This afternoon I racked the Chilean Merlot. I decided to do it in the kitchen this time, instead of my basement - and it worked out much better. Next time though, instead of seating the carboy on the chair like I have here in the photo I think I may just put it on the floor. I had to do this towards the end anyway, as the suction got wonky on me a few times as it got closer to the bottom.

Sugar reading at this point is 1.000. The stuff floating around on top of the wine is about a cup or so of oak chips. I also added about two cups of water once I was finished racking, just to top off the carboy.

A while ago I received an email from the folks at Keystome Homebrew saying that they were taking orders for fresh Chilean grapes and juice. Chile has a different growing season over there so around this time of year is when their fresh stuff comes in. I placed an order for a six gallon bucket of Merlot and got a message yesterday saying the shipment arrived. This afternoon I picked up my order along with a few other things and brought this home:

This evening I didn’t waste any time and got things cleaned up and started right away. I have another container that I’ve used as a primary fermenter but the bucket the juice came in will do just fine. My initial hydrometer reading is apx. 1.090 and the temperature in that back room of my basement is about 68 degrees.

Everything sealed back up after adding the yeast: