Hello from the real Nor-cal

[greenjon]

That's cool you know so much about wine chemistry! I'm an information sponge when it comes to making beer, and I use a huge amount of algebra to design it. But when I make wine, I just squish the fruit, add yeast, and then add 0-2 pounds of sugar per gallon. :-D It's incredibly brainless but it comes out somewhere between decent and quite good. The plums are Mirabelle which are famously yummy. I have no idea what the cherries are, but they are massive, towering, 100-150 year old trees.

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

That's cool you know so much about wine chemistry! I'm an information sponge when it comes to making beer, and I use a huge amount of algebra to design it. But when I make wine, I just squish the fruit, add yeast, and then add 0-2 pounds of sugar per gallon. :-D It's incredibly brainless but it comes out somewhere between decent and quite good. The plums are Mirabelle which are famously yummy. I have no idea what the cherries are, but they are massive, towering, 100-150 year old trees.

Nah, I don't know all that much I just have an old book on it (First Steps In Winemaking) and tried a few different fruits and blossoms recipes, so I know to check to see if the chosen fruit has any peculiarities that need attention. Actually all this talk of brewing wines makes me want to brew something this year too. Its been a while. I am actually considering just doing a kit wine, which I have never done before. If it isn't very good I can still use it for cooking.

 

[Frankenstein]

Don't be put off by the technical babble! There are kits for popular beers and grape wines from concentrates, which are very simple and easy to brew. The major advantage over store bought is the much lower price per bottle and the satisfaction of not feeling exploited for tax.
Making your own unique wine/liqueur rocket fuel with other fruits isn't too complicated either once you get confident and have the basic equipment..
It's as simple as building your own unique MB.

It's not the technicalities that bother me, no not at all, actually I'm quite capable of chemical synthesis in both the organic and inorganic sciences, and I'm a pretty damn good cook. It's the part where I don't have any interest in learning yet another set of skills beyond that of simple cocktail mixing, really don't want to try to make the booze that goes in it, would rather enjoy other people's productions. Since I don't think I'll ever get in enough trouble to be locked up in jail I don't think I'll need to know how to make my own bootleg toilet-gin.

I make a big enough mess just making homemade meatballs and pasta, don't know if the wife would be happy with me storing frothy pots full of weird smelling drafts all over the house. She doesn't even like beer... I'm thinking wine would be a bit like an episode of Black Books when they killed the pope with a tainted bottle of red.. Not really ready for that kind of responsibility.

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

It's not the technicalities that bother me, no not at all, actually I'm quite capable of chemical synthesis in both the organic and inorganic sciences, and I'm a pretty damn good cook. It's the part where I don't have any interest in learning yet another set of skills beyond that of simple cocktail mixing, really don't want to try to make the booze that goes in it, would rather enjoy other people's productions. Since I don't think I'll ever get in enough trouble to be locked up in jail I don't think I'll need to know how to make my own bootleg toilet-gin.

I make a big enough mess just making homemade meatballs and pasta, don't know if the wife would be happy with me storing frothy pots full of weird smelling drafts all over the house. She doesn't even like beer... I'm thinking wine would be a bit like an episode of Black Books when they killed the pope with a tainted bottle of red.. Not really ready for that kind of responsibility.

Fair enough.

Ooh you watched Black Books!

 

[Frankenstein]

Fair enough.

Ooh you watched Black Books!

More than once.

 

[greenjon]

I had a glass of my cherry wine today. Pretty darn good! Apparently I added sugar at some point, because it's pretty strong! A bit more acid and a bit of sugar would improve it even more, I think. I might add some citric acid and some backyard honey and see how that goes. It's a winner!
A pity I only have 5 gallons of it. My cherry trees are huge and that makes it impossible to harvest most of the cherries.

 

[Frankenstein]

I had a glass of my cherry wine today. Pretty darn good! Apparently I added sugar at some point, because it's pretty strong! A bit more acid and a bit of sugar would improve it even more, I think. I might add some citric acid and some backyard honey and see how that goes. It's a winner!
A pity I only have 5 gallons of it. My cherry trees are huge and that makes it impossible to harvest most of the cherries.

Kids are disposable and like climbing trees.

 

[greenjon]

I kegged the IPA and force carbonated it. It's interesting because I used a wonderful English Malt (Maris Otter), classic US Hops (Cascade) and Belgian yeast. It's the best of three worlds in one glass. It weighs in around 7% and is really quite good. The flavor of the malt, hops and yeast all shine through and play nice together. I'm about to serve it out at a local Art Show.

 

[Frankenstein]

I kegged the IPA and force carbonated it. It's interesting because I used a wonderful English Malt (Maris Otter), classic US Hops (Cascade) and Belgian yeast. It's the best of three worlds in one glass. It weighs in around 7% and is really quite good. The flavor of the malt, hops and yeast all shine through and play nice together. I'm about to serve it out at a local Art Show.

Yeah yeah yeah, get them drunk so your impressionalist creations look better than they really aren't, I know the drill.

 

[greenjon]

Haha, yeah. Drinks and art go well together, but I jump at any chance to get rid of beer. Served about 5 gallons of Stout and Belgian IPA.

Today I spent hours pulling the blossoms off of lilac sprays. Got about 1.5 gallons of blossoms. I'll pull more tomorrow and probably the day after as well, and when I get a bucket full then I'll make 5 gallons of Lilac Wine.