Search results

I have no experience growing grapes. Last spring I planted a few. Two wine grape vines, Lomanto and Black Spanish and 4 muscadines , I built two 60 foot single wire trellises, I used 7" wood end post set at an angle, two 5" wood post 20 ft from each other and the ends and used 3 T post each a...

Anyone, other than @hounddawg , made skeeter pee port? Did you like it? Thinking about scaling down the recipe and trying a gallon for fun.

This year I planted several muscadine grape vines. I am at the northern limit for muscadines and have chosen the most cold hardy but expect that some will die with unusually cold winters. Would something like this help? I have fig trees planted on the south side of my brick house and three...

Earlier this year I purchased an RJS En Primeur Rosso Grande Excellent kit and evidently I lost the instructions. I have made enough kits that I can mostly wing it or use FWK instructions but the kit comes with 60 gr American med chips and 60 gr of French heavy toast powder. Generic...

This spring I planted some muscadines, a Black Spanish (aka Lenoir/Jacquez) and a Lomanto vine. All are doing remarkably well except the Black Spanish vine. It grew at an alarming rate, from a 1/8th inch diameter twig with roots, to two trunks 5' up to the wire and four foot down in each...

Tonight I racked/filtered and bottled my 14 month old Amarone kit. Checked pH, SG, added glycerin and 1/2 cup sugar. Problem is I forgot to add K Meta. It's been racked every three months and have added K Meta each time. pH was 3.3, SG 0.998, taste is good, a little sharp, that's why I...

Is there anything that I can't do with a #35 basket press that I can do with a #25. LHBS has a #35 on sale for $50 more than the #25. the #25 should be large enough for my current purposes but if I ever wanted a larger press I would probably regret not spending the extra money for over twice...

Any suggestions about estimating the volume of sediment that will be produced? I started a batch of cranberry mead recently. Started at slightly over 3 1/2 gallons of must but after fermentation this is what I got. In addition to this I have a 1/2 gallon jug that is 90+% full of sediment...

Just finished primary fermentation of FWK Zinfandel. When I started I noticed there were quite a few seeds and stems in the skins pack. I put the skins in the bag with a glass fermentation weight to help keep them submerged. Today when I opened the bags to recover the weights I noticed that...

Recently purchased this kit and plan on starting is soon. The included yeast is EC1118. I would like to use a more appropriate/different yeast and was thinking about substituting BM4x4 for the EC1118. I am aware that it will be more nutrient sensitive. Any other yeast suggestions? I have...

does anybody have suggestions/sources for a reasonable priced fruit/wine press. Maybe less than $250? Most of the ones that look well constructed are pretty expensive and the cheap ones are, well cheap. No local source and reluctant to purchase from amazon just based on ratings.

Before I attempted to make an elderberry wine I made elderberry liqueur (several times). I have read that when fermenting the alcohol extracts the tannins and it seems that after 5-7 days the tannin gets pretty high. When I have made an elderberry liqueur the elderberries soak in vodka or...

I thought I already posted this earlier today, but can't find it. I started this kit 8/16/22, at that time the pH was 3.6. Today I racked and added K Meta. The taste was a little flat so I checked the pH, today it is 3.8 (rechecked and checked calibration). Should I adjust it now or wait...

Started a 3 gallon batch of aronia berry yesterday. I mixed all of the ingredients and let is set overnight . This morning I checked the pH, 4.4, then checked TA 1.1 g/l. I wasn't really surprised about the ph, I had read that it was often to high, but no other wine I have attempted was this...

A local restaurant sells the owners mead. My favorite is a blackcurrant, blackberry and black cherry, but so far he has declined to share his recipe. I am trying to create something similar. The following is a proposed recipe for a 3 gallon batch. 32 oz Black currant concentrate. (1:5 = 5...

What determines which bottles' a person should use. I know reds need colored bottles, I also use them for blackberry and elderberry and clear bottles for light colored meads. But what about other country wines? Peach? Strawberry? Cranberry? Aronia? The coffee dessert kit I am currently...

My fermentation experience is a little bit backwards since I think most people start with kits. I started making meads and have only recently tried making wine kits. Recently I have made a RJS Amarone and FWK super tuscan forte, both aging in their carboys. I am soon going to start a RJS...

I recently bottled a strawberry/banana mead. I put the last bit into a plastic soda bottle and now can tell there is increased pressure in that bottle. If I pull the corks, what do I do afterwards? Add sorbate and wait? Just mix a 3 gallon dose of sorbate into 15 ml water and add 1 ml to each...

I posted this in the wine kit section, under the Finer Wine Kit thread, but was hoping for a quick response since I think I need to react promptly. Hope it is OK to post here also. I purchased a Finer wine kit Forte Super Tuscan kit from Label Peelers and it was delivered Wednesday 9/21...

A couple of years ago, as a beginner I just bought some corks, then I read that standard corks are not good for long term aging of wine. Then I bought some synthetic (nomacorc), now I have read that synthetics don't allow wine to age properly. I don't need 10+ year corks but I would like to...