tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41530729353264824782024-03-14T02:29:04.973-07:00Random FermentationsThis is a humble blog about making wine, mead, cider, or whatever.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-4849712440739456632017-08-20T17:21:00.000-07:002017-08-20T17:21:01.001-07:00My New Toy: Refractometer (and bonus Christmas Cider recipe)A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through Google Plus communities and I came across a post on using a refractometer for measuring sugar concentration (i.e. Brix). For me, this was a lightning bolt. I didn't need to read anything beyond the title of the post to know exactly why I wanted my own refractometer and why. I immediately started looking online, and found out that Lee Valley Tools in Edmonton had one in stock, advertised as a "<a href="http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=46784&cat=2,2120,33277" target="_blank">Sugar Tester</a>", priced at $76.50. I acquired one the next day.<br />
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Portable Refractometer. The item came with a case, an eyedropper, a small </div>
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screwdriver (for the calibration screw), instructions, and a cleaning cloth.</div>
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A refractometer measures the index of refraction of a medium. The index of refraction, <i>n</i>, is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum compared to the speed of light in the medium of interest. For example, <i>n</i> for water is 1.333, which means that light travels 1.333 times slower in water than in a vacuum. Refraction is when light "bends" on entering a medium with a different n. When I described this to my daughter, she immediately gave the example of looking at a plastic straw in a glass of water - it looks like it's bent.<br />
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The key thing to know is that sugar solutions have a larger n than water. And, if you increase the sugar concentration, n increases. This can be calibrated and you can use a relatively simple optical measurement to determine sugar concentration, as opposed to measuring specific gravity with a hydrometer. <br />
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Personally, I find the measurement of specific gravity with a hydrometer to be a chore. For one, you need to sanitize the hydrometer and the cylinder or wine thief used to hold the liquid during the measurement. So, every time you want to measure s.g., you need to sanitize stuff. Second, hydrometers are made of glass, so they are fragile and it's no fun if you break one by accident. Third, s.g. measurements are a bit imprecise due to the size of the meniscus relative to the calibration marks on the hydrometer. And, if there are bubbles stuck to the hydrometer, the s.g. reading will be higher than it should. You need to measure s.g. two or three times to make sure the reading is consistent.<br />
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Measuring Brix with a refractometer is just simple. All you do is place a few drops (yes, DROPS) of liquid on the prism, close the "daylight plate", and look through the eyepiece for the reading. In this particular refractometer, the dual scale is given in Brix and "Approximate % of Alcohol". The images below show what you see in the eyepiece.<br />
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Refractometer Brix scale with water on the prism.</div>
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(Photo obtained by placing the eyepiece up to the camera on a MS Surface tablet)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Refractometer Brix scale with freshly pressed apple juice (for cider, of course!)</td></tr>
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My first use of the refractometer was in preparing a batch of cider. I decided to use the same 'recipe' as a batch from last year, which I'm going to name "Christmas Cider" (see recipe at the end of this post). That batch of cider was delicious and I wanted to reproduce it. The refractometer comes in handy because I diluted the apple juice by a factor of two with water, and then adjusted (increased) the sugar content in order to get enough alcohol. By having a quick & easy way to measure Brix with a refractometer, this sugar adjustment was painless compared to repeatedly measuring s.g. with a hydrometer. The readings were precise in the sense that they did not fluctuate during the reading (unlike a bobbing hydrometer!) or between readings of the same sample.<br />
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The one big limitation of measuring the index of refraction is that it's only really useful for measuring sugar content before fermentation starts. When fermentation starts, the sugar concentration decreases, and alcohol increases. Alcohol, just like sugar, increases the index of refraction. That means that the <i>n</i> measurement is no longer proportional to sugar concentration. Rather, <i>n</i> is affected by sugar and alcohol concentrations. Apparently there are online calculators that allow you to calculate sugar and alcohol concentrations from a mid-fermentation refractometer reading, so long as you know the starting Brix. This sounds fine in theory, but I have a bias against "black box" calculations like that. Even though it's a chore, you are probably going to get a more reliable measure of fermentation progress from a direct measurement of s.g. with a hydrometer. Give me the choice, and I would rather have a direct measurement than a value from a black box. That being said, it would be interesting to compare s.g. measurements with corrected refractometer readings using an online calculators.<br />
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From a quick survey of YouTube videos on refractometers, it seems that a number of home brewers like to use refractometers when they are making up their wort, and then they use hydrometers once fermentation is under way. This makes a lot of sense.<br />
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<b>Christmas Cider</b><br />
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1.5 gallons freshly pressed apple juice<br />
1/2 tsp peptic enzyme<br />
2 tsp yeast energizer<br />
3 crushed Campden tablets<br />
1.5 gallons water<br />
approx. 3 cups granulated sugar<br />
1 packet of champagne yeast (Lalvin EC-1118)<br />
1 tsp. nutmeg<br />
5 cinnamon sticks<br />
3/4 cup dextrose (priming sugar)<br />
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Instructions*:<br />
Add peptic enzyme, yeast energizer, and Campden tablets to the apple juice and let it sit in the closed primary fermentation bucket for 24 hours. Then, add water and stir thoroughly. Add sugar in 1 cup increments, stirring thoroughly after each addition, and measure Brix with a refractometer until Brix = 9. (If measuring s.g. with a hydrometer, aim for s.g. = 1.035 - 1.040.) Sprinkle yeast on surface of the juice and close the lid loosely on the primary (you can also use a primary with airlock). When the foam collapses, siphon the cider into a sanitized 3 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation. At this point, add the nutmeg and cinnamon sticks. Seal the carboy with an airlock. When fermentation is complete, siphon the cider into bucket and mix in the dextrose (1/4 cup per gallon of cider). Bottle in beer bottles and seal with bottle caps.<br />
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*Note: This is a customized version of the apple cider recipe in the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook, known as the purple booklet<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-15823843547534800152017-07-29T11:25:00.000-07:002017-07-29T11:25:32.561-07:00Hops - Fast Growth and Early Signs of Cones Lesson: Hops grow awfully fast. Back in early June, I planted two Golding Hops plants, and posted a picture (<a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2017/06/hops-in-garden.html" target="_blank">Hops in the Garden</a>). That was about seven weeks ago. Those little plants now look like this:<br />
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As you can see, I attached heavy garden twine to the downspout on the eaves trough so the hops could grow upwards. It's been fun to watch the hops bines wrap themselves around the twine as they grow. I have also been watching carefully for any signs of the beginnings of cones. Today, I took a close look and discovered many clusters of little 'burrs' on one of the plants. These burrs, I understand, grow into the cones that we harvest. So, this is exciting. Given all the little clusters on this one plant, I think there should be enough hops for batch of home brew.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cluster of Pre-Cone Burrs on a Hops Plant </td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-75217361614227316982017-07-20T10:36:00.002-07:002017-07-20T10:36:55.555-07:00Mead - Final Product One Year LaterWay back in October 2016, I was frustrated with <a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2016/10/stuck-fermentation.html" target="_blank">stuck fermentation</a> on a batch of mead. Adding yeast nutrient/energizer, fermentation seemed to do the trick. Three months later, in January, I measured the specific gravity (0.996) and decided to rack it. Some residual haziness remained, so I let this mead sit for 7 months in the dark, in a sealed carboy, hoping that this little bit of cloudiness would settle out. Last week, I decided to rack again, and maybe bottle it.<br />
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During the racking, I took pains to avoid bumping the walls of the carboy with the auto-siphon, as fine particles had settled there. I also left avoided siphoning off the bottom inch (or so) of liquid, thus avoiding most of the fine sediment. The racked mead seemed to not have any visible particulates, although there was still a fine haze. I decided that it probably wasn't going to get much better by letting it sit for another half a year, so I went ahead and bottled. And, frankly, the minor haziness is something I can live with.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minor haziness is most visible in full sunlight.</td></tr>
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The final specific gravity was 0.994, slightly lower (but within experimental error) than the s.g. in January. Total yield was 14 bottles, plus another 300 mL or so that I put in the fridge for immediate consumption.<br />
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So, is it any good? Well, yes. This mead is far better than the my first attempt, which was made using some generic honey from Costco. This one has more interesting, complex honey flavours, and it tastes 'clean'. It is also very dry and it's delicious when chilled - a perfect summer treat.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-17216750321387044912017-06-12T15:50:00.000-07:002017-06-12T15:50:02.418-07:00Hops in the GardenI am now growing hops in my garden. This is with the goal of eventually making beer directly from the four basic ingredients (water, barley, hops, and yeast), using fresh hops grown in my own garden.<br />
