Barco Estate's Wine Making Adventure: Day 21 - Stage 3 Day 5

Well everyone, the majority of work is done. Now it's time to hurry up and wait. Let me back up for a moment and tell you how Sunday went because there was a definite learning curve.

Sunday March 28th, 2010

After talking with Advintage on Friday, I felt a little more comfortable with how long the degassing stage was taking. I finally had some free time on Sunday so I popped the airlock and gently stirred my wine (5 days into degassing). I made the mistake of stirring the wine too vigorously which caused all the wine foam shown in my previous posts. If you gently stir in a circular motion, the residual C02 will bubble up similar to soda in a glass. I was creating a water tornado :). When I stirred it this time, the amount of bubbles was negligible. Now it's time to add the remaining ingredients and top off my wine.

I first added the Metabisulfite to 1/2 cup a warm water to dilute. Okay, what they don't tell you in the instructions is that adding Metabisulfite to water produces Sulfer Dioxide. So with me being curious by nature, I decided to see what Metabisulfite smells like. BAD IDEA, Don't breath this stuff. My nosehairs were singed and I was coughing for a good 10 minutes. NO BUENO! As I add this stuff to the wine I thought to myself, why am I adding this chemical to the wine I'm going to DRINK? Metabisulfite is a stabilizer and basically helps to kill any harmful bacteria and yeast in the wine. It also helps prevent oxidation. I then add packed #5 - Kieselsol. This is a fining agent that is negatively charge to help with clearing the wine. It acts like a big sponge and attracts any large particles then sinks to the bottom. After 15-30 mins, I add packet #6 - Chitosan - This is positively charged clearing agent and works the same as the Kieselsol.

Now it's time to top off my wine. I pop open the 3 bottles of cupcake cab and start pouring them in. I soon start to realize that these 3 bottles isn't going to be enough. CRAP! I run to the store to buy 2 more and guess what, they only have one cab left. Quick thinking draws me to the merlot section where I spot Cupcake Merlot. I go home with haste, open and pour the two bottles in. Yeah, I'm still about a half gallon shy from the top. At this point, there's no way I'm buying any more wine just to add to my wine. I do the unthinkable... add water. I ended adding a little less then a half a gallon of water. Adding water to wine, Blasphemy! I know, I know, but it had to be done.

After I finished up, I thought about the cost of topping off my wine. I just invested another $50 to a $90 wine kit with a $200 overhead of winemaking supplies. Doing the math, my first batch of 30 bottles will have a cost of $9 EACH! If I do another batch, it then it drops the cost down to about $4.3 per bottle not including the wine to top it off. The next time I do this, I'm thinking about buying a 6 Gal glass carboy (which I can use for beer making - $40) and not use any wine to top off. This hobby, as well as my others, is starting to get a little expensive.

Now my wine needs to chill out for a 22 to 45 days at 50-60 degrees F. My apt is about 72 degrees ambient which means i'll have to buy either a kegerator or refrigerator off craigslists and store it in my garage.
I'll keep you posted.

Here are the remaining 3 packets with the wine making instructions.