Recent content by Fermentationist

Note: This wine does NOT have a sulfury taste (aka rotten eggs) at all. It just has this quality that is almost imperceptible to smell or taste, but causes your throat to itch and irritates your nasal passage. Its like sticking your nose into a bottle of campden tablets, only not quite that...

You are probably right that I overdid the sulfites. Regarding the sparkling wine: My understanding was that Pottassium Sorbate only inhibits yeast reproduction, not actual fermentation. My intention was to pitch a sufficient quantity yeast at bottling (thus why I created the starter) to...

Let me look at my notes... OK, here's the full details. I live in southern Wisconsin. I'm primarily a beer brewer, but I like to make wine and cider every fall. The varietal name is Deleware, its a relative of the concord, but is smaller and pink-colored. The grapes were harvested on Sept...

Last fall was only my second season making wine, and my first using any sulfites. I made a red and a white. So far, I have only bottled the white. To my white wine, I added crushed cambden tablets at bottling (after I racked off the sediment and before racking into the bottles), and now...

I'm concerned whether refrigeration can put the brakes on a full-out fermentation. Granted, it will be dilluted, but my goal is to bottle when the gallon of sweet juice is at the peak of fermentation with an aggressive yeast (probably Champagne yeast). I'm also concerned about executing the...

(p.s.: It finally worked!! I have been trying to post this for several weeks now. I figured out its because it has the word F-R-E-E-Z-E, which the forum filter picks up on "F-R-E-E" as potential spam and puts in a que for moderation. Just wish the moderators would bother to check the forum...

I have 7 gallons of a nice white wine that I have yet to bottle, from this year's harvest. It is fully fermented to dryness. When I made the wine, before I added the yeast to the must, I collected a gallon of unfermented juice, and canned it in mason jars using a boiling water bath. I want...

Yes. You should wait until all the activity has stopped before you place it in the cold. I am having a problem with a red from grapes I harvested this September. Right now my basement is too cold, and I don't think that Malo-Lactic Fermentation was finished when it started getting cold...

(I am posting this here because I cannot seem to get any of my posts to show up in the regular winemaking forum section.) I have 7 gallons of a nice white wine that I have yet to bottle, from this year's harvest. It is fully fermented to dryness. When I made the wine, before I added the...

I have 7 gallons of a nice white wine that I have yet to bottle, from this year's harvest. It is fully fermented to dryness. When I made the wine, before I added the yeast to the must, I collected a gallon of unfermented juice, and canned it in mason jars using a boiling water bath. I want...

Bottle conditioning a sweet sparkling wine? (Note: I am only posting on this thread because I can't seem to get a new thread started. Tech problems or something?) I have 7 gallons of a nice white wine that I have yet to bottle, from this year's harvest. It is fully fermented to dryness...

I have 7 gallons of a nice white wine that I have yet to bottle, from this year's harvest. It is fully fermented to dryness. When I made the wine, before I added the yeast to the must, I collected a gallon of unfermented juice, and canned it in mason jars using a boiling water bath. I want...

I failed to mention something in my last post: Once all the tartaric acid has precipitated and settled (it may take several weeks or months), siphon the wine off the precipitate.

Another way to get rid of tartaric acid is to cold-condition the wine. The cooler the better, so long as it is not freezing. The tartaric acid will precipitate to the bottom as a solid -- cream of tarter. There are also some kinds of special chalk you can add that help precipitate out more...