Recent content by yakhunter

I can't find the strain of MLB in my notes, but I think it was VP. Can't be sure. I DO know that it was the freeze dried stuff that is expensive, not the liquid stuff that I have heard bad things about. pH was 3.42/Brix: 28 for the Sangiovese. i don't think I got one for the blend as we were...

Hi all, I am making a super tuscan with Sangiovese, Cab, and Merlot. We crushed and pressed each separately and are planning on doing a "tasting party" to determine our blend . I have 6 gal of each and aa a 5 gal carboy full of "blend" that was just what was left over from each. DOn't know...

Thanks, lads. @ Seth: maybe do a 1 or 3 gal test and control? @ Greg: Thanks for the link. I hope to read tonight. Darn thing printed in green and at about 6 point font. This headache was brought to you by:LAFFORT!

Update Hi all. I am now convinced it is MLF. This has been going on for over two months now and show no sign of slowing down. I tasted some early this week, and it had softened from the original astringency a great deal. It is still very dry, but I believe it is far less acidic. I am pretty...

It is still bubbling away like crazy. Now I am getting nervous. I realized that I have not added any KMeta since the original crush. I did not want to as it started bubbling as I was afraid to kill the MLB. Now I am wondering if there is a bad bug in there that I should try to Meta-bomb or at...

Update Well it has been over a week since I took the last SG reading, and it is still at 1.001! It is still bubbling away like crazy, so something other than fermentation seems to be going on. Maybe it is MLF, but I did not inoculate, so any MLB would have had to have been there naturally...

I have some recent empirical evidence to share. I made my first batch of DB and let it sit and clear for MONTHS because frankly, I was busy. I followed all instructions so used sparkalloid. It was crystal clear to the eye. I bottled it and let it sit for a couple of weeks and when I took a...

I got a new Vadai barrel for my birthday! Yay! Cant wait! I feel all grown up and I'm only 45!

Thanks guys! I have no idea what variety they were, but pretty ripe. I have not added KMeta since the initial dose when they were fruit, before pitching yeast.

It was a nightmare, Seth. I had to use a colander to strain it because the "glop" was too thick for the paint bag. Five gallons of wine left about 1/4 of a bucket (7.5 gal) of sludge. It took me forever.

Strawberry What the?... SG was at 1.001 and it is still "fizzing" still smells like AWESOME strawberry Jam, and still tastes drier than my old man's martini. Might be a little more sourness than I would like or expect, but might also be my paranoia. Here some pictures to show why I named...

I did NOT add any sugar. It was DRYYYYY at last taste too. Astringent even. I will try again soon, see if the flavor changed. Is there a "citro-lactic fermentation?"

Also, I did use sparkalloid.

@Shawn, I do have MLF test strips so I can test it, but I did not know there was Malic acid in Strawberry wine. Would the test strips work the same for Strawberry wine as for grapes, and should I be targeting the same concentration? @pumpkinman: I have not added sugar. This is nothing but...

@boatboy: I don't remember if there was any sediment in the carboy. I think a tiny bit. I did rack to a bucket before bottling. Can I "save" this by pouring it back into a carboy and re-fining? How long will that take? I wanted to give some out at Christmas.