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Now that I'm comfortable with kits I thought I'd try a small batch from fresh grapes. I'll be picking them up next Saturday (50 lbs of local Zinfandel) but have to go out of town that week and no one will be around to monitor the fermentation or punch the cap down. So my best options seem to be...

I want to try the marble trick instead of topping up with like wine. Does anybody worry about the possibility of lead?Probably not much of a concern if clear but I'm not sure about colored or painted ones since they mostly seem to come from China. Also considering those clear glass decorative...

I sanitize my MiniJet pads by soaking them in sanitizing-strength sulphite solution, press as much excess as I can from them, assemble the filter, and run about a gallon of water through it before filtering my wine. But now I wonder if too much sulphite might still be getting through or if the...

I'm thinking oftrying something a bit different when my MM Fresco Pinot Noir arrives and need some guidance on the right procedure to use.I'd like to try cold stabilizing (32F for 2-3 weeks) so any tartrates drop in the carboy instead of the bottles, and I usually filter with a MiniJet to...

Here's a hypothetical question: suppose I've made a kit per the instructions up to bottling (including doing a good job of degassing),but then let it sit in the carboy under airlock for an extra 3 months (so we'll assume there's no CO2 left). Now I want to bulk age it for another 3-6 months. Is...

I installed a pine wine rack in a small closet with a door.It takes up the whole closet. It's been 2 weeks since I stained it, and the stain smell is still quite noticeable. Will that get absorbed into my wine as the corks breathe and affect it?

I'm on my 5th kit and would like to try growing a vine. My yard is small and has very little room. I'dlike to make wine if it produces enough, otherwise I'd be happy with the experience of just growing and eating them. So here's the question: my grandparents owned and operated a small winery...

I just received my latest toy from George - the Buon Vino auto bottle gravity filler.Haven't used it yet, but just playing around with it I wondered how to thoroughly clean the thing after use. The diaphram part doesn't easily come apart (it's screwed together like you're not supposed to take it...

Getting set up to do some winery touring/tasting in Temecula this weekend (that's about an hour from my house) and ran across this new TV show coming up this summer on PBS. Thought ya'all might want to monitor the TV Guide for when it's on in your area...

While waiting for the Yakima Riesling to arrive, I looked through the instructions from Mosti's website.Everything seems to be as expected, but it says to wait 8-12 weeks after secondary fermentation is done before adding the sulphite, sorbate, and isinglass. Then wait 2 more weeks to bottle...

I don’t have a good spot in the house for winemaking, so I use the garage. But in <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place> it regularly goes above 100F in the summer and occassionally down to the 40s...

I bought myself the MiniJet filter for Christmas. The instructions don't say anything about sanitizing, but I assume it should be sanitized before use. What's the best way to do it? Soak the filters in sanitizing solution before assembly, filter some solution through the filter after assembly...

Although still fermenting, I plan to bulk age this wine (MM All Juice Shiraz) in the carboy for 3 months before bottling. I know that sulphite solutions eventually lose theirstrength when exposed to air, so when bulk aging for 3 months is it better to pull the airlock and replace the sulphite at...

Just opened a bottle of the Vintners Reserve Shiraz I bottled in March. (Made exactly per instructions since this was my first experience at wine making, bottling around day 28.) It'd been a few months since I last tried one, which was still thin and not as smooth as I'd like. I just assumed it...

I bottled this Cab 2 weeks ago and just noticed that about half of the bottles (15) are letting a very small amount of air in. I rotated those bottles and let them lie overnight - a noticeable amount of very small bubbles collected again, but there's no signs of wine between the bottle and cork...

I just received my first MM All Juice kit (the Shiraz).(Yeh!) I understand most of the differences between the WE and MM instructions, but have 2 questions. First, the first racking from primary to secondary specifically says to "include the sediments" - does that mean stir them back into...

Anyone else have trouble cutting straight labels with scissors or a paper cutter?Here's a good trick - use a rotary cutter made for cutting fabric.You can get them most anywhere that sells fabric or craft supplies.Just line a straight-edge up with the label on a clean, hard surface (I use my...

I'm two months into my first attempt at bulk aging (a WE Selection Aussie Cab).The level in the carboy started at about 1/2 inch from the bung and is now down to about an inch from the bung (but still in the neck).I assume that's due to evaporation (the temp's been a constant 68F).I've read...

I'm making the WE International Aussie Cab. I stabilized, fined, and racked a month ago and plan to bottle 2 months from now. There's a fair amount of lees in the carboy again (I don't quite have the racking thing down yet) - should I rack it off or just leave it alone for the next 2 months...

Oops... Volcano... Bad Camera at-the-ready... Good A place to share my accomplishment with those who can truly appreciate it...Priceless! Edited by: Mark