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  1. C

    Good DVD on wine making

    Trial and error. Learn by doing. Make mistakes. Ask questions on here. Learn from your mistakes. Make your next batch better. Keep striving for excellence. Drink. Repeat.
  2. C

    Using lees to start a new wine...

    Okay to reuse but if that yeast is so expensive by you, buy from online. amazon.com 10 packs for 8.88 with free shipping http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005S15YQQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
  3. C

    28 mm Screw top bottles?

    Zorks are wicked expensive, but they're good closures and don't require a corker, which can be a plus when you're starting out.
  4. C

    Extreme Newbie

    are you using a bucket or carboy for your primary fermenter? I notice you say the airlock is not bubbling. Don't use an airlock at this stage. Leave your wine open to the air or with a towel over it. In the early stages (from when you add yeast until gravity is below about 1.020) of fermentation...
  5. C

    need help - grapes aren't fermenting

    Did you add the kmeta and the yeast at the same time? How far apart were they?
  6. C

    How to top off a Carboy

    That is how full your carboys should be once fermentation is over and your wine is stabilized (kmeta added) You rack the wine every time you accumulate more sediment. Some say rack for over 1/2 inch, some for over 1 inch. I rack every couple of months, or when over 1 inch of sediment, or when I...
  7. C

    Hazy Apple Wine

    It's kind of a shot in the dark, but how many bananas did you use? Did you squeeze them at all during ferment? Is it possible you have an amylase haze? I might try amylase enzyme at this point, it kind of seems like you have tried everything else. I'd also think about your temperature. I've...
  8. C

    Can I blend a malo'd wine with a finished wine with sorbate added?

    No, it's not just the sorbate. You can't MLF a kit wine because of the way that they are balanced. Allegedly if you MLF a kit wine it will make it taste like crap, and not just because of the sorbate.
  9. C

    Topping up Wine

    1. You don't need to top up during secondary. 2. When your wine is dry, you should rack it, at which point it should be topped up. 3. Your wine is probably dry by now after 2 weeks in secondary, but you won't know until you test it. So I'd recommend taking a reading. Opening your airlock for 5...
  10. C

    Blueberry Wine - Too Hot

    Some of the alcohol bite will mellow over several months, and backsweetening will help mask it somewhat as well, but 15% is always going to have a bit of a bite to it. You clearly have a hydrometer, though, so you were probably expecting the alcohol to be 15%, no?
  11. C

    First 20 gal of Dragons blood in a brute

    Yes. Multiply everything by 3. Triple the batch, triple the stuff. Same as baking.
  12. C

    ok no one has answered me in Apfelwin

    Tess. It's never too late for PE. But I don't really know why you're worried about clearing already. You just stabilized it a few days ago. Of course it's not clear. No wine would be clear at this point.
  13. C

    Yellow Plum wine attempt

    Once you do that, you have GOT to leave this wine alone. Put it in a corner and forget about it for a few months. I just read through this entire thread, and I know that this is an exciting new hobby for you, and I'm glad you're so excited, but you NEED to get out of your own way. It seems as...
  14. C

    Yellow Plum wine attempt

    You added campden before fermentation. This prevents wild yeast and allows only the yeast strain you choose to ferment your wine. You need to add it again when fermentation is done to stabilize the wine. So, if you have not added it since before fermentation, you need to add it again.
  15. C

    Advice for my 1.5 month old elderberry wine

    Sounds fairly reasonable. Things to think about: 1. You say you started this out in a carboy. What you ought to consider is doing your primary fermentation in a fermentation bucket, which allows oxygen to get into your must and makes for an easier fermentation, less stressed yeast, and less...
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