No pictures this time, as it would just be a bunch of plastic jugs covered by t-shirts in a dark pantry. But I really do want to try and update this thing more often, and not once every few months. Even if it's just a "still clearing. Check back next month".
The plum went in to the secondary less than 24 hours after my last post.... and then proceeded to still be so vigorously fermenting that I had my first blowback. It's STILL producing pressure, which is impressive because I put it in there at 1.010, so this is likely to be truly beyond my hydrometer's ability to measure in terms of dryness. We tasted it and it was............... harsh. I'm hoping a lot of the sour is the yeast and the fact that it's young, and not because my plums weren't 100% mushy ripe yet. I have high hopes, but I don't know if it'll live up to them. It is darkening to a delightful deep reddish color, though, like dark tropical punch. If I can remember to keep the darned shirts on the carboys, hopefully this one won't fade.
The watermelon-strawberry is still slowly producing pressure, so it's not quite done yet. That one is still harsh, but has mellowed some. I'm hoping as time goes by the "I just drank rubbing alcohol" flavor will decrease and I'll get more fruit flavors. As it is, it smells a helluva lot better than it tastes. Could probably clean battery terminals with it....
The blueberry, on the other hand, is the only bright spot this summer. Slow to ferment because of the ascorbic (I can't spell) acid, I was afraid it wouldn't go dry. Well, I'm still worried but not as worried. The hydrometer still read 1.100 a few days after pitching the yeast. Then suddenly, it went to 1.090 and I did a small jig in my kitchen to celebrate proof that it WAS actually fermenting. And then in 12 hours it went to 1.070. Then 1.050, then it seemed to start lagging. At 1.030, I had to strain the solids and leave things to settle overnight as we were due to leave for a weekend away the next morning. It was still around 1.030 in the morning, so I crossed fingers and transferred to the secondary. And then watched the airlock anxiously to see if it would continue to ferment. Eventually pressure built up and it blooped, and I was happy.
A few days later, we came home from our delightful weekend away and (after checking in on all other, more higher order pets) when I checked in on all the wines, the blueberry was still blooping away, pretty steadily and while not massively rapidly, it was definitely not slow. This sucker might actually go dry!
Boyfriend and I had a taste before it all went in the secondary, and oh my word. If this mellows and ages the way I think it will, this will rival and could possibly surpass the mead. I liked it when it was still sweet, of course, but I have a feeling this is one I might like dry. There is so much blueberry flavor in there. I can't imagine how this is the MEDIUM bodied one!
I was planning to do one more batch this summer, as I have 5 carboys, but the plum predictably needed the second carboy for overflow. A lot of overflow. Like a gallon and a half of overflow. So I will probably just wait until I bottle the strawberry-watermelon to do my bochet. Gives me time to save up for the honey I'll need, and time to concentrate on Dragon*Con. :-p
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
So. Much. Fruit.
I have not one, not two, but THREE wines in progress in my kitchen right now, and all three have been some serious learning experiences. I guess I'll go in order:
First up is an update on the watermelon-strawberry wine. I am SO HAPPY to say that the yeast starter solution not only worked, but worked WELL. That is the absolute fastest I have ever gone from introducing yeast to putting it in the secondary. If I had the time, I'd do that for ALL my wines, but sadly I don't have that much forethought :-/
It started fermenting immediately, and the color went from a pale color to the thick "smoothie" look indicative of a LOT of yeast being in there. The starting gravity was 1.13, which gave me a potential alcohol of.... a lot. like 17% ABV a lot. The yeast I used could definitely take it there, but it was at the upper limit of what it could do. But it went FAST and seemed to actually be going to dryness. In record time, it was time for the secondary:
Watermelon wine is very watermelon colored. Strangely I was surprised at this. I don't know why. I also, as usual, ended up with about half a gallon of extra. I always do that. I need to learn to stop that, but I just always underestimate how much water will come out of the fruit and so think there will be more solids left than actually are. Ah well.
