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I just started this kit yesterday. I had a question about oak. Included in the kit was 30 grams of American Toasted Oak and they had me add this to the primary before pitching the yeast. It was almost in powder form and it seems this is going to make for a real mess when it comes time to rack...

How's this for my Cab Franc Ice Style wine kit I did? I think it turned out decent and looks good on my antique ice wine bottles.

I know this has probably been hashed out before, but I notice a lot of you mention you do alot of bulk aging - for months sometimes, but what scientific evidence is there that bulk aging in a carboy has benefits over bottling after clearing has finished? I can see maybe bulk aging in oak...

Has anyone done any of these MM Summer Breeze kits? I ordered the Wild Berry White Zin kit - sounded good and my wife should like this one. I may bump up the starting SG just a smidgen to bump up the abv just a bit, maybe to 9-10%

How long does it take to at least see a START of Rhubarb wine clearing? My 1 gal batch finished a couple of weeks ago and it is still as cloudy today as it was the day it finished.

Has anyone used this and what is the difference between this Bentonite and the other Bentonite's out there? The directions on the packet says to mix 3 tbsp with a pint of boiling water, let sit overnight, then use 1 to 2 tbsp of the slurry per gallon of wine. Does that mean the rest of the pint...

Has anyone tried this kit and if so what did you think?

I have a 3 gal batch of Red Raspberry that just finished. I just went out and picked 3 more lbs of Raspberries this morning and want to add the juice and some simple syrup to sweeten it. OG was 1.112 and finished at 1.020, so it already has some residual sugar, but I think I want to finish this...

Wade/Tom/Joe - or whoever else may know, how do you suppose they make the ice wine style kits? I highly doubt they've used iced pressed grapes for the juice, or even frozen grapes off the vine, so do you think these are just regular wines with a lot of sugar for the backsweetening with proper...

My 3 gal batch of Loganberry finished on the 10th of June. I calculate the abv is around 13% and it fermented out dry at 990 or thereabouts. I followed the instructions to a T. I just finished degassing it, then I added a can of Raspberry Apple concentrate along with the addition of some simple...

I'd like to know what test kits you experienced folks find absolutley a necessity to have to make wine successfully and which brand/models of them you would recommmend. I have an acid tester but it was a cheap one. I tried using it one day just to see how it worked and I don't think I was...

How can you tell when your wine has finished clearing to the extent where it can be racked, degassed, backsweetened, then bottled? I have a 3 gal batch of Loganberry that finished on the 10th. During fermentation the wine was a pinkish color throughout the process but after it finished and I...

A couple of weeks ago I started a blueberry mead and used Pasteur Red for my yeast. My starting SG was 1.110. For the past few days the SG has been stuck at 1.030. I was still seeing fermentation acitivity with a bubble about every 30 seconds. It's been doing that for a while now without the SG...

I have the double lever corker which works beautifully, but the rod leaves a huge dent in the tops of my corks. I was reading on a forum about this issue one day but couldn't find it again. I know I have heard of this happening with others so I know it's a problem with this corker. For those...

I recently started a kit that had me add a Bentonite solution to the primary before adding the juice to it. I thought Bentonite was a clearing agent and is added after fermentation. Can we do this for all other wines or is it specific to certain kits?

There is a winery near me that sells a nice wine that is a blend of 30% Rhubarb, 30% Honey and 40% Strawberry wines and it's pretty darn tasty. I know it won't be exactly the same but I want to try to duplicate it as close as I can. I already have my honey and strawberry batches underway and I...

I'm trying to get my ducks in a row for when the Fall harvest of grapes arrives. I should have a good supply of fesh grape juice from various varietals and I was wondering where I can find some recipes for fresh juice. I've seen a few on Jack's site for Concord but it references grapes instead...

Has anyone made this kit and if so, is it any good?

I want to know if anyone sees anything wrong with these instructions- I'll skip the primary fermentation step, so assume primary fermentation has started. Starting SG was 1.165 - yeast was Premier Cuvee, 2 sachets After 5-7 days or when SG reaches 1.080 or below, rack the wine into...

My fermenting buckets arrived today and I am underway with my first ever batch of wine. I'm going to make a red raspberry wine and I'm only going to expriment with a 1 gal batch for now. So far I've purchased 60oz of frozen red raspberries, thawed them, sanitized my fermenting bucket and my...