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Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:58 pm
by AnotherFairportfan
Sheriff’s officials say they’ve busted an illegal winery that was operating at a municipal sewage plant in [Rainsville] a small north Alabama town.
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it received an anonymous tip about an alcohol operation at a municipal building in the town of Rainsville on Thursday. Investigators then uncovered what’s described as a large illegal winery inside the Rainsville Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Photos released by investigators show glass containers, buckets, a fermenting rack and other equipment often used by people who make wine at home.
The agency says officers seized a lot of illegal alcohol, and arrests are expected. The town of about 5,100 people is 100 miles northeast of Birmingham.
“I want to thank the mayor for his cooperation and willingness to allow law enforcement to do our job and shut something like this down,” Sheriff Nick Welden said in a statement. “This is definitely one of the biggest operations we’ve seen in our county and possibly our state.”
It’s legal to make limited amounts of wine at home in Alabama, but it’s illegal to have more than 15 gallons of homemade wine or beer at a time. Police photos show multiple fermenting vessels filled with what appears to be more than 100 gallons of white and red liquid.
This should be a video news story.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:50 pm
by Typeminer
The HORROR!
Got to tell ya, friends, there's a whole
lot more than 15 gallons of homemade wine in my cellar. That's a ridiculously low limit for family use.
Why these guys were doing it at the plant is another question. Those carboys are pretty standard for home fermentation and storage. Whether the product would be any good depends on what they started with. When one thinks of regional viticulture in the USA, Alabama wouldn't be near the top, exactly.
Federally, and in PA, at least, I think there is no criminality unless you sell the product.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:15 am
by AnotherFairportfan
That's the Alabama limit; there
is a federal limit on how much you can produce annually - lessee - ah! Quoting
Nolo.com:
On a federal level, adults may make wine for personal consumption without a license or tax payments under the Internal Revenue Code. Home vintners may produce up to 100 gallons per year in one adult households and up to 200 gallons per year for homes with two or more adults. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) provides a helpful conversion chart that translates gallons into different bottle sizes.
Federal rules allow homemade wines to be transported outside of the home for wine tastings, demonstrations, contests, and organized meetings. Be mindful that if you wish to offer your wine for commercial purposes, a host of federal, state, and local rules will kick in, such as federal and state taxes, licensing requirements, bonding mandates, labelling approvals, and grape designations.
These boys were obviously making it to sell.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:48 am
by TazManiac
But, but, butt... Isn't part of the magic the influence of native spores in the immediate area? (Treatment Plant...)
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 4:08 am
by AnotherFairportfan
TazManiac wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:48 am
But, but, butt... Isn't part of the magic the influence of native spores in the immediate area? (Treatment Plant...)
Refer back to the title of this thread...
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:07 pm
by Typeminer
Point of fact, yeah--we are convinced that the cellar does affect the wine, though maybe not as much if you follow industrial sanitation procedures. But we do aerobic primary fermentation for almost everything, and then put most of it in oak half-barrels (~33 gallon capacity) for a year or two, before moving it to carboys, demijohns, and a couple of old-style brewery quarter-kegs for storage until bottling.
We consistently get a flor yeast on the surface that we are sure is from the cellar environment. Stone cellar walls, unevenly mortared; dirt floor covered in 4-mil poly and indoor/outdoor carpet rugs. Place is a mid-1800s farmhouse, one of several village buildings built of bricks fired onsite. Our wines always differ from the wines made by the vineyards' own wineries. Some of that is technique, trade secrets, and whether they sold us the good stuff, but we do think stuff in the cellar plays a part.
We called the flor the "scum of goodness" until we figured out what it is, because we first noticed it on a particularly good vintage. Vintners consider it a defect and a risk, so we try to limit it by skimming it off and adding sulfite (K2S2O5), but it has no flavor of its own and does not seem to hurt the wine in any obvious way.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:41 pm
by Atomic
Next up, Chateau Merde, a fine Georgia Rosé with a distinct, sharp taste and subtle after effects. Known for it's powerful scent, it is an excellent accompaniment to Bar-B-Que beef and Spicy Mexican dishes.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 9:09 pm
by lake_wrangler
Atomic wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:41 pm
Next up,
Chateau Merde, a fine Georgia Rosé with a distinct, sharp taste and subtle after effects. Known for it's powerful scent, it is an excellent accompaniment to Bar-B-Que beef and Spicy Mexican dishes.
Where's that upvote button when you need it...
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:36 pm
by Alkarii
So, they found a way to make wine worse? Hell of an accomplishment.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 8:31 am
by Typeminer
Alkarii wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:36 pm
So, they found a way to make wine
worse? Hell of an accomplishment.
Oh, there's
tons of ways to make wine worse. Trust me.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:59 am
by Dave
Atomic wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:41 pm
Next up,
Chateau Merde, a fine Georgia Rosé with a distinct, sharp taste and subtle after effects. Known for
its powerful scent, it is an excellent accompaniment to Bar-B-Que beef and Spicy Mexican dishes.
Goes well with
Anthrax Ripple ice cream, I would imagine.
(Fixed a minor and common grammatical error for you.)
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 12:24 am
by Atomic
Tengu berry mush!
No doubt my grammar filter was distracted while I dealt with my lung lining being shed at the "tasting" -- the powerful scent and all that.
P.S. - Don't forget the Crunchy Frog mints!
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 8:07 pm
by Dave
Atomic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 12:24 am
Tengu berry mush!
No doubt my grammar filter was distracted while I dealt with my lung lining being shed at the "tasting" -- the powerful scent and all that.
P.S. - Don't forget the Crunchy Frog mints!
OK, now you've done it. Instead of a nice pastoral image of happy people trampling on grapes to make wine, I now have a mental image of a long-nosed Japanese yōkai trampling on ichigo, preparing to ferment and distill some sort of horrendous concoction which will (if consumed by humans) cause hallucinations, hair loss, and gallstones. And don't get me started on what would happen if you quaffed it to wash down a nice mouthful of Crunchy Frog.
Tengu brew would make the Transcendent Pig turn away in horror.
Re: Given what they're likely to wind up with, it seems appropriate
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:30 am
by Atomic
It's the Balut that makes all the difference! Tengu berries are an easy start to a variety of concoctions, but not even Limburger could stand up by comparison.