Another Wine Update

Today I'll write about Stage 3 of my winmaking extravaganza. I actually did everything you're about to read a week ago, but my writing will be all caught up after this!

Stage 3 is the most boring phase of this process, and therefore, I will keep this post short. Let's get right to it!

First, let's take a look to see how my wine looked after sitting in the secondary carboy for 10 days. I'm posting a BEFORE and AFTER photo, so you can see the difference.

AFTER - It's much more clear, even somewhat
transparent. It's only going to get better.

BEFORE - Notice how opaque the liquid is. 

Now let's look at another BEFORE and AFTER. This time with the hydrometer. Notice how much more of it is sticking out of the liquid:

AFTER - Now it's barely peeking aout of the
liquid. The newest reading was 0.996.

BEFORE - This picture was taken at the very
beginning, when this was just grape juice.

So what did I do this go-around? I added some ingredients (see left) to the wine to help it stabilize and ultimately clear. I simply mixed it with water, and then added equal amounts to each carboy.









Once added, I vigorously shook and stirred the wine mixture to release the gasses created by fermentation. That created the white foam that you see below. By releasing the gas, all the yeast sediment will sink to the bottom, and stay out of the bottles. (I actually did not do this last year, and it harmed the wine. So I learned from my mistakes!)

Everything that came with my wine kit is now in the wine. Just a few more days
of waiting until I can bottle!

The next time I see these carboys, it will be time for bottling! Unfortunately, I need to clean and sanitize 30 bottles between now and then... not fun. But wish me luck!