i'm available on sunday i think-

 

I'm out for Sunday

Picking up 360 lbs of Merlot grapes today and busy making wine tomorrow so I need Sunday to catch up with everything else.

 

nice!

you use a steel or wood barrel?

 

No.

 

I'll be in maine sunday- been trying to get up there for the past 3 weeks to grab the boat from the lake before they lower it for the season...

 

plastic?

 

It's actually a 55 gallon plastic drum which originally contained tomato paste. Bought specifically for this purpose.

Wood barrels can hold bacteria. Too risky for me

We age the wine in plastic jugs with special wood chips for flavor.

 

hmmm- I would think the distilling process would destroy any bacteria in the barrel - I could see mold & fungus being a factor tho-

wouldn't the wood chips still be subject to the same bacteria contamination the barrel is?

just wondering out loud- as I really have no clue

 

Well, firstly, you don't distill wine. You crush the grape, adjust sugar (if necessary), adjust acid (if necessary), then add yeast to get the fermentation rolling. The yeast consumes the sugar and creates alcohol but the alcohol never exceeds about 15%.... I don't know how much alcohol content various bacteria can survive in but I do know it is a very real concern in wine and beer making and even if the alcohol did eventually kill it there would likely be bad flavors resulting from any bacterial infections.

The reason wood chips are safe is because I can boil them for safety before adding to the wine. Now I suppose I could use wood barrels if I had some way to boil them before use

 

ahhhh, ok- cool


you wine-o