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    Head space in 5 gal carboy

    On ebay, you are looking for 3/8” Kynar® Viton® Check Valves Just shove them into drilled stoppers, flat side down.
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    Head space in 5 gal carboy

    I have had a bad valve before also, so you need to test your valves to make sure they hold a suction for a day first. I seem to pop the suction every week or two and repressurize just to make sure its holding as I lost 3 gallons of pinot to a half full carboy. After testing that valve, I...
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    Head space in 5 gal carboy

    I use the AIO wine pump with these. I actually bought 4 or 5 head space eliminators from Steve and use them, but I think the baby bulb is unneccesary. I will upload pics of my 6.5 and 7 both in 1 gallon carboys on these pics so you can see fit. You would want size 7 on your 3/5/6 gallon carboys.
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    Head space in 5 gal carboy

    The baby nose suction is too rigid to be a good indicator long term. The sucker gets a memory and never wants to re-inflate. If I break seal, the sucker does not magically reinflate. Those suckers need some sort of mechanical spring inside to force back open. I bought several drilled...
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    Do you have to use Chitosan or Kieselsol

    If you have an overly tannic wine, fining agents can be used to strip tannins. If you have a thin 10L kit, and you fine it, it will pull on those tannins. Thats part of what makes them early drinkers. Fining and will pull color and tannins, effecting the look and the mouthfeel. Maybe it...
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    Do you have to use Chitosan or Kieselsol

    I wouldnt serve my friends and family 10L wine kits at a wedding, but thats just me. A 10L kit is already thin in flavor and body. No way I would strip out more with fining. I use 16L or 18L kits only now and bentonite and extra pectic enzyme (if fruit added) in primary only. Time will do...
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    2017 merlot re-gassing??

    MLF in bottle can cause the gas, and the funky taste or smell. “When in-bottle MLF occurs, carbon dioxide becomes trapped in the wine, resulting in an unpleasant fizziness. A consumer opening a wine that has accidentally undergone in-bottle MLF may think the wine is continuing to ferment as...
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    DIY Smelling Kits

    Okay, so smelling kits are expensive... Aromabar - $329 (50 vials) Aromaster - $469 (88 vials) Le Nez du Vin - $399 (54 vials) I can buy 100 2g amber screw top vials on amazon for $20, and I have alot of the scents in raw form, or can obtain them quite easily. I've read some articles on DIY...
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    Inexpensive Coolers

    I close the lid on a bath towel. This prevents a full seal, and allows some air to seep in. It makes the unit less efficient, but it doesnt take much energy to keep something @ 55 degrees when ambients are low 70s. I get a little moisture, but not enough to create a moldy environment...
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    Inexpensive Coolers

    sub $100 used deep freeze with a $35 Inkbird Itc-308 will hold a lot of wine! I run 2x 7 cuft in the storage room. The compressors are strong for cooling sub zero. So running at 55 should last forever. You need some make-shift shelving in them to maximize storage.
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    Too much TA added...

    For best results, I cold stabilize @ 28° for ~2 weeks. I've had to use calcium bicarbonate 1 time. Be careful with that... if you have to add too much, you'll definitely taste it. A better option might be to start a similar low acid wine... If your existing wine is say pH 3.1 and TA 9 g/l...
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    pH meter dilemma

    I buy $8 meters on amazon about every 6mo... I dont mess with cleaning solution or storage solutions. It works for me. You probably spend same $$ either way over the years.
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    Funny things you've done while learning...

    My next screw up was in my temperature controlled deep freeze. I had a couple carboys of wine in the bottom, and a few bottles on the raised step inside deep freeze. So I was using the top of deep freeze as a table top while I was stirring a new wine. The vibration made one of the bottles...
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    Funny things you've done while learning...

    My first kit, I opened the wine bag and started pouring it in my 7 gallon bucket. After about 0.5 gallons filled the bucket, the juice bag slid out of the kit box, and displaced that 0.5 gallons of wine all over the room and ceiling. Always take wine bag out of the box when doing a kit...
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    DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

    I think brix level on your strawberries is much lower than your 1.07 SG mead, so in effect your final SG will be lower than 1.07. In other words, yes you get extra sugars from the fruit, but you also get extra h2o. I would throw a few more cups of sugar at it to get 1.08-1.085. Otherwise...
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    Pick a Wine Kit & Win a Wine Kit Giveaway

    Winexpert Eclipse Napa Valley Stag's Leap District Merlot Wine Recipe Kit I've never done a wine kit, so I havent ordered any. But if I were to try one, that would be the kit I would try!
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    Clarifying White (Sauv Blanc)

    Not sure that is 100% true. I passed my sand plum (which was previously benonite'd and sparkaloid'd) through a 5 micro filter, waited a week or two and rebottled. Floaties re-appeared within days. Really I prefer to not filter at all... its been a long time since I've had to. I've done a...
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    Clarifying White (Sauv Blanc)

    Since I stopped using bentonite and sparkaloid and switched to keiselsol and chitosan, all of my clarifying and floaties have gone away.
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    DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

    Normally 1/4 cup per gallon. Really depends where my final SG sits post ferment. My last batch was 0.988, one before that was 0.993... so that 1/4cup per gallon gets me in that range normally. I think those that drink these super early do 1/2cup per gallon (netting 1.06 to 1.012) which...
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