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Note - hopefully you've caught this early enough and the whole batch is not ruined. As you are racking, try tasting the wine. If it tastes off, chances are you've lost it and will have to dump it. Not much you can do to bring it back after a certain point.

If you are lucky, the mold growth is only on the surface and not throughout the wine. You need to get the wine that is beneath the mold out of those conditions and into a sanitized carboy without disturbing the surface mold too much. Easiest way to do this is to top up the existing carboy...

Normal wine making standards follow the process of separate ferments, with a blending process done sometime prior to bottling. Usually during the bulk aging period where you can perform bench trials on blend percentages to find the blend which most suits your pallet.

Lees should settle on the bottom of your carboy not in the neck. These items in the neck, do they appear white, powdery, and flowery? Could be a mold growth due to unsterile conditions. My guess would be this, due to the nature of your thread title and the lack of additives to protect your...

After racking off of the gross lees. Do not add any kmeta. The link above to the manual I posted above gives you very detailed step by step instructions on the process.

Be careful when you rack back into carboy. Those 2 inches of lees take up volume, so when you rack back in - you are bound to have quiet a bit of headspace in your carboy. You either will need to rack into a smaller vessel, or find something suitable to top up your wine during your bulk age...

Morewine has a great manual for both red and white wine making - here's the link for the white wine. http://www.morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wwhiw.pdf I do not believe that it is SOP to leave it in an open top fermenter during primary fermentation. I did my Chardonnay in my Vadai...

The way I've always figured it was to divide the weight of grapes w/ stems by 10 to figure out how many gallons (approx of must I would have) then multiply by either .60 to .65 (depending on the red grape variety) to figure out approximately how much fermented wine I should expect at press time...

I have the Vinmetrica - and it is worth its weight in gold! Highly recommend this product. http://www.vinmetrica.com/ Stay away from the titrate kits, unless you like throwing your money down the drain - then by all means, go for it. The a/o method is good, and easy to do. I've seen...

I can only tell you what I did with my Cab port - which is nothing. I fermented to dry. Added my brandy, and backsweetened to taste. At that high level of ABV, I was not worried about micro-instability, and as for oxidation, I prefer a bit amount of oxidation to the port - I think the tawney...

Sulfites = yes. Sorbate = only if you intend to backsweeten, and then you also need to be careful if your wine has gone through MLF. The major danger in adding sorbate to wine is active malolactic bacteria. They can metabolize sorbic acid and produce a disastrous bi-product called...

Did you adjust your reading for the temperature? Hydrometers are normally calibrated to a temp of 60 degrees. Best bet is to get a glass of distilled water and raise/lower the temp of it to the temp of your must. Water should be 1.000 Take the reading then adjust your must reading by the...

I 2nd the notion that all is probably ok - but without some form of testing, you may never know. As for the kits - I think they are crap IMHO - and use chromography testing for my ML - but the best way to absolutely know is through lab testing -which for small home winemakers, usually is...

Sounds as if someone is due for a trip to the LHBS!:db

Best source I've seen for fruit wines is Jack Keller - You can find all of his recipies here for apple wines: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/recipes.asp He says to avoid using the sweeter eating varieties - - instead opt for the sour and acidic varieties

Nope - if anything, not cool enough for a white/rose type wine, but certainly within the specs of the yeast strain. I would definetly check the wine's pH - if too acidic, the yeast will not perform well, if at all. Also again, you should look at how you introduce your yeast into your...

Yes - but the yeast strain you chose should be suitable for it. I would check your yeast rehydration methods, and in particular insure your must temps are within range specified by the manufacturer. I highly doubt all of the yeast cells congregated in your skin pack and were removed when you...

What is your must's pH and TA? And what is your must temperature?

One thing to note on doing any type of additions, its best to work in phases - i.e. add half of your intended amount, remeasure and adjust accordingly. You can always add more - its much more difficult or impossible to remove something once its been added. You might find this document...

I've never heard of this happening. Ever. There has to be something else at work here. Can you describe in detail what you did and what you observed?