Racking the Dandelion

  As I've been turning this entry over in my head I am thinking of all the jargon used in home brewing that may not make any sense to someone new to the practice.  At some point I will post a short entry about what means what, but for now try to hang on if you don't know what us brewers or wine makers are talking about.

  What brings me to this is the dandelion wine I posted about back on 5/15/2013.  It sat in the secondary fermenter for about two months and then I racked it back into my plastic bucket, cleaned out the carboy, and racked it back into the 3 gallon glass.  By doing this I cleared up a lot of yeast that had dropped out.  I was just over the 3 gallon mark enough that inserting my auto siphon caused a small overflow of wine (that I drank).  Racking always loses a little so I'm hoping to end up with exactly 3 gallons when it is all said and done.  I'm tempted to bottle the wine, but I have a bottle of last year's brew sitting on the shelf and I keep comparing that to the carboy so I know it's not as clear as it can be.

  I have some clear wine bottles ready to go, so when it's all clear I will have to run and get some corks, and try (for the first time) to cork some bottles.  I got these for free from the local recycling center and cleaned them up:

  After having tasted some of the dandelion wine, even though it is not finished, I can tell that this is much better than the first batch I made last year.  It has more complex flavors and it is still sweet, but just enough.  I am hoping this will be a good balance.  I dare you to try it, anyone can brew it in their kitchen.