jamz's blog

This past week we entered into the "clearing phase" of our first batch of wine on the Johannisberg Dry Reisling. The major step was degassing the wine.

Our first step was to use a Fermtech Acrylic Wine Thief to put into the carboy and essentially siphon some of the wine into it. While keeping the device in the carboy (it is 19" tall) we dropped the hyrdometer into it for measurements. Everything was documented along with the temperature.

After Amber and I took a break from Vegas, with no trips in 2009, we decided we would go in January 2010! It was an amazing trip. We stayed at The Wynn which was truly an amazing experience. We visited several casinos that we never have been to (such as The Flamingo) and went to Red Rock Canyon again. The snow capped mountains were beautiful. Check-out the entire photo gallery here: www.jamz.net/pics/main.php/v/travel/LasVegas_NV/vegas_jan_2010/

WOW! The Shenandoah Valley and most of the east coast was buried in snow! Virginia had the largest snow storm since the 1800's. We broke the record blizzard in 1996 with this new snow storm. Blue Mountain in Linden, VA had 36 inches of snow with snow drifts reaching 5 feet! This was one heck of a blizzard! I was taking shelter in PA and NJ, missing most of the snow. All guests for the weekend had to cancel at WeekendOasis.net. Once the roads were passable, I trekked into the Shenandoah Valley for a task that I don't think I was prepared for: THE BIG DIG!

The mound of snow at the top of Blue Mountain Oasis was nearly 5 feet tall!

I had dangerous high mounds of snow on the deck, the hot tub cover started to buckle, an accident at the top of the driveway with a car running off the road, and a BobCat flipped over into my front yard, getting stuck, for days!

Plows failed. Bobcats failed. Trucks failed.

We were STUCK!

On February 13, 2010 we racked the first batch of wine. Moving it from the primary fermentation bucket to the carboy was a quick process, but an important one! We measured everything when we popped the lid on the fermentation bucket and things were perfect, a sign to rack it. We threw the siphon into the buck, pumped it a few times, and the wine started flowed into the carboy. Once done, we put a seal and air lock on it. It will sit in the carboy for quite some time. Here are the pictures:

The fermentation bucket off the rack

Opening the lid .. I liked the smell :)

Taking measurements .. everything perfect

Amber helping with the carboy

As I continue to learn the art of wine making and refine my skills I thought it would be a good idea to share my learning with the world! Part of my blog will now be focused around wine making. I'll post threads about each batch I make which I hope will help any future aspiring wine makers! The direct link to the wine making section is: http://jamz.net/category/wine-making/wine-making and you can also find the latest info on the left hand side of this site.

The first batch of wine is underway. For my first time, I'm using the facilities at Vintner's Circle in Dickson City, PA which provide me with great equipment while I refine my process.

First, we used a 7.9 gallon primary fermentation bucket with what I believe was Potassium Metabisulfite on the sides of the bucket:

We poured spring water into the bucket and mixed Bentonite in. The purpose of the Bentonite is to drag out yeast, tannins and other stubborn protein-based particles that may want to linger after fermentation. The purpose is to aid the wine with a glassy clear appearance and a color that is radiant. It also helps to reduce the occurrence of certain off-flavors, as well as reduce the wine's ability to oxidize. After mixing this in, the water turns a little gray colored:

Well, it has finally started! My first 8 gallons of wine are underway. It's been a long journey of mostly research, reading, and telling people how I was going to make my own wine. I never got around to it, but I'm now embarked on the journey and like to consider myself an aspiring wine maker. Sure, I don't have my own vineyard, I'm not smashing the grapes myself, but it is a start. Stay tuned for updates, pictures, and information on how we are doing it and where we are doing it!

I'm going to keep this simple but I can't resist from complaining about HughesNet to start. But if you are like me, maybe you found yourself with a satellite internet connection that isn't working. In my case, it was a cut wire. Seems easy enough to fix, but it turned into a lengthy process. Before I describe everything you'll need to know to fix a cut wire, let me tell HughesNet how terrible your customer service center is. Your outsourced call center to India is the absolute worse. You cannot understand them, at all. When you ask a simple question, every single rep wanted to explain to me, "It's like a car, a car without wheels, without wheels it won't move" for EVERY single question I asked. Is that all they know to say?

The remodel Amber and I are doing at ProjectHillside.com is certainly a HUGE task! Not only is it a lot of work, it's a big money pit! Anything can be done but with it comes a price! I haven't been lucky enough to find any gracious individuals that want to sponsor the project, although it certainly isn't lack of trying ;) The kitchen is 80% complete with the cabinets installed now! Be sure to swing over to our website and check out the new photos in the gallery and the updates! Visit www.ProjectHillside.com