Feeling a little antsy

Wednesday I'm suppose to do some major bottling with my friend Aimee of the Pinot Blanc. I also need to get some supplies from Midwest, that are just too heavy to try to lug on a bus from NOrthern Brewer and which I don't want to pay shipping. So many things have reached the point where I can do a lot of stuff with them all in one day if I had another pair of hands. Luckily, my other friend Brian said he could spare a few hours to come over and bottle some of the smaller stuff.

The sack mead is finally fermented to dry but it hasn't cleared andI think I'm going to rack it again in hopes that will help with the clearing before I add any fining agents. I gave it a taste and it's not too sweet but it tastes highly alcoholic, which it is. So that bad boy will probably have to sit for a year, but I should be able to bottle it sooner than that.

The elderberry fermented to dry as well and I'm going to double check through some of my books and online whether or not it needs to age a couple months before I try to port it with brandy. I've been studying the Pearson's Square to make sure I understood it before I tried to test it out. I'll have to sorbate and metabisulphite it and backsweeten before adding the brandy.
I'm thinking of giving a bottle to a friend for his birthday since he holds homemade wine in such high regard. One other bottle was already claimed by friend Ilene before it had even finished in the primary. I'm keeping the last 2 for myself.

I might need to invest in small 375ml bottles for leftover wine that doesn't fill a full 750ml bottle and then I can give them away as gifts or take them some place and let folks try my wine but not feel like they have to drink a whole bottle.

Mental list: More wine books. Upgrade my kits to include stuff for wine (that'll be in my July budget since I can't afford it for June. Bottle Pinot Blanc, rack and let clear the sack mead and the elderberry. Make a batch of simple syrup. That sounds like enough for this week.