Recent content by joshayogi

When you back sweeten - how do you do it if you are using sugar? I assume you shouldn't just add the sugar right in, correct? Do you pull out some wine, mix the sugar, and then add that back into the main batch? Has anyone seen clumpy crystals settle a few weeks after adding sugar?

It's clear - I'm just worried about what it could have been used for before me...

If you bought a Carboy from Craigslist off of a guy who was very nice would you trust it? How would you clean it?

Can anyone help me understand why everyone is saying not to use bleach? I'm very curious because it's mentioned in a way that suggests it should be common knowledge. Why is this?

To keep bugs out during racking? Can you elaborate?

So KMeta (is this a nickname? If so what is it called?) is this a powder? And then I just make it a spray with water?? And do I use it just like the No Rinse cleaner? What about washing before the sanitizing? Dawn dish detergent? Can't only use KMeta right?

Thank you everyone. I did not know the "never add water" rule. The recipe in that book did call for water.

Julie, I use "Winemakers Recipe Handbook" - it was suggested to me and was said to be very old, tried and true. It copyright is from 1976, it has a purple cover with some old school looking drawings of different fruits on it. I like it. Thank you for the info. Honesty when I was adding the...

When you add the sorbate - do you add it dry? Or mix it first with some of the wine from the batch? Or with water? What about sterilization?

Hello everyone. I use a One Step cleaner - but I'm more than willing to take any suggestions. I have a really stupid question. Are you supposed to let the carboy, bottles, tools, etc dry before you use them? It seems like if you were to let the carboy sit for as long as it would need to dry...

Hello. I am making a 3 gallon batch of Concord grape. I picked 18lbs of grapes - and started everything in a primary - starting SG 1.090 I though my recipe called for removing the grapes after 24 hours - but wanted to let it sit longer. I took the grape skins out last night (day 4) and...

Any good online resources on how to read and use a hydrometer? I get the general idea but I don't know what range to start, how often to check - and the layout of the hydrometer in general.

They are very very clean. I will take all of your advice. Thank you very much

Hello - Just started a batch with 30 pounds of hand picked Concord grapes. My starting hydro reading was .060 I don't want a super strong wine - I would like it to be sweeter as well. If this is what I'm going for: should I just cease the fermentation once it's worked for a little while...

I got a great deal on old glass 5 gallon carboys. It was on Craigslist - I met up with the guy and he was really nice - we even had a coffee. He told me he used them for making wine. I picked them up over a year ago and now I'm ready to use them but I'm wondering if I should. Is there a...