Leigh Erwin: Wine Is Patient Too

Homemade wine being patientWhen winemaking gets left on the back burner….
One nice thing about making homemade wine is that there are stages where you can just leave your homemade wine sitting in a carboy for weeks and months on end when your life gets a little crazy, and the wine should theoretically be just fine!
I’m definitely at a stage in my life right now where making homemade wine has sadly taken the back burner to everything else, though it is still constantly there in the back of my mind just excitedly waiting for me to make it a priority again!
You see, I’m getting married in less than a month, and I’m making/doing A LOT for the wedding, so of course that takes priority over the poor little carboy filled with mead.  Also, I am leaving my full-time “day job” in one week from now, so at least after that I SHOULD be able to do a little bit more here and there before all may homemade mead evaporates into thin air!
Shop Grape ConcentrateThat being said, it would be nice to finish this mead prior to moving, but depending upon how things go, I’m not sure if that’s going to happen.  It’s still just as cloudy as it was, though I’m not surprised because everything I’ve read says mead takes a million years to clear up.  I tried testing the acid of the mead a little while ago, and STILL haven’t done anything to follow up with that yet, but I do happened to have a little extra time today while I’m not up to my elbows in wedding hullaballoo that I can actually taste it and maybe make some adjustments.
Worst case scenario: I end up moving the mead while still in the carboy.  That’s OK—I’ll just make sure it rides with me in the car, buckled up, and well cushioned against possible mishaps!
Have you ever had life get in the way of making homemade wine?  It’s hard to find a balance sometimes!

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Leigh ErwinMy name is Leigh Erwin, and I am a brand-spankin’ new home winemaker! E. C. Kraus has asked me to share with you my journey from a first-time dabbler to an accomplished home winemaker. From time to time I’ll be checking in with this blog and reporting my experience with you: the good, bad — and the ugly.