(Continued from June 14, 2010)
“As you might expect, Alphonse is very handy with tools. So, he’ll construct the stand while you girls are doing the initial pressing. Is there some lumber on the farm?”
“Yes, there is a shed that has all sorts of pieces of wood in it.”
In the winemaking store, along the far wall, there was a row of glass jugs filled with fermenting wine. In noted that the jugs had been arranged in order of progression, which would allow me to show Thea the various kinds of action in the fermentation locks.
There were a good number of clients in the store; so, when a clerk came forward to assist us, I told him that we were familiar with the winemaking procedure. Since we wouldn’t buy anything that day, I didn’t want to waste his time. Furthermore, I would enjoy explaining details about winemaking to my daughter.
They were all ten-gallon jugs and most of them contained red wine. The most recent addition was on the very right.
“In the spring, one doesn’t expect to find wine in the first stage of fermentation,” Thea remarked.
“They used concentrate, not fresh grapes, for these.”
“So, concentrate is available any time of the year,” I presume.
“Yes, but winemaking from concentrate is not so simple. It involves what you referred to as ‘fiddling with measuring cups.’ I would not be interested in working with chemicals.”
“I agree with you. We will be patient and wait for our Zinfandel grapes to ripen.”
Thea and I walked over to the jug in which the wildest fermentation was occurring. The wine was full of tiny ascending bubbles and the small hood, inside the fermentation lock, was bobbing up and down at full speed.
“I can clearly see that the bubbles of gas can easily escape and that no air can enter through the fermentation locks. They are simple but effective contraptions.”
The fermentation lock on the middle jug showed moderate action. A bubble came up every ten seconds. To see an escaping bell of gas in the one to the left, we had to wait forty seconds.
(To be continued)
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