|
|
|
Wine Maker's Toy Store
&
Dallas Home Brew
August 2012
Volume 10, Issue 8 866-417-1114 (Long Distance) 972-323-7921 (Local) 972-323-7955 (Fax) "The Wine Maker's Toy Store™" | |
|
We Have Moved!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In case you missed it, we have moved. Our new location has 7,000 square feet and is by far and away, the largest showroom in North Texas for home brew and home wine making supplies. The new location is only 2 buildings down from our old space. For you home brewers, we have increased the size of the grain room by almost 300%. We also now sell bulk liquid malt extract by the pound (see below).
We look forward to serving your needs at our new location, 1500 I35E, Suite 116, on the corner of I35 and Northside drive in Carrollton, Texas. Visit our web site to find a map to our store. |
Fresh Grapes from California!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is that time again to start thinking about your grape orders for the fall. We will start taking orders this month and we hope to have at least as many varieties as last year. I have also requested a couple of varietals that I would like, but I will know more later this month. I expect the pricing to be similar to last year.
We currenly plan to have our "2012 Grape Camp" on Saturday, August 11th at 9 am. It normally lasts about 2 hours and we will discuss what you will need to make wine from fresh grapes, as well as the pros and cons of such. Seating will be limited to the first 30 that sign up. If you are interested, please call the store to reserve your seat. |
August Shipping Special
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the month of August 2012, we are having a shipping special. This special is $9.99 per box for shipping most items. Due to the combination of size, weight and value, the following items do not qualify for this special:
- Carboys, glass and plastic
- Wine and beer bottles
- 50 and 55 pound bags of grain
- Items that have to be freighted like stainless steel tanks and crusher/de-stemmers
The online system will automatically calculate your shipping charges based on the weight of qualifying and non-qualifying products. As always, if you have any questions, please use the contact us link to call us or send us an email. |
Brew Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian, our resident brewer will be brewing an all-grain IPA on Saturday, August 4th. Please stop by and watch him brew. You can also use this opportunity to learn more about all-grain brewing. |
Facebook
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Derrick has spent a lot of time adding content and video to our Facebook pages. If you use Facebook, please stop by our page and like us. You can use the following links to see what Derrick has done.
The Wine Maker's Toy Store
Dallas Home Brew
We will be using Facebook to provide more current information so as to not fill your inbox with excessive emails. We will also start posting coupon codes on facebook, as well as our newsletters, to allow us to have more specials and more frequent specials. It will also help us to keep you current as to activites at the store. |
Bulk Liquid Malt Extract - LME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We now have Briess Golden Light and Wheat liquid malt extract (LME) in bulk. The price is $2.59 per pound. Just bring your bucket and fill it up. If you don't have a bucket, we have them for sale for $3.98. Our buckets hold 12 pounds of LME. |
How to Use an Acid Test Kit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When making a fresh ingredients wine, it is extremely important that you adjust the sugar and acids into the proper ranges. Too much or too little of either can create problems in your fermentation, including failure to ferment, and problems in your finished wine.
Acids are the components that give a wine structure and complexity. Excessive acidity is considered a fault in wine and will result in an unbalanced wine that will taste green or tart. On the other hand, not enough acid will result in flabby wine that lacks structure and will not last long. As a general rule of thumb, country wines should have a TA (Titratable Acid) of .60%, while red grapes are .65% and white grapes are .75%. Titratable acidity relates to the amount of acid in solution as a percentage of volume or as grams per liter. In other words a TA of .60% equals 6 g/l (grams per liter).
With the aid of the trusty hydrometer, adjusting sugar is fairly straightforward; however, testing and adjusting the acid is not quite as easy. An inexpensive acid test kit is available, but its use is not as intuitive as the hydrometer. As a result, I hope the following will make using the acid test kit easier and will produce meaningful calculations.
The Acid Test Kit (also known as an acid testing by titration kit.) that we sell contains the following items:
- One plastic calibrated syringe
- Plastic testing cup
- 5 fluid ounces of 1/5th normal Sodium Hydroxide Solution
- 1/2 fluid ounce of Phenolphthalein Color Solution in a drop dispenser bottle
Before we start, please note that any samples used in this test MUST not be returned to the wine. Sodium Hydroxide is poisonous. As a result, please dispose of all samples! Also please be very careful when handling Sodium Hydroxide, as it is corrosive and can cause burns and permanent eye damage.
- Start the titration test by withdrawing 15cc of wine and placing it in the plastic testing cup.
- Next, add 3 drops of the Phenolphthalein Color Solution to the sample.
- Wash out the syringe and draw in 10cc of the Sodium Hydroxide Solution. At this point in the test you are looking for a noticeable color change. For white wines, you are looking for a change to a pinkish color. For red wines, you are looking for a blue/gray/green color. When you reach this point and adding additional Sodium Hydroxide does not change the color, the end-point has been reached. To find the color change, add the Sodium Hydroxide Solution to the test sample .5cc at a time and agitate the sample after each addition. Repeat this process until you note the color change.
- Each cc of Sodium Hydroxide required to attain the color change represents .1 of acid expressed as TA If 6 cc's of Sodium Hydroxide are used, the wine has a TA of .60%. If you are making a country wine, your acid is at the correct level and no further adjustments are required. If you are making a red or white grape wine, you will need to add enough acid to bring the TA up to .65% or .75%, respectively.
- To raise the acid, 1 tsp. of Acid Blend per gallon of must, will raise the acid level by .15%. For example, if you are making 1 gallon of country wine and the initial TA was .30%, you will need to add 2 tsp. of acid blend to raise the TA to .60%. For 5 gallons, you will need 10 tsp. to accomplish the same.
Most fruits used in country wines are low in acid which require the addition of acids; however, some wines, as well as most native American grapes are high in acid and the TA needs to be reduced.
It should also be noted that both of the chemicals used for the acid titration will deteriorate when exposed to air. Be sure to keep the lids on tight when not using these chemicals and keep them away from children. In addition, not all Acid Test Kits use the same strength of Sodium Hydroxide. As a result, be sure to follow the instructions included with your kit. |
Large Equipment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our first shipment of stainless steel tanks has arrived, but we have sold out of every size but the 350 and 65 liter tanks. We are working on our next shipment, so if you need some tanks, please give us a call.
Our next shipment of pressess, pumps, bottle fillers and crusher/de-stemmers should be here by first of August. The large equipment is moving fast, so please place your orders to reserve anything you need. Once we run out, it will be several months before we will receive additional shipments. |
Close Out Specials
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please use the following link to look at our close out specials:
Close Out Specials
|
|
Monthly Specials
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RJ Spagnols' Orchard Breezin' - $5 off
Mosti Mondiale Summer Breeze - $5 off
Click on the link below to see all of the wine kits on sale, this month.
Thiis month we have 2 Brewer's Best Beer Kits on sale for $5.00 off, the Baltic Porter and Pumpkin Spice Porter. These are excellent fall weather beers. Click on the link below to see this outstanding pricing:
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~ Current Specials
To see this month's specials, new products and close out specials, click on the links below:
|
|
|
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 DO 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
|
|
|
|
|
|