This one bubbled for a while, and then started to clear. As with the mead, I did some gravity filtration, but this time only on the bit left in the small jug at the bottom. I couldn't trust myself to siphon that precisely, so I just got rid of the solids that way. It, too, unfortunately, turned a more gold color. I think it's because *someone* (totally not looking at you, Boyfriend) keeps leaving the pantry door open, and so light gets in there and breaks down the color. I should use some of my old black shirts to cover things again. But I so LIKE seeing how it's clearing!
Also, yeah. Totally went to dryness.
And beyond.
This one is..... not the best I've done. I should have let it be a lower alcohol wine as the kick from the alcohol completely over powers any fruit flavor until about 2-3 seconds after you stop coughing. I'm hoping it'll mellow, but I don't have much faith in that. I think this one's name will be "Potent Potable", because.. as my mother says about my grandfather's wines "Not a lot of bouquet, but it's got a helluva kick!". Also... Celebrity Jeopardy is awesome.
Next, the blueberry!
We went back to Weavers Berryland Farm to get fresh picked blueberries. And I'm glad we did. I'm also glad I had a small breakfast because I totally GORGED on blueberries in the field. (They said we could...). It wasn't quite "one for me, one for the bucket".. but it was close at times. We ended up with 2 gallons:
The colander is less than a gallon. I needed a little over a gallon (9 pints, to be precise) so we picked 2 gallons, so we'd have stuff to eat too. Once again, I'm using Jack Keller's recipe. These are lowbush blueberries, and I'm making the medium bodied dry wine there. I'm still trying to avoid all use of anything related to a grape (no grape juice, raisins, etc).
Once again, the recipe called to put all the berries in the bag and crush them. I was more prepared than I was last year, and just used my fists and was very careful to not drip as much. My kitchen looked MUCH less like a murder scene, though the bucket did look....... icky. :-p
I ended up adding a bit more sugar than the recipe called for because I knew I was going to underestimate the amount of water that will come from the berries, and that my volume would be higher than the 3 gallons I was aiming for. I ended up adding about 6 1/2 lbs instead of just 6. Oddly it made the juice and water look incredibly dark.
I have since put the yeast in and it's fermenting, but not as fast as usual. I used good old Montrachet to make sure the alcohol doesn't go too high, and to preserve that delightful dark color. There's a lot of ascorbic acid in blueberries which can inhibit yeast to a very large extent, which is likely why fermentation is going slower, and the recipe calls for it to ferment 10 days before putting it in the secondary. I've added some yeast energizer to see if I can get it to move a bit faster. I want this wine dry, not semi-sec.
The name for this one will be "I'm Blue" with a small stick figure either singing or thinking "Ah boo dee ah boo dah..." because... I'm a child of the 90's. That song is addictive. It's blueberry.
And lastly... PLUM!
While at work on Sunday, I made a promise to myself that if they had black plums on for less than $2/lb, I would grab them, as it's plum season here and very few farms have a pick your own for plums. Naturally, after making a deal with the universe, the universe called my bluff and showed me black plums for $1.89/lb. I sighed, told the universe I get it, and hauled away 18lbs of the suckers. Because I need 6 lbs per gallon, according to Jack.
And then went "Wait. I have the blueberry in my primary now. WHERE AM I GOING TO START THIS?!"
So Tuesday had me at the wine store getting ANOTHER primary bucket and nylon bag. I justified it by saying that one bucket will later be turned in to a "cleaning bucket" for mopping, cleaning bottles, and all that. That's my story and I will stick to it, even when I start another 2 batches at the same time later this year.
Tuesday night, I enlisted Boyfriend to help me chop up all 18lbs of said plums. I wish I'd thought to take a picture, but figured there's enough pictures of chopped fruit on here. Also, I had to put some bandaids on.
Me: Ow!
Boyfriend: Did you cut yourself?
