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I'm getting ready to oak my two red wines and testing today threw me for a loop Syrah - pH 4.29 which is too high, TA was 6.2 which is slightly high (before ferm it was 3.87/9.4) Merlot blend - pH 4.06, TA 6.9 (before ferm it was 3.87/5.8) Both underwent MLF and malic acid test today shoes no...

I've never tested in years prior but I'm trying to be more precise as time goes on. All my materials show people using Clinitest tablets and using a color chart. But Bayer discontinued these and it seems urine analysis home kits are going to dip sticks vs tablets. I can't fine Accuvin Residual...

Got my grapes today and took them home for testing. I got 3.71 and 3.72 for my pH for the two different batches. Vineyard measures were 3.44, 3.38 according to the grower. I calibrated my pH meter as always. Even though I did a So2 test (accuvin) I got what looked like 18ppm for one and 28 ppm...

I'm tired of the accuvin color charts and I'm wanting more precision. I already have a good pH meter and use it for TA testing so I don't see the need for a SC-300

Next Sunday I'm picking up my grapes and I'm doing two blends: Syrah/Viognier co-ferment Merlot 50%, Cab Sauv 33% Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Malbec 9% blend I was thinking of my usual Lalvin RC212 as that's a good red yeast. Sometimes I do red star, but Lalvin is my go-to for reds. I feel like...

I don't recall checking pH in previous years but this year I checked each batch as I racked into my bottling bucket. wines that were 3.6 and 3.8 were measuring 4.07 this day. I found this very odd and concerning so I dosed it with a hefty K-meta (1/2 tsp per 5-6 gallons, 3/8 tsp for smaller...

Walked by my carboys as they're oaking and saw weird stuff on the top. I added oak to it on 12/28. prior to this everything was spot on for pH, TA, SO2 levels. One of the jugs (out of 3) had a white film on top with little yeast looking logs. I assumed that to be the MLF bacteria. Now that...

Walked by my carboys as they're oaking and saw weird stuff on the top. I added oak to it on 12/28. prior to this everything was spot on for pH, TA, SO2 levels. One of the jugs (out of 3) had a white film on top with little yeast looking logs. I assumed that to be the MLF bacteria. Now that...

Hello fellow wine-os. I've been an amateur winemaker for about 8 years (took the last two off) and this year I've decided to finally get my logistical sh**t together. I mainly use Daniel Pambianchi's book and various online calculators to help me through the process, FermCalc, some Winemakermag...

I had planned to made a 5ft x 12 ft long room for my cellar in my existing mud room but I'm thinking I want more wall space for fermenters and such. So I thought why not shrink it and made a door on a 45 angle to save walking space. Came up with this quick sketchup. thing is when you take the...

I've seen the FastFerment, Fermzilla, etc and I'm actually going to get two FastFerments for beer, But for wine, I want something larger that's more portable. I was thinking this: https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=118128&catid=513 It has legs built in, I can put it on a round...

I'm planning to make fairly simple racks like these: https://www.amazon.com/Stackable-Modular-Storage-Wobble-Free-Capacity/dp/B008XPLJFO?th=1 I'm wondering just how high I can go. I'm going to be framing up walls in my mud room to be my cellar and it'll have wall vented cooling. The total...

We're about to move into a bigger home and I was about to purchase a sweet Le Cache wine cabinet off Craigslist but the seller couldn't wait for me to arrange for movers (because it was a big heavy sucker!) So now I'm in the dream phase of my own cellar, built in place. I will have a space on...

I'm getting ready to bottle and one of my reds had a TA of 6.3 (measured with pH method) So I used Fermcalc to find out to add 10.5 grams of KCO3 to my 5.5 gallons to bring it down to 5.2 g/L of TA. I also sulfited it, then racked into bottling bucket. Tested a bit just for the hell of...

I strained my blackberry wine today since I pressed my grapes. I did the blackberry first maybe 2 weeks before grapes so it's just been sitting there in the bucket, air locked. I opened it to find the top all moldy. But SG was 1.010 so it fermented at least most of the way. I scraped mold...

I just measured my wine numbers to compare to must. Here's what I got. must measured 9/18, wine today 10/4 Pinot Must: pH 3.65, TA 6.1 g/L Wine: pH 3.61, TA 7.0 g/L Blend Must: pH 3.32, TA 8.8 g/L Wine: pH 4.06, TA 6.8 g/L What the hell? Pinot's TA went up and the blend's pH went...

I've never used a measuring device for SO2, just used calculators to estimate amounts to add, and I've always added a tiny bit with every racking or with bottling. I just pressed this morning 5 gallons of a red blend and 4.5 or pinot noir. I gave in and ordered the accuvin kit online. It...

This year I'm doing two medium batches of pinot noir and a barbera sangio blend. I usually ballpark my sulfites by adding 1/4t initially, then another 1/8t whenever I rack and then bottle. It's worked well so far. However pinot seems to be sensitive to it based on what I've read. So I'm a...

Today is pitch day and I can't for the life of me find my 2 packets of Lalvin 1122. I have one expired (6/2015) packet from last year of RC 212. Home brew stores are closed. My only option is wait another 24 hours risking infection or pitch this old one PLUS two new ones that I pick up tomorrow...

I brew beer as well and have a number of 5 gallon kegs and another 15 gallon untouched keg. Are there any ill effects of aging in the keg ? I would toss in my MLF with oak, put it in a keg, seal it up then leave it for a few months. thoughts?