Recent content by Slyder73

Yes, I used the pectic enzyme as per instructions at the transfer from primary to secondary stage.

Hi all. I'm looking for advice for what may be a clearing issue or a mistake on my part that is causing the clearing issue. I put in a Cellar Craft Amarone kit with a grape skin pack on March 13. Secondary was done March 23. Degassing and clarification was done April 13. Degassing was...

I heard a fellow Yellow Tail on the radio a couple years ago here in Vancouver being interviewed. I remember his answer, when asked the question about why more wine is coming in screw tops. He said someting along the lines of market research showing that the average North American and Canadian...

Thanks for the replies. The Rosso is indeed good and it's only been in the bottle a couple months. I'm going to have hard time getting any of it to the 2 year mark! :: My Amarone is still in carboy, should be bottle in the beginning of July. I'm looking forward to it.

Was it a grapeskin kit? What exact kit? If you did a Cellar Craft kit, all of my grapskin Cellar Craft reds have that same white cloudy spots that appear on the surface during secondary. They provide an enzyme that helps but some residue still appears. Also, if you did a grapeskin kit...

I put labels on all my bottles. I print nice labels on plain paper, cut them out and apply using simple kids school glue stick. To get them off, just running the label under warm water for 10 to 15 seconds and they pretty much fall off. Quick wipe and done. As for new bottles I"m taking...

My first 3 kits were WineExpert 10L kits; an Australian Shiraz, Sangiovese and a Sauvignon Blanc. I chose them because they could be ready fast. All three kits have been quite the dissapointment. They all taste like grape juice with that ever omnipresent "kit taste" that so many threads are...

Just put on 2 batches of showcase selection Amarone with the superpacks. One for us, one for a wedding gift. Anyone had this one? Anyone had it around for a year or so and how is it? We just bottled on the weekend the Rosso Fortissimo and it is fantastic, even fresh in the bottle. Can't...

As long as the wine is bottled, and you transport it in boxes so they can't roll around or break on anything you are fine. If you have wine in carboys, that is a little more difficult...sloshing etc and if you put a solid plug on, you run the risk of the jostling causing some degassing and...

-Extra potassium metabisulphite to make sanitizing solution. Most kits don't come with any or come with a small package only. -Carboy brush. -Bottle brush, especially if you are just starting and collecting old used bottles from friends, co-workers etc. You'll get a lot with dried up...

I'll weigh in. The temperature at which you dissolve your sugar is irrelevant, as long as it dissolves. Warm to boiling, as long as the sugar dissolves, and it will. There is no temperature that will make it more effective or not. It is simply a molecule dissolved in a liquid and will have...

Well, from the Huns to the Mongols, fermented mare's milk was common. Where there were settlements, people found something to make alcohol out of. Some anthropologists argue that it was the discovery of alcohol in Neolothic times that caused tribes to settle so as to be able to grow grains...

Thanks for the reply. I haven't been able to do a SG reading, have been out of town. Am back now and will check the readings. I see in the carboy though, both still have a small flow of tiny bubbles, indicating some fermentation is still going on.

I have 2 Cellar Craft kits on right now, the Rosso Fortissimo and Pinot Noir. One started a week or so before the other because I only have 1 primary bucket. Both are in secondary, with the Rosso obviously in for the week longer. I can't get to racking, clearing etc until at least Sunday...

I was warned not to let bottles soak in water to loosen the labels because the glue dissolves into the water. When you empty the bottles, there is glue residue inside the bottles that may not all rinse out easily. Be sure to thouroughly rinse them out after to prevent this. I usually just...