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Oops! I'll definetely remember that for next time! Hope to start another batch in a few weeks. Jim

Thanks, Steve. We bottled it last night & had a blast! The Italian floor corker worked great. There was a LOT of sediment on the bottom of the carboy, so we stopped siphoning early & just got 25 bottles. I think we should have let it clarify another few days. Regardless, it was a great...

:) my wife & I checked for clarity of our "World Vineyard,California Trinity Red" last night. It had been 14 days since the degassing & adding final chemicals step. Put some in a glass & were pleased to see a nice clear red wine, No cloudiness! I remember it being quite cloudy 2 weeks ago...

Degassing took forever! Wine temp was 68 degrees. Every time I thought I was almost done, I'd whip it 1 more time (with a mix-stir) & get more foam. Also asked a question in another thread started by SpritO about low fluid level in carboy ( also in Beginners Wine Making Forum).He and I have the...

SpritO, Sorry I don't have an answer, but I was just about to ask the SAME question! Don't want to hijack your thread, but I hope some of the more experienced can help us out. We added a whole bottle of wine & are still not 2" from bottom of bung. Looks like that would put it at over 6...

SG looked like it moved a hair to .991; Decided to wait one more day. It may have been the same reading & I just saw it 2 different ways on 2 different nights. I'm sure it will be a "go" tonight & I can add packs 2 & 3 then stir the gas out with my power drill. Sounds like fun! Jim

Gotcha Wade. The SG was .992. Hoping for the same tonight. We had to try a sip, & were pleasantly surprised! It's smelling & tasting like it's going to be a decent wine. Jim

I'm feeling pretty reassured that nothing is wrong with my batch so far. To quote Tom Petty, "The waiting is the hardest part!" Tonight will be 10 full days in secondary ferment, so at least I'll get to DO something beside wait & worry. I'l be checking & recording the SG tonight. Hopefully it...

Really look nice, Hal! My wife & I are tossing around ideas for our very first label. Jim & Jan

Steve & Wade, The brew belt has been hanging on the carboy handle, in contact with the glass, for 2 days now. All is well. I did turn up the house thermostat a bit to get that room up to 66 degrees. Next batch I'll just put the belt on the carboy right away. I'm thinking that the warning on the...

Steve & Twissty, I compromised & hung the brew belt from the carboy handle so it's barely touching the carboy. Another thing that I did from the start is having the carboy in a big plastic bin that could contain the whole 6 gal. if it were to break. This makes a buffer area of air around the...

I'm making the California Trinity Red (Sorry, should have specified). I do have a brew belt, but the instuctions said not to use it on a glass carboy. Has anyone done this? If anything, I will get a heating blanket on it. Thanks. Jim

My 1st batch is now 5 days into the 10 day secondary ferment. I don't know what the temp of the wine is, but the room it's in has been 60-64 degrees for two days. To heat up that room, I'd need to really raise my gas bill. Should I be concerned, or can I let this slide? Jim of Jim & Jan

Thanks for some encouraging words. My wife picked up more K-Meta & we made a second gallon of sanitizer to be safe. Cleaned & sanitized everything necessary, then racked the wine into 6 Gal. glass carboy. S.G. was 1.002 & temp was 76 degrees. Airlock releasing a bubble every 1-2 seconds...

Definitely will consider the Portugese. That's quite a savings over the Italian. BTW Wade, really like the "Frontal Lobotomy" saying! Jim

:confused:Hi All, It's been 5 full days since we started our 1st batch, so I wanted to test the S.G. The K-Meta solution we made 5 days ago has no sulphur smell whatever, (tried 3 different people to sniff it). Is it still good? Last Saturday I put 2 oz. in 1 gal. of water & kept the top of...

Looks like I'll go with the floor corker. There's an Italian floor corker at the local brew store for $140.00. Twissty, that corker is just slightly out of my price range! Thanks to all for the input. Jim (of Jim & Jan).

I'm getting excited now! After 1 1/2 days the batch was fizzing really well! Checked temp. this morning & it was up to 80 degrees, so I unplugged the brew belt. Will check temp again tonight when I wake up (3rd shifter). Jim

Our very first batch of wine was started on Valentine's Day & we're curious about the upcoming processes. Our supply kit came with 30 ea. #8 corks, but I believe I read somewhere that #9 corks provide a better seal (?). I have NOT bought a corker yet, & would like to know if #9's are hard to...

My wife and I got brave and started our 1st batch yesterday, 2/14/09 (Her birthday, a Valentine's baby!) We chose the "World Vineyard, California Trinity Red" wine kit on a suggestion from cpfan from our introductory post. Thanks for the suggestion, this blend sounds delicious! Time...