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Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

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    I Read Somewhere That Just One Fruit Fly...

    I’m with @crushday Fall winemaking in the US means fruitflies. They come with the grapes. Do your best to keep them out, keep things clean, and use water filled s-traps after primary. But they’ll be in the primary for sure.
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    Juice bucket mixed results

    How many lbs in your lug? My supplier sells 18lb lugs from Chile in the Spring and 36 lb lugs from California in the fall. Either way, one lug won’t take any time to destem and crush. I think they may just roll around with the dough hook and you’ll need to be messing with it. You can crush...
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    Juice bucket mixed results

    I’ve only made wine from all grapes, or grapes added to a juice bucket. My supplier sells both, can’t your bucket supplier also supply grapes?
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    Chilean Zin Juice Bucket Plan

    My California Zin bucket was just slightly higher last fall and I added sugar to bring it up. I usually add grapes to my buckets (36lbs/bucket), but I want the juice in the right place to start.
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    New jersey winemakers talk

    I picked up my South African Cabernet grapes today from Gino Pinto. They were really great - no raisins, mold or MOG - but expensive.
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    Chilean Zin Juice Bucket Plan

    I’m no expert, but I would think you have 2 choices, either use the original yeast and skip the kmeta and coinnoculate with the malo, or kill the first yeast, add your yeast, let fermentation complete (which will use up the active SO2) and then do your MLF after.
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    WineXpert Degassing wine questions! Please help

    Big shoutout to @joeswine who came out and tasted what I’ve got aging right now. I’ll try his suggestions for rescuing my 8 gallons of sour thin tasting cab-merlot. We tasted 4 different wines together and it was great to get another opinion and ideas from someone who has much more experience...
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    Chilean Zin Juice Bucket Plan

    Well give it a go with the Wyeast and let us know how it works out. The reviews for the product are good. I didn’t have any luck with it but it was one of my first attempts and I bet I added SO2 on top of what was already in the pail. I also didn’t co-innoculate. Good luck and have fun!
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    Chilean Zin Juice Bucket Plan

    @QuiQuog when you get your juice pail, check to see if it contains sulfites, it might say it right on the pail. My chilean buckets have already had sulfites in the past. Even the chilean grapes have sulfite pads in them. That’s why I skip adding more until MLF is complete. I use a chromography...
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    Chilean Zin Juice Bucket Plan

    Be careful adding kmeta to kill off the initial yeast if you are planning on MLF. I have not had good luck with the Wyeast liquid MLF bacteria when I initially dosed the must with kmeta. Now when I do MLF, I initially either hold off on kmeta or use half as much as recommended. Also, you may...
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    WineXpert Degassing wine questions! Please help

    Maybe @joeswine can help, he is nearby.
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    WineXpert Degassing wine questions! Please help

    My friend got me an aerator for Christmas, and it helps. I also sometimes decant it and stir it up with a fork. CO2 masks all of the other measurements, so I am more careful now preparing my samples for pH and TA. A learning process for sure. I’ll have to find a winemaker to taste my wine and...
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    WineXpert Degassing wine questions! Please help

    @winemaker81 I would like to understand it as well. I have the same drill bit with the arms. And I have used a hand pump to degas as well. Now trying the AIO. CO2 has been my biggest problem to date. I am new to this still, I’ve made Spring and Fall juice bucket and grapes for the last 3 years...
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    WineXpert Degassing wine questions! Please help

    I agree. I got the AIO also for that reason. Even with aging a year in carboys, my wine was still gassy. I am hoping the AIO makes a difference. I don’t understand how people can bottle a kit in a few weeks. Stirring with the drill whip was never enough.
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    Juice bucket mixed results

    Interesting read, thanks. My supplier doesn’t provide crushing, so I’ll enlist some friends, and maybe I will toss a few whole clusters in this time. Doing the de-stemming and crushing by hand is time consuming, but we’ll just have to make a party out of of it.
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