Search results

What do you all recommend to use to sanitize a brand new wooden wine press for use with wine that is already inoculated with MLF? My normal go-to sanitizer for kits and berries is K-Meta, but that'll kill the MLF. I was going to use Star San, but the bottle specifically said not to use on...

I ordered 6 lugs of Chilean Carmenere, crushed, destemmed and frozen into two pails, and one 6 gallon pail of frozen Chilean Cab/Merlot juice blend from a supplier in Ohio. The plan was to ferment the grapes to 1.000 SG or so, rack the Carmenere wine off into glass, and then put the Cab/Merlot...

Last year I made the WinExpert Chocolate Raspberry Dessert Wine per the instructions, and bottled a year ago today. It comes with an f-pack, which I added after adding the potassium sorbate and k-meta. The final SG after adding the f-pack was 1.016, and I don't find it sweet enough for a...

Hey, everybody! I'm making the Selection Special Chocolate Raspberry Dessert Wine. Last weekend at stabilization and clearing, I ended up with 1.5 L in addition to the carboy, and intentionally didn't mix any of the F-pack with it. My intent is to let it clear and then sweeten it up using...

Chocolate Raspberry Port question Good morning, everybody! I'm making the Selection Special Chocolate Raspberry Dessert Wine. Last weekend at stabilization and clearing, I ended up with 1.5 L in addition to the carboy, and intentionally didn't mix any of the F-pack with it. My intent is to...

I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a really smooth red blend? A couple of commercial wines I like are 19 Crimes (Australian blend) and The Prisoner (Napa valley blend). The first is a blend of shiraz, pinot noir, grenache and cabernet sauvignon. The second is zinfandel...

I started the Winexpert Italian Brunello (with skins) on Feb 14, racked into carboy on 2/20, and planned to go to stabilizing and clearing 15 days later (per Vandergrift's extended schedule) on March 6. That step includes racking off the lees and then adding the chemicals. On March 4 a family...

I started this kit last Sunday (2/14) with an OG of 1.082. The instructions said to wait 7 days and then check, and transfer if the SG was below 1.010. On Thursday (day 4) I checked and it was 1.011 so I figured I'd rack it into the carboy last night (the 5th day), but didn't get around to it...

I've invited some coworkers over for a tasting party in January. I'll serve my Carmenere, Pyment, Riesling (if any of these red drinkers want it) and end with Toasted Caramel Port. I plan to serve homemade bread and three kinds of deli cheese. Do you all have any suggestions of what, if any...

My fresh strawberry wine doesn't seem to want to stop being fizzy. Below are all the details of this strawberry journey…it's kind of long, but I wanted to provide all the clues I could up front, to see if you all have some ideas of what's going on. I'm afraid the sorbate didn't do its job and...

I started my very first kit last October (Mezza Luna Red), bottled it in December and at the first taste at Christmas thought it would be good. I suspected it was just young. I tried it again in the spring and in July, and it was not to my liking and is not getting better. I have opened...

What's the very best kit you've done 8 months to 2 years ago? Long enough to have a little age, but not so long that the kit isn't available or it will be too long for some of us to wait... I'll start. I haven't been at this very long, but the RJS Carmenere I started in December 2014 is...

I've gotten a wild hair and have decided to try to make a pyment. I've never tasted mead or pyment, and have been curious, so when I ran across George's recipe this weekend I decided to give it a try. I've ordered an Island Mist Black Raspberry Merlot Wine Kit, and plan to follow these...

I've read so many positive reviews of several of the Amarone kits that I think I'll start one of the RJS ones this fall. But this is just based on the rave reviews… Can anyone tell me how an Amarone (style) tastes compared to, say, a Chilean Carmenere, or a Merlot, or Cab? I just have no...

I've been looking at various sources on sanitization, and (as many of you know) see a wide range of recommendations. Here are just a few: 3 Tablespoons dry K-meta to 1 gallon water - finevinewines 8 teaspoons to 1 gallon water - winemakermag 1 teaspoon to 1 gallon water - grapestompers...

My first wine "from scratch" except for a DB: I recently tasted some wonderful strawberry wine that was based on the recipe in the "purple book" but with double the amount of fruit called for in the recipe. I decided to make that recipe this spring, so this week I bought and cut up 35 lbs of...

I have two kits going right now at the same step: the WE LE14 Riesling, and the RJS Toasted Caramel Port. Tonight I followed the directions and removed 1.5 L from the Riesling before stabilizing and clearing, and removed 750 mL from the port before stabilizing and clearing. After adding the...

I started my LE14 Riesling Sunday afternoon. Followed directions to a "t", made sure the must was warm (75 F) before pitching yeast. Monday after work it was working, and had a thin cap of froth on it. This morning when I got up, the cap of froth was gone, and it was barely bubbling with tiny...

Has anyone ever heard of this brand of corks: Neutrocork This is what my LHBS carries. If you google it and go to the parent website, amorimcork.co.za it appears that this company makes various products using cork, including flooring and recycled cork products. The price for #9 1-3/4" corks...

Hi. I just finished bottling with the AI1 for the first time. I found it to be MUCH handier than the old way. In fact, I'm not sure I could have done the entire operation by myself without it, and I did that today, including stopping halfway through the batch to back sweeten the second half...