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Hi Everyone! I know it has still been ages since I have posted, but it has been a busy year. I just spent the entire weekend cleaning just about every single piece of winemaking equipment I own, and racking about 100 gallons of wine this weekend. These wines have been pretty neglected lately...

Hi All! Long time no see, just wanted to check in. I haven't been very active in the forum lately, but have had a roller coaster of events happening in my life lately, unfortunately mostly bad with a few good that have helped make up for it. I'm hoping that as the dust settles I'll be able to...

Last fall I started a 3 gallon batch of maple wine using Grade B Dark Maple Syrup, and used orange juice for acid. It has been clear for several months and decided to take a taste and backsweeten today. I used a small bottle of more Dark, Grade A syrup to bring it up to a SG of 1.004. I'm...

So it's been a long week at work. We had a lot of long meetings this week that have been pretty depressing. I work for a home health agency that is being sold, so we are all getting laid off. They had someone come in and meet with us to tell us pretty much what to do once laid off (applying...

So I just spilled a little dot of one of the wines in the middle of my paper (haven't put it in the Developer solution yet). Will this screw up the final paper? Should I start a new one?

This summer I have been drinking a few store bought Summer Shandy's. For those who don't know, it is half beer, half lemonade. It is pretty low in alcohol content (usually 4.5%) and made with a light ale. Then I started thinking about making my own. What do you all think about crossing the...

So my hubby and I went to open a bottle of wine we bought a few weeks ago. It is from a winery down the street from my parents, it just opened 4 weeks ago (from grapes that were made from last fall's harvest). We noticed one of the bottles was leaking from the cork, so figured we should open...

So this is my first time with wine from grapes as well as MLF. Monday I crushed 180 pounds of Malbec Grapes, pitched a yeast starter (2 packages of Red Star Pasteur Red yeast). No sulfite was added because I didn't want to prevent the MLF, so I'm not sure if it the wild or inoculated yeast...

So I ordered a few things to try and get started with my first MLF from Presque Isle Wines. I was really hoping it would be in on time for my malbec that I just crushed Monday night. I had ordered it on Sunday night, and found it on my doorstep this afternoon. The wine has barely started...

So I went to a LHBS which I haven't been to in a while (they aren't the closest one to me) because I was in the area. They had a pile of wine kits that were buy one get one free! I've only done a few wine kits, so I don't have a lot of experience with them, but thought, "Why not?" The yeast...

So I bottled the one surviving wine from my table crash about 6 months ago. After trying my first bottle, all I could taste was oxidized wine, it just had this bad off flavor to it, I was thinking "Maybe it didn't survive after all". The airlock had been off of it for an undetermined amount of...

So I picked up 2 small crates of mangoes from Sam's Club, they were perfectly ripe, ended up with about 8 pounds of meat from them. I thought of making a small batch with them (will probably do a gallon or so). It seems like they would have a little bit of a weak flavor since they aren't...

Hope all of our friends down South are fairing well after the tornadoes! Thinking about you all!

Another case of maybe sorbate gone bad! Most of my small 375ml bottles (all bottled around the same time) have sediment and are fizzy. I took the proper steps (sorbated, waited, very lightly sweetened a few, waited a month) with no signs of re-fermentation. Haven't even looked at them since...

So today I opened one of my wines that I had bottled on Saturday/Sunday tonight, and it tastes different, sort of like it has oxidized. I had tasted it a few weeks ago, and it was great! This one was topped off (some weren't, but I had purged the empty space with CO2). Obviously I don't want...

So my Hanna pH meter died about a month or so ago, I am pretty sure it was the electrode. Instead of spending the $50 for a new electrode, I bought a Milwaukee MW102 for about $100. So far it works great! It seemed easier to calibrate than the Hanna. I'm hoping to make a lot of fruit wines...

So last weekend my father in law finished installing the utility sink in the basement, and this weekend my hubby and I finished my tables. One of the tables is on casters, so I can also use it as a cart. I did some bottling this weekend after the tables were done! Hopefully no more...

What is the best way to safely get rust off of the center post of my press? I was thinking of using a steel wool pad......

I just found out today that my LHBS sells Chillean Grapes!! When I asked a few months ago, they said probably not. I'm excited now I get to try out my crusher and press this spring........I'm going to try the malbec. :-)

I haven't used my pH meter in a few months (at least). I have the Hanna pHEP 98128. The storage solution in the cap dried out, and so the electrode was allowed to dry as well. I soaked it in storage solution for an hour and a half already, and it won't calibrate. I just get the WRNG message...