Bryan's Wine & Beer Making Site

fine wines since 1981 ...

Welcome!

Welcome to my wine and beer making site!

Grape Warrior

I made my first batch of wine (a forgettable Rhubarb wine) in May 1981 and my first beer in January 1984. On these pages I record my adventures in these areas:

  • wine making records
  • beer making records
  • liqueur making records
  • white papers on wine and beer making
  • posts that describe my experiments
  • kombucha (new in 2023!)

The above items are accessible through the menus above, and related posts are organized in groups (see links in left sidebar).

Please note that I am an amateur winemaker with no formal training. I’m self-taught and have the experience of making numerous types of wine since my first batch in 1981. I read a lot of research papers, conduct my own experiments, discuss topics with the folks on WineMakingTalk, and continue my self-education. The wine & beer making records are what I have done, including errors and failures. The blog posts and white papers are my take on things, and are open to question. Most things in winemaking have more than one valid answer, and what you read are my choices.

If one post seems to diverge from or disagree with another? Look at the publication dates. My techniques have changed over time, as I learn new things and try different techniques. Winemaking is not a destination, it’s a journey, with (hopefully) good wine along the way.

Note: I get questions regarding distilling. I can’t answer such questions as I have never distilled.

Most recent updates

Instead of making people hunt through the following sections, I’ll list the most recent updates here, typically things posted in the last month.

Warning: This list is not guaranteed to be up-to-date, as I have to remember to manually update it!

 Whitepapers:

Mental Meanderings:

Winemaking in Detail:

Whitepapers & Posts

One of the things I find difficult on most blog sites is finding anything. A prolific author will produce dozens or even hundreds of posts, and the blog software lists them in reverse chronological order. Search works, if you know what keywords to search for, and if those keywords are not in dozens of posts.

To address this problem, I created pages that group posts by topic, to (hopefully) make it easier to find things.

Note: Especially during the fall ferment, I don’t always update the dates immediately. It may take a week or three before I remember to do it. The “last updated” date on individual pages is typically correct.

White Papers A lot of questions on WineMakingTalk are repeats — newcomers ask pretty much the same questions, so I have been taking the time to record detailed answers to common questions. These whitepapers cover numerous aspects of winemaking. Updated 11/12/2024
Mental Meanderings These posts don’t really fit other categories, are more opinions than facts, and meander all over the place; hence the name. Updated 10/29/2024
Wines … in Detail These posts provide a deep dive into the winemaking process of selected wines. Each post is intended to address a different facet of winemaking. Updated 10/27/2024
Wine Labels History My labels are posted in groups by the year the wines were bottled in. This shows the progression of my label making “talents”. This took a big jump in 2021, when I started using a graphic as a background, so there’s no white space. Updated 04/02/2024
Ongoing Plans These posts list what I have planned at different points in time, and illustrate how plans can change. Updated 04/03/2024
Site Updates I document significant changes in this site, mostly to help me keep track of things. Updated 06/2021

<——  Note that links to these pages are in the left sidebar

Current Updates

This section lists wines currently in production.

2024 Vidal updated 10/27/2024
2024 Pinot Noir updated 10/27/2024
2024 Chelois updated 10/26/2024
2024 Chambourcin updated 10/26/2024
2024 Chardonnel updated 10/19/2024
2023 Sangiovese + pomace updated 12/23/2023
2023 Merlot updated 12/24/2023

Wines in the Racks

These are wines currently present in my racks:

2023 Cabernet Franc updated 10/27/2024
2023 Cabernet Sauvignon updated 10/27/2024
2023 Chambourcin updated 10/22/2024
2023 Zinfandel updated 09/19/2024
2023 Vidal (Orange) updated 06/10/2024
2023 Metheglin (Mead) updated 07/20/2024
2022 Tempranillo updated 11/10/2023
2022 Tempranillo 5% Blend updated 11/10/2023
2022 Mélange de style Rhone updated 11/10/2023
2022 Grenache updated 11/10/2023
2022 Blackberry updated 10/06/2022
2022 Strawberry updated 10/05/2022
2022 Pinot Noir updated 10/04/2022
2022 Chocolate / Raspberry Port updated 10/15/2022
2022 Elderberry updated 07/18/2023
2021 Super Tuscan updated 11/27/2022
2021 Rhone Blend updated 11/27/2022
2020 Meritage Plus updated 02/12/2022
2019 Merlot updated 09/27/2020
2018 Coffee Port updated 03/03/2019
2018 Black Forest Port updated 08/18/2018

* All of the 2022 Rhone was used in blending, so none exists on its own in the racks.

Navigation

Current posts are displayed on the right, with the most current ones first.

Wine Making: Lists of current and finished wines, along with various lists of everything I’ve made.

Beer Making: Lists of current and finished beers. I don’t have an overall list as I don’t make a lot of beer.

Liqueurs: Posts regarding liqueurs I’ve made using commercial vodka, cognac, and EverClear.

Kombucha: Posts regarding kombucha I’ve made.

Posts: Another avenue to the post groupings listed in the left sidebar.

Documents: I host some commercial documentation as a service to fellow winemakers.

Links: The typical page of links that I find useful.

Enjoy!

All content on this site is copyright 1981-2024.

All Artificial Intelligence / AI / Machine Learning / ML are explicitly denied the use of any materials on this site for any purpose.