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Completed another fantastic season with press day on Sunday we had 10 days on the skins. We did a split batch with D254 and D80 yeasts The Zin Blend when completely dry .99 on end of day 8 254 was a bit faster The Super Tuscan 254 went dry .99 on day 10 the D80 lagged with 1 brix left we still...

Just got the Lancman 120LT bladder press, its the last piece of equipment for a while we are excited about using it

Trying to decide what size bladder press we should purchase seriously looking at the Lanceman tilting 80L or 120L we are going to press aprox 2800 lbs of grapes this season 1440 of our Zin and 1300 of Super Tuscan San/Cab/Syrah MY estimate is with the 120 I may have 3 runs for each vintage but...

Looking for some input on what everyone uses to sanitize their bottles before bottling SO2 or Star san

I just put my buy list together for 2020 we always make 2 vintages a Zin and a Super Tuscan, we have sourced grapes from Lanza and LMP in Suisun Valley AVA, for the past 4 seasons we have gone to Gino Pintos in NJ quality has been good. I was thinking about changing to a different AVA such as...

Just wondering how many of you filter your wine before bottling? If so what do you use Equipment, and filter size (Micron)? Thanks MAC

I'm planning do another Super Tuscan this year, I'm looking for some advice from those of you who have blended grapes using Sangiovese & Cab. What % of blend in the mix? For the last few seasons I have been making with 3 grapes. 62% Sangiovese Brunello 34% Cabernet Sauvignon 4% Alicante I'm...

This year I have decided to add Cellaring tannin's to our wine. Just completed a bench trail and blind taste test. We conducted it with 6 people with all different tastes in wine. To my surprise the higher tannin were all the top picks. Based on the input from this forum I decided to use Tannin...

Anyone bottling 800-900 bottles what are you using, we bottled 750 last year using the AIO Wine pump it worked great however it was a 12 hour day. Looking for a bit more production with the same hands (3 people) I was looking at the 5 spout filler from MoreWine with the Pump (see attached...

Just completed Season 2019 We hand crushed over 2300 lbs of grapes 1440 lbs OV Zin blend and 864 lbs of Lanza Sangiovese Brunello Cab blend. Yesterday we pressed everything and yielded 116 Gallons of Zin Blend and 76 Gallons of San/Cab blend. Total of 192 Gallons It took us 9 hours we used a...

For those who have had several successful Co MLF seasons under them can you give me any pointers. I have successfully always done sequential. But Co-inoculating seems to make sense. I have 4 batches going to happen this coming weekend. I'm doing split batches D80/D254 2 50Wine/70Must OVZ 1 D80...

I had an issue with one of my VC tanks last season, I have been using the standard vinyl bladders, same bladders for the past 5 years, they hold air fine, however unless you pressurize the tank with inert gas and test the seal how do you really know if they are air tight. Check out this video...

I would love to hear from winemakers who have used Avante yeast vs a split batch combined after pressing, 2 yeasts specifically are D254 and & D80 Its a bit more work splitting the batches, Is it worth it in the end? Why you like Advante? What do you compare it to in flavor? How does the young...

This season MLF completion was just 2 weeks very surprised and happy with the results, especially that last year took 3 months. I plan to let it sit for another 2 week before I rack and SO2. What do you experts say? Left test was taken the first day after adding MLB CH16, Right test was taken...

I'm currently using 2-150L and 1 250L VC SS Tanks, I have not used any gas to purge the oxygen out or top is off (Purge) for those of you using these tanks do you use a inert gas system? Mike

Wow I just fermenting 2- 50 gallon batchs of Old Vine Zins 1 with D254 and 1 with D80, did the same with 2 25 gallon batches of Cabs. First time using Lallzyme Ex-V and Opti Red and wow what a defference in the color and maceration of the skins. Here's my question, I'm into day 7 was planning to...

I know this has been discussed in detail in other threads, I have read through many of them but lot's of the post are a few years old so I'm wondering if anything has improved in the last few years as far as testing equipment. I have been through 2 cheap PH meters this season and as always just...

I bought a 30 Gallon French oak barrel in 2000 made wine with it for 10 years, always keep it full. 5 years ago I relocated I had to put my wine making on hold and equipment in dry cold storage. Before I put it in storage,I drained the barrel, smoked out with a sulfur stick and sealed it with a...

Just curious how many of us wash your grapes before you crush. I started washing grapes a few years ago, never did this the prior 8 years, but for some reason to which I can't remember why, maybe I read it somewhere, I started washing the grapes with non chlorinated water before I crush them...

I have been making wine for about 10 years and this year I finally decided to get on the path to better consistent wine making, Hence MLF testing. I have attached my first MLF test this is 2 weeks since racking of the gross lees I added Chris Hansen's Malolactic culture vinfiora Oenos right...