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The inspiration for this goal comes from a few places. It started with the 2014 book "The Perfect Keg" by Ian Coutts. This is a fun Canadian work of non-fiction in which the author documents his attempts to grow his own barley in order to make beer from scratch, at the same time learning various brewing tricks from master brewers. It's a fun read. Coutt's desire to start from scratch is something that I understand, and kudos to him for pursuing that.<br />
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For some time now, I have enjoyed a range of YouTube videos on home brewing. These have fired up my interest in all-grain brewing (i.e. starting from barley itself). At some point, I will post links to some of the more interesting videos I have seen. <br />
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In early May, my wife and I attended a free seminar on growing hops at the <a href="http://www.enjoycentre.ca/" target="_blank">Enjoy Centre</a>, here in St. Albert. The seminar was run in part by the proprietors of <a href="https://windhover.ca/hopyard.php" target="_blank">Northern Girls Hopyard</a>. They even brought along some hop plants for sale. At that time, they only had Cascade and Centennial hops, which, I understand, are used mainly in brewing IPAs. So, I separately ordered two Golding hops plants from them and picked them up two weeks ago.<br />
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I re-potted the hop plants in large planters. Why not in the ground, you might ask? The answer is that I was warned by a friend who has previously grown his own hops that they basically start growing everywhere. Hops propogate through rhizomes (i.e. the roots grow and send up new shoots), which means that you need to manage them. Putting the hop plants in a container seemed like an easier option.<br />
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The Northern Girls recommend the use of twine for the hop 'bines'. This requires hanging the twine from some kind of overhead point of contact, which was not practical. So, I tried a bamboo pole instead of twine. Fortunately, the hops have taken to this perfectly, with a tiny bit of training at the beginning:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hop plant growing clockwise up and around bamboo.</td></tr>
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I'm looking forward to seeing how the hops turn out. They are certainly growing quickly.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-83906785549455015762017-06-10T11:13:00.004-07:002017-06-10T11:13:58.541-07:00Czeck Pilsner & Red AleOver the last three months, I made two beers from kits. The first kit was a Czeck Pilsner wort kit by Festa Brew. The second was a Red Ale kit by Brewer's Best.<br />
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Festa Brew wort kits are quite easy, but I kind of wonder about the final quality given just how long the bags of pasteurized wort might be sitting on the shelf before you purchase it and take it home. When I bought this Czeck Pilsner kit from <a href="http://www.estatebrewing.ca/" target="_blank">Estate Brewing</a> in Edmonton, the owner told me that it was a very popular kit and his stock was being sold quickly. In the end, it turned out to be a nice beer, but I'm not convinced it's much like actual Czeck pilsners like Pilsner Urquell. The main difference, to me, is that the kit beer has much more citrus flavour.<br />
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Needing a new challenge just to keep my interest, the next kit I bought was an ingredient kit from Brewer's Best. The kit included malt extract, malted barley, freeze dried hops, yeast, priming sugar, and bottle caps. In order to make this beer, I also needed some new equipment - in particular a 6 gallon stainless steel kettle, which is basically a gigantic pot.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brewer's Best beer ingredient kit.</td></tr>
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This was the first time I have made beer from an ingredient kit, and it was a lot of fun. After the usual sanitization, the process consisted of bringing 3 gallons of water to 150 <sup>o</sup>F, steeping malted, crushed grains (in a bag), bringing the wort to a boil, adding liquid malt extract, and then adding two different types of hops (Golding and Willamette) at specific times. After the hops were added, their aromas began to fill the entire house, which resulted in my kids all separately asking, "what's that smell?" (Nobody was complaining, it's just that nobody had smelled anything like it before!)<br />
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The biggest challenge was trying to cool the wort down to room temperature after the boil. I had not invested in one of those coiled wort chillers, so I had to resort to taking the kettle outside and placing it in a pile of snow. (Yes, we get snow in April in Edmonton.) It took about 2 hours to get the temperature down to, which seems way too long. I need to buy a wort chiller.<br />
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After that, I added water to bring the total volume to 5 gallons, pitched the yeast, and the fermentation started up right away. After 3 days, the foam head had collapsed and I siphoned the beer into a carboy. After 12 days in the carboy, and noting that specific gravity was not changing, I proceeded to bottling. This meant transferring the beer to a large bucket, mixing in the priming sugar, and then filling and capping bottles.<br />
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Three weeks later, I tasted this Red Ale and I was floored. First of all, I have to characterize the taste as distinctly "fresh". There are just no off-flavours at all. For example, many commercial beers (especially from cans for kegs) have a metallic tinny taste that kind of ruins it. Other beers can develop skunky flavours that arise from photochemical reactions in the beer, especially when the beer is in clear bottles. And sometimes there are flavours that make me think the beer has just been sitting around too long. This beer came out fresh, and it's certainly fresher tasting than any of the beers I have made from wort kits.<br />
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Second of all, as described on the kit label, this beer is "smooth and easy drinking", a "balance of caramel malts and specialty grains", with low hop bitterness. I am not a fan of many IPA's, but I do enjoy beers that have complex caramel flavours that come from malted grains. So, this beer suits my tastes just about perfectly. I have told friends that this is the best beer I have ever tasted, which might seem like an exaggeration, but it's true for me. I will probably make this beer again, and it has me salivating over the possibility of making beer from your own malted grains.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-60227263932506383342017-01-14T10:55:00.000-08:002017-01-14T10:55:02.638-08:00Peach Melomel - Tasting & BottlingThree months have passed since I racked the peach melomel to let it clarify. Passive clarification was effective in this case. The melomel was crystal clear at the time of bottling.<br />
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I siphoned the melomel into a sterilized carboy, and stirred it vigorously for about ten minutes. This was to remove residual carbon dioxide. I actually did a taste test before and after stirring, and it was easy to detect the reduction in carbonation. I also took a specific gravity reading, and found it unchanged from the previous measurement.<br />
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Bottling was a snap. The three gallon batch is a good size for my purposes. This yielded 14 (and half) bottles in the end. Some volume is always lost in the racking, but that's fine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bottles of peach melomel.</td></tr>
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<br />
I like the taste of this batch. The taste is light and reminiscent to some dry white wines. It has a mild honey aroma, and the honey taste seems most noticeable at the front and middle. Then, a gentle fruit flavour emerges at the end. The acidity is just right. But the odd thing is that I have a hard time identifying a peach flavour!<br />
<br />
Fruit flavours come from organic compounds called <i>esters</i>, and the pure compounds have very specific tastes and aromas. One of the fun things about esters is that they are easily transformed into other esters, under certain chemical conditions. That means you can transform an ester with one particular flavour into another ester that has a totally different flavour. All you have to do is mix up the ester with a little acid and an alcohol compound (the alcohol that we drink is an alcohol known as ethanol).<br />
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So, here's one hypothesis: peach flavour comes from "linalyl" esters. In the presence of ethanol and acid, these could be converted to the corresponding "ethyl" esters. The ethyl esters in question are present in bananas, lemons, pineapples, and strawberries. When I sip this peach melomel, I taste hints of all of these. (<i>Caveat: this is just a hypothesis.)</i><br />
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Another, perhaps more likely, scenario is that the peach linalyl esters decomposed into carboxylic acids, which do not have fruit flavours at all. :(<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Peach" Melomel. More like "Fruit" Melomel.</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-19175164777088209932017-01-02T15:05:00.000-08:002017-01-02T15:05:51.624-08:00American Red AleOver the holiday break, I made a batch of beer from a kit. The "ReadyBrew" kit was manufactured by craft brewer <a href="http://paddockwood.com/" target="_blank">Paddock Wood Brewing</a>, Saskatoon (Hey, that's almost local for me!). According to the manager of the store where I bought it, Paddock Wood Brewing prepares fifty 23 L kits from every batch of their own beer. That's kind of cool!<br />
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The "kit" consisted of a boxed bag of 23 L of wort. That's all. (But, frankly, I didn't mind because nothing says 'serious' like a kit consisting of only one raw material. "You need to select your own yeast, buddy.")<br />
<br />
A couple of days before Christmas, I started the fermentation. Within a day, there was quite an accumulation of foam - enough to push the lid off the bucket:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sHHjbvsYgco/WGrZ1a2NwoI/AAAAAAAAAg4/Al-4_HegQt4xbKu33fYSgBlRGwgzAc1lwCLcB/s1600/Am%2BRed%2BAle%2Bprimary%2BDec_2016.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sHHjbvsYgco/WGrZ1a2NwoI/AAAAAAAAAg4/Al-4_HegQt4xbKu33fYSgBlRGwgzAc1lwCLcB/s320/Am%2BRed%2BAle%2Bprimary%2BDec_2016.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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Uh oh!</div>
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While I didn't bother to take a picture of what happened next, I can assure readers that the foam created quite a mess, especially when it dried out. Fortunately, I put the entire primary fermentation bucket in a large plastic tub, which contained the mess. The excessive foam production did not last very long. Another day, and the foam had collapsed to a manageable level.<br />
