Day Nineteen

The wine finally had a constant specific gravity today, which meant that I was able to clear and stabilize it. Clearing and stabilizing means that I stop the fermentation of the juice, it it hasn't already stopped. It also forces anything floating in the juice to fall to the bottom of the fermentor. That will ensure that in two weeks when I go to bottle the wine, it will no longer be cloudy like it currently is. It will only be a matter of time before I bottle the wine!

Day Fourteen

It has been exactly two weeks since I first added the yeast to the juice. Today, I checked the specific gravity of the juice once more. It was 0.996. If the reading is the same tomorrow, I can begin the final step before bottling. Either way, I am only 14-21 days away from bottling the wine.

I also tasted the wine for the first time today. It actually tasted much better than I expected at this point. It definitely has the potential to be a very good wine. At this point it tastes like a young wine. Imagine eating a grape that isn't quite ripe yet. That is how the wine tasted today. Hopefully in another month or so it will have matured to the point where it can enjoyably be consumed. 

Day Five

I was greeted late this afternoon with a surprise in the mail, when my hydrometer arrived a day earlier than expected. It's been five days since I introduced the yeast to the juice. The specific gravity of the wine should be below 1.010 on the fifth day of fermentation. I was planning on checking tomorrow, as that I expected the hydrometer to arrive then. With it coming a day early, I was able to start the next step ahead of schedule.

The specific gravity of the juice was just within the suggested limit to begin secondary fermentation. After cleaning and sanitizing my equipment, I transferred the six gallons of juice into the secondary fermentor. It will sit in there for another ten days before the juice will be ready for the third step in the process. If all goes as planned, it should be ready next Wednesday night, so check back then!

Day Two

Today was a big day for my wine. While I didn't do anything, the yeast definitely did. I checked my primary fermentor after I got home from work (about 24 hours after adding the yeast), and saw that CO2 was escaping through the airlock. That means the yeast has begun to ferment the grape juice. In five to seven days, I will check the specific gravity of the juice. If it is within limits, I will move it to the secondary fermentor and begin the second step in the fermentation process.

Unfortunately, because I broke my hydrometer yesterday, I had to order a new one. I need it in just a couple days, because I can't move onto the second step without first checking to make sure the numbers are within the window. Because of that, I had to select expedited delivery of the device, meaning that shipping was more expensive that the piece itself. But the success of the wine is dependent on having the correct specific gravity at each step, so the investment was necessary.

Day One

At approximately 1pm CST today, Zschoche Cellars began the fermentation process of our first ever batch of wine. I started work around noon, when I organized, cleaned and sanitized all of my supplies. Unfortunately, during the cleaning process, my hydrometer dropped on the ground and shattered. I will need it in a week in order to check the specific gravity of the wine just before I begin secondary fermentation. Luckily, there are several online dealers where I can order one for a rush delivery. It also wasn't the most expensive pieces of equipment, it is just a nuisance that easily could have been avoided.

I added approximately 3.4 gallons of spring water to the 2.6 gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon grape juice, bringing the total quantity to around 6 gallons. If things work out properly, that will equate to near 30 bottles of finished product. The fermentation of the yeast will begin sometime tomorrow evening or early Friday morning. Because I am fermenting the juice in a food grade plastic 6.5 gallon container, the only way that I will be able to see that the yeast is doing its job is by looking at the CO2 escape through the airlock.

The wine likely will not be ready for secondary fermentation for another week or so, which puts the bottling process sometime in the month of June. After that, it will need to age at least another three months before considering drinking it, though it likely will be one or two years from now before it is in it's prime. I guess that this venture will show me patients.

Now, just because I have added the yeast to the juice does not mean that there will be nothing for me to write about for several months. I should see the signs of fermentation sometime in the next 12-36 hours. Also, I will discuss in more detail my future plans dealing with this hobby. This is just the beginning. Big things are yet to come.

And so it begins...

Welcome to the Zschoche Cellars blog! I will use this as a way to update my supporters as to where my wine is at in the fermentation process. Growing up, I read hundreds of articles about starting a business, and always had one small question - why there was such a long period of time between the founding of the company and the first day of operations. It all makes sense to me now. I decided back in December that I wanted to start making wine. But with the necessary research on how to go about achieving such a fete and procuring the necessary supplies (not to mention learning how to fly a plane and moving 600 miles in the same time-frame), the months seemed to stack up.

Now, after over two months of planning and several weeks of staring at my wine making supplies, I have initiated the beginning steps of my first batch. Tonight, I completed several of the steps needed to begin the wine-making process.

First, I organized all of the supplies so that when I begin the fermentation, everything I need is at my disposal. Next, I measured the capacity of my primary fermentor to be just under 6.5 gallons, which is just within the limits of my kit. Finally, I checked the specific gravity of water in my hydrometer, which I found to be 1.001 at 67 degrees Fahrenheit. If all goes as planned, I will begin the primary fermentation of my juice tomorrow.