Me: I'm using a sharp knife over the course of 3-4 hours.
Boyfriend: That's like asking me if I'm hungry, isn't it?
Me: Pretty much.
My thumb is a bit worse for the wear. But neosporin and bandaids are all that's needed. This time.
Again, I have NO IDEA how much water to add because 18lbs of chopped plums take up a LOT of volume, and I just can't trust the measurements to say "Here is 3 gallons" because I KNOW I'm going to lose volume when I take out the solids and well... ok.. this one might be 4 full gallons. Interestingly enough, it started to look like Hawaiian punch...
And it's only darkened since. That was about an hour or so after I added the boiling water, so the color got down to a really nice ruby color by the time it was time for yeast. This is also the first time I've used SO MANY additives because apparently plums just suck on a lot of levels. I needed acid blend, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, a TON of pectic enzyme, and for the first time, tannin:
My "no grape things!" does not extend to grape tannin, as this is a necessary thing for a lot of wines. Tannin adds astringency, which is hard to describe, but is necessary in wines. Also tannins help with the clearing process as they bind to proteins and precipitate them out, which is a possible explanation as to why they taste like they do. It lends a taste of "dryness" to a wine, which can be confused with "bitter". But in this case, I have a very large feeling that it's being used less for a taste, and more for the "protein binding and precipitation" effect. Plum wine takes a VERY LONG time to clear, and so anything that will help get those proteins out of there is good.
I took a specific gravity reading before adding all my nutrients and was dismayed at the 1.08 I saw. I added a full 6 lbs (instead of the 5 1/2 the recipe stated) and hoped that would be enough, but apparently my plums aren't as ripe and I added too much water. I came home and added another 2lbs and that brought the SG up to a more respectable 1.10, which is where I'd like it to be. I sprinkled the yeast on and crossed fingers. Again, I used Montrachet.
And man... fermentation took off massively. The color has lightened already to the smoothie stage, and is just fizzing away. At 24 hours post yeast pitching, the SG had already gone down to 1.09. This one will definitely be in the secondary before the blueberry.
And that's what's going on in the kitchen now. I have one more open secondary and am debating on either doing a fig wine, or going ahead on my chai spiced bochet. So much fruit, so many ideas. So little time!
Boyfriend has told me I am allowed to name the plum wine "Somebody has set up up the bomb" only if I do a fig wine later and name it "Take off every fig."
I think this is a fantastic idea. And also why I love that man so much. :-p
First up is an update on the watermelon-strawberry wine. I am SO HAPPY to say that the yeast starter solution not only worked, but worked WELL. That is the absolute fastest I have ever gone from introducing yeast to putting it in the secondary. If I had the time, I'd do that for ALL my wines, but sadly I don't have that much forethought :-/
It started fermenting immediately, and the color went from a pale color to the thick "smoothie" look indicative of a LOT of yeast being in there. The starting gravity was 1.13, which gave me a potential alcohol of.... a lot. like 17% ABV a lot. The yeast I used could definitely take it there, but it was at the upper limit of what it could do. But it went FAST and seemed to actually be going to dryness. In record time, it was time for the secondary:
Watermelon wine is very watermelon colored. Strangely I was surprised at this. I don't know why. I also, as usual, ended up with about half a gallon of extra. I always do that. I need to learn to stop that, but I just always underestimate how much water will come out of the fruit and so think there will be more solids left than actually are. Ah well.
This one bubbled for a while, and then started to clear. As with the mead, I did some gravity filtration, but this time only on the bit left in the small jug at the bottom. I couldn't trust myself to siphon that precisely, so I just got rid of the solids that way. It, too, unfortunately, turned a more gold color. I think it's because *someone* (totally not looking at you, Boyfriend) keeps leaving the pantry door open, and so light gets in there and breaks down the color. I should use some of my old black shirts to cover things again. But I so LIKE seeing how it's clearing!
Also, yeah. Totally went to dryness.