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On Christmas Day, I took a few minutes to transfer the beer from into a sterilized carboy, and installed an airlock. And, today, January 2, 2017, I added priming sugar and bottled. I'm really looking forward to enjoying a bottle in a couple of weeks.<br />
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Happy New Year!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-48481339717425955512016-11-08T08:05:00.000-08:002016-11-08T08:05:01.405-08:00Fermentation KineticsSince I "re-started" the fermentation in the mead about three weeks ago, I have kept an eye on the fermentation rate. It seems to be going as one would expect: after the large increase in bubble rate over the first 2-3 days, the bubble rate has been decreasing slowly. As a chemist, in this sort of situation, I can't keep myself from taking measurements and recording them in a table. For many years, in all sorts of chemistry experiments, I measured and modeled chemical kinetics (i.e. the study of the rate of reactions). Here's what I found about the mead fermentation.<br />
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Method: Measure the number of airlock bubbles per minute, noting the time and date. Calculate the logarithm of bubble rate, and make a plot of this against time.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O5NCPXAOfY4/WCHvFZDfjlI/AAAAAAAAAgc/k41aZq2gnJ0oTp4dgbIb_U6rMVuq-oNiQCLcB/s1600/bubble%2Brate%2Bbold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O5NCPXAOfY4/WCHvFZDfjlI/AAAAAAAAAgc/k41aZq2gnJ0oTp4dgbIb_U6rMVuq-oNiQCLcB/s320/bubble%2Brate%2Bbold.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is what is known as a "first order plot". It shows that the rate does not decrease linearly, but that the rate of decrease slows down with time. This is typical of reactions in which the rate depends on how much of the starting material, or reactant, is present. In the case of fermentation, the reactant is sugar. As sugar is consumed by the yeast, the rate of fermentation will obviously decrease. However, the decrease in rate is not linear - the "deceleration" slows down over time. In this type of reaction, when you make a graph of the logarithm of the rate vs. time, you get a straight line. That's what happened here.</div>
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Fermentation kinetics are actually a lot more complicated, especially at the beginning of the fermentation process, when yeast populations are growing, and the fermentation rate is accelerating. In this case, fermentation is almost complete and the yeast population is no longer growing. There are lots of yeast cells present, and the rate is only limited by the amount of sugar remaining. The result is "first order kinetics".</div>
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One day, I would like to try measuring the fermentation rate from start to finish, but it gets complicated. Measuring airlock bubble rate would be a pain during primary fermentation, when the rate is quite high. The other way you can measure the rate is by looking at alcohol content. The problem with alcohol content is that the measurement is <i>in situ</i>, requiring the insertion of a wine thief and hydrometer into the must. This increases the likelihood of introducing oxygen or microbes into the must.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-39557426014867363462016-10-15T10:14:00.000-07:002016-10-15T10:14:23.126-07:00Stuck FermentationWhat is it about mead and stuck fermentation? If you google search "mead stuck fermentation", you find that this is a widespread problem for home mead makers. I recently had to deal with it in my most recent attempt at mead.<br />
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Back in August, secondary fermentation of this mead had more or less stopped. Things had been going pretty well, and I assumed that most of the sugar must have been used up by the yeast. As I noted in an earlier post, I broke my hydrometer and therefore had no quick way to measure the specific gravity. (Actually, I could have measured out a volume of mead and measured the mass, from which you can easily calculate density. I have a cute little jeweller's electronic balance that measures to 0.01 g.) So, without knowing the completeness of the fermentation, I racked the mead with the intention to let it age and clarify.<br />
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As the mead was "aging", I noticed that there was a constant, very slow rate of gas production in the carboy. In the meantime, the batch of peach melomel was getting to the end stage of secondary fermentation, and it was time to rack it. Last week, I decided to rack the melomel and the mead, checking the specific gravity of each using my new hydrometer. Here's what I found:<br />
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Peach Melomel s.g. = 0.990 (Conclusion: fermentation is complete, and it's time to let it age)<br />
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Mead s.g. = 1.038 (Conclusion: oh crap, fermentation is stuck)<br />
<br />
So, I had to intervene. I added two Campden tablets (crushed and pre-dissolved), 1 tsp of yeast nutrient, and a packet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast. Bubble formation seemed to pick up within a few hours. The next day, gas production still wasn't as fast I would like, so I raised the temperature in the room using an oil heater, and also added 2 tsp of yeast energizer. Yeast energizer has a slightly different nutrient mix as yeast nutrient. Three days later, the fermentation in the mead was chugging along nicely, and continues:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-498JsUD4VdY/WAJhVQsmzoI/AAAAAAAAAgE/L_qD__JUMEEpZtrmCZVYzFFXBfvsk1rNQCLcB/s1600/WIN_20161014_11_15_20_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-498JsUD4VdY/WAJhVQsmzoI/AAAAAAAAAgE/L_qD__JUMEEpZtrmCZVYzFFXBfvsk1rNQCLcB/s320/WIN_20161014_11_15_20_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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Gas production after kick-starting the fermentation </div>
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with yeast nutrients and higher temperature.</div>
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Did fermentation resume because of added nutrients for the yeast, the higher room temperature (from 17 up to 22 degrees C), or both? I don't really know, but I suspect it was mostly the nutrients. After all, the peach melomel, which presumably had more nutrients from the peach juice, seemed to work out fine in the relatively cool room in which I keep this stuff. Lesson for next time: add more nutrient, with the proviso that "yeast energizer" is likely the more effective.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-5321277476694794652016-10-09T10:47:00.000-07:002016-10-09T10:47:04.799-07:00Prohibition, Temperance, and PseudoscienceThis post deviates a from my normal blog topic (making alcoholic beverages). Why is prohibition important? Well, Alberta still has legislative and regulatory "quirks" that are holdovers from the days of prohibition in Alberta. For example, in home winemaking, there is no legal way for a wine kit supply store in Alberta to provide customers with a clean, physical space inside the store in which to make wine, store it as it ferments, and bottle the wine when it's ready. These services are popular in other provinces, but are not allowed in Alberta, because such a service goes beyond "home winemaking". Governments in Alberta are liberalizing the liquor laws, but there is a long way to go. An interesting documentary account of the history of beer in Alberta, including the impact of prohibition, can be found at: <a href="http://www.aleberta.com/#about" target="_blank">Aleberta</a><br />
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Some time ago, I was surfing through the photo collection of the <a href="https://hermis.alberta.ca/PAA/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Provincial Archives of Alberta</a>, and came across a bunch of old "Temperance posters". These posters were published by "The Dominion Scientific Temperance Committee", which, I gather, was an arm of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_Christian_Temperance_Union" target="_blank">Women's Christian Temperance Union</a> back in the days of prohibition. Some of these posters are quite amusing:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BixrYu5MB-4/V_pkrdBwyYI/AAAAAAAAAfk/sbhKgBeFYToSZwYmcHx0ez14I-Ab-coCwCLcB/s1600/Temperance%2Bposter%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BixrYu5MB-4/V_pkrdBwyYI/AAAAAAAAAfk/sbhKgBeFYToSZwYmcHx0ez14I-Ab-coCwCLcB/s320/Temperance%2Bposter%2B3.jpg" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Provincial Archives of Alberta, Object number PR1974.0001.0400a.0001</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qL2V-BTGlvs/V_plKoJLtbI/AAAAAAAAAfo/feVbH8QjHTo4Cr1kwIMxP0LopL9umrakQCLcB/s1600/Temperance%2Bposter%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qL2V-BTGlvs/V_plKoJLtbI/AAAAAAAAAfo/feVbH8QjHTo4Cr1kwIMxP0LopL9umrakQCLcB/s320/Temperance%2Bposter%2B6.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Provincial Archives of Alberta, Object number PR1974.0001.0400a.0006</td></tr>
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It is not clear to me what phagocytosis (the white blood cell "swallowing and digesting" germs) has to do with alcohol consumption. Clearly, the idea was to scare people away from consuming alcohol, and, I suppose, get them to drink water instead.<br />
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The next poster piqued my interest because it touches on some chemistry.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-05acXkKZIQg/V_pmqMrCc5I/AAAAAAAAAfw/pCzUY-xyXdobpf1PQI0SgWIyVW-nfMzVwCLcB/s1600/Temperance%2Bposter%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-05acXkKZIQg/V_pmqMrCc5I/AAAAAAAAAfw/pCzUY-xyXdobpf1PQI0SgWIyVW-nfMzVwCLcB/s320/Temperance%2Bposter%2B1.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Provincial Archives of Alberta, Object number PR1974.0001.0400a.0002</td></tr>
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The poster argues that the nutritional value of grape juice is much greater than that of wine, but the numbers don't make a lot of sense. The only number that looks correct is the 20% "food value" of grape juice. That number roughly corresponds to the percentage (by mass) of sugar in grape juice. However, the percentages of water, alcohol, and "food value" in wine do not make sense.<br />
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1) The water content of wine is a lot higher than 78%. Water is a by-product of the fermentation of sugar. So, during fermentation, sugar decreases, and the proportion of water and alcohol increase.<br />
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2) The poster gives 17.5% alcohol for wine. Is this 17.5% by mass or 17.5% by volume? On wine, beer, and liquor labels, alcohol content is usually listed as a percent by volume. 17.5% would be on the high end of percent volume for wine. This poster, however, seems to be using mass percentages. The mass percentage should be a lot lower, because the density of pure ethanol is less than that of water. So, there is something funny going on.<br />
