Search results

Hello Stickman! Thank you for this! I will report back in a month. I bet you are right. Like many things, key details often get lost when information is passed along.

LOL! My theory only sir. However I got the suggestion from the head winemaker at Fox Valley Winery in IL. Jason is in our wine club and always has good tips.

I like where you are going with this. My basement is around 67 degrees in the summer. So you are thinking that the cooler the temp the less impact?

I was measuring the free SO2.

After a carefully controlled experiment I can tell you it does NOT. Last year after picking and fermenting Frontenac Gris I zoned out and overdosed the wine with SO2 so that it was near 100ppm. I do want to mention that over the past few years I have been hitting newly fermented wine at about...

Getting back to the original question. It comes down to effort. I have used my pressure washer at the end of the summer and cleaned like 30 cases of bottles by the curb. The neighbors think I am crazy. So that gets the paper off but not all of the glue. So the next topic is glue. Crap, so I am...

Hello Jose. When making wine from juice or grapes, my advice is to bottle when the wine tastes good. Over many years I have experimented with the concept that "it will get better with time". NOT. You are just wasting corks. I rack about a week after fermentation is over, then 2 weeks, then a...

Oxygen is a funny thing. You need during fermentation. After fermentation it is your enemy. Also, check the temperature of the juice. It should be at about 70 degrees. Also, some yeasts don't ferment like crazy. If you changed your yeast it may not act like other batches you experienced...

I agree with the previous folks. Quickly buy/order a hydrometer so you can do the test. But more importantly at this time xfer the wine to a carboy and put an airlock on it. Make sure there is minimal air in the carboy. Use 1gal, 1/2gal, jugs for the extra. But do this now till you figure out...

There is zero probability that the crack was caused by the headspace eliminator. I have been making wine for 35 years and always have at least 20 carboys on the go. In this time I had two carboys crack on me. But I know why. They "touched" the basement floor a little too hard. But it was not...

I have to say that the All In One pressure washer / bottle sanitizer is a huge time saver. Up till now I sanitized my wine bottles before bottling using the old “Armstrong” Bottle Rinser you get with the bottle tree. It is just so frigging slow to do especially if I am bottling 6 or 8 cases of...

Attached is a picture of the type of 54L Demijohn to be cautious with. The large carboys in the pictures above are tough and as thick walled as the smaller 5 & 6 Gal carboys.

I'm all in!! Pick me!

Hello MFC For 20 years I made wine with naturel fermentation from the wild yeast of the grape. My wines tasted great. I do not believe there is any danger in this approach at all. For the past 10 years or so I have gone the route of using yeast to reach a certain flavor profile for the...

Hi Scott I have been making port from grapes for years. Sorbate is used to prevent fermentation after the addition of sugar. If your port is at 18%+ ABV it is very unlikely that you are going to get any additional fermentation unless you are using Turbo type yeast. And even if it does...

Hi Kim; Used to live in Langley before I moved to the windy city. Had to give away 50 gal of wine when I moved, broke my heart! A few trips to Blain will fix you up with everclear. This year I started with 200lb of Zin grapes and pulled off 4.5+ gal of free run at 1.04 sg. At...

Like Jim I use aggregate corks. I buy them by the 1000 pack and have never had a problem. I also believe in micro-oxygenation. Steve, time for an experiment. One on its side & one standing up for a year. One on its side no wax and one standing up waxed. Then we drink. Cheers

Hello All I have been making port from grapes for a number of years. I have about 30 gal in carboys and am working out some blends. My comment on chaptalization is that the yeast needs to survive at the higher alcohol levels. My experience with those yeasts is that the flavor profile goes...

Hello Bradman I have been making port from grapes for a number of years. I have about 30 gal in carboys and am working out some blends. My guidance would be to start with a base of grape juice concentrate, ferment with cooked bananas at about 3lb per 1 gal, use elderberry flowers or juice...

Happy New Year to the Vacuum Pump Man!!! It took me all weekend but I finally got all caught up for 2012!! Everything is racked, tasted (for sure!!), measured, and adjusted! Got a few things to bottle in Jan. Couldn't have done it all without my trusty Pump!! Cheers to Steve!!!:dg Jim