Tea Wine 2
I finally got around to bottling my so-called Tea Wine today.
I can claim that this test batch has been mellowing/resting/aging for the past couple months but the honest truth is that I've been forgetting to get around to bottling it. Finally, today, I simultaneously remembered and was in the brewing room. That's the magic combination for getting anything done.
I took a final specific gravity reading (1.018 @ 86F => 1.020) and decanted the gallon of tea wine into four 1-liter, polycarb bottles. I guess it's meant to be drank still so I didn't add any priming sugar. It's currently chilling in the refrigerator and I may give it a try in the next day or so. It is unlikely I will go blind.
According to this calculator the resultant alcohol content is about 9.1% ABV. Since the final G was well over 1.000 I could probably have gotten a couple more percentage points if my yeast was a little more robust.
[Update: 12Jul06] I cracked open a bottle and drank a bit. Not blind, yet! I clearly let it sit on the lees too long and it's pretty sweet. Next time I try this I'll be sure to rack it more promptly. I'll also try to encourage my yeast to do a better job (the sachet of yeast I used was probably pretty old). Some yeast nutrients or a burst of oxygen should fire 'em up.
//Serially