Recent content by Sean

Unfortunately, I live in Luxembourg as of 1.5mths ago and homebrewing is not nearly as big as it was in the UK and the UK has nothing on North America. So my choices are quite limited. Shipping is a bit of a beast. Plus I think Ive pushed my luck with my wife in terms of how much gear Ive...

Hi All, Between the videos and this thread I have been motivated to try a 6mth extended maceration on a WE E Stags Leap merlot kit. I wanted to see what you guys think about the necessity of keeping the lees? I bought some 25L glass balloons to do this in but the opening, while larger than a...

Started a batch of hard apple cider yesterday. Got 6L of apple juice from the store yesterday. I only sweetened to 1.070 though. Intend to ferment until dry then put in some fliptops and carbonate. I didnt realise that the sugar was using to sweeten had some sweetner in it. So will have...

A little bumpity bump hoping someone can make a suggestion.

Hi All, Ill be moving to Luxembourg this fall and will be looking to get a much bigger place to live vs London! With that in mind if I can find a place with the space I would like to try my hand at making wine from grapes as well as kits. Does anyone know, or can they recommend, any companies...

Hi All, So the primary fermentation is complete and now off for 10days of secondary. The temperature control was not nearly as good as I had hoped. You can have a look for yourselves below. It was a bit of a work in progress but Im amazed at how hot it can get if left to its own devices...

Discovered the same thing myself. Seems there is some sort of bottle shock that needs at least 2 weeks to dissipate. Took me a while to figure out. Was tasting as I was bottling and everything is good. Then open a bottle and it is terrible... Whats going on... Not sure bottle shock is...

Nice setup you have there. Looks like youve staked out some space in the basement. Makes me want to move back to North America for the space!

Now youve got me worried...

Thats more or less my solution as well. Im not super happy with it to be honest. Originally tried to have a bank of 4 generators but my cooling block was not long enough....:slp Im not sure if one generator will be enough for you. Im coming to the conclusion that I need a better solution...

Yeah, thats right but the solution isnt great. They get too cold! I think it froze on me yesterday. You might be right that circulating coolant inside the bucket instead of the wine is the better option. Also still trying to get the program to do what I want it to. Its not turning off...

Hi both, Thanks for your comments. As mentioned I was looking for an excuse to teach myself to programme. @Ted: Ill let you know how it goes. I live in an apartment in London and I find that I cant keep the temp low. I feel like it is burning too hot. So I want to give it a go with a lower...

Ive been looking for a project that would give me an excuse to teach myself how to programme micro-controllers. So here it is the fruits of my labours: If, and I stress IF, it works it should keep the temperature of the must between 19C and 21C. Ive got a heating pad underneath the bucket to...

Thanks Paul. That's really interesting. How much yeast nutrient do you add per litre? I would like to give this a go on the next batch and see what impact it has.

This has been a fascinating thread. Ive run two of the eclipse kits thus far. The Malbec turned out ok but I found it to be a little flat. I just finished the merlot about 1.5mths ago. Ive got a bit of an experiment going on between the malbec and the merlot. Ive mixed 3x5L demijohns with...