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Wine Maker's Toy Store
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Dallas Home Brew
February 2012
Volume 10, Issue 2 866-417-1114 (Long Distance) 972-323-7921 (Local) 972-323-7955 (Fax) "The Wine Maker's Toy Store™" | |
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TIPS FOR NEW WINE MAKERS AND BREWERS
It's Saturday night and you are checking the specific gravity of your wine or beer to determine if you are ready to go to the next step. You reach for your sanitized hydrometer and it slips out of your hand, it does not bounce, and you spend the next few minutes cleaning up small pieces of glass. Now what? Hopefully, you reach for your Toy Store First Aid Kit and continue making your wine or brewing your beer.
Having a Toy Store First Aid Kit can save you the frustration of waiting until the supply store opens so you can finish the task at hand. It can also save the time and money of a trip to the supply store or shipping costs. A first aid kit can be assembled with a few very valuable but low cost items and everything should fit in a shoebox.
Here is our recommended list:
- Spare Thermometer - There is nothing worse than going to check the temperature of your grains or your must and dropping, breaking, or just misplacing your thermometer. Once again, an additional $6.00 item will save you a lot of frustration and may save your batch.
- Spare Hydrometer - A wet hydrometer is a very slippery thing and it will likely break if dropped or jostled about. Someday they may be made from a less fragile material but until then, having a spare in the first aid kit is a good idea.
- Extra Yeast - A real source of frustration and apprehension is watching your latest blackberry wine or India Pale Ale beer do nothing for the last three days. It could be that the yeast was out of date and weak, died from exposure to high temperature before you received it or it was re-hydrated at too high of a temperature. Instead of a fermentation that won't start maybe it's a fermentation that has stuck and it needs to be restarted. No matter the reason, the nearest pack of yeast is three days away. Lalvin EC-1118 and Red Star Premier Cuvee are great choices for wine in your first aid kit, while Safale SO5 is a great all-purpose yeast for your beer. Remember to periodically rotate your inventory and keep a fresh pack in the first aid kit. If possible, store this component of the first aid kit in the refrigerator.
- Yeast Nutrient - If you have a stuck fermentation and you are going to restart it, having some yeast nutrient to add will help the yeast deal with the alcohol environment. A little nutrient will help ensure there is a viable yeast population to complete the fermentation.
- Extra Corks and/or Caps - From personal experience, there is nothing like preparing for bottling just to find out you have no corks or caps. An extra bag will get that batch bottled.
- Drilled Stoppers - It's a good idea to have various size stoppers and bottles available for saving the extra wine from racking. You can use splits, wine bottles, half-gallon and one gallon jugs to store small amounts of wine which can be used for future topping off. We recommend having several sizes of drilled stoppers on hand: #2, #3, #6 and the small multi-fit stopper.
- Airlocks - The stoppers won't do you any good without some spare airlocks.
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Brew Day - February 3, 2011
Weather permitting, the next brew day will be Februay 3rd and will start around 9:30am and go until around 3 pm. We will have extract and all-grain batches going so here is your chance to watch and ask questions. |
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Price Increases Coming Our Way
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We have been notified by Crosby and Baker that they will be passing along price increases in the Spagnol's wine kits and brewing grains, as well as some other items, like fermenting buckets. We have also been receiving price increases from LD Carlson in various items, also including grains.
As always, we will try to absorb as much of the increases as we can, but we will have to pass along some of the increases. The most noticable increase will probably be in the Spagnols wine kits which we have been told will increase 5% or more. We will be adjusting the prices this month, so my suggestion is to purchase the Spagnols kits before the price goes up. |
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Monthly Specials
Wines of the Month
Cellar Craft Sterling - $5.00 off!
Cellar Craft Showcase Collection - $10.00 off! |
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~~~~~~~~~~ Current Specials
To see this month's specials, new products and close out specials, click on the links below:
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As a reminder, we continue to add products and content to the web site, therefore, if you have any special requests, please let us know. We like to hear what you have to say about our site, our products and/or our customer service, good or bad. Please send your comments and/or suggestions to the contact us link below.
Don't forget we like you to CALL!
If you have any questions about our products, our service and/or wine making or home brewing, please call us. We are here to serve you and enjoying assisting you in any way we can. We have an international toll-free line so you WILL call us. Someone is usually at the store between 9 am and 6 pm, Monday through Friady and 10 am and 5 pm on Saturday. We always try to answer the phone when you call; however, sometimes, we are unable to answer the phone as we are on the other lines or we have customers in the store. If you get the voice mail, please leave your name, number, brief message and a best time to call. We will return your call just as soon as we can. If you don't want to call, just send us an email. We usually answer our emails daily. Please remember, we are a resource and we are here to serve you.
We don't want to be the biggest store, just the BEST!
Cheers!
Contact Information: Please use the following link to contact us with any questions and/or suggestions you have.
George, Joseph and Brian
Fine Vine Wines, LLC, The Wine Maker's Toy Store and Dallas Home Brew
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