2011 Spring Honey Harvest

June 06, 2011

6 medium frames capped on both sides will yield about 1.5 gallons of honey.

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Robbed six, beautiful medium frames of spring honey from one of the hives over the weekend. The timing was right and I just cleaned up the extractor on loan to  me from a friend. To my surprise, I got about 1.5 gallons of honey.

The bees were in a great mood. When I opened the hive, I thought I heard them humming in unison, come, take this honey, for it is good and we'll make more.

The honey was an off-white yellow and very clear, and very thick. The whole family had spoons and we filled our gift jars and put the stores away. I can't wait until all the hives are in full production and I hope for a late fall harvest.

Tags: beekeeping

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Red River Gorge Annual Hike and Camp

February 20, 2011

Saturday morning at the cabin before hittin' Sheltowee Trace towards Cloud Splitter.

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On Presidents Day weeked, about 12 of us headed to the gorge for some cold camping. Planned, well in advance, everyone expected to be camping in the snow. But on the weekend of Feb. 19, our cold spell broke and we were given a sunny weekend for some awesome fun and awsome sights.

Some of us, including myself were a little disappointed we weren't able to do it in the snow, but after the time we had, and a few photos later, we're pretty sure we got our first glimpse of Spring. We had a great group of people ready for some trails, some camping and some good forest food.

On Friday, everyone met at the cabin to plan, talk some smack, eat and drink. After a good nights' rest, we packed up Saturday morning and headed for Cloud Splitter.

We're pretty sure if it had snowed, we may not have been able to hike on some of the trails we did, nor camp in the place we chose. Camp was made at about 1-200 feet from the peak of cloud splitter. There, we had the last rays of sun on Saturday and the first rays in the morning on Sunday.

Cloud splitter features a pretty laborius climb and some serious shimmying to get through a narrow crack and out to the over look. But once you're looking out the face of Cloud Splitter over the whole valley, you think it was worth the effort.

Tags: camping , friends , trips

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Using Paper Chromatography to Monitor MLF in Wine

November 30, 2010

This year, I grabbed 300 pounds of Petite Sirah grapes. I've found that these single varietal dry reds use quite a different process than fruit wines. The vineyard will wait to harvest the grape until it reaches the ideal brix for that varietal so to the winemaker the variables are a bit more controlled than that of a typical fruit wine where the variables are all over the place.

One of the things we do in red wine is undergo malolactic fermentation. This is where malic acid is converted to lactic acid... contributing to more rounded flavors and mouth-feel.

We need to know when malolactic fermentation is completed and we do this through the use of paper chromatography. In this video, I demonstrate the test and explain it as best I can. Hope it's helpful.

Tags: wine , how-to

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A story of Petite Sirah, from the truck to the carboy

November 18, 2010

Many have asked about it... others didn't but still got to hear me blather about it. Here's my story from the truck to the carboy. To appreciate it as I do, you must REALLY like red wine... and then appreciate that it's made right here. I just pressed the grapes off the skins today and it's rollin' in the cellar. I already can't wait to do it again next year. But next year, I think we'll shoot for a clean 500 lbs. Hope you enjoy.

Tags: wine , grapes

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The final grape crush of 2010 brings me 300 pounds of Petite Sirah

November 09, 2010

That's about 1000 pounds of Petite Sirah right there. I wanted to jump in it, but it was cold out.

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I hope to make wine from my own grapes one year, but until I do, I have to buy them. I've been growing grapes, planting a new row and variety each year, for about 5 years now. I battle with the deer, the black rot... you name it, about everything that has prevented me from bringing in the bounty. This year, however, I brought in my first lot of Concord grapes, but there wasn't enough worth making wine with, so we made pies and jams and froze the rest.

Speaking of buying grapes, I brought home the last bounty on Saturday. 300 pounds of Petite Sirah and I am very excited about this one. It feels almost like--ok, time to stop messing around and make some good, red grape wine. So, this Petite Sirah has been somewhat of a project for me delving back into books, picking brains and talking to people.

I really appreciated the help from my friend Dave whose been a student of winemaking lately as well. Dave makes excellent wine and so I wanted to really get a up-close look at his process. When I was in Art School, we were told to "copy the masters". Doing so may not make complete sense at the time, in fact it seemed like plagiarism, but looking back, I found that it brought me up to a plateau where I could look back down to where I really was to see where I did good, or bad. For me, I'm a quick study in most things, mainly because I have no problem admiting that I don't know it all and then asking someone to tell me everything they know.

Ultimately, I choose to stay on that higher plateau because afterall, it's the place to be, right? Knowing what i know now... is better then what I never knew. You heard that here first.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pics of the fine people I get to mingle with when we take off on a cold morning to smash grapes, eat pizza and drink wine! Cheers.

Tags: wine , friends , grapes

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