Over the last several months, Katie and I had been talking about starting to brew our own beer or wine. After an inordinate amount of research and discussion, we decided on wine, and in the spirit of Mythbusters if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. We went to Bacchus and Barleycorn and bought all the equipment and supplies we'd need (minus bottles) to brew a six-gallon batch. We decided on an Australian Cabernet/Shiraz blend, something we thought it would be tough to screw up too badly.
We started our batch on January 17. Prior to mixing all the ingredients in the primary fermenter we sanitized all the equipment with a sulfite solution, which gave both of us coughing fits and a burning nose. So after we blended the juice, water, and additives; checked the specific gravity (1.087); and put the air lock in the lid of the bucket, we were on our way. For the next week, the first floor of the house smelled like rising bread.
After a week, we checked the specific gravity again and transferred the batch to a carboy for a secondary fermentation.
Once our specific gravity stabilized, (0.994) after eight days we were ready to stabilize and clarify.
Following our final specific gravity check, we grabbed a quick sample to sniff and taste. Fortunately, it smelled and tasted like actual wine.
Stabilizing and clarifying involves binding the suspended sediment with an additive to force it to settle to the bottom. One of the steps of this process is "vigorous stirring," so I got an extra toy following the recommendation of a coworker.
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