This one is..... not the best I've done. I should have let it be a lower alcohol wine as the kick from the alcohol completely over powers any fruit flavor until about 2-3 seconds after you stop coughing. I'm hoping it'll mellow, but I don't have much faith in that. I think this one's name will be "Potent Potable", because.. as my mother says about my grandfather's wines "Not a lot of bouquet, but it's got a helluva kick!". Also... Celebrity Jeopardy is awesome.
Next, the blueberry!
We went back to Weavers Berryland Farm to get fresh picked blueberries. And I'm glad we did. I'm also glad I had a small breakfast because I totally GORGED on blueberries in the field. (They said we could...). It wasn't quite "one for me, one for the bucket".. but it was close at times. We ended up with 2 gallons:
The colander is less than a gallon. I needed a little over a gallon (9 pints, to be precise) so we picked 2 gallons, so we'd have stuff to eat too. Once again, I'm using Jack Keller's recipe. These are lowbush blueberries, and I'm making the medium bodied dry wine there. I'm still trying to avoid all use of anything related to a grape (no grape juice, raisins, etc).
Once again, the recipe called to put all the berries in the bag and crush them. I was more prepared than I was last year, and just used my fists and was very careful to not drip as much. My kitchen looked MUCH less like a murder scene, though the bucket did look....... icky. :-p
I ended up adding a bit more sugar than the recipe called for because I knew I was going to underestimate the amount of water that will come from the berries, and that my volume would be higher than the 3 gallons I was aiming for. I ended up adding about 6 1/2 lbs instead of just 6. Oddly it made the juice and water look incredibly dark.
I have since put the yeast in and it's fermenting, but not as fast as usual. I used good old Montrachet to make sure the alcohol doesn't go too high, and to preserve that delightful dark color. There's a lot of ascorbic acid in blueberries which can inhibit yeast to a very large extent, which is likely why fermentation is going slower, and the recipe calls for it to ferment 10 days before putting it in the secondary. I've added some yeast energizer to see if I can get it to move a bit faster. I want this wine dry, not semi-sec.
The name for this one will be "I'm Blue" with a small stick figure either singing or thinking "Ah boo dee ah boo dah..." because... I'm a child of the 90's. That song is addictive. It's blueberry.
And lastly... PLUM!
While at work on Sunday, I made a promise to myself that if they had black plums on for less than $2/lb, I would grab them, as it's plum season here and very few farms have a pick your own for plums. Naturally, after making a deal with the universe, the universe called my bluff and showed me black plums for $1.89/lb. I sighed, told the universe I get it, and hauled away 18lbs of the suckers. Because I need 6 lbs per gallon, according to Jack.
And then went "Wait. I have the blueberry in my primary now. WHERE AM I GOING TO START THIS?!"
So Tuesday had me at the wine store getting ANOTHER primary bucket and nylon bag. I justified it by saying that one bucket will later be turned in to a "cleaning bucket" for mopping, cleaning bottles, and all that. That's my story and I will stick to it, even when I start another 2 batches at the same time later this year.
Tuesday night, I enlisted Boyfriend to help me chop up all 18lbs of said plums. I wish I'd thought to take a picture, but figured there's enough pictures of chopped fruit on here. Also, I had to put some bandaids on.
Me: Ow!
Boyfriend: Did you cut yourself?
Me: I'm using a sharp knife over the course of 3-4 hours.
Boyfriend: That's like asking me if I'm hungry, isn't it?
Me: Pretty much.
My thumb is a bit worse for the wear. But neosporin and bandaids are all that's needed. This time.
Again, I have NO IDEA how much water to add because 18lbs of chopped plums take up a LOT of volume, and I just can't trust the measurements to say "Here is 3 gallons" because I KNOW I'm going to lose volume when I take out the solids and well... ok.. this one might be 4 full gallons. Interestingly enough, it started to look like Hawaiian punch...
