Racked the Cellar7 Rojo, specific gravity 0.994 (1.080 - 0.994)/7.36 = 11.7%

Leaving for two weeks has resulted in a dryer wine which is better. This wine tastes better at this stage than either of the previous two. I'm curious about the impact of the stabilizing and fining on the flavour.

So far we are preferring the first Cellar7 over the Solomon Grundy.

Started the VineCo Chilean Merlot. Quite a bot more complex, specific gravity 1.094, so a bit stronger (1.094 - 1)/7.36 = 11.4%. Interesting that the kit includes oak chips and bentonite. Also interesting that every stage takes longer. It would be interesting to try a cheaper kit with the time scales given for this kit!

The must stays in the vat for four weeks instead of one so it is going to be quite a bit slower. Perhaps I need to buy a third vat!

 The wine is still working. I guess because it is a bit cooler. It will have to wait until next Friday now.

I made up some sour cherry gin today with some cherries from Claire. 

 Started off third batch. Another Cellar7, Spanish Rojo this time. I've ordered a couple of more kits; better quality for around £50, hopefully these will be nicer.

Specific gravity was 1.080 this time so this should make a stronger wine. 80/7.36 = 10.9%

Started a spreadsheet to make this easier. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ysp2vGHZ7V30oT_0bBycq9U7bx4pvLkRmJ-VU5afbyk/edit?usp=sharing

 Racked the second batch of wine. This tastes quite a bit better than the Cellar7 which is very thin. Both very dry. Specific gravity just below zero.

The manual for the hydrometer https://sr-hb.com/InstructionsS1011.pdf says 10% alcohol.

This batch tastes more promising!