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3) The food value of wine is listed as 4.5%. Sure, wine contains residual sugars and other organic components that have nutritional value, but this number appears to have simply come from subtraction: 100 - (78 + 17.5) = 4.5. But, as the percentages of water and alcohol are suspect, so is the 4.5% value.<br />
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4) The poster implies that alcohol has zero food value, which is incorrect! The caloric content of foods and beverages can be determined through calorimetry: In the good old days, a scientist would combust a sample of food in a sealed chamber and measure the amount of heat produced. Calorimetry is a lot of work, so nowadays, the caloric content of foods is determined indirectly using the "Atwater system" (Scientific American has an article on this, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/" target="_blank">here</a>). Basically, this involves adding up reference caloric values for different components of the food or beverage in question. The reference caloric value of carbohydrates (including sugar) is 4 kcal/g (1 kcal = 1 food Calorie). The reference value for alcohol is... wait for it... 7 kcal/g! (Yes, on the basis of mass, alcohol has more food Calories than sugar.) So, the poster is WRONG.<br />
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The web site <a href="http://www.compoundchem.com/" target="_blank">Compound Interest</a> has a lot of neat infographics about various familiar substances. Take a look at their infographic on <a href="http://www.compoundchem.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chemical-Composition-Red-Wine.png" target="_blank">red wine</a>. Their numbers make a lot more sense (86% water, 12% alcohol, 2% other organic compounds).<br />
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By the way, the "food value" of a 5 oz. glass wine is around 125 Calories, which is equivalent to 25 jelly beans. The glass of wine is arguably the healthier option of the two!<br />
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These temperance posters were published ca. 1912. Are these scientific mistakes forgivable, given that they were made over 100 years ago? Not really. Even in 1912, physics and chemistry were sufficiently advanced that mass and volume compositions were well understood and measured reliably. And, calorimetry was already an established experimental technique in the field of thermodynamics, which had its heyday in the age of steam engines. What's going on here is the twisting of information to support a particular agenda. It's pseudoscience!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-22790832328535453292016-09-16T11:08:00.002-07:002016-09-16T11:08:13.889-07:00Peach MelomelFor a couple of years, I have followed home winemaking posts about small batches of melomels. A melomel is simply a mead amended with some kind of fruit. You can use any kind of fruit you want. The resulting mead will have a mix of honey and fruit flavours.<br />
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I had some good honey leftover from the most recent batch of mead, and we had some fresh fruit from British Columbia, including some very juicy, perhaps even overripe, peaches. This presented an opportunity to try making a peach melomel, which struck me as a potentially nice combination.<br />
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Here's the recipe I used:<br />
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- 10 L of filtered water<br />
- 3 campden tablets<br />
- 2 tsp yeast nutrient<br />
- 1 tsp peptic enzyme<br />
- approximately 3 kg honey<br />
- 1 cup of sugar*<br />
- 11 pitted peaches, sliced<br />
- packet of Lalvin EC1118 yeast<br />
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<i>*Sugar was needed because the dissolved honey only gave s.g. = 1.078. The sugar brought up the s.g. to 1.086.</i><br />
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After mixing up all the ingredients except fruit and yeast in my primary fermentation bucket, I put the peaches in a nylon straining bag, tied it off, and squeezed the peach juices into the must. The amount of peach juice was surprising. I put the whole bag of strained peaches into the must and let it sit for 36 hours<i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i>. After removing the bag, I sprinkled yeast on the surface. A few hours later, fermentation was going strong.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fermentation "head" on the peach melomel</td></tr>
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After six days of primary fermentation, the 'head' had collapsed, and s.g. = 1.024. I transferred to a sterilized 3 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peach Melomel in Secondary.</td></tr>
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Unfortunately, these pics don't really show the subtle peachy colour of this melomel. I'm looking forward to seeing how the colour turns out after it's aged, clarified, and bottled.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-57861212692116185342016-08-25T21:38:00.000-07:002016-08-25T21:38:39.060-07:00Beeswax?Back to the <a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2016/08/mead-v2.html" target="_blank">mead</a>...<br />
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Four weeks ago, I racked the mead into a carboy, to allow secondary fermentation to proceed, which it did. Fermentation was more or less over a couple of weeks ago Tonight, I decided it was time to rack the mead into a clean carboy so the mead can bulk-age, lose CO<sub>2</sub>, and clear up.<br />
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During secondary fermentation, there was a small froth on the surface, which isn't a big deal. However, as fermentation slowed down, a fine, beige solid remained on the surface of the mead, and along the inside, top surface of the glass, under the neck. The solid never dissolved.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gYmiH_Sa1FE/V7_E5-9NJMI/AAAAAAAAAeA/sORLUH3UmX42932FD743xn9bqhq4Qp6TACLcB/s1600/mead%2Bhead%2Bc%2B16-08-25%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gYmiH_Sa1FE/V7_E5-9NJMI/AAAAAAAAAeA/sORLUH3UmX42932FD743xn9bqhq4Qp6TACLcB/s320/mead%2Bhead%2Bc%2B16-08-25%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beeswax?</td></tr>
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<br />
After racking, I managed to swipe my finger into the dirty, empty carbon, and get some of this material. It was granular, hard, but seemed a bit 'gummy', like paraffin wax. <b>Question for honey and mead people: Is this beeswax?</b><br />
<br />
This particular honey is not heavily processed. I used 2-3 kg of honey, so it wouldn't be a surprise if there was a small amount of beeswax in there.<br />
<br />
Sadly, before I could measure specific gravity, I dropped my hydrometer on the floor. So, I cannot estimate alcohol content of the mead right now.<br />
<br />
The mead sure tasted good, though. I was surprised by the sweetness. Fermentation was OVER. There shouldn't be any residual sugar in there. It could be that there are other sugars (e.g. pentoses or something like that) that the yeast did not touch. This deserves some research. <b>Question for honey people: what types of sugar are present in honey? </b><br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-89425932036209842342016-08-21T09:34:00.000-07:002016-08-21T09:34:02.187-07:00Apple Cider 2016The last time I made cider (<a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2014/08/apple-cider-apple-wine.html" target="_blank">see post here</a>), I was failed by <a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2014/09/the-limitations-of-ez-cap-bottles.html" target="_blank">EZ Cap bottles</a>, which just didn't hold any pressure. This resulted in a batch of still cider. Still cider is fine, but I aspire to make carbonated, homemade cider. One of the reasons I wanted to make homemade beer was to get beer to carbonate in the bottles, using standard bottle caps. That worked out just fine (see <a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2016/06/festa-brew-continental-pilsner.html" target="_blank">Festa Brew "Continental Pilsner)</a>. So, it was time to revisit cider-making, and attempt natural carbonation in the bottles.<br />
<br />
Tanya and I picked the apples off of our tree, and made the fatal decision that there were enough apples that we could simply cut them up by hand before pressing. That was crazy - the manual labour to cut up all of our apples up into eights (or smaller) was just too much. Next time, I'm going to obtain a fruit crusher like last time.<br />
<br />
The pressing however, went fairly well, and we obtained approximately 4 gallons of apple juice. The specific gravity of the apple juice was 1.034, which was almost identical to juice from the last time we pressed apples. To this, I added 4 crushed Campden tablets, 2 tap. yeast energizer, and 1 tsp. of peptic enzyme. After 24 hours, I added a packet of Lalvin EC1118 yeast, by sprinkling it on the surface. Fermentation was well underway a day later.<br />
<br />
Primary fermentation proceeded quickly. Four days after adding the yeast, the foam on the surface had collapsed and it was time to transfer to a carboy. The volume (4 gallons) created an opportunity for two separate batches. I siphoned the bulk of the cider to a 3 gallon carbon and placed an airlock on it. This batch is meant to be regular cider.<br />
<br />
<i><b>S<u></u>piced Cider</b></i><br />
<br />
The remainder (which amounted to a little over 1/2 gallon) went into a 1 gallon jug which I topped up with distilled water to which I had added 1 cup of sugar. This was done to get the alcohol level up to where it should be. If I did not add any more sugar, this would have been a 1:2 dilution, and the cider would be very weak). I also added 1/4 tap of nutmeg and two cinnamon sticks for flavour. I sealed the jug with an airlock.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nW4kiHFs88I/V7nRskYkpWI/AAAAAAAAAcs/6h90AlfHiBoH1DwI_SkObv477o-2kT8CQCLcB/s1600/cider%2B2016%2Btwo%2Bbatches.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nW4kiHFs88I/V7nRskYkpWI/AAAAAAAAAcs/6h90AlfHiBoH1DwI_SkObv477o-2kT8CQCLcB/s320/cider%2B2016%2Btwo%2Bbatches.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Regular cider (left), and spiced cider (right). Fine solids are settling out.</td></tr>
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<br />
After four days in the carboy, fermentation of the regular cider was virtually complete, and the bulk of the fine solids had settled. It was time to add priming sugar and bottle! So, I siphoned the cider to a large pail, added 3/4 cup of dextrose, stirred thoroughly, and bottled it just like you would beer. The yield was 4 x 1 L bottles, and 22 x 330 mL beer bottles.<br />
<br />
I bottled the spiced cider one day later, adding 1/4 cup of dextrose to the (approx.) 1 gallon of spiced cider. Yield was 10 x 355 mL bottles.<br />
<br />
A taste test of the spiced cider revealed a beverage that tasted like Christmas. The nutmeg and cinnamon paired well with the apple and the little bit of sweetness from the priming sugar. It remains to be seen how the spices affect the taste when the cider is carbonated and dry. I can't wait!<br />
<br />