My "no grape things!" does not extend to grape tannin, as this is a necessary thing for a lot of wines. Tannin adds astringency, which is hard to describe, but is necessary in wines. Also tannins help with the clearing process as they bind to proteins and precipitate them out, which is a possible explanation as to why they taste like they do. It lends a taste of "dryness" to a wine, which can be confused with "bitter". But in this case, I have a very large feeling that it's being used less for a taste, and more for the "protein binding and precipitation" effect. Plum wine takes a VERY LONG time to clear, and so anything that will help get those proteins out of there is good.
I took a specific gravity reading before adding all my nutrients and was dismayed at the 1.08 I saw. I added a full 6 lbs (instead of the 5 1/2 the recipe stated) and hoped that would be enough, but apparently my plums aren't as ripe and I added too much water. I came home and added another 2lbs and that brought the SG up to a more respectable 1.10, which is where I'd like it to be. I sprinkled the yeast on and crossed fingers. Again, I used Montrachet.
And man... fermentation took off massively. The color has lightened already to the smoothie stage, and is just fizzing away. At 24 hours post yeast pitching, the SG had already gone down to 1.09. This one will definitely be in the secondary before the blueberry.
And that's what's going on in the kitchen now. I have one more open secondary and am debating on either doing a fig wine, or going ahead on my chai spiced bochet. So much fruit, so many ideas. So little time!
Boyfriend has told me I am allowed to name the plum wine "Somebody has set up up the bomb" only if I do a fig wine later and name it "Take off every fig."
I think this is a fantastic idea. And also why I love that man so much. :-p
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Filtering, bottling, and corking!
WOW things have been happening, and I totally haven't even had time to sit down and write this. Whew! Remember when I said summer in Georgia is all about the fruit that grows? Well it all comes in to season at the exact same damn time, leaving me scrambling and juggling time and batches. But it's all worth it! So much wine being made in my kitchen right now! But this post is going to be about how filter, bottle, and label my wines to look purdy. Next post will be all about what's bubbling away in the kitchen!
I decided to finish off and bottle the prickly pear and the mead, but to do that, I had to play with my new toy. A Buon Vino Mini Jet Wine Filter, to be exact. I use #2 pads which are the 2nd finest, and have a 2µM pore size. This is enough to filter out almost all the yeast, but not strip red wines of their color. They do have "sterile" pads which are 0.5µM, but that can and will strip the actual color from wines, because the pore is so small.
It kinda looked like a cross between a medieval torture device, and mad science. But the result was fantastic, and I couldn't have asked for clearer wine. This is the mead being filtered, and you can see that even though it's "clear", it's still a bit hazy.
It's not hazy anymore. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of the after, but I forgot to in my excitement.
The prickly pear got almost as clean, but I stuck the intake too far into some of the sediment left from using my fining agents, and it was too much for the filter to handle, so some of the "sludge" got in to the carboy. Notes for next time!
After filtering, I let things sit and settle a bit and then went to bottle. I don't use any fancy mechanisms to bottle, other than a simple bottling wand. If you've ever seen a "pocket pet" water bottle, it operates on the same theory. Something blocks the liquid from leaving until you push it up into the tube. Instead of a small ball, however, it's a spring and a tube. I just set up my normal racking siphon, and fill bottles by gravity.
I don't exactly get all dressed up when bottling, so apologies for the bare feet and ratty t-shirt. :-p The cool thing about using the bottling wand is that I can pretty easily fill each bottle to the exact same amount each time. In order to get liquid to fill the bottle, I have to press the wand on the bottom. The moment pressure lets up, it stops filling. Removing the wand lowers the level of wine in the bottle due to volume displacement. If I fill up the bottles so that they're almost brimming, removing the wand makes the level go down to that perfect level you see in store bought wine! It's so cool!
