Search results

My personal experience with Reduless is that it helped but did not eliminate the problem. I've tried it at least three separate times. I find carefully measured copper sulfate is the answer (for me) when I have H2S issues. But now, with Andante, no more copper!

We have also been using Andante yeast. It's no-H2S is really a big seller for us. After having gone through several battles with H2S, it was nice to have this all-star yeast. We also liked Andante because it had high tolerance to higher fermentation temps and high alcohol. That, combined...

Ahhhh, the ol D80 - D254 combo! Yes, we had much success with this. Our Barbera ended up winning a double gold and best-of-class at the CA State Fair using this yeast combo. Here's a thread where we compared the two: https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/yeast-strain-question.52346/#post-638092

I use oak barrels and I think that's the best way to go. Having said that, I also have extra wine (Cabernet) aging in a tank and some wine in a third-year barrel. I bought some medium plus Amer oak spirals (8") to add to the barrel and the tank. Before I added them, I drew out a half glass...

Sounds like acid. Have you measured the pH? As jg said, try fermenting with the addition of oak chips.

We actually cold soaked it in mid 50's for 2 weeks, then fermented for about 2 weeks in the mid 60's.

In winemaking, it's always interesting to change up some of the variables to study the result. Case in point, the same Cabernet that @NorCal and I made last Fall - In my batch, we separated a small amount of the just-crushed must and slow fermented in a temperature controlled environment. It...

This season, we are making Cab Franc and Petite Syrah. @NorCal has decided to forego the oak chips at crush (and ferm) for his Cab Franc. I will be oaking mine. So, we will have a good comparison! We both plan to oak the Petite Syrah up front.

Very interesting.

Look how fine our chips are....

I pressed my must with oak chips using a bladder press last year. All went smooth. I didn't see the chips interfering with the press at all. The small chips that I used are really quite small. Although in the "chip" category, it really seemed close to oak dust.

A 5-gallon bucket's worth of these per 1000 pounds of crushed grapes.

We experimented with this using 5 pounds in our bin at crush last season with our Cabernet. So far, the results are really good. So good, that @NorCal and I and other partners will be crushing our Cab Franc and Petite Syrah into oak chips once again this coming season. So what are the...

Yeah....I agree with the "make more" if you want any chance of having something "aged". In my experience, there is a common change at 6-months after bottling. These are wines that have bulk aged for usually 9 or 10 months. Another 6 months in the bottle and BINGO, they really open up! They...

I used a giant (60 gallon size Medium Plus French Oak) stave on my Chardonnay in the 30-gallon Flex Tank. It was bathing for about 3.5 months, although its effectiveness was probably mostly spent after 8-10 weeks. Should be a fun comparison.

We are hoping that this wine will be OK. Our first challenge was solved by some hearty splash racking. It's been aged almost 18 months, but in a neutral barrel. So, our ringer, Chris, insisted that we oak it for a couple months with an American oak tank stave. He said it may benefit by an...

I asked Daniel Pambianchi, renown expert and winemaker author and he said, "Your ability to splash-rack off the SO2 will depend on how much there is. Ideally you'd want to measure how much SO2 there is if you have the test equipment. The surefire way to remove SO2 is by adding hydrogen peroxide...

Here is an excellent article.....H2S, Mercaptans, Disulfides. Copper Sulfate may help. http://nanaimowinemakers.com/understanding-sulfur-in-wine/

Still haven’t racked my Chardonnay (other than the very first one after primary). I have 30 gallons in a flex tank. ML (Enoferm Beta) added on 9/23. Still in progress. I want to catch it just as it completes so as to maximize the Diacetyl. It’s just going slooooow.