Well, I am waiting for my tax return to purchase all the equipment I will need to get started with my Home Brewing Project. Funny how I will be using tax money to keep from paying consumption taxes. Kind of means that I will be paying around $2.00/bottle of wine instead of $20.00. Makes me wonder exactly how much I pay in taxes on a given bottle of wine. I will also have complete control of everything that is in what I drink along with how strong it is. I am sure that many of you who do not brew will have no idea what is really in what you are drinking. Is your blackberry wine made from real blackberries or is it made from flavoring?
Over the years I have researched brewing wine. I have read things from people who are die hard naturalists to people who think chemicals make everything. I think they are both wrong. I think there is a happy medium of diehard naturalist and chemist. That is where I will be trying to tread. I guess you could call me a natural chemist. When I can use something from nature I will. When I can't get my hands on it I will turn to chemicals. However the bulk of what I brew will be natural.
Here lately I have really been sinking into my research of brewing wine and mead. I think the people who do this are mis-catagorized. Many people see them as rednecks, country bumpkins, or just plain cheap bastards. Yes, some of them might fit the descriptions above but I don't think the vast majority fit into this mold. I know I don't. Looking into this I have found that the people who keep track of what they do and how they do it are borderline Micro-Biological Chemists. They deal with yeast and basic chemicals to get a chemical reaction for not only alcohol but also taste, texture, smell and color. Just a little yeast, sugar and anything they can dream of. That really doesn't sound like a country bumpkin to me. They have to know how to calculate specific gravity of liquid to not only know how much alcohol to expect but to also know when it is time to move from one stage to another. They have to keep specific records so they can reproduce what they have found works and what doesn't. They do think just like a scientist. Almost identical to what a modern chemist does. And here is the kicker. They end up using more chemicals then a modern chemist does. Not the redneck listed above. As I follow this hobby I hope I can iron out misconceptions, myths and outright lies. I guess this is in a small way a quest for what the truth is.
My father brewed a little. So did my grandfather. They are both gone and I never paid any attention to what they were doing to pull information from that. All this is entirely my research and my hard work. Sure I will meet people along the way that will explain this or that but in the end it will be research and hard work that will make what will be my brew project. Oh poor me. All the work and so much wine to have to drink. Now that I think of it you may even get a few drunk blogs on this subject. hehehehe
Chuck
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