Boyfriend and I have developed a pretty good system by now. I fill, and he corks. I fill, and as one bottle is filling, I'm grabbing the next empty bottle and placing it down at my feet next to the other bottle. When I'm done, it's a quick switch and I start filling the next (and grabbing the next empty). Boyfriend takes the full bottle and corks and then places the corked bottle off to the side for me to make pretty later. I could do it all by myself, but what's the fun in that? Also, the corking was his idea, and I'll show you why it's totally not a matter of strength as to why I fill and he corks.
Because I have this corker. It's seriously the coolest thing I have in terms of wine making. The cork goes in the top there, and as the lever is moved down, it get squeezed to about the diameter of a pencil. Then the peg on the lever pushes the now smaller cork into the bottle where it POPS back to its normal diameter, and seals the bottle. The platform is on a pretty hefty spring so it takes all kinds of bottles without having to adjust. It's great! (That's a 375mL of the prickly pear on there now, with a #8 cork ready to go).
After all is corked, I usually let things sit for a while before labeling and sealing them up. Most wine and beer stores sell heat shrink caps which look seriously fantastic when used. So that's what happened with the prickly pear.
My weapon of choice was.... a hairdryer. Hey.. it works. This one doesn't have a guard right at the front, but rather further inside so I was able to stick it on top of the bottle itself to really envelop the whole thing in heat. It takes about 2 minutes per bottle, and really does make things look all professional at the end.
I named this one "Provocative Cactus", though I cannot take credit for the name, or the art that I used on the label. The name, idea, and artwork all belong to Viciously Sweet, and I thank them so much for having the idea that a regular cactus is just boring. But a PROVOCATIVE one.. now that's awesome!
All done! Look how pretty and professional that looks! I've had friends tell me they can't open the wine because it looks too pretty. :-p I tell them OPEN IT because it's delicious!
For the mead, I wanted to do something a bit more rustic and homey. Something that you would imagine would be done to a nice bottle of mead in Skyrim. So instead of the heat sealed caps, I decided to get fancy and go with wax. This turned out to be better than I'd ever hoped, even if it was a bit of a pain overall.
I had to first MELT said wax, which was an adventure, but I ended up just using a tin can (that used to hold green chilies.. a necessary thing when making enchiladas... not that you needed to know what I had for dinner that night, but anyways), and putting it in a pot of simmering water. Eventually, it all did melt, and looked kinda cool.
Next time, though, I need to use a different pot. Still having a bit of trouble getting the wax off that one. :-/
After that, it was a simple matter of inverting the bottle, sticking it in as straight as I could, then lifting it out and waiting for it to stop dripping (pretty fast, actually). Then all done! I put the labels on it (again done by the wonderfully talented Empty Samurai on DeviantArt) and..... man it looks so cool.
I do need to get a deeper can, though, so the wax can go up further. But I think I'll be using sealing wax from now on. I just like the rustic homeyness of it.
All the labels were just printed on sticker paper. Specifically full sheet label paper that I got at Wal-Mart. I just created a word document, and put my created image on it. I then resized the image to be a normal wine label size, and then copy/pasted it to fit as many as I could on one page (about 5). Then it was just careful cutting to not leave too much white and cut too much into the label itself.
I think they all look fantastic! So excited!
I decided to finish off and bottle the prickly pear and the mead, but to do that, I had to play with my new toy. A Buon Vino Mini Jet Wine Filter, to be exact. I use #2 pads which are the 2nd finest, and have a 2µM pore size. This is enough to filter out almost all the yeast, but not strip red wines of their color. They do have "sterile" pads which are 0.5µM, but that can and will strip the actual color from wines, because the pore is so small.
It kinda looked like a cross between a medieval torture device, and mad science. But the result was fantastic, and I couldn't have asked for clearer wine. This is the mead being filtered, and you can see that even though it's "clear", it's still a bit hazy.
It's not hazy anymore. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of the after, but I forgot to in my excitement.
