Recent content by articwater

I have that exact same pump - got it when a Kaiser Permamente closed. Works great. I also use it for pulling a vacuum when marinating meat.

Well, based on a conversation with George and a very thin Chianti from WE, I bought a Merlot, Vinifera Noble. Made the must this weekend and being a guy didn't read all the directions . Instead of placing the yeast in warm water for 15 mins or so ( as per George's video I watched afterwards), I...

When my wine was getting close, I left the hydrometer floating in the carboy. I would push with something sanitized and have to wait till the numbers spun around but... seemed to work for daily monitoring without re-sanitizing.

Rewatch George's videos - he clearly speaks of whcih pack comes with whcih wine type. It'll come out great - you've got the best experts on this forum

Maybe I'm not doing the math right.. NM... I've been thinking that the "normal bottles" were 1 liter.. (slaps head) duh.. had 20 stuck in my head for 1.5L. Pssstt don't tell anyone I screwed up the math Did end up with a 3/4 bottle of the 15... might just have to drink it soon.

Thanks once again for the advice. My air was from 1st time mistakes. Grabbing another bottle while lifting the fillr line above the bucket.. dumb - air in line, allowing the filler the splash in bottle, even letting the bucket get too low before tilting. Oh well.. know better now. It is wierd...

Nedd some advice - just bottled my first wine, used the bucket bottle filler thingy from here. Unfortunately, I kept getting air in the line or when filling the bottle could hear air. Now ready to cork but many have bubbles on top. Should I leave bottles open until all bubbles disappear? Warren

I just transferred this same kit from the primary to carboy. Mine started at 1.086. Took almost 3 days to get really fizzin. Also took 10 days to reach 1.004. Everything looks good though, just a slow learner. Also not a lot of yeast smell with this one. We didn't get any snow in North...

Jim Cook- To make sure credit is given - I got the idea from one of your old posts. I thought the ceramic tile would provide a bit more heat transfer than the Lexan, but.. never would have thought about the reptile pad without your suggestion. I also feel much more comfortable with the pad being...

I'm new at this, 2 kits going now in carboys, but I rigged a ceramic tile with a reptile pad , 16W, underneath that keeps the tile gently warm. I rewired a home depot thermostat to control the pad's on/off. I took the thermistor out of the themostat and connected it to a small rod of stiainless...

Hey great article. Sounds like the primary areas to lengthen are secondary and post clearing. It is interesting to taste the wine as it goes along, sorta a tastebud education on how a wine matures. My first was a vinter's reserve - Chianti. Not a lot of choices for these. I live very dry...

Thank you for all the replys. It's not the time so much as did I do something wrong along the way, did I contaminate the wine - accidently touch something, not sanitize. I sanitize everyting but technically all it takes is to accidently touch my pants/shirt. That's where not knowing the smells...

Hello - just comleted step 3, stabilising and clearing. Surprisingly not much gas. I sampled the wine again to start to learn the taste of the process. It still has wierd "bite" can only describe as "sharp" on the tip of the tounge. THe sharp tastequickly disappears and seems to be less than it...

Great answers. GUess I forgot about the foam, and the fruit, and the mixing.

Thank you for the advice... waiting, waiting. Hard to do for the first kit. Will it be swill, will it taste okay? (still taps foot)