Recent content by Joedaddy

I am now twitter following and facebook liking.... my vacuum pump died....

Well I didn't write down how much I used but I sure I used enough. I was concerned about MLF from the start because of the excess sulfites I used at crush. Things were just so hectic with all the trucks and bins and crushers at our group crush that I just screwed up.

I have the Chemtest Titrets kit for testing sulfites but I think that only works on white wines. I haven't put sulfites in since crush and I think most are gone after regular fermentation and all the punching down. I think I will give the VP41 a try. $30 seems like a lot but it is worth it if...

I have 26 gallons of Cab Sauv that I just did some chromotography on and 3 out of my 5 carboys still have considerable malic. It really isn't tasting very good right now either so I need to get MLF going. I started with 26 brix and high acid and I had put too much sulfites when I crushed...

You have to try pineapple wine. I just made 2 gallons with 6 pineapples. I found some really good cheap pineapples but they are hard to find at the right ripeness sometimes around here.

What shop do you work at? I also buy the grapes from Eastern WA. Our club (Boeing employees and retirees) coordinate group buys and we crush together.

It was actually a really good year for the blueberries in Western Washington. They weren't as big as usual and these seemed exceptionally juicy and sweet. The blackberries were awful though. They were also small but never really seemed to ripen up. It was a cold summer. I decided to skip...

starting SG 1.095

Recipe: 1 gallon water. 3.5 lbs "Dixie" blueberries picked from Green River Valley in Washington 1 tsp acid blend 1/2 tsp tannin 1 tsp nutrient 2.5 lbs sugar 1 campden- next day 1/2 t pectic- next day I pressed the blueberries and then poured the boiled sugar water over the pressed...

Well, I showed it to my brother and law and he offered to braze a new handle on permanently but I didn't really want to do that because of my limited storage. We talked about putting a helicoil in but I didn't think that would be a good permanent solution. My dad ended up taking it and will...

That is the formula I use but I mulitply by .075 so in your example, the TA would be .6 instead of 6.0

Thanks guys, I have seen those coils before but I forgot all about them. I might give them a try. I am going to take the press to Thanksgiving dinner with me and talk to the metal experts in my family and see what they think. My brother in law owns a welding shop and my Dad has a foundry...

I will admit that I haven't been treating it like a lady but it is a press and should be able to handle some pressure. I don't think I can drill into the stainless steel handle even if I use a drill press. I also am unsure if I have enough of the handle fitting into the casting to pin it in...

Last Spring I bought the small fruit press from Amazon when they went on sale for less than $100 for a couple weeks. I have used it 4 times so far and have been very happy with my purchase and the bargain I got it at. I have pressed cherries and blueberries last summer and just finished 600...

I rounded up the kids one afternoon and took them to the u-pick blueberry farm last August. I got enough berries for a couple Saturdays of blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup for the boys....and just over a gallon of blueberry wine for me. I got kind of busy with school starting and...