According to the purple "Winemaker's Recipe Handbook", you should age the cider for three months!!! This seems like a long time. I might get impatient and open a bottle in a month or so, just to see how it's coming along.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-33882484432778242942016-08-04T15:56:00.003-07:002016-08-04T15:58:19.665-07:00Mead v.2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My first attempt at <a href="http://randomfermentations.blogspot.ca/2014/05/mead-at-6-weeks.html" target="_blank">mead</a> left me unsatisfied. Looking back, there were three things that I did incorrectly:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4153072935326482478" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>1. Failed to add yeast nutrient. Honey does not have the range of minerals and other nutrients that yeast require. Fermentation only really started once I added the yeast nutrient. Further, all of my fussing around to get fermentation started would have introduced unwanted oxygen, which would have led to undesirable compounds that affect taste.<br />
2. Starting specific gravity was too high at the beginning (1.120) and the end (1.019) of fermentation.This gave a mead that was sweet, heavy, and very alcoholic. The balance of taste wasn't right (and still isn't!).<br />
3. Honey quality. A friend from my undergraduate days at university now runs a honey business, and she pointed out that Costco honey is rubbish - if I want to make good mead, I need to start with quality honey. ("Okay. Point taken.")<br />
<br />
So, it is now over two years after my first attempt at mead, and I finally got around to my second attempt. This time, I'm not making any of the mistakes I made the first time.<br />
<br />
We have a great farmers market in St. Albert, and there are always three or four honey producers there. My wife and I went shopping one Saturday morning and obtained 7 kg of unpasteurized, local honey for $50. The vendor was <a href="http://goodmorninghoney.com/" target="_blank">Good Morning Honey Ltd.</a><br />
<br />
Mead recipe:<br />
<br />
3 Campden tablets<br />
2 tsp yeast nutrient<br />
10 L distilled water<br />
Honey<br />
1 packet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast<br />
<br />
Campden tablets and yeast nutrient were added to the water in the sterilized primary (bucket). Honey was added, with stirring, until s.g. = 1.088. After 24 hours, the yeast was hydrated and added to the must. Fermentation bubbles were observed within one hour of pitching the yeast.<br />
<br />
After four days in the primary, s.g. = 1.065. I decided to rack the mead to a carboy. Fermentation has continued since then (6 days ago).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mead, after racking to carboy.</td></tr>
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I think most chemists will know what I'm talking about when I describe this fermentation as "clean". What I mean is this: when chemists conduct a chemical reaction the lab, especially when they are trying to synthesize a compound, they strive for a "clean" reaction. A clean reaction is something we recognize easily from the absence of unwanted precipitates, the absence of guck on the sides of reaction flasks, the relative transparency of solutions, and colours that you want to see (e.g. you don't want to see your mixture turn brown when the product you want is colourless). These are simply physical clues that a reaction is going right.</div>
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This mead has been "clean" from the beginning: the colour hasn't changed, the liquid is as transparent as you could expect if there were only little bits of yeast and bubbles that were scattering light. You can tell that clarification is going to be a snap. And, there was hardly any foaming, which suggests a very pure honey (i.e. no surfactants of any kind - natural or artificial).</div>
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The plan is to let this mead ferment all the way to dryness and then I will rack it and let it bulk age in a carboy for a couple of months. I'm looking forward to enjoying some of this mead over the Christmas holidays.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-70446627807352175552016-06-21T16:35:00.000-07:002016-06-21T17:53:19.387-07:00Festa Brew "Continental Pilsner"So, I made beer earlier this year. However, this wasn't "hardcore" beer making. I started with a Festa Brew kit that my local Wine Kitz store sells. The store happened to have a sale on kits, so I bought one for $60.<br />
<br />
A Festa Brew kit consists of a 23 L bag of pasteurized wort, a packet of yeast, and instructions. In beer making, the messy and complicated part is the wort preparation. If you don't have to make your own wort on the stove-top, you get to avoid all the mess of splashing sticky wort all over your stove and kitchen, and the anxiety over getting temperature control exactly right. A Festa Brew kit, then, is kind of a "Fisher-Price" version of a beer kit. Sounds like an easy way to make your first beer, doesn't it?<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQq2mFGMVws/V2nIh0tTSUI/AAAAAAAAAZs/3xR5ZsT51w0e8cSGHZgbCJqK6uXbBVMIwCLcB/s1600/Festa%2BBrew%2Bbox.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQq2mFGMVws/V2nIh0tTSUI/AAAAAAAAAZs/3xR5ZsT51w0e8cSGHZgbCJqK6uXbBVMIwCLcB/s320/Festa%2BBrew%2Bbox.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Festa Brew kit - A box of wort, a packet of yeast, and some instructions.</td></tr>
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As it turns out, it really is easy if you follow the instructions. In essence, the instructions are:<br />
<br />
1. Transfer the wort into the primary (white bucket)<br />
2. Add yeast.<br />
3. Loosely close lid on primary and wait 5 days.<br />
4. Transfer wort to secondary with air lock. Wait a week.<br />
5. Transfer wort back into a bucket and stir in some dextrose (sugar).<br />
6. Bottle.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wort in secondary.</td></tr>
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23 L (5 gallon) of wort is a lot of beer. The yield on this kit was 40 bottles (330-mL recycled Stella Artois bottles) and 8 1-L growlers. After two weeks of fermentation IN the bottles (for carbonation, of course), the beer was ready to sample.<br />
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On sampling, I wrote in my notebook: "This is a good beer. Similar to Stella, but has more flavour - darker, more of the caramel sorts of flavours as opposed to hops. Hops are mild."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hW2d-8hsm_s/V2nJjtRn0NI/AAAAAAAAAaM/ewyE3tLAwT08i8Pf1kMHIaO0LlFLcKMwACKgB/s1600/Cont%2BPil%2Bglass.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hW2d-8hsm_s/V2nJjtRn0NI/AAAAAAAAAaM/ewyE3tLAwT08i8Pf1kMHIaO0LlFLcKMwACKgB/s320/Cont%2BPil%2Bglass.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers!</td></tr>
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This kit was a little too easy, and I'm eager to try making beer the hard way next time (i.e. make my own wort). On the other hand, there is something nice about a kit that is just that easy. All you need is the basic set of wine-making equipment (bucket, carboy, airlock, siphon...) and some recycled beer bottles and you're ready to go. Bottle capping was easy because the Wine Kitz store loaned me the bottle capper. I plan on purchasing my own capper for future beverage projects.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-59039581994114220062016-03-13T16:04:00.000-07:002016-03-13T16:04:11.013-07:00Bulk AgingUntil recently, I have not bulk-aged my wines prior to bottling. Rather, I simply followed wine kit instructions that tell you to wait for secondary fermentation to more-or-less come to an end, add finings, rack, and bottle. The whole process from opening the kit to bottling takes only a few weeks. There is no bulk aging.<br />
<br />
After going through the "wine kit" process (without bulk aging) several times, I observe two main problems with wines made this way:<br />
<br />
<b>1. Carbonation</b><br />
<br />
Fermentation produces a lot of CO<sub>2</sub>. Where does it go? CO<sub>2</sub> is dissolved in the wine until it reaches saturation. After that, CO<sub>2</sub> bubbles out of the wine into the air. When fermentation ends, there is still a lot of dissolved CO<sub>2</sub> in the wine, and it takes time to move into the gas phase. One way to release CO<sub>2</sub> is to agitate the wine (e.g. by stirring). Another way to get rid of it is to just give it time to gradually escape through the airlock.<br />
<br />
If you don't give it time to escape before bottling, some of the CO<sub>2</sub> stays dissolved in the wine. All of my non-bulk-aged wines have a level of residual carbonation that detracts from the enjoyment. It's not much, but the carbonation is noticeable on the tongue. Who wants a tiny bit of fizz in their red wine?<br />
<br />
Over the Christmas holidays, we opened up a bottle of a raspberry wine from a local winery. To our surprise, this wine contained more CO<sub>2</sub> than any of my homemade wines. The wine released bubbles right there in the wine glass, just like sparkling wine. (And, no, it wasn't meant to be a sparkling wine!) The winery had probably bottled the wine before the CO<sub>2</sub> could escape. Fizzy fruit wine!<br />
<br />
<b>2. Sedimentation</b><br />
<br />
Finings do not remove 100% of the particulates from wine. Every time I used finings without bulk aging before bottling, a small amount of sediment has always appeared in the bottle. It usually takes a few months, but it's there and it spoils the appearance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MwNU_ZPkDNk/VuXr8Od3dlI/AAAAAAAAAYE/cFXJvWz-wQIHOYdrLNJOrb4EWDo6pxj6Q/s1600/Sediment.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MwNU_ZPkDNk/VuXr8Od3dlI/AAAAAAAAAYE/cFXJvWz-wQIHOYdrLNJOrb4EWDo6pxj6Q/s320/Sediment.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sediment in rhubarb wine</td></tr>
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An obvious way to prevent this from happening is to just let the wine age in a carboy (with an airlock) for a few months. By then, virtually 100% of the sediment should have crashed out in the carboy. By the time you bottle the wine, it should not be throwing any more sediment.<br />
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I have bulk-aged my most recent wines (two versions of Dragon Blood) and will write a separate post on them. Early observations are that the bulk aging solved the carbonation problem. I'm hopeful that there won't be any sedimentation in the bottles.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-9891547632428130582015-07-12T15:20:00.001-07:002015-07-13T07:58:13.174-07:00Dragon Blood Trial & ErrorBack on May 21, I racked my first batch of Dragon Blood and did a taste test. My notes say everything that needs to be said:<br />
<br />
"Taste Test:<br />
Dry, slightly acidic, and the taste was like diesel. There is something in it that doesn't taste right. Perhaps one of the fruit components like pomegranate or cherry?"<br />
<br />
It is early, and the taste may evolve over time. However, I am now a little cautious about experimenting with out-of-the-ordinary frozen fruit mixes such as the one I used on this particular batch. Dragon Blood is usually made with common triple berry mixes (blueberry, blackberry, raspberry).<br />
