Recent content by sailavie

I've been making wine for ~5 years and beer for much longer, but this is the 1st year I've entered my wine into competitions. I was really looking for feedback beyond just my family and friend - and I would strongly recommend anyone looking for feedback and recommendations on how to improve...

4-5 years ago a friend of mine gave me a bottle of wine that he made and it was terrible. The first thing I thought was "I can do better than that" - I was right, and now I'm hooked and my friends and family enjoy the benefits.

I made one high end kit and then moved to juice, fresh grapes, and fresh fruit. I'll make a kit if I can't get the fruit or want to try a new style.

Thanks for the pointers - I didn't think about checking out ebay - next time I will. I agree $18/pack is a pretty good price. I found out today that http://bev-art.com/ is working to get some Cab and Malbec - and that's what I hope to get. This time I'll freeze some of the crush in case I...

It looks like my local distributor isn't going to be carrying whole Chilean grapes this year, so I'd like to add a crush pack to any red juice I buy. Where would you recommend I get the crush packs? Or do people know of any distributors in the Chicago area that will be carrying whole grapes...

I read through the posts but it wasn't clear if fermentation has started, and what the starting SG, and current SG are? If fermentation is going and you have a egg smell there are a couple ways to address it - make sure the yeast is not struggling (correct nutrient, temp, ...), stir it on a...

Cabernut - welcome and it looks like you have a good start at things!! Keep us posted.

I agree don't add the sugar directly to the wine - it may not completely dissolve, and your SG readings may not be accurate. I create a saturated sugar solution from either the must or water, and I use this to increase the SG.

Steve - I view the following as one of the better guides for the use of oak barrels. The key thing to note - it depends on the type of oak and for new barrels you should taste often. For new barrels I would check to make sure it's topped up and there are no leaks on a weekly basis, and I would...

Welcome welcome - and like you said in my intro we're almost neighbors - good luck with your 1st batch. What winery did you visit in WI?

Hello WildBill and welcome! Sounds like you've got a good start at it. Keep us up to date on how things are going.

The grapes have come from California, Chile, and Wisconsin. Most of the time I use a local distributor here in the Chicago area for the California and Chilean grapes (Midwest Wine Grape), but I've used other distributors too. For the northern grapes I went to Mitchell Vineyard (just south of...

I've been a member of the list for a while, and I read the board on a regular basis - but I don't think I've ever done an intro - so here goes. 1st thanks for the wealth of knowledge that people share on this forum - it's been very informative! A bit about me - I've been making wine for a...

Thanks for the welcome message - I've been monitoring the forum for a while, but as you can see I haven't posted - but that will change. I'm expecting some Chilean Malbec grapes in a few weeks. The crush/destem will be taken care of when I pick them up, but I'm starting to look around for a...

Racer - I got the Chardonnay and the Riesling and my readings are about the same as yours on the Chardonnay. I use a Ph meter and test strips they indicated the same on the Ph. The Ph is off from what I expected from a white( I was looking for 3.2-3.5). I adjusted it a little, but decided to...