Search results

One of the many advantages to living through a winter in the Maritimes, Canada (insert sarcasm here) is the ability to cold stabilize wine which has aged either in glass or in small 23 l oak barrels. The average winter night time temp now is about 0 deg F. I would normally cold stabilize for 2...

Put some of the new WK kits on with following date codes:L210615S1-50 80249, and L210331S1 - 50 97773. How do u decode the actual production dates from these, and are they significantly different?

Just arrived in country , small all in one 2 bag kit. makes 1 gallon. Called " Wineology". 4-6 week kit, IKEA type instructions. Has any one tried one yet? Just put mine one - white - Pino Gris. Truly a box wine. Ric

the latest eciipse with skins adds the kiesolol in two batches, one before chitosan, and second 25 hrs later. i forgot second package. .ow ready to bottle. should i still add it?

On a 5 week stay in Guatemala and Belize and have no idea of wines here. Anybody with some experience. Only one promoted is a fruit wine called Nisipoko, which kumquat related. May be forced to choke back ok some Chilean Malbec. RIC hattin Escaped from Nova Scotia.

Have a large number of plastic carboys ( Better Bottle and others) that would like to use for vacuum degassing, transferring and racking. Plastic is not strong enough by itself - carboy walls basically collapse at anything over 2 in of H20 vacuum and that is not enough to degass anything. Has...

Over the last couple of years, I have accumulated about 200 ten liter, 15 L and 18 L plastic bags from different wine kits. They all seem to be the same, with similar caps although the Pak Lab ones are single layer. You can get the dispensing caps as well. I have used them to store wine in...

Any tweaks recommended?? I am going to try the additional raisins in secondary and some dates. Will take it to very dry and then bulk age for 4 months. Anybody use bananas or currants?? Ric

As some may be aware, getting the starting SG for the last batch of LE kits from Wine Expert has been a challenge and in some cases impossible. I asked for help from their technical consultant Tim Vandergrift and here is the e-mail chain with his response: "Ric, Please, do not chaptalise...

Talking with my local WineKitz franchisee, and he says that Vineco is changing its franchise organization and removing a layer of management - REgional directors are going or are gone. There will also be a realignment of products with the Wine Kitz, Wine Art and Cellarcraft lines going to one...

Tried to pass this info along through the main thread. I have been using plastic screw cap closures now for about 3 months and have gone through about 1000. They are the Novembal 30H60 model and are called Novatwist. does anybody else have any information on their effectiveness because, they...

Over the last year have accumulated about 150 wine kit bags in various sizes - 7 l, 10l, 15 l and 18l and saved the snap caps. Other than using them aboard a boat to keep wine cool in the bilge, has any one else found a use for them? I just hate to throw them out. Ric

Making wine from grapes and juice so the final amount of must is never known. And the volume changes because of racking. I seem to end up with a prime number as a volume. So in order to minimize oxygen contact, need to keep the fermentors full to the brim, although I notice that some WE...

I inadvertently posted this article under the vacuum filtration thread and it got buried, If the moderator will allow, I will post again as a separate thread and may have to split it into two . Here goes: Several posts in different threads have asked the question what level of vacuum should...

Does any one know if there is aa allinone package for a hydrometer/thermometer? Seems like a simple and convenient thing to do. Ric

Made several levels of PackLab kits over the last 3 years and have come to the conclusion that bulk aging in carboys for these wines is a waste of time and effort!. Discussed this with the PL wine maker today and he agreed. Apparently, they have adjusted the kits, specifically the reds so that...

I currently have 4 SB ready to go: 2 from the new Eclipse line from Vineco, a Cru Select from RJSpagnols and a full juice from Magnotta Winery in Montreal. A read of the literature suggest a variety of yeasts will tweak the floral front end and give the wine a bit more complexity See Shea...

Made CC Showcase Carmere last year, bottled Oct 2011, and now tasting it. Tartaric has dropped out so it is ready to go. I number my bottles. On the last bottle, the wine tasted like a very full bodied port - a lot of sweetness and lots of power ( I am guessing 14% +). Not what I was...

I was given several older WE Selection series kits: two Australian Merlots, and one New Zealand Cab Sauvignon. The yeast packets had expired by at least one year on all of them ( Lalvin EC 1118 and 71B-1122). Other than new yeast are there any other precautions I should take when I make them...

I have been experimenting with vacuum bottling/transfer of wine, and the associated degassing that goes with it for a year now. I have yet to find any taste comparison of vacuum versus normal gravity feed bottling. The vacuum advantages are that it is quicker,:wine has less time to contact...