Recent content by FlavorSeeker

Yes; the guy at my LHBS recommended these two options and went with my known. Since then others recommended SB and I've started regretting my choice. Worst case, I'll be able to offer Chardonnay as an option, when we have guests.

I took a gravity reading this morning; primary has finished (.998). I'm racking to secondary today. Unless anyone highly-recommends otherwise, I plan to oak three gallons and leave the other three unoaked. I'm not a huge fan of Chardonnay, this batch is just to give me a stock of cooking wine...

Second the hydrometer AND patience. I've introduced several friends to winemaking and homebrewing and, or the life of me, I don't understand why someone would leave their first visit to the LHBS without a hydrometer. It is the single most-important quality control device available to the WM/HB...

I forgot to add oak during primary. My plan was to start this WinExpert Chardonnay six gallon kit in my primary and then secondary as two three-gallon batches: one oaked for drinking and the other unoaked for cooking. However, I missed the kit instructions, stating the three oak packs were to...

Both taste quite pleasing. The Shiraz-Cab has a much more robust flavor and a great mouth feel and the mixed berry has a wonderful flavor. I'm going to rack to secondary now and continue, as per recipes.

On October 19th I started two batches of wine. The first one is a mixed berry from frozen fruit (blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and raspberry). The other is a Winexpert LE 2013 Limited Edition South African Shirz-Cab blend with skins and seeds. I was supposed to pull the straining bags after...

I just started doing it with my current batch. Now there's no need to sanitize it for each reading, along with thief and test jar. I'm still planning to use the old method when I need more precise readings near the end of fermentation and when solids are a factor, as others have stated..

This morning I noticed strawberry seeds floating in my pee and figured that was probably the tip of the iceberg, so I sanitized a carboy and dumped the primary into it through a screened funnel. (I supposed this could be splash racking on steroids.) There was so much sediment that I had to back...

This evening my SP had what appeared to be a very dense sludge on top, but when I stirred it, the sludge dissipated effortlessly. I just checked it before hitting the hay; the layer of "sludge" had reformed, but I now there were bb-sized bubbles dotting the surface. These bubbles were slowly...

Rather than reading through all the directions, as I always tell my kids, I added the initial ingredients directly to the lees from my mixed berry wine, presumably killing the yeast with the sulphites in the ReaLemon. Should I wait the recommended 48 hours and pitch the same Burgundy yeast I...

This batch has now been in the primary for twenty-two days. SG is down to 1.009 @ 66f. This down about .002 in two days, so it's still fermenting albeit slow, which I'm attributing to the lower than recommended temperature. I pulled the fruit eleven days ago, but there's some material left...

One good indicator is visible signs of active fermentation (fine bubbling and flocculation). Would letting the must settle overnight (or even a few days) and racking off the solids relieve it of some of the sugars or have all the sugars been extracted from the fruit solids at this point?

So, I just returned from my business trip, pulled the two straining bags of fruit and checked the gravity...over 1.2!!! Now, I'm hoping this is due to the high volume of visible solids in the must. I'm considering letting it sit in the primary overnight and racking to another primary to...

Thanks, Jack. I was able to get some citric acid this afternoon.

After the must cooled to 72 f, the SG is 1.092 (accounting for +.002 temperature adjustment). So, I'm back in the ballpark for my expected starting gravity. I just added Bentonite (not in the recipe, but I've seen it recommended elsewhere), yeast nutrient, citric acid and k-meta. It's about 5...