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Thanks for sharing... this is a good series

I dunno, the spec sheet for 71B states that this yeast metabolizes between 20 and 40% of malic acid transforming it into lactic. I don't have the chemistry background to agree or disagree only to quote and cite. and I do know that over time apple cider and apple wine tastes incredibly smoother...

Oxyclean (scent free). Soak 24hrs, quick scrub and you are good to go

Nice work. I use something similar, stretched fine chicken wire over an oak frame.

Have you fermented it yet? Fermentation will raise the PH a couple points. Wine freshly fermented will have a lot of carbonation that will throw your PH meter off.

I always cold crash the wine after MLF. Right after it is complete I rack, add sulfite, then cold crash for a month. My Foch always drops crystals and if acid is dropping out then the wine gets smoother.

Not saying it can't happen... but I personally have never seen the PH go down on my wines and I cold stabilize every one. Even so, if this did happen, as long as TA goes down so does the tartness of the wine so its really not a bad thing. Usually mine start around 3.2PH and finish around 3.3...

FermCalc is a great program for calculations: http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/ Whatever you do, be careful with any additions, take it safe and measure accurately with PH meter after each one! My two cents: Concentrate on PH... The low PH is a big concern as MLF will not start this...

I don't know anything about pruning on the east coast but The second year I planted we had the deer come along and eat all the first shoots from our Foch. The next year we fenced our area in and got a dog. This eliminated the deer from our property. Also you need to protect from birds... they...

Being an amateur Brewer (as well as winemaker) I have a dedicated temperature controlled fridge. When I am brewing a lager or Belgian or making a white wine, just set the temp and walk away. Cost nothing for the fridge and 30$ for the temp controller.

2017 Mead and 2016 Foch

I like Medium + Oak beans/cubes. Staves and spirals are great too but hard to source good ones where I live. Save powder and chips for primary fermentation

I use opti-red, oak powder and superfood during primary and like the results

The Hungarian (European) cubes from Stavin are a middling price and have a great flavour. http://ecom.bosagrape.com/product.php?productid=17690&cat=444&page=1

Hows your Foch doing?? Harvested my Foch grapes Yesterday. Really was an off year for them due to spring arriving really late and lots of rain in April. Verison was 3 weeks late (mid Aug) and once mid Sept hits the sun is low and the rain starts. 1/2 the clusters had a lot of shot and...

that one looks fine to me

Aging naturally de-gasses the wine and clears it. Even though it looks clear, there is still yeast and other particulates that settle out. A third thing that happens, is that rough alcohol flavors smooth out (although this would happen in the bottle as well).

Floor corkers are a must. Which model did you get?

Has anyone ever used a cheaper generic probe for replacements for these? I see ones for 10-25$ CAD on the interweb. Mine is still fine but just curious.

Nice looking grapes! Hope to harvest my own Foch grapes this week (Vancouver Island home grown) Those are really good numbers and you should end up with a great wine. I've used 71B on Foch grapes with similar numbers in the past. Combined with MLF after it produced an excellent wine. Soft...