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I'm sure what you plan will work (with one caveat), but it seems like a lot of time and energy. For instance, why boil out the gases then aerate? If pasteurization is not an issue for you (and heating the honey is not in your post), then just add the honey to your water and mix and aerate the...

I always thought the problem with bread yeast was that it did not flocculate well. Not that it couldn't ferment. I don't know if flocculation is important in wine making. It certainly would not be if you filter or use finings to settle the yeast out. It is also possible that what they sell...

It will take about 3 days to thaw the bucket. Even then, the must will be less than 55 deg. So, I would sulfite it now; just put it in on top. When it is thawed, put in some pectic enzyme. You can add yeast 12 hours after that, but if your must is 45, they won't do much (could be bad for...

Can you really tell how far the MLF has gone by chromatography? I thought it just told you whether the three acids were present or not. Sounds to me like your pinot numbers are moving into better ranges, I wouldn't stop it. Can you even stop it with SO2? Wouldn't lysosome be better?

I would try something like Maywine first. There, you add sweet woodruff to a white wine. You could take a white wine, add some hops, put in the fridge for a day, then taste. The Greeks also made something called retsina, that had pine resin flavors. While I've heard hops don't go well with...

Is there any way to harvest and save the MLB from your grape fermentation? Seems like a bit of a waste to buy another packet (at $8-10/g) for every wine over and over. How much MLB is left in wine after the post-fermentation sulphiting and aging? Is there anyway to inoculate oak spirals or...

I haven't tried this particular must, but have had good experiences with frozen must in general. The Brix and TA numbers look good and the price is good (not sure what the shipping charge is). Normally, I wouldn't get the "additive pack" since I usually have everything already. But, even if...

I got the from Brehm, so frozen fresh. Thanks for the info, good to know that it is a natural outcome.

Making my first wine. It is about 7 weeks old. After primary and MLF, the pH has risen from 3.5-3.6 to 3.8 and the TA has fallen from 7 g/l to 5.5 g/l. The grapes were Malbec grapes from Washington, USA. When I first got the frozen must, I raised the TA with 1 g/l of tartaric acid. The...

I would look for marbles marked, "aquarium safe". Then, I would boil them in a wine or vinegar solution to see if they bubble. If they don't, they should be safe.

My instinct is to try and add flavor or round out the batch. If it is acidic, adding a low acid wine for topping for instance. If you are making a malbec, merlot, carmenere, cab franc, and it is a bit fruity, blending in cab. sauv. will add complexity. However, the amounts are small, so I...

Gino Pinto doesn't rent crusher-destemmers. Does anyone know of where I could rent one in NJ or SE PA?

From Brehm. Last red grapes in Hatfield.

I'm making a malbec from frozen grapes. Been going for about 6 weeks now. Everytime I take the pH (pH meter) reading of this wine, it changes. Over the past four weeks I have gotten results from 3.3-3.8. The wine is split into two carboys. The pH between the carboys seems to be the same...

Only thing I could add to Luc would be that not all hydrometers are calibrated to the same temp. I would use the chart that came with your hydrometer unless you are sure that the calibration temps are the same.

The easy way to answer this is to think how to make the cheapest wine possible. Plant high yielding grapes (whatever variety yields highest) on the cheapest land. Harvest mechanically as early as possible getting as much juice as possible. Ferment and mature in the cheapest material possible...

I'd assume it was aseptic juice from pressed, but unfermented, red grapes.

I was thinking about getting some Chilean grapes in May. Is there anything wrong or not desirable about fermenting 80-100 lbs of grapes along with 5-6 gal. of juice? It is a shortcut (and cost saver) to getting to 10-12 gal. of wine rather than getting 200 lbs of grapes. I would plan to get...

If you use wine, why boil it? Does the water need to be hot for the sparkaloid to dissolve? If it is a bacteria thing, there is no reason to boil the wine.

If you put a 5 gal. kit in a 6.5 gal. carboy, it should not blow off. If it comes to it, you can stick your racking cane into the stopper hole, then attach hose to the other end of the cane and run that to a bucket half filled with water with some bleach.