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  1. StimVino

    Unorthodox Blueberry Wine Recipe and Procedure- Thoughts?

    Thanks for documenting your experiment. It was a fun read. There are more conventional ways to get stronger flavor in your fruit wine such as backsweetening with concentrate without the risk that comes with extended maceration. Cheers-
  2. StimVino

    Topping Barrels

    Thanks for your response. Will give it a test run to work out any kinks.
  3. StimVino

    Topping Barrels

    Im attempting a small keg setup for topping barrels. I purchased a few small corny kegs with in/out ball locks. My question is how do you purge the headspace without blowing wine out of the pressure relief valve. Ive not tried this yet, but im assuming after sanitizing, I would fill my wine...
  4. StimVino

    Taming Tannins

    I recently purchased several barrels to reduce astringency and Im in process of getting these set up. However, I've tried gum arabic in powdered form, which I dont recommend. The powder has trouble dissolving in the wine and tends to clump together even after mixing. If using GA liquid, I dont...
  5. StimVino

    Result of using bourbon barrel

    Not a bad thought to make a strong red with a little bourbon flavor. I did a Primitivo with bourbon soaked oak cubes 3 years ago that is really coming into its prime. ( I made the cubes, but thats thats a whole other story.) It was inspired by a Washington winery called Kestrel that used...
  6. StimVino

    What are you making and what have you made ???

    Are you doing any blends? If so, any idea what you’ll try?
  7. StimVino

    5 gal wood barrel recommendation?

    Jim, thank you for your reply. The pictures are very helpful. I prefer a higher quality barrel, but also think that I should stick with a 10-gal barrel size. My typical batches are between 12gal - 14gal, and usually have 4-6 going at a time. With a 10-gal barrel, I should have enough excess...
  8. StimVino

    5 gal wood barrel recommendation?

    Jim, was looking at both options for my first barrel purchase; The balazs comes in 7-gal, which I thought was an odd size. So, im leaning towards 4 - 10gal barrels from Gibbs. Was also considering 2 - 5gal for some flexibility; Is the quality of the balazs much better? Any leaks in the...
  9. StimVino

    Competition for hobby winemakers 2023

    Congratulations on your metal. I've made the WE Nebbiolo Eclipse in 2019 and really liked it. Not sure if its the same as the Private Reserve, but I've done several of the WE kits with skins and all have turned out very good.
  10. StimVino

    Measuring YAN

    @Rice_Guy your comments are spot on. Knowing YAN allows you to make correct adjustments to nutrient deficient must, which can in turn reduce the risk of sluggish or stuck fermentations, which can cause several wine faults. An example that stuck out was that a drop of phenol can be detected in...
  11. StimVino

    Measuring YAN

    BarrelMonkey thanks for the information. I was trying to determine how much your standard nutrient addition would bump the YAN. According to Lallemand's website, a 20g/hL dose (0.75g/gal) will provide a YAN equivalent of 20mg/L, which would be 40mg/L for both doses. Assuming that the target...
  12. StimVino

    Measuring YAN

    Thanks for your input. I watched a video of the testing process on Vinmetrica's website based on your feedback. The YAN test kit comes with formaldehyde for 25 tests, a few pipettes, and neutralizing powder for discarding liquid. It does require that you have the SC-200 or SC-300 Analyzer...
  13. StimVino

    Measuring YAN

    I attended an Advanced Winemaking Workshop at Penn State over the weekend and the instructor stressed the importance of measuring YAN of the must to determine nutrient needs. Her target was around 220 mg/L for most wines, so if you know your starting YAN then you can add the proper dosage...
  14. StimVino

    2023, What are your plans?

    I must have got that idea from you. 😉 Never had McGregor Rob Roy, but the blend sounds great so Im going for it! Thanks for the idea. The other blend that I’m doing is a Tignanello - also very good.
  15. StimVino

    2023, What are your plans?

    This year I'm planning on doing a few red blends: Super Tuscan Blend (80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc) Cabernet Franc Blend (50% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot) Plan for Ordering Grapes is the following: Sangiovese - 7 lugs Cabernet Franc - 7 lugs...
  16. StimVino

    Help - deposits in Strawberry wine

    Have you considered that this could be a cork issue? Are you using #8’s or #9’s? Were the corks in storage prior to use?
  17. StimVino

    ABC Crafted Series - Beverage Infusions

    Good advice above. One thing to know about backsweetening with juice or concentrate as opposed to sugar is that you need to allow for additional settling time since these often come with some pulp in the concentrate. For this reason, i tend to backsweeten earlier than i normally would with...
  18. StimVino

    ABC Crafted Series - Beverage Infusions

    Interesting post. I’ve seen these bottle flavorings before, but have never tried them. My question is how do they age in the bottle? Lately, ive been moving away from sweetner or sugar to backsweeten and have had much better results with juice concentrates for backsweetening. Overtime, ive...
  19. StimVino

    Starting my first ever Merlot !

    Could do a hybrid and blend in a small batch of blackberry. If trying, I would ferment separately with different yeast for blackberry. Or, blend in 2 bottles of cabernet franc after finish for a 87/13 ‘Bordeaux’ blend. May also want to cold stabilize to drop tartrite crystals. Could also...
  20. StimVino

    Filtration gear pros and cons

    I have the Enolmatic tandem filter and bottling machine and like it. Downside (like you said) is the cost of the filters, which are about $90/ea. I make between 500-1000 bottles per year, so generally adds about $0.72 per bottle, if I replace all 4 filter sizes each year - which I typically...
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