Recent content by joea132

M and M in Hartford has them with the ball knocked out that will fit a demijohn bung. They get somewhere in the area of $55 for them though.

Did it last year and found that 2.5 gallons per lug was about right. It was the best wine I've made to date.

It would certainly be interesting to put into juice buckets. I my opinion it certainly couldn't hurt. I use my pomace throughout my entire garden. I've noticed a vast difference in yield and growth since I started.

Yeah this video kind of grossed me out...watch out for that carbon monoxide!

If you ever think you'll do any larger, buy larger. And always press twice after breaking up the pomace. I've got a #40 that I bought new and sometimes it's a little small for me with a group. I'm happy but I've been considering a bladder press because of my volume.

Dont over think it. Choose your yeast for your end characteristic you're shooting for and go for it. Many a wine maker has driven themselves crazy worrying about temperature. Winemaking is an art cloaked in science, don't forget which one comes first.

I've added 90ppm to my ugly looking grapes when I really go nuclear. I do 50ppm for normal grapes. Good to see you're going good.

Battonage, or stirring the lees, is an optional practice but it helps to introduce the nutrients in the lees back into the wine to help the MLF along. I've made a point to do it and I've skipped it and had the same results. If you have a sluggish MLF, it may help

Congratulations

M and M in Hartford can probably work something out with you. It's not that far all things considered.

Yeah I meant press, sorry!

It also depends when you crush. If you crush at a higher brix level you may have significant CO2. Just being devil's advocate.

Barrels do best when always full of wine. You can store them with sulfited water but you will be leeching the oak into water and in effect wasting it. The smaller the barrel, the less time the wine stays in to get the same amount of oak. So you would be rotating batches of wine through the...

With that kind of construction you can double as a bomb shelter! Solid plan to encase it in concrete. Might as well build it the right way the first time. Have you considered ventilation as well?

I always go for 50 ppm at bottling. I prefer limiting sulfites in my wine but I use them in sufficient quantities to reasonably preserve the wine.