Mulching

Regular weeding is an ongoing task with any vegetable garden and it is not one of our strengths. Always on the lookout for a time saving technique we have tried various mulching processes to reduce weed dominance. Garlic and Onions are very difficult to mulch and tedious to weed. One useful and effective technique we have been using recently is to run old Lucerne through our mulcher producing a fine chaff. This is easily sprinkled over younger seedlings to cover the soil.

Originally used mulch hay but it held too many seeds. Lucerne or straw bypasses that issue.

Our Chipper/Mulcher is over 15 years old and has proven to be a versatile and useful garden tool. Its list of achievements are:

• Chipping and mulching garden prunings
• Chipping fish heads and frames for chook food
• Mulching straw and lucent bales into fine chaff
• Mulching oyster shells and Cuttlefish frames into shell grit for chooks
• Mulching fireplace charcoal into bio char

Spoilt Lucerne

The versatile Chipper/Mulcher

Garlic Mulched with fine Chaff

Butter Making

Up until recently we have been making unsalted sweet butter from our surplus cream. Sweet meaning it is not cultured or salted. It is kept in the freezer and a batch defrosted as needed. Small inexpensive plastic containers are best and if care is taken not to damage them they can be re-used many many times and if damaged recycled. Occasionally we come across freezable glass containers which we buy as well but they always have plastic lids. Each container has a scrap of paper taped on with the date.

Some months ago we tried a cultured butter from a small butter maker in Victoria. This led onto culturing our cream and trying to make the same flavour. The recipe is in the Cheeselinks book and the starter was one we keep for cheese making (B Flora). Being raw cream it did need some experimentation to ascertain the best culturing time. A lot depends on the cream harvested that day and the ambient temperature. Fairly easy to decide when to churn just by tasting. If you want to be technical pH should be 4.6 and the temperature at 8 degrees Celsius.

Once an acceptable flavour or the technical measurements are met the churning is done. It is a lot quicker with cultured cream. Our churn is a cheap food processor using the plastic mixing blade. The speed is set to just below half and it all happens quite quickly after that.

This is all done in what we call the La Cave when making wine so supposedly it should be called the the Dairy Room when making butter. On the other hand it is also where keep the bulk food supplies so therefore the Pantry. And the Onions, Garlic, Nuts and Turmeric are in drying racks so therefore the drying room. The main reason for doing it out there is because it can be a noisy operation when the food processor is doing multiple batches.

We collect our 20 litres of milk every 3-5 days. Each time it is settled in a 25 litre stainless steel pot overnight in the spare refrigerator. The cream rises to the top and is skimmed off. If Camembert or one of the creamy blues is on the cards then some milk is drained off for other usage and the cream added back to make a double and sometimes triple cream Camembert or a very rich soft creamy blue cheese. Every now and then some of it goes towards making some ice cream.

We use raw milk in tea and coffee and for the cats and dogs. We found over the last decade that the raw milk keeps better than the bought stuff. The longest period was 10 days before there was an obvious souring and the milk would curdle in hot tea. The important thing is to chill it as quickly as possible after collection. The Somatic Cell Count also effects its keeping qualities. Raw milk cheeses tend to ripen quicker than pasteurised and have more complex flavours and sensory attributes due to the indigenous micro flora. Our supplier posts the laboratory tests for Somatic Cell Count and Total Platelet Count in the vat room every 2^nd day. Knowing the quality of the milk provides the confidence to use it as we do.

Inexpensive and aging Food Processor

Home Made Butter Paddles from Recycled Pallets Dressed with Olive Oil

Bottling Wine

Bottled most of the whites today, Muscat, Semillon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The first dozen of each was made into sparkling by adding fermenting yeast and sugar. 15 ml of 25 Beaume water and sugar with yeast added while it was 40 degrees C. Then 12 grams sugar then filling the bottle. Using recycled champagne bottles to make sure they handle the pressure.

A nearby resident celebrates Friday night with a bottle of French champagne. Rummaging through their recycling bin once a week has resulted in a good collection of top quality bottles.

The rest of each batch of wine went into Stelvin sealed bottles also collected from recycling. The screw caps can be reused several times just need to check the wadding inside has stayed intact.

Not a bad days effort six dozen whites and four dozen sparkling. Should get us through the year. When opening the sparkling it just needs to treated like a home brew i.e. decant gently into glasses or another bottle and leave the sediment behind. Getting crown seals for the champagne bottles is not all that difficult as a lot of home brew places carry them.

Prettied up with a nice label

The underground wine cellar filling up and getting some order with neck labels

Freshly bottled still wine alongside a nicely shaped sparkling wine.
 

Tempranillo and Chambourcin, Petit Verdot

The Tempranillo was 11.4 Baume and pH of 3.63. About 10% good quality whole bunches were left at the bottom of the fermenter and the rest run through the crusher destemmer. Overnight the temperature was lowered to 10 degrees C. This morning approximately 5 litres of juice was drained off to make rose and increase the skin to juice ratio.

