Recent content by strowheim

I've always experienced it as a smell, as opposed to a sweetness.. i'll need to crack another bottle to comment on the smell, however it doesnt seem to effect the taste to me.

I had a bottle blow up on me last time I was corking because we didn't leave enough air space... forced the cork down, bottle blew up all over my shorts and feet. it sucked.

I've done 2 RJS and a Winexpert. Winexpert was a Cab Franc (silver award winner label on the box)... its about 4 months old now, we decided to age it in the bottle, but we tasted it right after the bottle shock was supposed to be done, and there is significant kit taste. i'm aware this is a very...

for those who dont have jars with their aspirators: http://www.imed.com/shop/detail.cfm/sku/K7281 8$, comes with tubing

the oldest one was about a year old.. does it ever go away?

Steve - I dreamed it up in my head. I figured throwing shellfish in a wine couldn't possibly be good for it. All - Thanks for the info. I always try to buy kits with the largest amount of concentrate I can... I've done two RJS and one Winexpert. My next batch will be straight from grapes...

I'm thinking about making a kit wine (selection series Pinot Noir) without any fining chemicals. This means I wouldn't use any bentonite or chitosan/kielosol. I would let it bulk age for 6+ months to make sure it clears on its own. The reason for doing this is to eliminate as much as...

have you tested your hydrometer in a cup of 60degree water? does it read 1.000 or something higher? consider checking that to make sure your hydro is calibrated correctly...

yeah, the pics aren't too clear, was hard to get good pics w/flash into a plastic carboy this batch is nearing the end of secondary fermentation (winexpert cab franc)... so basically i'm waiting for the SG to hit around .996 or less consistently before i stabilize and add clarifying agents...

you worried about scratching the inside of the better bottle w/the fizz-x or other drill mounted fixture? scratches to bacteriums to vinegar

i went back to look at it, and it looked like the sulfite or whatever dissolved, because i tapped on the carboy (its a better bottle) and it kind of broke up, looking like a bubble (i swear these arent bubbles!) there's still a little film where the water went in. so should i sg test it and...

I think I messed up my wine. I somehow got some airlock water into the wine, and now it looks like there is some particulate matter in the top of the carboy. Wine is about 5 days out from being racked after completing secondary ferm. i'm pissed. can someone tell me if I messed up my wine? not...

Just got my rig up and running. Did a quick degass test, and it works like a charm! bought a gomco 300 on ebay for 50, added some home depot parts, and i'm good to go! special thanks to rawlus for helping me out!!

Awesome advice, guys... thanks. We just kicked it off. I spilled about 1 - 1.5 cups of the must when the primary slipped out of my hand on the way up to the storage area. :slp Then we sprinkled the yeast and I went to put the airlock in the grommet hole... and the grommet fell into the must...

Okay, I think I'll put everything in, just to be safe. It just seems like 4 packets of yeast is a lot :-) I'm actually doing the RJS kit... so you are saying that I should expect more than 6gallons? When you put the rest in the bottle, did you mix it up first somehow to make sure you had all the...