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Having seen shockingly good results from my first run at whole grapes this year, I'm gearing up for next season. I want to do about a 30 gallon batch of Pinot. I'm expecting that I'll be using multiple fermenters, and ultimately maybe a 30 gallon flex tank, then some time in a 30 gallon Vadai...

Yesterday we crushed 100 lbs each of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes, from Washington up near Red Mountain. We wound up with significantly more must than we were expecting somehow, and went home with 7 gallons of cab sauv, 7 of cab franc, and 7 that was a 50:50 blend of both. Both...

Just in case someone has a good answer for this and missed my other thread, Does anyone know of a good source for fresh grapes in Portland, OR? I want to step up from kits this year. I live in the Wilamette Valley, and want to make an Oregon Pinot. There are a few local shops that do fresh...

Having made a few kits now, and being generally pleased with my results, I want to take a shot at making something from grapes, or fresh juice, or whatever then next logical step should be in my progression towards backyard winery. Any suggestions on where to start? I am in Portland OR, to the...

My CC Syrah is now 6 months old at bottling. It is good but just a touch down in sweetness compared with a really great one. I corked last weekend, but am considering popping them and titrating in a bit of wine conditioner to increase the sweetness. Good/bad idea?

Greetings, I have made several kits now, and want to step up the quality ladder. What are the preferred sources for juice buckets? Is there any appreciable difference in quality between them? What about kit size? It looks like all the juice buckets I see are 5 gallon, but all of my carboys...

I have a WE 2012 LE Riesling Chenin Blanc kit that is about 6 months into bulk aging. Everything smelled and tasted great during primary, but at the first racking it started to stink. I tasted it last night, and while the mid taste and finish were really good, it presented with a nose that is...

It appears that I went a bit over the top with the addition of tartaric acid to my CC Yakima Valley Syrah. I tasted it several times during the addition, and it seemed to be great. Now, after a month, the acid content seems to have spiked. I'm not sure how or why, but it is now too high. Any...

I'm running a CC Yakima Valley Syrah kit at the moment, sitting in bulk aging on a spiral of french oak. I pulled out 3 bottles one month after adding the oak spiral, and replaced them with viognier. At that point, it was very tasty but not at all complicated. One note plus oak. I added a bit of...

So far, I've bottled only one kit, with a couple of others in bulk aging. Needless to say, my sample is still very small. I just cracked a midlevel 2010 GSM, and found that the mouth feel is markedly better. It has a chewy thickness, and an almost greasy density that I absolutely love. My kit...

I just bottled my first kit, an Eclipse Cab that I had been bulk aging for 3 months. I followed all the directions precisely, right up to the bulk aging, when I threw in another spiral of French oak. I tasted it at that point, and it had a reasonable level of alcohol and a nice astringency...

I just put my last kit into a carboy, and now it looks like I have nothing to do until the WE LE2013 kits are released in March. In the meantime, what are the preferred ultra premium Rhone options? Any suggestions and tweaks to said suggestions would be appreciated!

So after 10 days in primary fermentation, yesterday my syrah hit 0.996. I went next door to grab my carboy, when the phone rang, I had to deal with a cooking disaster, and ultimately was sucked into the Christmas frenzy. When I returned to the fermenter after a couple of hours, I discovered that...

After tasting a few of the 2012 LE kits last night, I fell in love with the Washington Riesling Chenin Blanc kit. I just sourced one online. Is it safe to make a kit that is this old?

My local brew shop is hosting a preview tasting this weekend of all the Winexpert LE 2013 kits. I'm new to this whole process, and really know nothing of the event. I suspect that Winexpert is shipping a few young bottles around to various stores, hopefully with a representative. I plan to pump...

I know, more stupid questions. I am about to do my 2nd racking and degassing on my first kit (Eclipse Cab) this afternoon. I will be using a drill mounted stir thingy. I understand this is supposed to take a while. How will I know when I have done this long enough?

Somehow I must have missed in the instructions of my Eclipse Cab kit that I needed to be repetitively squeezing the grape pack. I wound up with a grape pack that didn't get squeezed out until the first racking. What have I missed out on? And how do I get it back?

Now that I have one kit under my belt, I'm thinking my next project needs to be a Syrah. So far the only ones I see are the Cellar Craft Yakima Valley and the RJS Cellar Classic Winery California Syrah. I lean towards the Yakima Valley one, simply because I am in the Northwest. But which kit...

I'm looking at the WE LE Oregon Pinot kit, and have noticed the absence of a grape skin pack. I was initially disappointed, but then it dawned on me that I really have no idea what difference the grape skin pack actually makes. Fill me in, please? And what about raisins?

I am about to embark on my first kit. The instructions demand 72 degrees for fermentation. My garage is currently somewhere in the mid 60s, probably low 60s or maybe high 50s soon at night. I don't really have any open space to ferment that is temperature controlled. I could maybe use the tub in...