The prickly pear got almost as clean, but I stuck the intake too far into some of the sediment left from using my fining agents, and it was too much for the filter to handle, so some of the "sludge" got in to the carboy. Notes for next time!
After filtering, I let things sit and settle a bit and then went to bottle. I don't use any fancy mechanisms to bottle, other than a simple bottling wand. If you've ever seen a "pocket pet" water bottle, it operates on the same theory. Something blocks the liquid from leaving until you push it up into the tube. Instead of a small ball, however, it's a spring and a tube. I just set up my normal racking siphon, and fill bottles by gravity.
I don't exactly get all dressed up when bottling, so apologies for the bare feet and ratty t-shirt. :-p The cool thing about using the bottling wand is that I can pretty easily fill each bottle to the exact same amount each time. In order to get liquid to fill the bottle, I have to press the wand on the bottom. The moment pressure lets up, it stops filling. Removing the wand lowers the level of wine in the bottle due to volume displacement. If I fill up the bottles so that they're almost brimming, removing the wand makes the level go down to that perfect level you see in store bought wine! It's so cool!Boyfriend and I have developed a pretty good system by now. I fill, and he corks. I fill, and as one bottle is filling, I'm grabbing the next empty bottle and placing it down at my feet next to the other bottle. When I'm done, it's a quick switch and I start filling the next (and grabbing the next empty). Boyfriend takes the full bottle and corks and then places the corked bottle off to the side for me to make pretty later. I could do it all by myself, but what's the fun in that? Also, the corking was his idea, and I'll show you why it's totally not a matter of strength as to why I fill and he corks.
Because I have this corker. It's seriously the coolest thing I have in terms of wine making. The cork goes in the top there, and as the lever is moved down, it get squeezed to about the diameter of a pencil. Then the peg on the lever pushes the now smaller cork into the bottle where it POPS back to its normal diameter, and seals the bottle. The platform is on a pretty hefty spring so it takes all kinds of bottles without having to adjust. It's great! (That's a 375mL of the prickly pear on there now, with a #8 cork ready to go).
After all is corked, I usually let things sit for a while before labeling and sealing them up. Most wine and beer stores sell heat shrink caps which look seriously fantastic when used. So that's what happened with the prickly pear.
My weapon of choice was.... a hairdryer. Hey.. it works. This one doesn't have a guard right at the front, but rather further inside so I was able to stick it on top of the bottle itself to really envelop the whole thing in heat. It takes about 2 minutes per bottle, and really does make things look all professional at the end.
I named this one "Provocative Cactus", though I cannot take credit for the name, or the art that I used on the label. The name, idea, and artwork all belong to Viciously Sweet, and I thank them so much for having the idea that a regular cactus is just boring. But a PROVOCATIVE one.. now that's awesome!
For the mead, I wanted to do something a bit more rustic and homey. Something that you would imagine would be done to a nice bottle of mead in Skyrim. So instead of the heat sealed caps, I decided to get fancy and go with wax. This turned out to be better than I'd ever hoped, even if it was a bit of a pain overall.
I had to first MELT said wax, which was an adventure, but I ended up just using a tin can (that used to hold green chilies.. a necessary thing when making enchiladas... not that you needed to know what I had for dinner that night, but anyways), and putting it in a pot of simmering water. Eventually, it all did melt, and looked kinda cool.
After that, it was a simple matter of inverting the bottle, sticking it in as straight as I could, then lifting it out and waiting for it to stop dripping (pretty fast, actually). Then all done! I put the labels on it (again done by the wonderfully talented Empty Samurai on DeviantArt) and..... man it looks so cool.
All the labels were just printed on sticker paper. Specifically full sheet label paper that I got at Wal-Mart. I just created a word document, and put my created image on it. I then resized the image to be a normal wine label size, and then copy/pasted it to fit as many as I could on one page (about 5). Then it was just careful cutting to not leave too much white and cut too much into the label itself.
I think they all look fantastic! So excited!
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