Recent content by rallenhall

Did a short tour of Wales last summer. Who knows, with climate change you may be in the epicenter of new wine region.

I was gifted a bunch of pin-locks years ago, and they have become my wine kegs (ball locks are my beer kegs, not that it makes any difference). You'll have a hard time sealing corny kegs with low pressure. I usually fill the keg, purge the headspace with CO2, and then hit it with a burst of...

My brother used Have-a-Heart traps and dropped his 'coons off on the other side of the wide Maumee River; at least until he found out that a friend on the other side of the river was doing the same thing.

Venison loin with a hearty red wine is my idea of the perfect dinner.

There's something special about things like making maple syrup or other heritage arts (like vintning). I live on the farm where my father grew up, and am tapping trees in the same woods. Dad and his brother spent nights after school stoking an iron kettle and selling syrup for $1 a gallon during...

A sipper while you're making wine .... 100 proof rye whiskey (I use Rittenhouse, not expensive), marinated with orange peel for 24 hrs., maple syrup added at an 80 whiskey/20 syrup ratio. Play with the proportions to your satisfaction. Just pulled my taps after the annual 4-5 gallon production...

Many thanks for the comments and suggestions. I began sampling with conditioner and found that I had to add around 16ml of conditioner per bottle (or essentially the whole 500ml pack of conditioner per 6 gal.) in order to smooth out the flavor and acidity. Even then I'd label the wine as...

My wife and I both enjoy dry rieslings, but my two attempts resulted in something I don't care to repeat. The first was a WineXpert Reserve California Riesling which we drank but didn't really care for and the latest was a Finer Wine Tavola Riesling that is just basically bad. My wife took one...