2/13/2011
I hope you can tell by the image I used today that I am in a playful mood. Some how that just sounds dirty so we will go with good mood, a very good mood. If you have been keeping up with my blog you will also see that I am trying to not only raise home brewers up to be something that they are and lowering the people who went to school to be chemists and scientists to what they should be. I have never liked over educated pricks.
My niece Lauren's reaction to my deciding to brew was to say that it seemed like a red neck thing to do. I assure you being a red neck is the last thing I am. I don't have a gun rack in my truck and I don't chew tobacco. There are a lot of other things that being a red neck I am not but I don't see the need to get into those things here and now. Maybe in a later blog post. What I realized when she said this is that the world has a bad view on home brewers. They think we do this only because we are poor. I can afford to go buy a bottle of wine from the store. Hell, we got a six pack of Corona from the store just a few days ago. I am doing this for several reasons. Let's take a look at that for a moment.
I am sick of being taxed on everything from groceries to my cigarettes. From my car to literally my pool. It is in ground so it is not a red neck pool, just so you know. They tax me for beer, wine and spirits. This year I took my tax refund from the federal government and put it into my supplies and equipment to home brew so I can stop paying the government, that can't curb its spending, money that could go to better use in my house. Again I can afford to go get wine from the store if I wanted to. I choose not to.
I know what is in my wine. I know exactly what has been in it. How long it was in it. And what is going to be in it. I know I have no preservatives. I have no carcinogens. I have nothing in my wine that I would not drink. I think that makes it a lot more healthy.
My family used to home brew. My grandfather homebrewed a great elderberry wine. My father brewed an ok rose petal wine. Even my step father has brewed a really good wine. So, I have been exposed to the brewing processes on and off through our my childhood.
My wife, Leslie, and I are trying to become more self sufficient in any way that we can. We are finding that by gardening we appreciate the meal more when it came from our own hands and sweat.
Lastly, this is all a great science experiment. I have been pretty open about that. I see every batch of wine that I make as a science experiment. Every home brewer should see it as that. Unlike the brewers for brewing companies we put our money where our carboy is. We lay our dollars on the line for what we THINK could turn out to be the one batch that is better than anything we could ever buy at any store or get at any restaurant. That about sums up the reasons that I am doing this.
I can't tell you the excitement I got when I taste tested my mead and it seems to be turning out to be, what I would consider, a great wine. I was literally glowing with a smile that is rare among people today. I beat the odds and am looking at a great wine. I BEAT THE ODDS. I can't express the word I in this more. I did it. Not someone from Yale. Me! The person who dropped out of High School and was a bum for a years. I did it. I consider it a work of art and plan on signing every bottle that I make like any artist, my nice Lauren is an artist, would do. I even have my fictitious company that I will place on the labels also. "Micro-Biological Chemistry" Seems appropriate since I have been pushing that idea from the beginning. Even before I started by first batch of wine. I am proud of being able to do things my grand father did. Things our forefathers did regularly. Things our ancestors took for granted. I, by making good wine, have elevated my personal status up to the ancient Egyptians who were very avid brewers. That is what it feels like to taste a wine you made with your own blood, sweat and tears.
Quick update on the watermelon wine I am making. I tried straining out all the pulp in the must today and realized that I really do only have about a gallon of liquid under all that melon and grapes. I put all the fruit back in my pale and went to my small yeast library, yes I have several strains of yeast at my fingertips. I chose Lalvin EC-1118. It has a higher tolerance to change in temperature and causes less foam. The less foam is what won it over for me. After the Cran-Apple incident I am a little shock shy on foam. I only have a couple inches of space between the must and the top of my pale so I don't want to deal with foam blowing out the top if at all possible. My O.G. was 1.086. According to my hydrometer that will get me about 10% alcohol content. Probably a perfect for it being a fruit wine that should be refreshing and not something to get you three sheets to the wind.
Well, that's all for now.
Keep it bubbling!
Chuck
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