Recent content by gc605

Depending on where you live, you may need federal, state, county, and city licensing. Honestly, it's a mess. The winery where I work is trying to get a pot still, and you wouldn't believe the mountain of paperwork there is. I thought running a winery was rough...having a still is easily ten...

Hey Monty, I hope I'm not too late. If you want to add sugar prior to bottling, then you're talking about upping the RS (residual sugar) 1%. RS is reported as a weight/volume ratio, unlike Brix, which is weight/weight. 1% RS can be thought of as 1 gram sugar dissolved in 100 mL wine (and...

D-80 is a good red yeast--try calling places like Scott and Vinquiry and ask for samples.

if you have a local winery, ask for used bottles or leftover glass gold mine!

also try Vino Italiano and A History of Wine in America

VA, Yeast grow best in the presence of oxygen, so O2 exposure (especially within the first 24-48 hours) is beneficial. As for 3-5 days in, it's a personal judgement call. Some will give a gentle stir, some will leave it alone. Keep in mind that at this stage you won't see a spike in yeast...

the valpolicella region is around venice

if you don't feel like dropping 65 bones on a barolo, you could always go for a nebbiolo--same grape for about a third of the price!

hahaha--gotta keep the feds off your back!

snick, sounds like you've got it down! i hear you can get a distillation apparatus pretty cheap if you look for high school science lab suppliers--how did you come by yours?

1116 is a yeast with a low nitrogen requirement. since you're not going straight from grapes, you may be able to eliminate yeast supplementation (enzyme, DAP, etc). but you'll definitely want to add KMBS...around 30 ppm before you bottle.Edited by: gc605

nebbiolo

Sounds like you've got tartrates. When wine is in cold storage like that, potassium bitartrate (KHT) will precipitate out of the solution. Most wineries will do something knows as "cold stabilization"--chilling the wine to such a point where the KHT falls out before bottling. It's completely...

hey jay--born in bensonhurst, grew up in nj

I've always known Alicante to be used for blending, and it's grown a lot in France, California, and Spain. OOO--it's one of the few grape varietals with red juice. Not clear but RED--really cool. You've got something special on your hands. Try it--if you like it, bottle it! if not, you...