Wine on a boat?

Last November we started making wine on the boat, yes we have a floating winery.   The process and equipment really is not that bad to store and use.  We made three types, a White Zinfandel, Argentina Malbec (my favorite), and a German Liebfraumilch.  We bottled close to 90 bottles and that is a lot of glass on a boat.  So this year we decided to use a collapsible bag that holds 1.5 liter.  We will still actually bottle some to give away like we did last year.  They are great gifts and we even took one to a wine tasting in Galveston.  It was the first wine that ran out with quite a few talking about it. It was funny watching them study the label to find out what winery it came from.

 White Zinfandel     
The process is fill a 5 gallon container with the juice and yeast, maintain a tempature between 70-75 degrees and after 7 to 10 days you can rack it (move to the main carboy) for secondary fermentation. The whole process takes about 4 to 5 weeks.  The whites you can drink right after you bottle them, but the reds need to age about 3 months.
      
 Mixing for primary fermentation Racking to carboy Degassing before clarifing the wine

 
    
 Wine bubbling during fermentation  Preparing for bottling Finishing up the bottling


We have a Chardonnay brewing now, with another Malbec for sure, and a third has yet to be decided.  Maybe some tropical fruit type? Respond back with request and the winner will get a bottle for a prize!  It is a fun hobby and creates really cool gifts for friends and family.

This year we have been so busy on boat projects I have not blogged that much and really need to get back on it.  So I will have several new ones coming out every few days till I get caught up.

Living life the only way we know how on S/V Imagine.

Ken and Carol

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last week in Tarpon Springs.

Image
Tarpon Springs was such a fun place to have stayed during our adventure.  Our extended stay was caused by a Low Pressure system that was coming from East to West across Florida. Causing winds or suppose to cause winds up to 40 mph.  We were in such a protected place, and with the TS forming in Mexico that turned into Hurricane Nate we decided to stay put for a while. The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was amazing with all the stained glass, paintings on the ceiling and the Icons around the church.  There was a staff member there that answered questions for us about the church and services.  I found it interesting they still use the same service since the 4th century.  They also sing the entire service.  We also leanred that St. Nicholas also being Santa Claus is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker, and the Patron Saint of Sailors.  It was time to venture out further and see more local attractions so we jumped aboard the Clearwater ...
Read more

The Lines have been Cut! #Cruisinglife

Image
Imagine has actually cut the lines!  We have made the jump! Living the Life! #Cruisinglife, #liveaboard, #USVI and all the other hashtags and catch phrases there is. Carol and I have worked hard to get to this next adventure in our life. The friends we have made in Texas are friendships that will last a lifetime.  We will truly miss their company, but the friendship will live on while we share our adventures with them.   Imagine found a weather window between Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma to move to Florida. There are some alternate routes built into if ole Irma decides to change paths and mess things up.  We take weather seriously, but you have to move on so you plan for what you know, and what you do not know.  Guess what?  We used one of our plans to stop to wait out upcoming weather.  The wind switched more E to NE  which is the way we were going.  The wind picked up to 23 kts max with sustained in the high teens.  The wav...
Read more

Going to the Circus City! Sarasota Flordia

Image
We finally got away from the Gulfport FL/St. Pete area and headed to Sarasota FL. **** We cannot say thank you enough to Bob and Ellen in Gulfport who helped us so much, and provided such great hospitality. They even introduced us to some other boat folks too. ****  We ended up at the Sarasota Mooring Field that is managed by  Marina Jacks.   We opted for a mooring ball at $25.00 per day vs $2.75 per foot.  That for us would be $104.50 per day!  It is a short ride in via dinghy to the marina.  For the $25.00 I get the same amenities, showers, shuttle service, restaurants etc.  The bathrooms are nice, each have an individual private bathroom with shower.  I am glad some of those mega yachts can afford to pay for all this for us to enjoy. The only down side is there are numerous dinghys at the dinghy dock that have been left there by the mooring field peeps.  Some it would appear for a long time by the growth on them.  They really need to ...
Read more