Recently, @papa-pepper and I had the opportunity to visit @shalomacres and bottle some wine. I don't think @papa-pepper drinks but I love tasting a good wine. And we both love learning from the experiences of others.
We've made a few batches of wine since we began homesteading. Some turned out good and some turned out really good. I don't think we've ever had a batch turn out bad. I attribute our good success with following a few simple rules when it comes to making wine.
First off, spend the little bit of money to get the right equipment and don't skimp on the materials. Hobby wine equipment is sold everywhere and its cheap. So there is no excuse to not get the right stuff. Avoid any instructions to use balloons or saran wrap to seal your containers. Always make sure your equipment is clean and sterile when working with it. Boiling water works great for this if you don't want to buy any industry chemicals.All that said, what do you do when its time to finish off your wine product? You've spent all this time working on it and now you have to save it for later consumption. This is another mistake I see people making. They will simply put it into containers and tighten the cap and call it good thinking the wine will stay good and sealed.
Just screwing on a cap will not seal the product. It will breathe. This is why it's important to ferment your wine with a bubbler and then you KNOW that its finished when its not producing anymore bubbles. At that point, its safe to bottle it but you need to have that final bottle sealed. This is where corks come in. Otherwise your wine will slowly turn to vinegar. Eck!
Recently at @shalomacres, we bottled some of his amazing elderberry wine. His wine didn't always taste this good...but we'll save that story for another post. He purchased a wine corker that was similar to one I had nightmares with. My similar handheld corker broke a lot of the corks and didn't seat them in the bottle fully. I then upgraded to a ferrari floor corker.
@shalomacres purchased a hand corker and surprisingly it worked well compared to the one I bought. I threw mine away because I was so frustrated with it.
The hand corker he purchased worked very well and set the corks at the perfect distance into the bottle. I was really flabbergasted! The hand corker I had was horrible.
This is a past video that I made with an Italian Ferrari floor corker. Yup, that's right, I own an Italian Ferrari and my name is NOT Tai Lopez. Check out the video!
Hey guys! You know you can post pictures in the comments below the same way you upload them in posts. Do you have any good pictures of you making wine? Any bad pictures of you making wine? POST THEM BELOW!
What kind of corker are you using. Let us know.
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Hmmm wonder if it had to do with that brute strenght! LOL ;-)
Tweeting
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probably!
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Man, she got you there!
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Fermenting for a year??? Wow that is a long time. Any ways...If you want to open a bottle of wine, use a shoe!
LOL!
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I don't believe it. I may try and do a video on it. It looks like there was a cut screen in there between no cork and cork. We shall see.
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I'll help!
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LoL!
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I would like to see a video with you trying this! Don't break the bottle! LOL!
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Immediately after the cut, the cork is already sticking out of the bottle before he hits it to the wall. A little bit of deceptive editing. It may work, but not as easily as this video makes it look! @ironshield
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That is what i thought
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That would never work for me. We used premium corks during our last bottling and I have already broken two cork screws ;) I think somebody is trying to get us to break our bottles and ruin our shoes.
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As a home beer brewer, I second your advice...DON'T skimp on equipment. It isn't that expensive and you really need to protect your investment. I have never had a batch become infected, but I know people who have. Why waste all that time, effort and money? As you point out, making sure everything is sterile is a necessity. Not doing it right is just begging for problems.
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Exactly!
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wow!! seems very innovative...trolling tail lopez is awsome
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I thought so too!
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Having the proper tools will make any job any job go a lot better. It is worth it to buy a quality tool.
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Roger that!
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Beep! Beep! This humvee will be patrolling by and assisting new veterans, retirees, and military members here on Steem. @shadow3scalpel will help by upvoting posts from a list of members maintained by @chairborne and responding to any questions replied to this comment.
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Awesome post. What kind of corks do you use? Is there a standard or different quality corks? Resteemed
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Put a cork in it!
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it seems you guys really enjoyed yourselves
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Great work guys and nice to see you together :) Nothing better than a good glass of wine !
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So.. would you recommend the hand? Or would you rather spend the money on the floor corker?
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I think that would depend on the amount of bottles you are planing to cork. If you are going to do something like 1 or 2 carboys a year the hand corker would work, but if you are going to do more and/or you can afford it get a floor corker they are the best. A decent one will cost about $70.00.
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The only downside to the floor corker is that it takes up space. But it makes the job so easy.
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Looks like you had a good time! @ironshield
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Dont underestimate homemade vinegars! We love them and make some every year. We make apple cider vinegar. Good stuff. I like it for gut problems too.
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We would love to learn this art. I tried last year and not so good lol.
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thank you, your post
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I will save a bottle for your next visit! Great detail my friend!
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I'd say the #Tip to ensure that your equipment is pristine/sterile is 1 of the most important !
Did enjoy reading this #WINE Tutorial, as I used to taste wine with my brother (and some 'more expensive' wines, to boot ). Sigh, I miss those times of Bonding over wine.
The conversations were great ! Hope u have a most fine week..
Glad you upgraded to a floor corker (no worries now, eh... ) ☻
#TUTORIAL
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Can’t wait to try some!
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yay for papa pepper, he's my kinda guy
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