Have been trying to leave the Chambourcin to the last minute to maximise sugar and skin colour. The weather has been cool in the Hunter and ripening has been slow. The weather beat me though as heavy rain was forecast for the weekend. Picked on Thursday and got 40 kilograms. Was expecting 50-60. Last year there was 120 but this year I pinched out the second flower on each spur hoping for better maturity. Well the sugar level was 23.5 Baume and pH was 3.5. Couldn’t have asked for a better result. After 24 hours the juice is almost black. Started fermentation immediately with BDX yeast and some nutrient. Once it was all going I bled off a couple of litres for Rose and put the lot into the freezer to bring down to 21-24 C range. This is very exciting.

Up at 4 am to pick some Shiraz from a vineyard an hour away. About an acre of vines was being left because of bird pick and botrytis but there were plenty of good bunches to selectively pick. Took off 65 kilograms and was then told that there was a suspicion that this was not Shiraz but could well be Petit Verdot. It was being DNA tested at the moment. What great news if it is Petit Verdot, yet another variety to play with. Got it fermenting with BDX yeast and the next morning bled off 5 litres for Rose and started chilling it.

Wine Making

Everything is progressing well. The Sauvignon Blanc ferment came to halt which allowed me to rack it into clean demijohns and it is now aging and settling. 

 The Pinot is still bubbling away but now under airlock. The header boards mean that the juice at the top isn’t representative of the entire batch in terms of sugar levels. Once each day I take out the header boards and give the barrel a good stir.

 The Shiraz, Muscat and Tempranillo are about two thirds through the fermentation process and are out of the their chiller units and finishing off at the ambient temperature. Only the Merlot is under refrigeration. The electricity bill will be phenomenal .

 The Chambourcin in our own vineyard is in the low 20s (Brix). I’d like to get it up to 24 if possible. This week is cloudy but hopefully not a lot of rain. Could be another week or two before harvest.
The Tannat which we are buying is in a similar position to the Chambourcin.

 An interesting observation was the effect of hot days on pH. The Pinot was harvested following a 40 plus day. The pH was 4.1. The other reds were harvested later after a week of rain and cloud and the pH was 3.6. Had it been our Pinot instead of an hours drive away I would have waited and harvested at a more optimal time. Anyway there is nothing that Tartaric can’t fix.

 I’ve been able to taste some samples of the whites as they were being racked and they show a lot of potential. Good nose, a little bite but that should settle out.

From left to right 1) pH Tester, 2) Small digital scales for measuring from 0.01 grams to 20 grams, 3) Digital scales for up to 5KG.
 

Fermentation

A full days work in the winery. Pressed the Muscat and made three batches. One with American Oak chips, one with French Oak chips and one with no oak chips. All into glass with airlocks. As the pressing progressed the juice became redder and redder. I tried to share the colour with each batch. By last night all batches had commenced bubbling with CRU 56 yeast, the first of three instalments of yeast nutrient added and the refrigeration was set to start after midnight.


 The Shiraz had been carefully picked to exclude bunches with botrytis but just in case it had 80ppm of sulphur added. After an overnight chilling to 10 degrees C about 12% of the liquid was drained off for Rose and BDX yeast added along with some yeast nutrient. Again by late last night fermentation had commenced and a time was set to kick off the refrigeration in the early hours.

The Merlot was in good shape but as it will receive extended time on skins post fermentation, 50ppm sulphur was added. The same process as for the Shiraz was followed.

The sulphur is being added at the vineyard as there is at least an hours drive afterwards to get home after the last batch is picked and the grapes can get quite warm in the drums on the back of the ute.
As of this morning everything was fermenting nicely and the freezers cooling the batches slowly down to the 15-18 degrees.

 The Pinot was two thirds through its sugar and the last instalment of nutrient was added and refrigeration turned off. Hopefully it will peak out at 25 degrees C and all the sugar consumed over the next few days. Weather conditions are quite mild in the 21-25 range.
Everything clean and tidy in the cellar and paperwork up to date. Peace at last – for the moment.
 
The Muscat is Hamburg. Must have had a rush of blood to bother with this but the fruit looked so enticing, large berries like Spanish olives, black skin and in big bunches. Unfortunately all the books recommend this for table grapes or port. Still I'll have a go at something even if it is just for fun. They are crushed and destemmed and have been chilling overnight. I thought a dry rose if some colour can be extracted from the skins. The sugar level is not overly high and the pH pretty good. Might even try some oak in a small batch to see the effect. I've used oak in previous Rose to good effect.

Picking Reds

In one day we picked Tempranillo, Muscat, Shiraz and Merlot. Tempranillo is a great grape for picking. Good large bunches with pronounced stems easy to find and cut. It doesn't take long to fill the bin.

My theory that west side bunches are always riper went out the window until I realised that the wide bitumen surfaced road beside the west end of the roads has probably had a pronounced effect on the ripening, especially during those stinking hot days last month. We are picking a bit early because the heavy rain (180 mm) had caused havoc with botrytis breaking out. We were careful to select only clean bunches. This could be another low harvest year for this vineyard.

The Pinot Noir has been going for 30 days and the skins have still not sunk. Can’t stand it any longer. Pressed 16 litres of dark juice. Using French oak and will add some American oak as it settles. While the press was dirty the Shiraz was pressed as the skins were not rising anymore. The shiraz was on skins for 18 days.