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Last Sunday afternoon I started the Meglioli Old Vines Zinfandel with the ALLGRAPE pack. Last night, 24 hours after pitching the yeast, I added the ALLGRAPE pack in a large fine mesh bag, weighted down with a large glass water tumbler. It almost completely filled my 7.9 gallon fermenter...

This past Monday and Tuesday SWMBO and I did one of our annual outings - The BMW Ultimate Drive for the Cure. Every year BMW outfits a fleet of brand new BMW's in matching paint schemes and tours them from dealership to dealership. Anyone (over 21) can come out and drive as many as they have...

Well, we did it. Yesterday SWMBO and I closed on a new house in Oakland, TN, about 15 miles east of where we live now. My question is does anyone have recommendations for moving full carboys in a car without spilling them all over the seats?

I started the MM All Juice Chardonnay on Sunday. As of this evening the SG is down to 1.032, so I will probably transfer to glass Saturday morning. I'm planning to do the "buttery chard" thing, which involves stirring the lees twice a day for a month. My concern was that sanitizing my stirrer...

Since Comcast took over from Time Warner 6 months ago I have had all kinds of problems. Every night at between 5:30 and 6:15 my access speed drops to 80's modem speed. I have had more cable outages than in the two years before that I lived in this house. If I don't seem as active, blame it on...

I caught the tail end of Al Gore on Oprah yesterday, and I have to guess that he never took Earth Science in high school. We're about the same age, and I learned the following in the ninth grade. The Arctic Circle has almost no land. It is just ice. The glaciers will continue to receed until it...

When I "bottled" a batch of IM Strawberry White Merlot for my daughter yesterday I did two bags for the Wine on Tap so she can have a glass whenever she wants, without having to open a bottle. The instructions were less than outstanding, to say the least. The bag, laid flat, is 15" wide by 19"...

George, Another post talked about you printing labels with a color laser. All I have is a worn out inkjet (aside from my mondo high speed B&W laser that SWMBO uses for transcripts). Inkjet ink is not waterproof, and my inkjet is iffy at best for labels. I, for one, would be more than happy...

I bottled my first kit, an RJS Cru Select (10L) Merlot kit. It has been bulk ageing for about 4 months, and last weekend I added another 1/4 tsp of K-meta for safety. I had a couple of minor problems. 1. Using a 3/8" racking cane with 3/8" ID tubing did not give a very good seal, and I had a...

Yesterday, I started an IM Strawberry White Merlot for my daughter Katie, who picked it out when we visited George a few weeks ago. (Sorry - no pics - I was alone. More on my thoughts about pics elsewhere.) Katie even got to pitch the yeast. It's bubbling along nicely now, 24 hours later. Katie...

When I post a reply to someone I often have to wonder if they are operating in the same situation I am. I am in Cordova, TN (Memphis). Here we don't have basements, it's hot in the summer, but can get cold (relatively) in the winter. I have a programmable thermostat, so in the summer my house...

I just received a collection of Accuvin tests from George, covering free SO2, pH, malic acid, l-lactic acid, residual sugar, and titratable acidity. I have to say, I am impressed!! In the past I have spoken about diluting red wines with distilled water for tests like TA, to make the end point...

I know I promised an account of my visit to George last Friday, but I am just too wupped right now. Virginia (She Who Must Be Obeyed), Katie (daughter), and I went to Austin for a wedding. We left the wedding at 11:30 last night, got up at 5:00 this morning, and drove for 11 hours. More to...

Parafilm is the trade name of something that can be found in any chem lab. It is a film made from parafin with a waxed paper backing that stretches and seals bottle caps, glass stoppers in bottles, etc. It comes in rolls about 2" wide, and I don't know how long. Here is my Parafilm story...

I've seen several mentions of a steam juicer on the forum. How does it work? Anyone have a link to a manufacturer/supplier?

Tim V. had an interesting article in the Feb-Mar Wine Maker, talking about vacuum degassing. He missed one inexpensive and very effective piece of vacuum-generating equipment. When we needed vacuum in the lab we had faucets with venturis attached. The water flowing through the faucet pulled a...

Since I am probably going to do an Amarone for my next kit, I thought I would buy a bottle for Christmas dinner. Dinner will be beef tenderloin with a spicy Cajun shrimp cream sauce, so a big red is appropriate. My local purveyor of spirits had three Amarones in stock, ranging from $48.50 to...

Well, I just racked the RJ Spagnols 10L Merlot kit I got from my local guy when I decided to get back into winemaking. Here is my log: -------------------- <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Month="11" Day="10" Year="2006"><B...

ISTR seeing an equation about initial SG - final SG x some factor = alcohol. Does anybody have this equation?

In the old days of 20 years ago when I last made wine, I never used potassium sorbate. Now in my Merlot kit it has a packet. Since the wine will be fully dry and well clarified, is there any reason to use it?