Recent content by Millzy64

Appreciate all the responses and I guess there's not much to do but wait and maybe toss a little more oak at it. It just worries me since I've made a lot of Cab, Merlot and other reds in the past and although they all have really heavy tannins when they were young, I've never had this acid...

ABV is around 13.5

I made a Lodi Old Vine Zin about 5 years ago from a CC kit. It tasted pretty good right at bottling. Nothing special, but drinkable. I stowed a couple bottles away and opened one of them recently and it tasted completely different. It was amazing how much better it was after a few years of...

Thanks for the replies. Maybe it is just too young and I need to wait for the oak and time to work it's magic. I did add Tartaric acid to the must and I'm sure that's what I'm tasting. Here's the numbers. Pre-fermentation TA: .75 PH 3.8 Post Fermentation: TA: .70 PH: 4 After MLF and...

I made a batch of Cabernet this past fall. The grapes were a little over ripe and the acid was low so I added quite a bit. Testing showed it was fine, I completed MLF (which testing shows now at 0) and still, the wine just tastes acidic. It's aging now and I've racked a couple of times. I...

I'm with Grapeman. Innoculate with MLF.

I bought a Mini Jet a couple of years ago and never looked back. Works perfectly for small batches (6 gallons or less) and the pads are cheap. I think at some point I'll upgrade to the Super Jet as my production seems to get bigger every year. I have found that I need to open up the pump...

I used marbles twice and both times, no matter how careful I was, I had several of them break in the carboy. Not a huge deal since it all settles and I filter but it still made me uneasy knowing I had broken glass in my wine. Personally, I would continue to use the smaller carboy and an extra...

Good idea. But I think I'm going to need a bigger bucket!

I do regret not making a bigger batch. It tastes great already. Can't wait to see how it is after a year in the bottle, if makes it that long! LOL I made some Port style blackberry last year and I fortified it with brandy. I also fermented to dry and then back sweetened it. I came out pretty...

I wouldn't want to over oak a Pinot so I'll probably wait it out and add later as suggested. Good advice. The CC kits always seem to come with too little oak and are always too low in ABV for my taste. I usually hold back some water when making the kits. I did this one to finish out at about 12%...

The video was the very first minutes of the crush. She stayed in there for about 10 minutes, determined to really crush them good. After that time, they were crushed better than any mechanical crusher I've ever used. It was a mash. At first I was thinking it wasn't going to work, but once she...

This past fall I made a last minute decision to do a 3 gallon batch of Port style wine. I wanted to try and make it in the most authentic style as possible. I picked up a case of some nice Merlot grapes from Napa (okay, not the usual Port grape, but they looked really good!) and decided that...

I just started a CC Pinot Noir kit last weekend. It's cooking along nicely but I was just wondering if anyone else has made this kit. I did a search and came up empty. I'm considering adding a little extra oak. The little they supply with the kit doesn't seem like enough. Anyone have any...

I'm not convinced that you can nail down all the sharpness to just malic acid. The MLF might help, but then again, it might ruin it too. It's a gamble and don't forget the risk in exposing it to such low SO2 levels while the MLF is doing it's thing. Why not just back-sweeten a bit if you have...