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My intro to winemaking was when I was a cellar assistant at the vineyard I worked at in Northern VA. I started in the tasting room, but one day the winemaker needed an extra set of hands during the crush. We started talking, hit it off, and I then split my time between the tasting room and...

Well, I just wanted to give an update. I opened a bottle out of morbid curiosity and I was actually pretty shocked! It's beautiful honey color, and actually on the sweeter side (think Gewurtztraminer or a semi-sweet Riesling.). Hazelnut, honey, and citrus notes both in aroma and taste. You...

Awesome! I've been thinking about getting some juice from these guys, and it sounds like its well worth the money.

Electrical tape here, too. Keeps my mind at ease knowing that there's really no chance at all for the bung to pop out.

Well, that will probably do it! I'm pretty sure I added it pre-ferment. Ya know, I write knowledge base articles for the company I work for, so it's ironic that I didn't RTFM. 🤣

I stirred for about 2-3 minutes before fermentation. Still scratching my head, I checked my notes again to make sure I wasn't going crazy. It looks like I was reading the wrong page, as the initial SG was actually 1.085 before adding the yeasties. Whoops! Anywhoozles, here's the SG readings...

It has a beautiful honey taste but has a dollar store vodka burn that creeps up on you like a hot pepper, lol. I did contact RJS about the SG when I first started because their instructions said it should be between 1.080 and 1.100 but I never got a response. Perhaps I should have diluted a bit...

I used the BA-11 strain, which has a tolerance of 16%. I did make the entire kit (6 gallons) and the room temperature during fermentation was about 75 degrees. Storage temp fluctuated between 70-80 during aging (thanks summer, lol.) No refractometer at time of bottling, so I can check when I...

So my latest batch was the RJS Double Down white blend, that came with a f-pack (put the whole thing in per the instructions.) I'm about to bottle, and out of curiosity, I decided to check the abv..... 20.64%. It's a honey color, too. The OG was 1.165 and the FG (checked today) is 1.010. I did...

Thank you!!! A life saver.

I'm bottling my next wine on Sunday using Balto (port) bottles for my latest wine. I bought the foil capsules, and they're just the tiniest bit too small to fit over the bottle. I can't seem to find any online or in the LBHS. Are there any specialty foil capsules or am I looking at potentially...

I tested positive a few days ago so I'm pretty much locked in my music room. I have been writing quite a bit, but it gets a bit tiring after awhile so Netflix and Hulu are a good escape! There's nothing like finding some obscure documentary about something like the history of Roman plumbing...

One of my cats passed away a few months ago, and it took awhile for us to come to terms. We decided last week that we were ready to adopt again. We found her at the local SPCA. She was there for three months(!) When I spoke to the lady, she said no one was really interested in even interacting...

Oxyclean FTW! It's so much readily available and cheaper.

Interesting! While I couldn't find a commercial wine that had the same exact blend, but my girlfriend and I did a tasting to compare mine with a 2017 Sangiovese and a 2018 Cab Malbec blend. Both of the commercial wines had much more present tannin and were full-bodied. Mine tasted like diluted...

I've made two red kits, both from RJS. One was the Sangiovese Merlot blend, and the other was the Chilean Trio (Malbec, Cab, Carmenere.) I popped a bottle from my first batch I made (2018) last night. It tasted great but there was a weird faint aftertaste. If I could compare it to something, I'd...

It looks like they just started making cider kits. I wonder if they're adjusting to branch out into different areas of brewing.

Nailed it! On the first kit, I bottled and popped open bottles about 8 weeks after I started it. It tasted "meh." Well, I just popped open a bottle from my last batch (aged for about a year and a half) for dinner last night. 10,000,000x better. To be perfectly honest, I usually forget I have...

You could go full on Gallagher, buy a sledgehammer and just smash the living heck out of them. Good way to get some aggression out too ;) Might need some tarp for the scraps though.

Yet another 11/10 review incoming: I just used it for the first time today and I can say in complete confidence that it's a godsend. I was actually quite surprised at how quiet it was for a vacuum pump. The cats didn't even freak out when I turned it on, haha. It took me about 10 minutes to get...