Sorry for all the questions...this is my first rodeo!
Good Bad & The Monkey
Folks freak out about sterilization. I don't. We have made wine for millennia without sterilization solutions. The risk is that you may lose a bottle to it going bad, but this is uncommon. Ain't nothing dangerous gonna grow in wine. So I usually use hot hot water from my tap.
I use a regular siphon. I do not use a fancy nose on it.
When doing wine, I usually siphon it off the lees into a clean carboy using a J shaped tobe with the opening just off the lees. I then bottle from the second carboy. When making beer or sparking wine, I bottle straight from the first carboy since some of the lees need to go into the bottle.
I do not every filter my wine. I don't mind some yeast.
Understand that I prefer a hands off approach. Others tend to science it up and folow every step in the book in a meticulous and scientific way. Different strokes.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
rectumdamnnearkilledem
I never sterilized baby bottles or pacifiers, either. I have a kid who hasn't once been on antibiotics or had an ear infection (he will be 9 in less than a month). I think this has to be in large part due to the "dirt" we have always encouraged his system to be familiar with.
I'm not into sterilizing stuff I make yogurt with, either, even though it's often recommended. Have only had one batch not work, but I think my starter was dead.
Do you have to be more careful with beer making and contamination issues?
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate your help. Drop me an email with your address & I'll send you a bottle of wine if you'd like!
Gah, I can't edit the OP without the formatting messing up... *does not always like the fancy text editor*
She promises she won't sign you up for junk mail...
No. Less so. Remember, back in the day, turning things into alcohol was the main way to prevent spoilage.
Contamination would cause milk to sour and clot like yogurt, not prevent it. Your starter was dead.
No. Less so. Remember, back in the day, turning things into alcohol was the main way to prevent spoilage. Contamination would cause milk to sour and clot like yogurt, not prevent it. Your starter was dead.
Yeah, I thought it must have been a dead starter. Was pretty sad to expect yogurt and just get soupy mess.
So many of my favorite foods are things that were originally processed as a means to stay fresh longer...beer, wine, cheese, bacon, jerky, pickled herring...mmmm....
BTW, I don't think of it as yogurt starter. i think of it as old yogurt. You didn't buy some special starter junk did you? Just use whatever your favorite live culture yogurt from the store is.
Nope. Just a glob of plain yogurt (usually regular Dannon). I'm guessing "starter" would cost a fortune.
Next batch starts tomorrow or Friday. Gewurztraminer this time. Argentine Trio next time. I love this!
How did the corker work?
The corker worked fine, but mainly because I wasn't working it! I think I would have struggled with it. DH seemed to do ok. His buddy held the bottle in place, Dan operated the corker. Had I been corking, it would have been a disaster! I am going to save my pennies for a better one.
Former runner
On my first few batches I scrubbed the insides of the bottles with a brush and sterilized them. Now I just give them a good rinse when I empty them to remove the sediment. When making beer the time to pay attention to sanitation is after the boil and before the primary fermentation has taken off. If you pitch the yeast at the right amount it will take off and reproduce faster than the bacteria. I've had one contaminated batch. It was a bit sour but I still drank them all.
Ross
We can't let a little sourness stop us from drinking, now can we?!