Happy birthday, first batch of wine!

Today was the day Elizabeth and I took the leap and began making wine at home. What started as an obsession over various homemade fruit brandies at a church auction has borne fruit, as they say. After a quick trip to Cornhusker Beverage & Bridal (no, not the world’s best web presence but you get used to that living in flyover country) we wandered home with supplies.

Supplies!

Hot to trot, we set out whipping up our first run as soon as the box was opened. We definitely wanted to start with a kit first time out. There’s just enough uncertainty about what we’re doing that having the extra help is nice. Don’t get me wrong, 2011W01, we have high expectations no matter your provenance. And because both of us prefer a nice white to a nice red, we selected a Riesling. The Grand Cru Johannisberg Riesling kit to be exact; Lot 20046, packaged June 6, 2011.

After the initial rush to sanitize the primary fermenter and mix up the must we had to find a place for the wine to sleep. Because we wanted the wine to know we cared very much for it—and we wanted to keep a close eye on its temperature—we decided on a nice chair with a view in the dining room. Extra bonus points for being near the thermostat so other than the basement, probably the place with the most consistent temperature in the house.

For now we watch and wait. Nothing burbles through the airlock. That should change in the next 24 hours. This will be the sign that something good is happening inside. In two weeks we’ll sample the must with a hydrometer to check on the progress. If we get a reading that most of the digestible sugar is gone, we’ll rack this into a carboy for a few more weeks of setting out.

Initial temperature: 73˚F
Initial specific gravity: 100.082
Potential alcohol: 11%
Born on date: 12 November, 2011

More updates to come!