You're asking me to be articulate so I'll try. For the wine that I drink most... Petite Syrah or a red blend with Petite Syrah... I like it "in your face", i.e., a glass of "black ink" where the bold fruit flavors come at you right up front and linger. For this batch of cherry fruit wine, I'd...
I'm trying to achieve another good result using a yeast that comes highly recommended. I know there's not just one yeast for any wine so thought I would ask for some ideas.
I'm making another batch of dry cherry wine and need recommendations for yeast. For the first batch I made (which turned out well), I used Lalvin EC-1118. Has anyone used Lalvin 71B-1122? If so, what say you?
Thanks to everyone who weighed in. What I did was remove the labels with a straight-edge razor blade. Some of the glue residue was left intact as I wasn't concerned about the appearance of the outside of the bottle as much as I was the inside. The bottles went through a wash cycle in the...
I'm preparing to bottle 5 gallons and wonder if it would be OK to run the old bottles I've been saving through a dishwasher. These bottles have their original labels which I plan to leave on the bottle. I don't want to dissolve the labels and have them clog the filter on the dishwasher so is...
I've made a dry cherry wine. I'll be giving some to family & friends who I'm sure will prefer it to be sweeter. What's the best way to sweeten a wine after it's been bottled?
The only clarifying agent I used was Pectic Enzyme (2.5 teaspoons for 5 gallon). Don't "scold" me for it, but although you and others suggested I leave it alone, I went ahead and returned it to the primary (bucket) on July 18 so I could degass. I fashioned a stirring stick out of a plastic...
Degassing
I plan on drinking this wine sooner rather than later so I'll opt not to let it degas on its own & over time in the carboy. I'm still debating (myself) on how to go about it. I'm inclined to favor returning it to the bucket and stirring with some kind of homemade attachment...
I'm using a recipe from the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook for dry cherry wine and the instructions mention nothing of degassing. This is only my second winemaking effort, the first being a hot pressed Merlot juice which I did not degass. The S.G. of the dry cherry is now at 0.994. Although I...
I'm using a recipe from the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook and the instructions mention nothing of degassing. This is my second winemaking effort, the first was a hot pressed Merlot juice. I did not degass the merlot. The S.G. is now at 0.994. Although I already transferred from the...
Thanks again for the good advice, words of wisdom and encouragement. I will patiently wait for the yeast to "finish their meal". I've posted another question regarding malolactic fermentation but I don't think anyone has responded. Somewhere I read that putting a cherry wine through...
Thanks for comments and suggestions. I only moved the contents from the primary and into a carboy because the instructions said to do so at 1.030 and I was actually at 1.012. Anyway, I'll take your suggestion to wait and or cool the carboy in water. I may still surround the carboy (which is...
I'm fermenting 5 gallons of dry cherry wine using a recipe in the 'Winemaker's Recipe Handbook' by Raymond Massaccessi. I used Lalvin EC-1118 yeast and introduced 1/2 of the yeast nutrient prior to pitching the yeast and the remainder two days later. The initial S.G. was 1.085. 48 hours later...