<br />
With that cautionary lesson, I went ahead and purchased a frozen triple berry mix and used the same basic recipe as the previous batch:<br />
<br />
<b>Dragon Blood v.2</b><br />
<br />
3 gallons distilled water<br />
17 cups granulated sugar<br />
1 tsp peptic enzyme<br />
2 tsp yeast nutrient<br />
1.5 tsp acid blend (tartaric, citric, malic acids)<br />
3 campden tablets (crushed)<br />
2 kg of "Triple Berry Blend", in a nylon mesh bag (tied-off)<br />
<br />
(The only differences are in the slightly higher amount of sugar required to get to the same starting s.g., and the larger mass of berries - which is simply because that was the amount in the bag!)<br />
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I started this one week ago. The starting specific gravity was 1.087. It is now 1.048. I'm going to wait a couple of days, check the s.g., and rack to a carboy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-14671950694463765542015-04-02T13:43:00.003-07:002015-04-02T13:43:30.606-07:00"Dragon Blood"One of the best things I have done related to wine making is to join the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107915866734929830172" target="_blank">Home Made Wine Making </a>Google+ Community. Community members are always posting interesting things and there is a lot of recipe sharing that goes on. One of the wine recipes that frequently pops up is known as "Dragon Blood" - a name that was coined by a home made winemaker known as DangerDave. <a href="http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f2/dangerdaves-dragon-blood-wine-41825/" target="_blank">DangerDave's Dragon Blood</a> recipe is a variation of berry wine recipes that are described, for example, in that little purple "Winemaker's Recipe Handbook". DangerDave's innovation is to use a frozen triple berry mix, found in the frozen food section of just about every supermarket, as the fruit. By all accounts, Dragon Blood is easy to make and it can be ready to drink in less than two weeks. This seemed like something worth trying.<br />
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As it happened, one day I was shopping at Costco, and spotted a frozen organic fruit mix (blackberry, blueberry, cherry, pomegranate, and strawberry). This was just the thing to use in a first attempt of a Dragon Blood variation. This frozen fruit sat in my deep freeze for a few months and I recently decided to get on with it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MfY_d1M8Rg4/VR2QPDlWcGI/AAAAAAAAAU4/tq2KjTL8AKM/s1600/Frozen%2Bfruit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MfY_d1M8Rg4/VR2QPDlWcGI/AAAAAAAAAU4/tq2KjTL8AKM/s1600/Frozen%2Bfruit.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Super Fruit Blend"</td></tr>
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As it is with chemistry experiments, so it is with wine making: The first thing you do is spend some time planning what you will do. In wine making, this means reading and comparing different recipes, and then coming up with your own. On looking at DangerDave's recipe, I was little nervous about how much lemon juice (48 oz.!!) is added because that is just too much acidity for me. My purple handbook has a number of berry wine recipes that include only small amounts of acid blend, to improve the balance. I decided to opt for that approach rather than load it up with lemon juice.<br />
<br />
Here's the recipe:<br />
<br />
3 gallons distilled water<br />
15 cups granulated sugar<br />
1 tsp peptic enzyme<br />
2 tsp yeast nutrient<br />
1.5 tsp acid blend (tartaric, citric, malic acids)<br />
3 campden tablets (crushed)<br />
1.5 kg of "Super Fruit Blend", in a nylon mesh bag (tied-off) <br />
<br />
The sugar, peptic enzyme, yeast nutrient, acid blend, and campden tablets were dissolved in 3 gallons of water, in the primary fermenter (white plastic bucket with lid). The frozen fruit, in a tied-off nylon mesh bag was steeped in the mixture for the next 24 hours. During that period, I wrung out the bag a few times to squeeze out the juices and infuse the fruit with peptic enzyme.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tPM3yaLya4c/VR2kX3puTYI/AAAAAAAAAVI/cecy-GPFiu0/s1600/nylon%2Bbag%2Band%2Bfruit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tPM3yaLya4c/VR2kX3puTYI/AAAAAAAAAVI/cecy-GPFiu0/s1600/nylon%2Bbag%2Band%2Bfruit.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fruit in nylon mesh bag.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qv6mcBwvV2M/VR2kZigSLFI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/-Mjgo-6ueuA/s1600/primary%2Bstart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qv6mcBwvV2M/VR2kZigSLFI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/-Mjgo-6ueuA/s1600/primary%2Bstart.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to steep.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After steeping, and prior to adding the yeast, I took a density measurement so I could estimate alcohol content later. Specific gravity = 1.087. I added the yeast (1 packet of sparkling wine yeast) to get the fermentation started.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7cgXa1dOP0/VR2mNgWhG_I/AAAAAAAAAVc/Rzjw9TTy06w/s1600/primary%2Bsurface.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7cgXa1dOP0/VR2mNgWhG_I/AAAAAAAAAVc/Rzjw9TTy06w/s1600/primary%2Bsurface.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Primary fermentation underway.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
During the primary fermentation, there were nice, mild, fruity aromas in the room. Every other day, I stirred the mixture to help draw out the fruit flavours. By the sixth day, the specific gravity was 1.035. This was low enough that I siphoned the must into a carboy for secondary fermentation. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5JoBtsVLAbM/VR2ngN-qlWI/AAAAAAAAAVk/Gq9gxRUzd4Q/s1600/dragons%2Bblood%2Bsecondary.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5JoBtsVLAbM/VR2ngN-qlWI/AAAAAAAAAVk/Gq9gxRUzd4Q/s1600/dragons%2Bblood%2Bsecondary.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secondary fermentation (4 days after transfer)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So there it is. Fermentation is still going. My plan is to let it go right to dryness before bottling.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-45630532977382105192014-12-23T15:26:00.000-08:002014-12-23T15:26:45.093-08:00The Chemistry of Metabisulfite and Sulfur Dioxide in Wine.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><i><b>TRIGGER WARNING:</b> I assume that the reader knows a couple of things about chemistry. If you are little rusty in your chemistry knowledge, here are some quick tips:</i><br />
<ul>
<li><i>Sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms are given the symbols S, O, and H.</i></li>
<li><i>Compounds are groups of atoms that are bonded together. The formula of a compound gives the type and number of all the atoms it consists of. For example, the formula "H<sub>2</sub>O" means that the compound has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Charges of ions are given as superscripts at the end of a formula (e.g. SO<sub>3</sub><sup>2-</sup>, which means one sulfur and three oxygen atoms with a negative two charge).</i></li>
<li><i>In molecular structures, we show bonds between atoms with lines. One line means a "single bond", two lines mean a "double bond", etc...</i></li>
<li><i>To write a chemical reaction, we write the formulas of reactants, draw an arrow, and then write the formulas of the products.</i></li>
</ul>
<i>OK, with that out of the way....</i><br />
<br />
Potassium metabisulfite is ubiquitous in wine making. It is the active
component in campden tablets and can also be purchased in crystalline
form at your local wine making supply store. It is added to wine in
order to produce sulfur dioxide, which is very effective at killing off
unwanted microbes that can spoil the wine. So, how does it work? <br />
<br />
Metabisulfite is a complex anion (negatively charged ion) that consists of two sulfur and five oxygen atoms. It has a -2 charge. Generally, metbisulfite is sold as a potassium salt. In potassium metabisulfite, the negative charge is balanced with two potassium ions (+1 charge each). Sodium can also balance the negative charge. However, sodium metabisulfite is not as common as the potassium form. In terms of generating sulfur dioxide, it does not matter whether you use sodium metabisulfite or potassium metabisulfite - they both react the same way.<br />
<br />
To see how metabisulfite is transformed chemically into sulfur dioxide, let's start by looking at the molecular structures of three compounds:<br />
<br />
1. Sulfur dioxide, SO<sub>2</sub>. The structure is relatively simple. A sulfur atom is bonded to two oxygen atoms in a bent structure.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r2BlUwhRUrw/VJny3Oxh95I/AAAAAAAAARI/0iaONox85rg/s1600/so2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r2BlUwhRUrw/VJny3Oxh95I/AAAAAAAAARI/0iaONox85rg/s1600/so2.png" /></a></div>
<br />
2. Sulfite (SO<sub>3</sub><sup>2-</sup>) and hydrogen sulfite (HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>). These two chemical species are the principal forms of sulfite that exist whenever a sulfite compound is dissolved in water. They are simply acid-base forms that interconvert with the addition or subtraction of hydrogen ions (H<sup>+</sup>). That means that the relative amounts of the two depend on the hydrogen ion concentration, which is commonly measured as the pH. At the pH of wine, which is, say, between 3 and 4, sulfite (SO<sub>3</sub><sup>2-</sup>) only exists in minute amounts. The most abundant form is hydrogen sulfite (HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>).<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dpDFkYZdqSU/VJny3tkDF-I/AAAAAAAAARU/yjt-2bNXUAg/s1600/sulfite.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dpDFkYZdqSU/VJny3tkDF-I/AAAAAAAAARU/yjt-2bNXUAg/s1600/sulfite.png" height="125" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
3. Metabisulfite (S<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub><sup>2-</sup>). In the structure, it kind of looks like there is an SO<sub>2</sub> molecule attached to an SO<sub>3</sub><sup>2-</sup> ion, with a bond between the two sulfur atoms.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H67O7-eIuyc/VJny25zNCoI/AAAAAAAAARo/_rJx6rlLGKs/s1600/metabisulfite.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H67O7-eIuyc/VJny25zNCoI/AAAAAAAAARo/_rJx6rlLGKs/s1600/metabisulfite.png" /></a></div>
<br />
When metabisulfite is added to water, it reacts immediately with water to generate hydrogen sulfite:<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rxerBEb3t1w/VJny28U7lSI/AAAAAAAAARE/9-IjL2jC6tA/s1600/s2o5%2Bto%2Bso3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rxerBEb3t1w/VJny28U7lSI/AAAAAAAAARE/9-IjL2jC6tA/s1600/s2o5%2Bto%2Bso3.png" height="35" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
From a chemical point of view, you can think of the oxygen atom in H<sub>2</sub>O "attacking" one of the S atoms (the one bonded to two oxygen atoms) to form a new sulfur-oxygen bond. This breaks the bond between the two sulfur atoms and results in two hydrogen sulfite ions. This may not be the exact mechanism (I have not looked it up), but it's a nice way to think about it.<br />
