Day Ten

Well, the racking went very, very, well, and I must say.... must smells something aweful. The racking itself was quite painless... just don't suck any of the must off the bottom of the wine. A simple task if you are paying attention... I can see myself going banana's and making 30 bottles a month... 15 if it's port. Means I'm going to have a nice cellar to make and fill. Can't wait until I bottle, this is going to be fun. This will be the last post until I rack the second time, unless something happens or intresting occurs... until then, see you at day 20.

Day Seven

Well, this is the last day for stage one and it seems all is well. Racking tomorrow and hopefully all works well. Will post and let you know what happens....

Day Six

Well, I'm just two days away from my first racking and I've been buried in the books and articles and notes about how to do this properly. I must admit that I don't wanna screw this up but I fear that this being my first time that I will and it'll end up badly; but, such is life.

I am pleased to announce that my must has slowed in production of that nasty stink that has been infecting my house... either that or I've gone nose deaf. The yeast seems to be slowing down in consumption which means that my sugar has divided itself to one part carbon dioxide and one part alcohol... we'll find out what it tastes like in about a month and then enjoy the rest in 24 months...

Day Three

Good news, the yeast seem to be eating their sugar. It's on it's way to becoming wine, and I admit that I was a tiny bit concerned that I didn't activate the yeast properly. The air lock is rising and the pressure is building and my god, it stinks. Smells like really, really bad bread that some spilt grape juice on and left for dead. Forgot to post on the first day, S.G. was 1.090 meaning the ~alcohol content is going to be 11.5%.
I've been reading some more about making wine at home, guess next batch I'll start primary fermentation without the air lock. They suggest that it has contact with air the first 5 to 7 days and at the secondary fermentation have the airlock. Also read that this wine should be aged anywhere from 2 to 24 months. I was hoping longer, I guess I need to look around for kits that have a req'd age time of 5-7+ years maybe longer, wouldn't mind having some for the grandchild celebration.

Day Two

Well, all's well so far. Meaning, nothing bad is happening... for that matter I can't even tell if something good is happening. The airlock dosn't look like it's moving. Oh well, it's only the second day.
Came over to the carboy and took a small sniff... smells like there's a leak or something somewhere. Doesn't seem like anything is broken or not closed correctly or what. Well, we'll see what happens.

Day One

Well, today I started into the world of the unknown... winemaking. After three failed attempts of getting this batch of Syraz started by mishaps of the most important, yet most fragile of devices, the hydrometer. This little guy tells what the proof will be of the wine and when to finish fermenting the wine. Anyways, the first one I recieved was broken from hard shipping, the second one was broken when my friend dropped it into the bathtub to clean it, the third one caught fire fell into the tub and broke then sank into the swamp... but the fourth one, that's the one I'll be inherting. Seriously, I had to have four of those guys shipped to me, luckly for me that the company where i get all my supplies thought it was all UPS's fault, which for the 2 out 3 times it was shipped, it was.
So, after careful reading of the insturctions and the careful handling of the hydrometer, we successfully added all the ingredients and mixtures that is required to make such wonderful necture of the gods. Only weird catch was that I was a little skeptical of the directions because it told me not to activate the yeast as was instructed on the package of yeast, instead it said to just add it to the wine. Expierence and knowledge are bucking against these directions... hope those guys turn on. Enjoy that sugar little guys so I can enjoy you.