Hi, from Columbus, OH

[brutus]

I decided to stop "lurking" and jump in the action. I've been casually making wine from WE kits for the past few years, although I am currently not pleased with the results.. Lately, I've been taking the craft a little more seriously and have turned to this forum for advice! Thank you for the help!

I've have several kits going now:
1 - just bottled a WE shiraz kit, (the basic one)
2 - Day 10 (secondary fermentation) of Selection Australian Chardonnay
3 - Day 2 (primary) WE LE2013 South African Cab/Shiraz

In the past, I've had problems with my kits smelling rubbery, which I attributed to those cheap rubber bungs that came with my kit. I've changed them out for the plasticky once, and no longer have the issue. I've also had trouble with getting the carbonation out of the wines, and yet to have a great solution for that.

Looking forward to chatting with you all!

Steve

 

[Pumpkinman]

Welcome aboard!
Degassing wine can be a tedious task to say the least, there are a bunch of different product available that claim to be great degassing tools, I will always recommend the All in One Wine Pump, it is a great tool, but until then, a drill mounted degassing wand might help your wine degass faster than just letting nature take its course.

 

[brutus]

Thanks. I actually reached out to WE about it, and got a fantastic reply. Without going into too much detail, they recommended the drill mounted whip, which i currently have, and to raise the temperature of the must. I'll be trying this out in a couple of weeks.

steve

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome, Brutus! I am glad you happened by us and delurked!

 

[Rocky]

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum. I am in Powell, not far from you, so if you need anything, let me know if I can help.

 

[dangerdave]

I'm down in Chillicothe. Welcome. If we ever decide to have a Southern Ohio Meet-up, you're in!

 

[bkisel]

Welcome aboard!

Lurked awhile myself before joining.

 

[peaches9324]

Welcome Steve and we all have dipped our toe in before taking the plunge!

 

[kevinlfifer]

Welcome Steve,

I'm up near Toledo. Take Rocky up on the offer he do know wine.

The WE kits need 12-18 months to get drinkable. My bet is you try them to soon. I do.

Kevin

 

[NoSnob]

Welcome to the forum Steve. We have a great group of winemakers here (as you probably already know). Hope to be hearing much from you. As much as I like WE kits, I have found they sometimes take a lot of time to age properly. Would like to see a picture or description of the plastic bungs you have used successfully.

NS