<br />
Let's say you are making wine with a kit and the secondary fermentation is complete. You just added the packet of potassium metabisulfite to your wine and you start stirring. The reaction above just took place, and you now have a lot of HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> dissolved in your wine.<br />
<br />
HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> reacts with H<sup>+</sup> ions in the wine (remember, your wine is somewhat acidic) to form dissolved, "molecular" SO<sub>2</sub>, which is written as SO<sub>2</sub><sup><b>.</b></sup><i>n</i>H<sub>2</sub>O. This means that SO<sub>2</sub> is "hydrated", or associated with water molecules, in solution.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R1U490-smAc/VJny3WYMNzI/AAAAAAAAARM/xDbIeOURYa0/s1600/sulfite%2Bto%2Bso2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R1U490-smAc/VJny3WYMNzI/AAAAAAAAARM/xDbIeOURYa0/s1600/sulfite%2Bto%2Bso2.png" height="37" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This reaction is written as a chemical equilibrium, which means that at any instant, some of the compounds on the left are reacting to make compounds on the right, and vice versa. This is why there are two reaction arrows. After some time, the reaction comes to equilibrium, which means that the concentration of each compound stops changing. At equilibrium, the relative concentrations of reactants and products are defined by an equilibrium constant, K, that is unique to the reaction. For this reaction, K is written as:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bp09Jmp3EQQ/VJny2-BEckI/AAAAAAAAARA/uX5mpz1PRwI/s1600/K%2Bexpression.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bp09Jmp3EQQ/VJny2-BEckI/AAAAAAAAARA/uX5mpz1PRwI/s1600/K%2Bexpression.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Concentrations are indicated by the square bracket around each compound. If you were to measure the equilibrium concentrations of SO<sub>2</sub><sup><b>.</b></sup><i>n</i>H<sub>2</sub>O, HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>, and H<sup>+</sup>, entered the values in the expression above, and did the calculation, the answer would be 62.5.<br />
<br />
If any of the concentrations change, then the concentrations of the other compounds must change over time so that the system comes back to equilibrium (and the expression again equals 62.5). So, let's say you add an acid blend to your wine to change the flavour. By adding acid, you have increased [H<sup>+</sup>], and the expression will no longer equal 62.5. In order to get back to 62.5, the equilibrium must shift: [SO<sub>2</sub><sup><b>.</b></sup><i>n</i>H<sub>2</sub>O] will increase slightly; and [HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>] will decrease. This is an important practical result. The more acidic the wine, the more SO<sub>2</sub> will be produced from HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>. <b><i>Wines that are more acidic require less added metabisulfite.</i></b><br />
<br />
At room temperature, SO<sub>2</sub> exists as a gas (not a liquid or solid). Consequently, some of the SO<sub>2</sub> will be released as a gas. This is one reason why, after adding metabisulfite to wine, you might observe bubbles coming out of the wine as you stir it. Stirring can also release dissolved CO<sub>2</sub> that was produced during fermentation.<br />
<br />
What happens to the dissolved, molecular SO<sub>2</sub> in the wine? Several things:<br />
<ul>
<li>some of the SO<sub>2</sub> will become chemically bound to various wine components, like complex sugars.</li>
<li>some escapes as a gas</li>
<li>some stays free and dissolved, in equilibrium with HSO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>.</li>
</ul>
The goal is to have enough dissolved, molecular SO<sub>2</sub> in the wine to keep the microbes at bay. Typically, 0.5 ppm SO<sub>2</sub> is needed for red wines, and 0.8 ppm is needed for white wines. Commercial winemakers use analytical chemistry techniques to measure the SO<sub>2</sub> content in their wines. This lets them make sure they meet regulations for the SO<sub>2</sub> content of wines that are sold on the market. My wife, who is also a chemist, once had a summer job at a winery near Melbourne where she performed SO<sub>2</sub> assays, among other tasks.<br />
<br />
The average home winemaker does not need to worry about measuring the SO<sub>2</sub> in their wines. We can use a simple rule of thumb: one campden tablet per gallon of wine will give you approximately the right SO<sub>2</sub> concentration.<br />
<br />
For all the expert and amateur winemakers out there, I would love to know your thoughts on how much SO<sub>2</sub> is really needed in wines. For example, in the book The Way to Make Wine, the author suggests adding campden tablets every time you rack your wine. This strikes me as overkill. On the other hand, some winemakers use none at all. What is your experience?<br />
<br />
Let me know if you find this useful, or, even better, if you have questions. I will do my best to answer.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas! <br />
<br />
<b>Bibliography</b><br />
<br />
<i>Chemistry of the Elements, Greenwood, N.N. and Earnshaw, A., Pergamon Press, New York, 1984.</i><br />
<br />
<i>The Way to Make Wine, Warrick, S., University of California Press, Berkeley, 2010.</i><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-6822866047527606362014-12-20T13:25:00.000-08:002014-12-20T13:25:54.373-08:00Wine Kit: Johannisberg RieslingThe last few months have been awfully busy at work and at home, and I have not had the time or energy for my fermentation hobby. For almost 3 months, a CellarCraft Sterling Johannisberg Riesling kit has been sitting in my basement, waiting for me to open it. Today, I started it.<br />
<br />
First things first, being the kind of person I am, I was puzzled by the spelling of "Johannisberg" because I am more familiar with spelling of the city of Johannesberg, RSA. It turns out that Johannisberg refers to the Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau region of Germany. This is where the "late harvest" wines were, apparently, discovered.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVKZIn-5ikA/VJXkeJChBTI/AAAAAAAAAPI/urxzH4RxuSs/s1600/Schloss%2BJohannisberg_Rheingau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVKZIn-5ikA/VJXkeJChBTI/AAAAAAAAAPI/urxzH4RxuSs/s1600/Schloss%2BJohannisberg_Rheingau.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption">Schloss Johannisberg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The wine kit itself is pretty standard. It included two packets of bentonite clay, which is a fining agent. As per the instructions, I mixed up the clay with hot water in the primary fermenter and then added the grape juice to it. This is only the second time I have added a fining agent <i>before</i> the fermentation. Why is this done? Because the bentonite clay particles, which are negatively charged, react with positively charged particles in the wine, and these settle out. This seems like a great way to remove macromolecules like proteins, which are a source of haziness in wines.<br />
<br />
The following is a nice general review of fining agents and how they work:<br />
<a href="https://winemakermag.com/26-a-clearer-understanding-of-fining-agents" target="_blank">A Clearer Understanding of Fining Agents</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Image of Schloss Johannisberg: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannisberg_Rheingau.jpg">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannisberg_Rheingau.jpg</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-41147434919631897852014-10-05T15:00:00.000-07:002014-10-06T06:51:08.932-07:00Fruit Wine BlendsLet's face it - you can ferment just about fruit that you can pick out of the garden. My favourite starting material (I am a chemistry after all) is Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus). The fruit is large and juicy, and if you don't mind getting scratched to hell, one can pick 10 lbs in about 90 minutes.<br />
<br />
I generally pick/freeze at least 100 lbs every summer and put them in the freezer - along with the other fruits from my garden and our neighbours. Once fall comes, it is time for making wine!! The advantage of freezing the blackberries is that they break apart into mush upon thawing, making it easier for the fermentation.<br />
<br />
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Here's a rough schedule of a batch of blackberry wine
I made in August 2012.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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18 lb of frozen berries plus 1/2 tsp metabisulfite allowed to thaw in the primary fermentation
container (which was first washed with Javex solution and well rinsed). This
was on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aug 17th</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
The next day, 2 Tsp yeast nutrient, 1 Tsp pectic
enzyme, 1/2 tsp grape tannin and 2 Tsp acid blend was sprinkled on top of the
fruit. A total of 15 lb of sugar was added, followed by sufficient warm water
(~18 L - with stirring) to bring to total volume up to ~ the 5 gallon mark (the
fruit will be floating at this point).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This gave me a SG reading (hydrometer) of ~1.090.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
One package of wine yeast is then sprinkled on top of
the pulp and allowed to sit (with a cover on) overnight. Depending upon the
room temperature, the top of the fruit will be bubbling/frothing the next day
and I then stir the yeast into the solution, and stir up the pulp twice a day
after that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
I racked the juice off the pulp (on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aug 22nd</b>) into the secondary
fermentation container and added a bit of water to bring the volume close to
the top of the container (watch out for frothing over the first couple of days)
and put on an air lock (containing a bit of metabisulfite solution). The rate
of bubbling gradually slows as the amount of residual sugar in solution
decreases.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I racked the wine into another secondary fermentation
container (containing a bit of bentonite and some gelatine) on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sept 18th</b> and replaced the air lock.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
On <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Oct 12th</b>
I racked the wine a final time and then bottled it<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The final result was 29 bottles of a dry, full-bodied
wine.<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I have also included a picture of some of the various fruit wines I currently have aging. </div>
