Your First Wine from Fresh Grapes - WineMaker Magazine What's the Best Way to Keep Your Christmas Tree Fresh? | Every year, about 25 million Christmas trees are purchased in the United States, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. Keeping it fresh is very important, not only for preserving its beauty, but also to prevent it from becoming a fire hazard. With proper care, a Christmas tree can stay fresh for a month or even longer. Everyone knows that you must add water to the reservoir in the base of a Christmas tree — and as a rule of thumb, a typical tree absorbs a quart of water for each inch of its diameter. Will adding other household products to the water help keep them fresher longer? There is some debate about whether adding any kind of mixture to the water helps keep a tree fresher longer. Tchukki Anderson, a staff arborist for the Tree Care Industry Association, says many people have had success by mixing a tablespoon of sugar or corn syrup in the water.

However, she says, water is usually enough. A recent study at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point confirmed that keeping fresh-cut trees watered will reduce needle loss, refuting claims that watering a dead tree is pointless. However, the study's author, tree scientist Les Werner, says additives such as sugar, aspirin or even vodka don't help. red wine glass storage"Clean water still works the best."wine buy online in india But don't take their word for it. the great wines of new zealandTry the experiment and find out for yourself how to keep your Christmas tree fresher longer. good wine brands 2012If your family uses a real Christmas tree, or fresh evergreens for decoration, borrow a few small cut branches and try this experiment. best type of glass for wine tasting

You could also try using cut flowers, such as carnations. 5 small branches of healthy, fresh cut evergreen, each about 4 inches long — make sure the branches come from the same tree and are as nearly identical in size and shape as possible. (If you use flowers they should be the same type, and the stems should be cut to the same length in the same way.)best economy white wine 5 quart jars with lids to store your solutionsbest place to buy wine france 5 “vases” for your cuttings (It is best to use identical containers. wine by the case nycTransparent plastic cups or drinking glasses work well — you will want to be able to observe the cut tip of each sample without removing it from the liquid.)where to buy wine bottles wholesale

Labels and permanent marker Prepare the solutions – Be sure to label your jars: Jar 1: 1 quart plain tap water Jar 2: 1 quart of water with a half-cup of light corn syrup dissolved in it. (It works best to warm the water on the stove and add the syrup slowly as it warms. Make sure it is cool before placing your plant cutting in the solution.) Jar 3: 1 quart of water with 1 teaspoon of white vinegar added Jar 4: 1 quart of water with 1 teaspoon of bleach added Jar 5: Tree Freshening mixture:  1 quart of water with a half-cup of light corn syrup dissolved in it, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar* and 1 teaspoon bleach. NOTE: It is VERY IMPORTANT to mix the syrup water and vinegar together first before adding any bleach!!  *Adding bleach directly to undiluted vinegar results in toxic vapors. Omit the vinegar if this makes you nervous. Prepare the test samples – make sure to label them! Trim the bottom of each branch at an angle and place each of your branches in a separate “vase” so that the trimmed end rests on the bottom and the foliage is clear of the vase.

Pour just enough liquid from Jar 1 into Vase 1 so that the trimmed angle of the branch is completely submerged in the liquid but most of the branch is above the surface of the liquid. Repeat with Jar 2 and Vase 2 and so on, with each of the other solutions. Place the vases in a secure location at room temperature. Observe the branches every two days over a period of at least 4 weeks, adding appropriate liquid from the jars to keep just the cut tip of the branches submerged. Look for changes to the foliage and for signs of mold or mildew at the base. Record your observations in a data table. Most tap water has a slightly alkaline pH. Most evergreens prefer slightly acidic conditions. Which additive makes the water more acidic? Light corn syrup is made up of dissolved sugars, why is adding sugar into the mix important? Undiluted bleach is toxic to living things, so why was bleach added to the Tree Freshening mixture? (Hint: Think about why many household cleaners include bleach.)

Try using clear soda pop (like 7Up) instead of the Tree Freshening mixture in Jar 5. Try grinding up 1 aspirin tablet to dissolve in a quart of water instead of the white vinegar. Try other household liquids. More Holiday Science Experiments How to Make Borax Crystal Snowflakes More Science Fair Projects High School Science Fair Projects Middle School Science Fair Projects Weather Experiments / Science Fair Projects Cool Science Experiments for Hot Summer Days How to Choose a Science Fair Project TopicYou’re drinking wine and you realize you aren’t going to finish the bottle. You know wine doesn’t stay fresh for long once the bottle is opened. So how do you keep it as fresh as possible until you want to finish it? How long can you realistically wait to drink it? To answer these questions, consider the reason wine spoils. Wine is full of molecules and chemical compounds (like alcohol and acids) that are constantly reacting to each other.

This is why wine changes as it ages in the bottle, but this is also why wine spoils. When the bottle is opened, these molecules react to the air, and the wine starts changing rapidly. This is why wine “opens up” or “breathes” in the glass as you drink it. That’s the good news. The bad news is that any remaining wine in the bottle will continue “breathing” and reacting to the air until the wine spoils. The reaction between wine and oxygen is called “oxidation”, and oxidation is the primary thing to prevent when trying to preserve an open bottle. A little bit of oxidation is okay. When we decant or aerate wine, we’re forcing a small amount of oxidation to occur quickly, in order to soften tannins or increase aromas. But too much oxidation, like when an open bottle sits on the counter for several days, is a problem. Oxidation diminishes the fruit flavors in the wine and creates nutty, caramelized flavors instead. It also gives a brownish hue to the wine, making red wines lighter in color and white wines darker in color.

You need a two-step strategy for preventing oxidation. Step one is to keep the wine away from air. Step two is to keep the wine cold to slow down the chemical reactions. The colder the wine, the slower the process of oxidation. STEP ONE: KEEP THE WINE AWAY FROM AIR The best choices involve pumping the air out of the bottle or pumping inert gasses in. Vacuum pump (an acceptable method) Inexpensive vacuum pumps are readily available in wine and grocery stores. The small plastic pump is usually sold with specially designed rubber corks. To preserve an open bottle of wine, you place the rubber cork in the top of the bottle, place the pump on the rubber cork, and pump out as much air as you can, creating a vacuum in the empty space in the bottle. This method works, but there is a problem: some of the volatile compounds in wine, which so easily evaporate into air (like when we swirl and smell), can be pulled into that vacuum and lost. This method is better than nothing, and should work for a day or two.

However, I prefer the second method… Gas (the preferred method!) These cans of compressed gas are a little more difficult to find, but worth the effort. In this method you spray inert gasses (nitrogen, argon, and carbon dioxide) into the open bottle. These gasses are heavier than air, so they sink down and form a blanket on top of the wine. You place the original cork (or a bottle stopper) into the opening, and your wine is protected. This method will preserve your wine for a longer than a vacuum pump up to a week. These cans of gas cost about $10, and I find that one will last me a year or more. STEP TWO: KEEP THE WINE COLD The two main options are the refrigerator or the freezer. In the fridge (the preferred method!) This is the best way to slow down the chemical reactions that could spoil your wine. Try to position the bottle upright in fridge instead of laying it down, to minimize the amount of the wine’s surface area that is in contact with the air. (Chances are that when you’re ready to drink the wine, you won’t want to drink it at fridge temperature.