Search results

Hi, I just racked my Old Lodi Zin from the barrel to a carboy to bulk age. I have a Tuscan in the carboy waiting to get racked to the barrel. My question is what do I need to do to clean the barrel between batches? Also how long can the barrel sit between batches? One more question, is there...

This is the first time making a wine from grapes. The grapes are from my yard and I have a question on how to test for TA. I just got home from crushing/desteming my grapes. Also I have a Vinmetrica SC-300 to do the test with. The question I have is the instructions state to take 100ml of the...

What should my next batch be? I have put the finings in my first batch of wine and I'm waiting for it to clear and rack to the oak barrel. I was wondering if I should make another kit or jump to making a batch from juice. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks, Gary

My first kit, CC Lodi Old Vine Zin, has stopped fermenting and I have now put the finings in to clear the wine, The instructions say to wait 20 days and then bottle. Instead I bought an oak barrel and I want to age in the oak barrel first. My question is how long after I put the finings in...

I am in the process of fermenting a Lodi Old Vine Zin and it seems to be going faster than the instructions say it should. It is still fermenting but the SG is lower than what it says it should be to add the finings. I know from my experiences with beer that many times the speed at which the...

I can't believe I just did this but I accidently lost all of the solution to store my PH probe in. The sponge at the bottom of course still is wet. I just ordered more but I was wondering if I should put some distilled water in the bottle until it comes. Thanks, Gary

I'm making a Cellar Craft Lodi Old Vine Zin with grape skins. Everything I read says that if you're using skins that you have to push the cap down. I've had mine in the primary fermenter for 2 days and so far the skins are staying at the bottom. Right not I only have the top setting on the...

I started my first batch of wine on Saturday and thanks to the help from the people on this forum, it's going good so far :-) I have a question about the surounding environment. My primary fermenter is a translucent bucket. What I mean is that it's not one of the white buckets that you can't...

Hi Everyone, I made my first batch of wine yesterday and I woke up this morning to the top of the top of the fermenter being full of juice as well as the airlock. Is this normal? Do I just clean up the top or do I try to take it off and pour it back into the fermenter? Thanks for the...

We are about ready to make our first wine kit. The kit is CellarCraft Lodi Old Vine Zin. We decided to purchase a oak barrel and that leads to my question. I'm assuming I don't want to use the oak powder and the oak barrel. Is that correct? I'm planning to age it in the oak barrel for 3-4...

I'm sure this has been asked before but I don't see a recent thread. I'm new to making wine and I thought I read that you shouldn't use dish soap to clean your equipment. Is that true? If so what do you use? I bought StarSan to sanitize everything but I'm wondering what to use to wash it before...

I know that it's all in the tasting but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on what they feel are the best wine kits out there. I'm looking for red wines only. Our favorite wine is zinfandel. Four years ago we planted 21 grape vines. Some zin's and a couple of different varietals produced by...