also, I'll be out of town one weekend, so I have to plan around that as well. Wheeee!

I'll be kegging the Apple Butter Cyser and Hefty Braggot soon, and the Fall's Bounty Cyser is ready to bottle, methinks. That'll free up the 5-gallon carboys I need. My Alfalfa mead isn't clearing up as well as I had hoped. I hit it with kmeta and I'm letting it sit for a couple of weeks. After that, if it's not yet clear, I'll hit it with Sparkolloid and hope for the best. Thankfully, I can let it sit after this step for a couple of months without interferring with the rest of my schedule. Yay for planning!

Gas!

Went at my still meads in the carboys with a degasser apparatus today. Wow. All of them foamed up to some degree. It was like they acquired a head, and all of them lingered. In fact, most of them still have a bit of foam left on them, even now, three hours later. Just amazing.

Brew Room Pictures.

Took some pictures of my Brew Room today. Here they are:

This is a picture of my equipment shelves. I seem to be gathering more and more things as time goes along. I'm running out of room!


My current brews. Flavor experiments are in the front, with the far right little one being my Porter Braggot experiement. ABC, Alfalfa traditional, Fall's Bounty Cyser and Hefty Braggot are in the back.

Almost ready for the season

Picked up some more stuff from the LHBS today, including a Pinot Noir wine kit. I'm going to use about half of it for wine, but the other half for a pyment.I also picked up a degasser after reading some things on the boards I frequent.

I also picked up some bentonite and potassium Metabisulfite (KMETA). I'm hoping with this I'll be able to cut down on unintentional carbonation in my bottles. I used it at recommended doses on my flavored mead experiments today. I'll degass and bottle in a couple of weeks.

Toys!

I picked up a PH meter, Refractometer and oxygen kit today. Next thing you know I'll be ordering a stir plate...

Also picked up some Potassium Sorbate and Sparkolloid.

The Braggot has slowed down a lot. I'll be taking a PH reading as soon as the meter is ready and calibrated. The gravity is still very high, if I'm reading it correctly.