Recent content by bluerdg

Should have updated but other things have had me tied up for the last week or so. Thanks to all that replied - Always good to ask the experts. It must have been a temp issue in the room I use for working on wine. We had some abnormally cool temps for this area so I moved one of those oil filled...

Temp is a bit lower than I'd like (room has been in mid 60's). E. Texas temps are normally a bit warmer, but we've been experiencing cooler than normal temps since Christmas. I was a bit concerned about temp initially, but after the wine fired up, I figured I was OK. I moved one of those oil...

I followed Lon's recipe, but I didn't have a slurry so I made a starter from a recipe I found online. The starter set for 3 days and I thought it was mor e than adequate but apparently not. After 2 days I'm not getting any sign of fermentation from my pee. I don't think it's temperature...

I've used a Hamilton Beach Juicer. Bought it for my wife a year or so ago from Wal-Mart. This thing has a motor that won't quit and will extract juice from anything. Try mashing a carrot or a bag of kale and see how much juice you get. This thing feeds like a food processor, yet the container...

Have to agree - I picked up 2 gallon carboys to "play" with and now that I've got 2 gal. of Blackberry almost ready to bottle, I'm kicking myself for not just picking up another 6 gal. carboy. I would agree however that having a few gallon or 3 gallon carboys around would be handy for those...

I've seen that Modelo is a good clear bottle. I don't drink much of that but have been saving Longneck Corona Bottles for about 2 months. My local supplier doesn't have twist-ons but plenty of the rim lock, not sure how well a rim lock cap would work with the threads on twist off bottles.

I read a post that said completely degassing a wine usually resulted in a flat tasting wine. My previous experience has been with 6 gallon batches using Kit wines. Maybe it's the difference in container size and/or color. I've got a 6 gallon Trinity Red going right beside my Blackberry and I...

The recipe I have said to rack for clearing when SG reached 1.000 so maybe I mis-spoke when I said I was stopping it at .994 (with my limited knowledge that's what I thought I was doing when I started adding stuff). I did add a 1/4 cup of sugar dissolved in 12oz of water to back sweeten (I...

I thought I did, I had it in 2 individual 1 gal glass carboys, and racked them into a single plastic bucket - dissolved all additions in a sample, reintroduced the samples stirring vigorously- after allowing it to set about 30 minutes I racked back into clean glass carboys using a siphon and...

Learning more everyday. The SG when I tried to stop it was 0.996, SG today was 1.004. I'll check again tomorrow and see if it's dropping. It seems to be clearing so maybe it's degassing like you all have indicated. I just don't have any real experience so almost every day its new to me, and I...

I checked SG before I submitted the original post and it's higher than when I checked originally. The wine had gotten a bit dryer than I wanted (why I added the sugar) but I didn't recheck after adding. It was a small amount (all I had in the house at the time) and I figured I could add more...

I've got 2 gallons of Blackberry going right now. I stopped fermentation at a little over 14% alcohol. I added the recommended amount of Potassium Sorbate, and Metabisulphite and stirred well, I also added a 1/2 cup of sugar dissolved in 12 oz of water stirred that in and then the recommended...

I'm having a blast with this wine making thing. I got equipment for my B-Day last month and started a Pinot Grigio Boxed Juice kit the next day. I started a blackberry/blueberry with fruit we picked at a local farm this morning. I've got a Wine Expert California Trinity Red that came with my...

I started a 2 gallon batch of Blackberry/Blueberry this morning. Had frozen fruit that we picked at a local berry farm in June. It's my second homemade wine, my first is a Pinot Grigio from a box juice kit that is probably about a week from bottling. Other than quantities and mix of fruit...

I was careful to set the carboy up on a table in a utility room off the kitchen. The table is in a corner against 2 walls with the washer close but not touching on a third side. The carboy is in the corner about 6 inches off the wall on two sides. The only way to move the carboy is to physically...