Brewing Report

Did some brewing maintenance today.
Here are my notes for Brew 19: Cabernet Sauvignon

• 2005-11-13 SG Reading 1.102 Brewing Day
• 2005-11-15 SG Reading 1.042 Those yeasties work fast!
• 2005-11-17 SG Reading 1.026
• 2005-11-19 SG Reading 1.012
• 2005-11-19 SG Reading 1.004 It's tasting like a beaujolais nouveau, and I can taste the CO2 dissolved in it. Tastes good so far.
  Racked. Actually, just removed the v-vessel ball and reattached it. It's now officially in secondary fermentation stage. In 10 days it will be time to stabilize.
• 2005-12-14 SG Reading 0.096 Stage 3. Added 4g Potassium Metabisulphite and 5.5g Potassium sorbate, stirred vigorously, added 2 packs of Chitosan. Removed the oak bag. Really starting to taste more like Cabernet now. This was about 10 days later than I expected, I noticed when I stirred it that it had considerably less outgassing than the last wine I made. I wonder if this represents an advantage to having a busy schedule. In 10 more days it will be time for the clarification stage.

Here are notes for Brew 20; the Blackberry Honey and Cherry mead.

• 2005-11-30 SG Reading 1.082 Brewing Day
• 2005-12-07 SG Reading 1.065
• 2005-12-14 SG Reading 1.036 Still bubbling, but starting to slow down. This is really good. The honey and the cherry flavors seem nicely in balance.

I'm looking forward to the finished products!