Recent content by lacnlac

How long do I want to ferment the wine on the skins? Do I wait till fermentation is complete to press? I suppose the longer I leave it the more tannins I get out of it.

The grapes are costing me 90 cents a pound and he is not charging for the crushing. The grower is very nice and helpful. I will say that I had a difficult time finding primaries that are 20 plus gallons. There are none sold in this area, so I had to have them shipped from Seattle. Does anyone...

I would be happy to post my yeild. I was told by the grower that 2000 lbs would yeild 150 gallons of finished wine. So using that I claculated roughly 25 gallons finished. (my math could be way off)

I do have 3- 6 gallon carboys and plan on purchasing two more. I am also planning on purchasing two rubbermaid 32 gallon trash can. Thanks for the food grade tip. I am also in the process of purchasing a press. I tell ya start up can be expensive. I will most certainly post the numbers and any...

The grapes come from a professionally maintained vineyard in the Columbia Valley of Washington State. Most of the grapes are sold to wineries, but the owner comes from a background of home winemaking himself, so he likes to help the little guy out. He told me that he checks the brix, TA, and I...

In a weeks time I will be purchasing 300lbs of Merlot grapes from a vineyard. The owner of the vineyard is going to crush and de-stem the grapes for me. I plan on using a cultured yeast for fermentation. Is it absolutely necessary to use campden tablets, and is potassium/sodium metabisulphite...