Recent content by drunton

I made 3 gallons of peach wine last year. Ferment started mid-July and in January it still wasn't clear after 3 rackings (once when ferment completed and then every ~3 months). I ended up adding SuperKleer and it still took until March to clear. It was interesting - I was watching daily after...

I have a bunch of racking to do this weekend. One batch to bottle, which will free a carboy and then I'll shuffle around 2 others that are bulk aging. I'm not looking to be lazy, but wonder what others think if I am doing something like this: Move carboy A contents to carboy B then to bottles...

I suggest reading the threads on this board and you can learn a ton of useful information about when and what to add. Particularly, I read all the posts in: Danger Dave’s Dragon Blood Tweaking cheap wine kits These two are full of amazing details and will form the foundation for years of...

Thanks everyone - appreciate the inputs. So far I've de-gassed again with the "3 prong" degasser - lots of bubbles but not as bad as the first time. I added one of the gallons I was saving to keep less sweet so I could fill the 3-gallon carboy, pulled a vacuum with the AIO and Headspace...

Thanks for the input, I did follow the kit directions for additions - FG was 0.992 after fermentation. de-gas, k-meta, k-sorbate, clarifying agents were added two weeks before back-sweetening per the kit directions. To add more information, I also have two one gallon carboys with no...

I made a strawberry zinfandel tweak using the general suggestions from Joe's "cheap tweak" thread. 2 of the 5 gallons got back sweetened, the other I have kept separated to stay dry and play with fining tannins. Before back-sweetening, I used a new AIO to vacuum splash rack 3 times, thinking I...

I hear good things about this one here, on my list to try: https://www.homebrewit.com/napa-valley-stags-leap-merlot-with-grape-skins-winexpert-eclipse-premium-wine-making-kit/

Hi everyone - I am new to the hobby since getting a "beginner" kit for Christmas. I've since made some Dragon Blood and an RJS International Malbec (which is the kit in question now). I also have read a lot on this forum - you are great! After the 5 weeks of the kit instructions, I bottled...