Recent content by StimVino

As long as your in the standard TA range, its more about the flavor. I usually check TA just to see if I have a big problem. If so, i’ll correct the acid right away. Otherwise, if its close to what I was expecting (depending on the fruit) then, i may do a bench trial, now or later, with...

All seems good. You’ll know if it gets stuck, must will be flat with no activity. Sounds like you have good nutrients. Temp would be the only concern. If it slows prematurely, add a little heat back. But, I'd let it roll at the lower temp to retain more of the strawberry smell. Be sure to...

Curious if you actually got any tartrite crystals when cold crashing? You may also want to experiment with yeast that preserves more of the fruit flavor in the wine. As Rice Guy mentioned, ph level should be adjusted pre-fermentation, if needed. My recent strawberry wine took a year for the...

Every year i carry over 1,000 lbs of grapes down the stairs into my basement. I thought about getting a stair climbing dolly, but have not yet made the investment. I do crush and press inside, so no back and forth. Im 44 and fairly healthy. But, i did have a fall one time carrying 2 case of...

Thanks for documenting your experiment. It was a fun read. There are more conventional ways to get stronger flavor in your fruit wine such as backsweetening with concentrate without the risk that comes with extended maceration. Cheers-

Thanks for your response. Will give it a test run to work out any kinks.

Im attempting a small keg setup for topping barrels. I purchased a few small corny kegs with in/out ball locks. My question is how do you purge the headspace without blowing wine out of the pressure relief valve. Ive not tried this yet, but im assuming after sanitizing, I would fill my wine...

I recently purchased several barrels to reduce astringency and Im in process of getting these set up. However, I've tried gum arabic in powdered form, which I dont recommend. The powder has trouble dissolving in the wine and tends to clump together even after mixing. If using GA liquid, I dont...

Not a bad thought to make a strong red with a little bourbon flavor. I did a Primitivo with bourbon soaked oak cubes 3 years ago that is really coming into its prime. ( I made the cubes, but thats thats a whole other story.) It was inspired by a Washington winery called Kestrel that used...

Are you doing any blends? If so, any idea what you’ll try?

Jim, thank you for your reply. The pictures are very helpful. I prefer a higher quality barrel, but also think that I should stick with a 10-gal barrel size. My typical batches are between 12gal - 14gal, and usually have 4-6 going at a time. With a 10-gal barrel, I should have enough excess...

Jim, was looking at both options for my first barrel purchase; The balazs comes in 7-gal, which I thought was an odd size. So, im leaning towards 4 - 10gal barrels from Gibbs. Was also considering 2 - 5gal for some flexibility; Is the quality of the balazs much better? Any leaks in the...

Congratulations on your metal. I've made the WE Nebbiolo Eclipse in 2019 and really liked it. Not sure if its the same as the Private Reserve, but I've done several of the WE kits with skins and all have turned out very good.

@Rice_Guy your comments are spot on. Knowing YAN allows you to make correct adjustments to nutrient deficient must, which can in turn reduce the risk of sluggish or stuck fermentations, which can cause several wine faults. An example that stuck out was that a drop of phenol can be detected in...

BarrelMonkey thanks for the information. I was trying to determine how much your standard nutrient addition would bump the YAN. According to Lallemand's website, a 20g/hL dose (0.75g/gal) will provide a YAN equivalent of 20mg/L, which would be 40mg/L for both doses. Assuming that the target...