I have to thank Joe here for this thread. Thanks to the detail present I was able to save some very thin Cab & Malbec juice buckets. I had them in carboy on oak cubes for a year and they still weren't quite right. Added some tannin powder, let it sit for another month and that wine changed...
I also went through the same process in the spring with 6 gallons of Cab Sauv juice and an 18lb lug of grapes. I'm in the same boat as you and used a spaghetti strainer and some gloves to do my final press. She's sitting in the carboy now going through malo, smelled / tasted great at transfer...
Thanks for posting this question. I've been wondering the same thing since I saw the prices last fall. I'll be ordering a bucket of cab juice and a lug of grapes with it.
I agree that the instructions tend to downplay the effort required to properly degas (another reason my first batch was crap). I just degassed 2 batches recently using the wine whip and a poor mans vacuum pump (link below) and found it took me nearly one hour each to get them properly degassed...
I ordered 2 buckets of juice from Keystone. Guys there are great and their new facility is a pretty good size. I'm hoping they come through.
Also, just got an email from Wine, Barley & Hops in Feasterville that has juice (not grapes).
http://www.winebarleyandhops.com/
Seem to be good guys...
Sounds like a plan. I have a decent cellar I've acquired over the last year or so (100+ bottles) from a variety of different wineries so I have stuff to drink to hold me over while I wait...haha.
I was going to give a go at a kit with skins for my second round...any thoughts on those?
Also, I...
Thanks for the reply. Letting her rest for the next couple months was my plan but I wanted to check in with those that know more than I to see if I needed to add anything. I didn't want it to go too far down the road in a bad way if I could intervene now and "fix" it now.
Thanks for the...
Hello Everybody!
Just got into winemaking and was going to bottle my first kit over the weekend (winexpert trinity red). I had a taste and it was very acidic. Closest thing I could compare it with would be a 2-3 day old Lambrusco. Any thoughts on this one?
I ended up not bottling the whole...