I started a blog on Blogger about the basement brewing process. This is where I will be posting all my experiments with recipes, brewing ideas, and basement brewing equipment. Jump on over and read about my first concoction, a Dunkelweizen. Yumm.

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After 8 months bulk aging in it’s carboy, Jeff Louella Malbec 2007 has finally been bottled and labeled. The must was created from Winexpert’s 100% Argentinean grown Malbec grapes. The fermentation went great and the wine came out nice. I just bottled today. They say the wine needs to become bottle conditioned. I put less than the average amount of Potassium Metabisulphite, so the wine may not age for 10 years, but then again, it is not full of chemical preservatives like commercial wines are. It will be at it’s best in another year and should be prime for the next 5 years.

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Last night I took off the air lock for a second and took a little whiff. Mmmmm. Any issue with sulfur that I may have had before is now officially gone and has been replaced with the sweet smell of aging wine. I will let you know when I bottle it.

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Six guys, including myself, needed a reason to drink more. So we started a blog on beer. Mug Warrior is a blog on all things related to beer and beer culture. Currently the blog is using Wordpress with an open source template. Eventually we will get a kick ass design once we get all the posts rolling. So mosey on over to http://www.mugwarrior.com and have a drink or two with us.

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While reading wine blogs and watching video wine blogs, I keep running into people talking about Argentinean Malbec. So on the way home today, I decided to stop by the wine store and pick me up a bottle of Malbec with out reading anything about it before I hit the store.

I ended up with a bottle of QUARA Malbec. The label is playful and has a great quote on the back. “QUARA, For people who take living seriously, but don’t live too seriously.” That is a great motto to have.

With my limited experience, I can say this wine is tremendous. There is a ton of dark fruit flavor with spicy undertones. This wine would go great with steak or a buffalo chicken sandwich. Anything that is somewhat spicy. I am sipping a glass as I type this and it is making my mouth water for more.

As you all know, I am fermenting my first batch of wine, which is a Cabernet Sauvignon. I was going to ferment a batch of Pinot Noir for my next batch, but I am starting to think that Malbec may overthrow that decision. I will have to try another bottle of a different brand to tell.

Tastings.com gave this wine 90 points. I must agree. It is exceptional.

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My SG was around 1.005, so I was good to go. Mission accomplished. In addition, the H₂S smell was a lot lighter. I think I am heading down the right path. I hope I did not oxidize the wine during the transfer.

I am happy of this step taken for simple one reason. My wine is now out of an opaque fermenting bucket and finally into a clear carboy. I get to watch the color change, the juice clear, and a wine come to life.

I now have to wait another 12 days until secondary fermentation is complete. From there I will add the Potassium Sorbate and the fining agent. I will write some more about them when the time is closer.

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After reading up on the issue and some ideas of what to do about it, I decided to hit the local Homebrew store and get some live help. This issue seems to happen from time to time and the big wineries use a solution of Copper Sulfate in a small, non-lethal dose. I say non-lethal because copper sulfate is poisonous. I am trying to stay away from poisoning my wine (and myself) just to have it smell good.

The kind gentleman at the store (Paul), ensured me that this happens periodically and most of the time, it clears itself up. There is also yeast nutrient and racking techniques that can help. Over the next week, I have to monitor the progress of the smell and act accordingly.

During this whole stink bomb explosion, I measured the specific gravity of the wine. I am down to 1.020. I only have .010 to go before racking into my carboy. I will do this on Monday night after 24. I am hoping once I remove the wine from the yeast sediment at the bottom of the primary fermentation vessel, the H₂S rotten egg smell issue disappears. Paul from the homebrew shop told me to keep trying. I will gain a lot of experience at making wine dealing with issues when they arrive. Hopefully, this will be one lesson I pass.

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I never though watching a little piece of plastic (the air-lock) with bubbling water could be so exciting. But I guess that is the science geek in me.

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The instructions were pretty clear. The California Connoisseur juice kit came with pre-measured ingredients and a check list of what to do and when to do it. The grape juice had some water removed to reduce storage and shipping weights, so it was concentrated to about 2 gallons of juice. As per the directions, I topped up the juice to 6 gallons by adding natural spring water. I mixed in the pre measured Bentonite (a type of clay used in wine clarification.) and hydrated my yeast by leaving them in warm water for 15 minutes before mixing them into the must. I then put the lid onto the fermentation vessel and fitted it with an Air Lock to allow the C02 that the yeast creates to escape.

I have about 8-10 days until primary fermentation is complete. At that time I will siphon the wine into a Carboy for secondary fermentation. Instead of a glass carboy, I decided to go with a specially treated plastic “Better-Bottle”. These bottles offer many advantages over tradition glass carboys. The Better Bottle doesn’t break if you drop it. It also is a fraction of the weight of a glass carboy. Though I just started winemaking and I have never broken a glass carboy full of 6 gallons of red wine, I can just imagine the devastation that fermenting red wine would leave behind if mishandled and exploded all over the floor.

I am hoping to become well educated in winemaking and begin to order whole grapes during harvest time from the Napa Valley area. I would then de-stem, crush, press, and ferment the grapes in their own skins. I have also been reading up on making Aged Tripel Ale or Barley Wine. So I may have some 10%+ abv beer to sip by the fire.

This is a hobby that I will have the rest of my life to master and will benefit greatly from the hours of research and work. It sure will be nice having some of the best wine and beer for about a couple bucks a bottle.

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