Search results

I would leave it for a week, especially if the kit has skins. You can drape a towel over the primary, or clamp down the lid and install an airlock. Since its summer, be sure that your thermostat is set below 80F while you're away and all should be good.

I noticed the same thing with my Bergamais. I think the problem with mine was over sulfiting, so it makes sense decanting would help with this.

I did a World Vineyard and Eclipse Nebbiolo back in October, both using BM 4X4. I accidentally opened a WV Nebb this past weekend, thinking it was a beaujolais from last May. I was pretty stunned by how good it was drinking. I'm optimistic that both of these are gonna turn out pretty damn good...

I think More Wine has some info in the manuals section on their website.

Exactly. Over the weekend I squeezed half a grapefruit into a chilled glass of it, ended up being delicious. Sangria will be the way to go

And I would add, using the technique of splash racking - splashing the wine on the side of the carboy as you're transferring via siphon - can help to degass your wine as well. You definitely don't want to bottle wine that is not fully degassed.

For anyone interested, I bottled the WE Bergamais last weekend. That would have been on Day 41. I followed the directions mostly to a T. The only changes I made were shorting the batch to about 5.5 gallons and skipping the sorbate. Results Yield = 28 bottles ABV = 12.5% Drank a bottle after...

Wife and I spent 4 days in Cottonwood a few months ago. Damn what a great time we had! Visited a couple monuments, did some good hiking and relaxed. Absolutely loved the Italian place Bocce. We went there two nights in a row, just fantastic. We ended up joining AZ Stronghold and Chateau...

If there are any pinot fanatics out here, I have to recommend Joseph Swan, MacPhail and Martinelli, in that order. Swan can do no wrong (except for the 2011 Tannat, we can forget that one...). Pinot is top notch, zins are good, syrah's are good, chardonnay and grenache blanc are also top notch.

They have quite a few arcane sounding grape varietals. Interesting, thanks for sharing Frosty.

In real life, I actually am an organic chemist. My advice is to talk to a biologist!

Joe, in the picture of your carboy there seems to be quite a lot of space in there. Did you have any problem with oxidation?

Nice! What did you think of Gustavo? Worth tracking down a couple of bottles?

They have a bottle of that vintage chardonnay on display in the Grgich tasting room. And I believe Gustavo has his own small winery in Napa still.

Thanks for the tip. I'm on my second fermentation and just noticed 4 fruit flys in the airlock!

Hey Scott, did you end up making this? If so, how'd it go? For anyone else that has made this kit, if I held off on the clarifiers and still bottled at the 30 day mark, what would be the result? Would it be cloudy yet still drinkable, or just a real bad idea? I like dirty cab francs and...

Do you plan on differentiating those two Merlots with different methods?

Hi everybody! I'm super excited I found this forum, since I decided to start the journey of home winemaking last week. Lots of valuable anecdotal experience and knowledge here it seems. Hopefully, I can contribute to it. I'm a chemist by trade, wine drinker for the past 13 years. I...