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Feel free to experiment on your own …. have fun and happy sipping.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12153471631737276090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-74895854302947364372014-10-02T17:20:00.001-07:002014-10-02T18:54:48.518-07:00Fermenting Port Alberni grapes<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Today I racked 4 batches of wine:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">a) the juice from 57 lbs of green grapes</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">b) the juice from 45 lbs of purple grapes</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">c) the skins from the green grapes plus 5 lbs of blackberries</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">d) the skins from the purple grapes plus 5 lbs of blackberries</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Each batch had the following ingredients added:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">2 Tsp acid blend</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">2 Tsp yeast nutrient</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">1 Tsp pectic enzyme</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">2 tsp metabisulfite </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">1/2 tsp grape tannin</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">9 to 10 lbs of sugar and water to bring the SG up to 1.085</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lYF2C8nrLHc/VC3rVToHboI/AAAAAAAAAD8/-p2sSLpLndw/s1600/grapes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lYF2C8nrLHc/VC3rVToHboI/AAAAAAAAAD8/-p2sSLpLndw/s1600/grapes.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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The mixtures were allowed to ferment for 4 days in a primary container and then racked into the glass secondary containers … great aromas and rapid evolution of carbon dioxide. In the above picture at the back we have the purple grape juice, the green grape juice, the green grape skins plus blackberries and in the front the purple grape skins and blackberries.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12153471631737276090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-12603485989283267482014-09-22T17:37:00.002-07:002014-09-22T19:38:45.561-07:00To Filter or Not?To date, with the few wine kits I have made, I have never filtered the wine before bottling. Most of the wine kit instructions recommend filtering because it supposedly enhances the clarity of the wine, and removes some of the residual yeast cells that are still floating around. With my valpolicella kit, the store gave me a coupon for a half day filter rental, so I decided to go ahead and try filtering this wine before bottling. The store gave me a "Buon Vino Mini Jet" electric filter for the afternoon: <a href="http://www.buonvino.com/minijet.html" target="_blank">http://www.buonvino.com/minijet.html</a><br />
<br />
The wine filter consisted of a pump connected to an arrangement of plates that force the wine to pass through a sequence of three filter pads, and then through an outlet to a long piece of tubing that carries the wine to a carboy for storage until bottling. The edges of the filter pads are exposed, which allows some wine to escape. This is probably good for the pump, because if the filter pads get clogged, wine can escape through the sides, which prevents the pressure from building up. Any overflow wine is collected in a drip tray which drains to a holding container via a length of tubing.<br />
<br />
My valpolicella wine had been sitting for some time after clarification, and there
was an inch of precipitate at the bottom of the carboy. So, before starting, I racked the wine into a clean carboy. This way, I didn't have to worry about the fine solids clogging up the filter pads. I noticed that the racked wine was already pretty clear.<br />
<br />
After the somewhat fussy process of sterilizing the pump and tubing, rinsing with cold water, and flushing water through the filter pads, I began filtering. I was pleased with the filtration rate, which was a lot faster than what I usually get when I siphon wine from one container to another. When the carboy of unfiltered wine was empty, I filtered the two litres of overflow wine. <br />
<br />
The filtered wine was 'agitated'. That is, there was a fine foam on the surface, which is meant to be the result of carbon dioxide out-gassing from all the mechanical agitation that happens during filtration. It took a few hours for the foam to disappear. As per the instructions, prior to bottling, I let the filtered wine stand overnight in a carboy fitted with an airlock.<br />
<br />
Bottling was uneventful, and a sample of the wine tasted much like it did when I first tested it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ImjYHSNgcbg/VCC_pxpA8rI/AAAAAAAAANU/3zWY4E8MEaw/s1600/bottles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ImjYHSNgcbg/VCC_pxpA8rI/AAAAAAAAANU/3zWY4E8MEaw/s1600/bottles.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">30 bottles of filtered Valpolicella</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So, was filtration worth the effort? Filtration seems like a really good way to degas the wine if there is any excess carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide present. It is probably a good way to remove any of the finings that are left in the wine after racking, but this only applies to instances of sloppy racking. If you are careful with racking, your wine should be very clear and may not even need to be filtered.<br />
<br />
I personally found it to be a fussy process that creates a number of opportunities to contaminate the wine (e.g. sterilizing and rinsing the wine filter is not easy because of all the little grooves and small parts). Plus, the whole process is clearly a very good way to aerate the wine: the wine is squeezed through filter pads with high surface area (in air); the overflow wine sits in an open drip tray before flowing into an overflow container; the filtered wine flows at a high rate from the outlet tubing, and this created a sort of waterfall effect in the final carboy, mixing up the wine with lots of little air bubbles. Basically, there was a lot of aeration. <br />
<br />
Would I do this again? On balance, probably not. <br />
<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-24177889015673989972014-09-19T14:56:00.000-07:002014-09-22T08:43:20.178-07:00Apple Wine Racking & TastingIt was just under three weeks ago that I racked the apple wine into a carboy where it could ferment to dryness. At that time, I added three cinnamon sticks to add some flavour. The bubble rate died off after a week, but there has been a low level of activity since then, with tiny bubbles forming on the surface. This could be outgassing or maybe even the result of malo-lactic fermentation (MLF). There is a lot of malic acid in apples, so MLF would not be surprising. Today, I decided it was high time to rack it and perform a taste test.<br />
<br />
I siphoned the wine into a clean carboy and added two crushed Campden tablets. During the siphoning, I dispensed a small amount into a glass. After stirring the wine to remove sulfur dioxide, measuring the specific gravity, and installing an air lock, I sat down with my notebook, pen, and glass of apple wine.<br />
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This is the best wine I have made to date. The bouquet was of obviously of apple, but there was a hint of pear. The taste was simply delicious and mild. I was surprised at how much body it had, given that the ingredients were so simple. There was hint of butter, which suggests that there may have been some MLF. The cinnamon flavour was very mild, and in the background. I only really noticed it at the end. It confers a subtle amount of spicy 'heat' to the wine. The acidity was just right. I tasted it at room temperature, and I suspect it would be even nicer when chilled.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HOZwCFXlQG8/VByf5Xxg_aI/AAAAAAAAANE/bxnF3j-XySU/s1600/apple%2Bwine%2Btasting%2Bafter%2Bracking.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HOZwCFXlQG8/VByf5Xxg_aI/AAAAAAAAANE/bxnF3j-XySU/s1600/apple%2Bwine%2Btasting%2Bafter%2Bracking.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasting and the taking of notes.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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For me, as a scientist and chemist, it is a joy to sit down with a new wine I have never tasted, and taste it carefully and slowly, with the intent to observe as much as I can. A certain oenophile colleague of mine once pointed out how satisfying it is to try to describe what you see, smell, and taste. Wine tasting is a lot more fun when you really slow down and pay attention to the complex mix of aromas and flavours that you experience in your nose and mouth. A wine tasting wheel is a great help for this.<br />
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(As the wine isn't quite finished yet, this may be premature, but thanks to <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/112761834571619343620" target="_blank">+Bob Perkins</a> and <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/100589993936623437857" target="_blank">+Pete Bottiglier</a> for some of the tips you shared that I followed with this apple wine. To your health!)<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153072935326482478.post-59970793713746836312014-09-14T07:57:00.000-07:002014-09-14T09:13:42.755-07:00The Limitations of EZ Cap BottlesFor about two weeks now, my cider has been sitting in those cool looking EZ Cap bottles. Two days after bottling the first batch, I noticed tiny bubbles rising to the top, inside the bottles. I thought this was a good sign, as it meant that the secondary fermentation was working, and the cider should be nice and carbonated when it was all over. The problem is that the bubbles have not stopped. That can only mean one thing: the EZ Cap bottles leak.<br />
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Bubbles can only form if there is somewhere for the gas to go. If the bottle is under sufficient pressure, the CO<sub>2</sub> stays dissolved in the liquid, and there are no bubbles. However, as soon as the pressure drops, CO<sub>2</sub> becomes gas, and bubbles become visible. This is exactly like opening a pop bottle. When you unscrew the lid, the pressure inside the bottle drops, and CO<sub>2</sub> is released.<br />
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In exactly half of my 1 litre EZ Cap bottles, tiny bubbles are still forming in the cider. Last night, I decided to open one of the leaky bottles and test it. When I popped open the lid, there actually was an audible pop as if the bottle was under a small amount of pressure. When I poured a glass, however, the cider was clearly not carbonated. (So, I added some club soda and proceeded to enjoy!)<br />
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I really like EZ Cap bottles. They look nice and they are easy to use. I think they are perfect if your goal is to make still cider (i.e. non carbonated). But if you want carbonated cider, you will need to use beer bottles and bottle caps, or maybe a plastic pop bottle with a tightly screwed lid. Now, my experience might not be a total failure. I still have hope for the other bottles of cider that don't have bubbles, because that suggests they are under pressure. But here's the thing - a 50% success rate of getting a strong seal just isn't good enough for this purpose.<br />
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Here's my question: Is there a trick to getting a good seal on EZ Cap bottles?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761789494247202849noreply@blogger.com0