Shop and Port

(Picture from here.)

Got a lot done this weekend. Made a red port and worked in the shop.

The Port

For me, wine making is like politics: you spend a lot of time trying to spin your mistakes. Previously, (See Here. Here.) I spoke about turning my pounds and pounds of frozen grapes into wine. We used the most recent 30 pounds into a "white" (using a white wine recipe with just the juice) and a regular red. We finished off the "white" and it's aging in the cellar.

The red was more problematic.

Apparently, I overestimated the required sugar. After several months (yes: months) of active fermentation, the yeast finished. Sampling still gave us a fairly sweet wine of an S.G. of 1.01. We added some yeast energizer and made sure the temperature was up from our normally cold house.

(Aside: we keep our house pretty cold. Wendy and I argue over whether the furnace should be 50 degrees or 55 degrees. We make up the difference with the wood stove. Given that, the house is cold.)

But the fermentation was done.

So: what to do with a wine that is too sweet?

The answer: make a port.

One of the big differences between port and regular wine is the addition of brandy at the end of the process. We'd done this before with mixed results. (Hint: don't substitute vodka for brandy just because it's cheaper.) We added the brandy and came up with a fairly good sweet port. Now it's aging in the cellar. Still, it was good enough to have some last night.

The Shop

I've been working on my shop for nearly two years. It's still a work in progress. The shop has a little alcove I had originally thought to dedicate to metal working. But it is Just Too Damned Small. I've had to give up that idea.

The new plan is to take many of the tools that require stands-- sanders, routing table, drill press and the like-- and put them on two carts that I liberated from a dumpster some time back. There is something satisfying in being able to use cast off materials with a minimum of effort.

I moved the metal lathe from the alcove and it's holding down the table in the front of the shop. Eventually, I need to move/get rid of the old Logan lathe I restored. It's too big for what I want to do. But I'm loathe to part with it. I mean, I can cut my own bolts for God's sake.

This weekend I mounted the drill press and band saw on one of the carts and parked it in the alcove next to the wood lathe. The shop is getting more open.

Now, I have to work on the second cart which is a bit more difficult since the second cart doesn't have working casters.
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