Recent content by Dabillskid

Thanks for the reply, does yeast strain matter compared to the typical red strains used. For example I was looking at the charts and there are plenty I can use that will work with lower temps. For example Lavin 1118. Thanks

Has anyone tried colder red wine fermentation? I’m reading you can get more fruit extraction and a more quality wine if you go low and slow. Seems like main issues would be stalling of yeasts. I was thinking you could maybe counter this by starting lower and bumping up temps over time or using...

Thank you. I do use a hydrometer to completion. I’ll let them decant for a while and see how it tastes. I have some Barolo in bulk. I guess I let that bulk age longer than 6 months. I usually rack it every 2-3 months and add 1/4 tsp of kmeta at each rack while bulk aging. Is this what you guys do

Ok so I’m on my second year doing this. We are doing it from pressed juice buckets. We degas with a drill, ferment to completion then sulfite, bulk age for around 6 months while sulfiting every 2 months. Sulfite the bottles and the corks, bottle the wine. It taste great for about two months then...

Uploaded a picture of a barrel I got from Carolina wine barrels. Looks to be holding water very well. I didn’t plan to put my wine into the barrel until end of January. Is this ok to leave full of water with a mix of Citric acid and kmeta in which I put inside already for a month ? Just don’t...

This is exactly how mine looked. Was bubbling from the relief valve. I got my amarone from them but it was from Italy and had no problems. I just added lavin 212 racked to a dominjohn with some yeast nutrient and it’s bubbling nicely. Only thing is I picked this up from one of my grandfathers...

I picked up two 5 gallon Regina Barolo pales of pressed juice. For some reason it was bubbling at the relief valve on the top. It was stored outside and it’s been in the 30’s in upstate NY and snowing so no way it could have started fermenting I thought. I just checked the spec gravity and it’s...

Barrel looks great. They give you a stand and a spout if you wish to put that in. I️ think I’m just going to drill a hole. It’s just I’m not sure if I️ should swell it with just water or swell it with kmeta plus water. I️ guess it can’t hurt to use kmeta for the swell

I’m new to this. I️ have a 10 gallon barrel that came in no wrapping got it from Carolina barrels online. They guy said it is sterile inside I️ just have to drill a hole. Should I️ soak with a kmeta water solution to swell it? They said just use water. I️ just don’t want to ruin 10 g of wine. I️...

I’m using fresh juice so not a kit. This is good to know. Can you possibly explain why to not MLF fresh juice? Thanks!

I have a amarone bulk aging and already sulfited it so it’s too late for MLF. I️ used this yeast to handle the Malic acid tartness. If this yeast uses Malic acid should that take care of the tartness since it uses it up? Not sure if this is similar to using MLF. I’m not familiar about how to MLF...

Pumpkin did you MLF. I️ am essentially doing exactly this with 10 g of amarone but didn’t MLF.

The more I’m reading I️ probably should have done MLF. I️ did use lavin 71b which is supposed to do some MLF? What’s the concensus do you all MLF your dry reds?

Ajmassa. Great point. I️ thought this to myself as well. If anything maybe they’re not dried and just pressed? Ripasso is where they pass the volpolicella through the skins of amarone from my understanding. Either way it should come out pretty good. Probably not like a 100$ bottle of amarone but...

What do you mean by chapitilizing? I️ calculated alcohol percent of ~ 13.5%. I️ thought amarone packed some more punch also but it was just pressed juice so no skins or anything like that