Help My Wine Making! Episode 12 Scott “The Wine Making Guy” The Resolution Keepers Wine Making Contest, How to Easily Remove Labels from Wine Bottles and Do Wine Kits Have Expiry Dates?

Click here to sign up for the Resolutions Keepers Wine Making Contest!

See you next week where we’ll be discussing a great way to test your wines at various stages throughout the aging process …

Have a great week!

Help My Wine Making! Episode 11 Scott “The Wine Making Guy” Holiday Recap, Two Upcoming Wine Making Contests, My Free Upcoming iPhone App, and Getting Un-Stuck (Part II)

See you next week where we’ll be discussing if wine kits have “best before dates” …

Have a great week!

Help My Wine Making! Episode 10 – Different Ways to Use Old T-Shirts to Make Wine, A Nifty Free Website For Wine Making Calculations and Getting Un-Stuck (Part I)

Here’s that link to the free wine calculation website:

• http://wineadds.com/

See you next week where we’ll have Part II of what makes a wine “stuck”!

Have a great week!

Help My Wine Making! Episode 9 – Rocky Mountain Update, What Kind of Primary Do You Have and Why Keeping Eye on the Temperature In Your Wine is Important

See you next week where we’ll be discussing what makes a wine “stuck”!

Have a great week!

Using Magnets To Instantly Age Your Wine – Fact or Fiction?

A bunch of weeks ago I asked my readers what their opinion was on the type of BBQ they prefer to use (propane, natural gas, wood or charcoal) and I was really surprised by the reaction.  There are definitely a lot of people out there who are passionate about their BBQs!

Here’s another one that I’m sure will spark some debate.

This past week I received an email from a reader who told me about some products you could buy that would age your wine 2 or 3 years within 30 minutes using magnets.

[amazon-slideshow align="right" bgcolor="#ffffff" height="250" width="250"]138659cd-b99c-4dee-ae3e-5a315ef7b7c7[/amazon-slideshow]One such product is called “The Perfect Sommelier”, which consists of a decorative coaster that you would sit your bottle of wine on with magnets (presumably) inside the base.

Douglas Dubin, from The Perfect Sommelier, explains how it works:

“According to modern physics when you create a “True Magnetic Field” as we have within the confines of the Base and Top Magnets, a natural phenomenon a Flux Path is created. Within the Flux Path the Electrically Charged Molecules move imperceptibly along the path creating a bond and allowing the tannic molecules to lengthen as they would naturally when the bottle is laid down in a cellar or cave for 4-10 years. When tannins are big and aggressive they mask the fruit, by smoothing or maturing the tannins they move away from the fruit which allows the fruit to open up.

Finally all the rest of the molecules that have come out of alignment move back into alignment and rebalance allowing the bouquet to open up. You wind up with a wine that is less acidic, fruitier and has a bigger nose.”

I will freely admit that I’m a bit skeptical so decided to do some research online. It’s fair to say that there are some who truly believe it and others who think it’s a bunch of “hoey”.

I personally haven’t tried it but it has certainly peeked my interest and am curious to hear what you think.

If you’re interested in learning more about this here are some resources you can check out:

• An online discussion about wine magnets on “Drinks Planet”
• Vino Magnetism
• Magnetic Magic or Mystic Myth? Does the Perfect Sommelier Age Wine?
• What is science? First, magnetise your wine …
• 30 Second Wine Advisor: Wine magnets and snake oil
• Wine Cellar Express
• The Wine Clip (includes some TV reporters who tested it out)

Personally I’m not a big fan of “silver bullets” that promise to short-cut proven processes and therefore I’m not going to rush out and buy one of these gizmos.

That doesn’t mean though I wouldn’t be adverse to doing a taste test if the opportunity presented itself!

A Cool New Way To Travel With Your Wine

My friend Rick was reading his paddling magazine around the campfire when we were camping in Jasper National Park a few weekends ago and came across a cool new gadget that’s definitely worth looking at if you love to travel … and enjoy your wine!

[amazon-slideshow align="right" height="250" region="us" width="300"]08ae9773-3131-4d3c-a24d-d1eba6bc9a81[/amazon-slideshow]It’s called the “PlatyPreserve™ ” and is made by Cascade Designs, the same people who make the Platypus hydration system for backpackers and hikers.

It’s basically a plastic (BPA free) wine skin that you can put into your backpack and it allows you to suck the air out of the bag so that your wine doesn’t oxidize. Pretty cool idea if you ask me!

Here’s what the manufacturer says:

“PlatyPreserve is the best way to protect the taste of an opened bottle of wine by completely eliminating the presence of oxygen. While alternative methods might have you pump air out of the bottle or inject gas into the bottle- PlatyPreserve has you transfer your un-finished wine into an air tight reservoir to truly protect the taste of your wine so it may be enjoyed several days or even weeks later.

Collapsible containers offer an easy, light-weight alternative to pack and enjoy wine wherever you go.

Select materials ensure superior leak protect and provide zero taste transfer to your wine.”

How PlatyPreserve works:

1. Pour wine into PlatyPreserve
2. Place cap loosely on PlatyPreserve
3. Remove all air by squeezing PlatyPreserve
4. Tight cap to seal out air in PlatyPrerserve

They retail for around $10.99 USD and can be purchased on Amazon.com.

Note that you can purchase them in singles or in packs of 4.

Definitely something I’ll be adding to my wish list …

How To Make Champagne Using Cheap White Wine

Came across this short little video on YouTube showing how to make champagne using cheap white wine and a soda streamer. Enjoy!

Great Idea For Labelling Your Carboy During Wine Making

Here’s how the author did it:

Recently, I have had a lot of request about where I got the signs I have on my carboys.   Well I just took some Mardi Gras beads (everyone has some of these around the house) and cut them to about 10 inches.   Then I cut up some thin plastic, which I believe was excess bathroom shower liner I had cut off some time ago.  I made small squares for the labels, and glued the Mardi Gras beads to them.   Then I just used my label maker for the wine type and year.   I kept mine in separate lines so I can don’t have to print out full labels each time.  I’ll just keep them from each type and change the year with each new batch.   If you’ve got a good idea, be sure to mention it in the wine forum where everyone is constantly learning.

I’m typically not as fancy as I write info onto either masking tape or a Post-It Note (see below) and then place that on the carboy

Masking Tape Carboy Label

 

For me these are more functional (and easy to do) but I thought the above idea was pretty cool nonetheless.

How do you tag your carboys when aging your wine?

- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”