Recent content by RBAllan

One thing to consider...when the supply chain breaks down, the ability to produce your own quality wine from grapes and wine grown on your own property not only gives you a sense of satisfaction and independence from the commercial stuff, it's also good for bartering for fruits and veggies from...

Assuming all suppliers use the same quality control measures, there can be a tremendous difference in a grape juice from a particular vintner from year to year. For example, we enjoy a Falanghina wine from a local winery in San Diego. One year was a cold summer and there was so little sugar in...

If you have owls in the area, install an owl box on your property. In the Temecula, CA vineyards, they have several owl boxes per acre to keep the mice/rats/bunnies in check. There is an owl box in our neighborhood with a webcam, and when they are raising babies, they bring in several mice/rats...

A friend of mine has suggested a trick that is sometimes used when you have too much headspace. which is to take cleaned marbles and drop them in to the carboy until the level of the wine reaches the desired level. More a solution for 1 or 2 gallon carboys, though.

Be careful about asking for patience. One woman asked God to give her patience, and God gave her triplets. I guess it was a long-term project. :)

Thanks. I just ordered that book. As they say, you can never have too many recipe books. I also have had the book "Enjoy Home Winemaking" by Robert and Eileen Frishman for decades, but never looked at it until this year when I decided it was time to do something meaningful in my retired life...

Thanks. I've started with the training wheels on a bike approach. Start with a gallon of organic apple juice, add 1.5 cups of sugar, 1/2 packet of Fleishmann's yeast, let it ferment until the specific gravity stops changing, and see what I have. So far so good. Fermentation going great, about...

Retired about 3 years ago. With an unstable economy/society, I decided it was time to develop some skills in the event that store and winery supplies become scarce. Interested in making country wine for personal consumption and sharing with friends and family.