Recent content by KSGuardsman

For those interested in the Gas Getter, I am becoming more and more convinced as I use it. Today at lunch, I came home and hooked it up to a three gallon carboy of POM/Cherry I am making as my first non-kit wine. Operating off of a 1 HP air compressor, I let the GG run all afternoon. When I...

Day 18 of Pom/Cherry project. After racking a second time on Sunday the 16th, I let it sit in the corner as I went on with what some refer to as the real world. On the 25th of May (day 13?) I had an SG of 1.000. This morning 26 May (day 14), I racked it off the lees into a primary and then...

I am seriously looking into that (perhaps my father's day gift???). I have all the major toys now, except for a filtering system. I do not have a Boun Vino auto filler, but I do use the Ferrari. The equipment does not specify the inches of mercury, however, so I do not know that detail. The...

Well, I broke down and bought the Gas Getter after seeing it in a back issue of Wine Maker. The gas getter is a vacuum injector (essentially a venturi) that connects to your your standard 1 hp (or larger) air compressor and draws a vacuum on your carboys. Since I already owned a compressor, I...

Day five of Pom/Cherry project. S.G. now at 1.020. I gave the first package of cherries a good punch down and stirred the must before adding another 2.25 pounds of cherries (also in straining bags). I will punch down and stir twice again tomorrow and in the morning on Saturday, with intent...

Day four of the Pom/Cherry. S.G.: 1.031 The wine is coming along nicely. Very rich red, Hi-C fruit punch color. Strong yeast strain. I'll add some yeast enzyme when I transfer to carboy. Added one package (12 ounces) of (thawed) frozen whole cherries in a straining bag.

Due to surgery and lots of travel, I am just now starting my Pomegranate/Cherry wine from concentrate. Since this is my first go as a non-kit batch, I am working on 3 gallons, making all of the measurements and additions myself. Ingredients: 12 12-oz cans Old Orchard Pom/Cherry frozen...

I have a few used zorks I keep around to reseal a 1/2 bottle of wine (after gassing, of course!). From here on I will test fit them before going Zork on all my Stelvin bottles at bottling time.

I think you are probably right. They are great if they are the proper fit. I'll have to do some personal research on Stelvin bottles and their dimensions next time I am back up in Missouri visiting some of my (commercial) winery friends and get the 411. I am probably going to cork those leaky...

As with everyone else recycling bottles, I get a fair number of Stelvin (screwtop) bottles. While they can be corked easily enough, because the bottle's lip is so thin, they are not the easiest to uncork. I have recently tried Zorks with success; using a bottle top capper attachment on a...

The racking over the lees of a 6 gallon kit is what I did, and it that is what worked to get it down close to the target SG. It never got all the way down, but was close enough that I was advised to go ahead and clarify it. I let it rest in carboy for another 2 months before bottling a few...

Thanks for the 411 pelican. I do have a pH meter, but just hit a snag on the TA. I THOUGHT I had an Accuvin TA set on my last order from George (he has to love me BTW...I cannot admit in an open forum what I am averaging a month on purchases for my wine making JONES for fear my wife might...

I have three cans of the same brand, but this is the pomegranate-cherry frozen concentrate instead. I am going to start with 1.25 gallons in primary, pulled from three cans of concentrate. Pretty much going to follow this recipe and see how it goes. This will be my first non-kit experiment, so...

What are you using, Bob? I am not a huge volume wine maker (yet), but I have done 57 gallons in the past year (amazing how fast people send me their empty bottles these days!). I know many growers in Missouri and plan to buy at least 250 pounds of grapes this year; destemming, and crushing...

Ike, when you say a suite of Accuvin tests, does that refer to individual sets of 10/20 for each test or the Full Pocket Lab set? The FPL does not seem to have all that many tests in the set, although it would give me a baseline to start from.